Academy › Courses › Bookings and orders
When to let the customer pick a time, and when to pick it yourself
It knows whether you can let the customer pick any open slot and just confirm it, or whether you should ask for their details first and talk it over before giving them a time. It wraps up with each service's duration fine-tuned, based on how much each job varies and how much a badly fitted slot costs you.
You open up your calendar and let people book on their own, then one day a two-hour appointment lands in a slot meant for thirty minutes. Or you ask people to message you first, and you lose the customer who just wanted a quick slot and doesn't want to wait for a reply. You don't know if your business can handle an open calendar, or if it needs a quick question before showing available times.
This course starts by measuring how much each job you do actually varies, and how much a badly estimated slot costs you in hours and in customers. With that measurement, you decide the buffer each service needs, or whether it's better to ask before confirming the time. It finishes by splitting your service list into the ones you confirm the moment they come in and the ones that need a question first.
This is for anyone who already has a booking or order calendar running and isn't sure whether to open it up completely or ask a question first; it's not for someone who doesn't have any booking system yet.
- Calculate how much a poorly sized time slot costs you in hours and in customers.
- Set the buffer for each service, on top of its duration, based on how much the work you offer varies.
- Write the question that measures the size of a job before showing the calendar.
- Decide, service by service, which ones you confirm the moment they come in and which ones need a question first.
Have your list of services handy, along with how long each one usually takes.
The 6 lessons
In the order it makes the most sense to read them.
- 1
Does it always take you the same amount of time, or does it depend on the customer?
You'll know whether your business can show an open calendar so customers can book on their own, or whether you need to ask something first.
7 min - 2
What a miscalculated time slot costs you
You'll walk away knowing how much every appointment that runs longer or shorter than booked costs you in customers and in hours, and whether your calendar breaks down because of slots that are too short or too long.
4 min - 3
The wide slot that can absorb a mistake
You'll come away knowing how much buffer to add to each booking slot based on how much the work varies, without giving away calendar time where you don't need to.
6 min - 4
The question that sizes up the job before you show a time
You'll leave this lesson with the question that measures the size of each job before showing the calendar, and with the time slot that matches each answer.
7 min - 5
When you set the time, not the customer
You'll know when to swap direct booking for a form that asks about the job, so you can confirm the time yourself for services where a miscalculated slot gets too expensive.
4 min - 6
One business, two ways to book an appointment
You end up splitting your service list in two: for services that almost always take the same amount of time, the client picks a time slot on the calendar, one sized with some breathing room; for services that vary from client to client, you ask first and set the time yourself.
7 min