Open and Available, I Am

Availability is a part of our identity.  We make it very personal.  As an individual or a business, we always know whether we are completely booked, completely open, or somewhere in between.  If our livelihood depends on appointments with clients, then we may begin to associate our self worth with the degree to which our "bookable" hours are actually filled up.  Furthermore, our transparency about how booked we are often illustrates how we view this relationship between availability and our identity.  Do we publicly share that we are booked solid as that mush mean that we are "in demand" or do we keep it on the down low as we feel like it would discourage new clients from even trying to get an appointment?  When we are light on the appointments, do we get the word out to stir the pot or do we try to mask it so that it doesn't look like we are hurting for business?

There is a distinct difference between our actual availability and how we represent that availability to others.  This has historically been a natural distinction as schedules of service providers have been kept private by the service provider in a physical location.  However, as it is becoming a competitive advantage to allow for customers to "self-book" online, it is becoming necessary to expose to the public what times are actually available (and what times aren't).  Depending on how one's business operates and how they associate their availability with their identity, this can work either for or against a service provider.

At Book'd, it is a core value to give companies and individuals the tools they need to be be able to represent their availability however they want.  We do this through a combination of ways that you can input your recurring and one-time availability and by giving you controls to publish that to the public.  We will be talking more about these "availability layers" in how you can leverage them to stay booked.

Download Serious Designs for your Business at Inkd! Book'd Customers Save 35%!

Many companies look to immediately establish an identity when they’re formed. Even before hiring employees or building a website, businesses often look to establish a brand, including a name, logo, and marketing material that is consistent with this image. However, hiring a design firm to create a logo and visual identity for your company can cost thousands of dollars. Further, it isn't unheard of to invest thousands of dollars during this subjective process and wind up with something that you either don't like or won't use. The cost and risk of working with an unknown designer is a daunting proposition for a lot of small business owners. If you're a marketer with a particular creative sensibility then this problem can be even more acute.

We've recently been talking with Inkd, an online marketplace for original print design and creative marketing materials targeted specifically at small businesses who want that creative edge. Inkd is a creative marketplace where graphic designers upload their original design templates for business cards, newsletters, letterhead, custom logos and other business collateral, and businesses can download and use them as a cost effective alternative to hiring a design firm to do the same work. All designs from Inkd are screened before being put on the site so only the best designs and products are available. Just 20% of all submitted designs are published.

And Inkd does more than that. They are starting to add a wide range of "Inkd approved" products that are geared towards that creative business owner who wants something special. Very slick plastic business cards are available now. Aluminum and wood business cards are on the way, followed by a host of other clever marketing products. Additionally, you can hire an Inkd designer to do a custom logo for. All logo design is done by an Inkd employee in Seattle Washington so you know exactly who you are working with every step of the way.

Inkd and Bookd both work hard to offer satisfying products for design-minded customers and we're hoping to do a lot more together. For now, Inkd is offering Bookd members 35% off everything! Just use the promo code "bookd35off" when you checkout to redeem the discount!

Book'd Founder Interviewed on MO.com

MO.com is a new site about and for entrepreneurs.  Brian Null started the site as a way to get into the mind of entrepreneurs and share their experiences and habits with the rest of the world.  I had the pleasure of meeting Brian at one of the entrepreneurial meetups in Columbia a few months ago.  I was struck by his willingness to pickup and try new things to build up whatever business he is working on.  I'm pretty excited about his new project and of course honored that he chose to interview me.  You can read the full article over on his site.

Announcing the Client Dashboard, Booking Workflows, SMS Notifications and More!

Since we launched Book'd back in June, we have had the joy of helping service professionals from around the world book their appointments and connect with their customers.  Along the way, our customers have been letting us know what they like, what they think could be better, and what their kids were for Halloween.  We love listening to customers and finding ways that can help them be even more successful through online scheduling.  We also love critiquing mummy costumes.

This most recent update includes some of the most asked for items from our customers.  Here is an overview of what you'll find:

Client Dashboard

The Client Dashboard lets your customers manage their bookings, invoices, and profile information online through your online booking site.  In addition to booking online, your customers can now securely login and check the status of their bookings, reschedule bookings, view and pay online invoices, and update their contact information.  This makes it easy for you to stay in contact with your customers and gives them an easy way to keep everything up to date without having to make a phone call.

Booking Workflows

Do you want to confirm bookings paid online, but mark them as pending if they don't pay immediately?  Now you can control this booking workflow for new bookings, bookings paid on invoices, and rescheduled bookings.  E-mails are automatically sent to clients to keep them informed and you make maximum use of your availability.

SMS Notifications

You can now get notifications of new events on your mobile device.  Simply enter your mobile number to setup your device and then select whether you want to receive e-mail updates, SMS updates, or both!

New invoicing and checkout features

In addition to being able to send invoices to your clients, your clients now have one place where they can review the status of all their invoices and pay for them online.  Our new checkout process lets them pay for one or more invoices and additional bookings all in one transaction. This makes it even easier for you to collect payments for your bookings.

We have a number of other updates that we will be sharing more in-depth over the coming days, but here's a short list of some of the other things you'll find today:

New policy management - Publish your policies for your customers and manage how and when they can reschedule a booking.

Booking lead-out times - Need to make sure you have 15 minutes between each booking?  Add a lead-out time to your services to make sure you aren't ever booked back-to-back.

Better email communications with customers - With our newly revised workflow, we have added more customized communications to keep your clients in the loop.

Updated Dashboard - We have redesigned the administrator dashboard to give a more informative view of your bookings and their statuses.

Unified login - Administrators can now login from the same login page as their customers rather than going to their non-linked "admin" login.  It's the little things, right?

Redesigned booking page - We have completely redesigned the admin booking page to make it faster, easier to read, and easier to respond to based on the booking status.  This new redesign makes so much more sense that we've already forgotten what the old bookings looked like.  :)

This is just one small step in making online booking a more pleasurable and profitable experience for all service providers.  Let us know what you think!

Online scheduling software: A perfect companion for pro photographers

Professional photographers are no strangers to having to manage a balance between their creative work and their business needs.  One area where this tension plays out is in booking appointments.  Finding a way to make sure a schedule stays fully booked is not always easy when you are actively engaging with customers in those appointments.  

Book’d is online scheduling software designed to help professional photographers increase business, stay organized, and stay booked.  It is designed to act as a personal assistant that takes care of some of the important booking tasks so that photographers can spend more time focusing on their clients and their creative work.  Most importantly, it is designed to work how photographers work so that they can easily introduce online booking into their workflow.

If you are a photographer, then here are some of the benefits you will find when using online booking through Book'd:

Increase your business

Your customers will love the convenience of being able to book appointments online with you.  This allows them to book anytime, even when you are busy or not in the office.  Your customers will also have time to leisurely browse and discover other services you offer and can choose to book more than one appointment at a time.

Online scheduling software is a great way to decrease no-shows for both new and existing customers.  By having customers pay online to confirm their booking, you are decreasing the chances that they will not show up for their appointment.  You can also send out notifications before the appointment to give them a helpful reminder.

Stay organized

Book’d lets you keep all your appointments organized whether they are made online, over the phone, or in person.  Whether you are operating by yourself or have multiple staff that you need to keep booked, you can easily view your all your upcoming appointments, open blocks of time, and client histories.  Our iCal support means that you can get your bookings in your Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.  

Managing your availability is one of the most important keys to your booking success.  With Book’d, you have flexible tools to manage your recurring availability for each staff member as well as the ability to block out specific times so that you can take that afternoon off or make it to your other personal appointments without worrying that you are going to be double-booked.  

Connect with customers

Book’d helps you stay connected with your customers and helps you build on the relationship that brought your clients to you in the first place.  Book’d streamlines the process for confirming incoming appointments and sending out invoices to receive payment.  Client profiles let you quickly view important contact information, booking history, and payment status for each of your customers.  

Want to get a list of all your customers to send them an email newsletter?  Book’d lets you export your client list at any time so that you can easily use it in your other systems to maintain lists and other communications.

Get paid

Book’d not only allows you to accept online bookings from customers, but also makes it simple for customers to pay you online for those bookings.  You can setup your workflow so that customers must pay online to be able to confirm appointments with you.  

Have a customer who booked over the phone or in person?  No problem, they can pay online too.  Once you add the booking to your schedule, you can easily send out an invoice by email to collect payment.  This makes invoicing easy for any booking workflow. 

Have questions?

Please leave us a comment below to join the conversation or send us an email at info @ bookd.com.  We would love to hear from you.  If you want to try Book'd out, then you can sign up for our free trial now.  It only takes about 10 minutes for you to start taking online bookings from your customers!