If you’re looking for a quick and easy system to set up for your business that will truly transform it, look no further than Acuity. It will drastically increase your efficiency, automate more in your business and change the way you work. What is Acuity? It’s a scheduling tool that functions as your personal assistant to book appointments, and packages with ease.
One reason why I love Acuity is that the learning curve is small. It’s really pretty self-explanatory and it will save you SO much time in your business. You’d be surprised how much time you waste with the back and forth of trying to book a call with someone and not to mention the potential lost business from someone looking for your services if you don’t have an easy way for them to connect with you.
Here are 5 features of Acuity that will help you to scale your business:
1. Automatic Appointment Scheduling
This takes away the back-and-forth “what’s your availability next week?” followed by “what time zone are you in?” emails that then can take days to actually get an appointment scheduled, in which your schedule may have changed. This cuts down on potentially missed leads, delayed meetings and time/frustration for both parties involved. You can embed your scheduling link on your website, and/or share the links on social media, via emails or DMs, etc. It simplifies everything to just send a link and say “here’s my calendar link, book at a time that will work for you!” You can go in and set your availability, block off days/times that don’t work for you, so it will automatically give your best availability in THEIR time zone and then the call will be automatically added to your calendar.
2. Pre-Screen Calls with Forms
The number one concern people have with having their scheduling link publicly on their website is the ability to “screen” calls before hopping on them. I get it, your time is precious - I feel the exact same way. That’s the benefit to using forms to screen your calls for you. You don’t have to use these for every type of call option you have, but if you have a link for someone to book a discovery call with you on your website, you can absolutely add questions that they have to fill out prior to being able to book the appointment. This way, you’ll weed out people who don’t feel like filling out the form to get on the phone with you and just want the “free call” and it’s here you can ask the right questions to make sure it’s a good fit for both parties.
The questions you ask can also give you better insights into who you’re getting on the phone with, their pain points and how you can serve them. This makes for a more productive call for BOTH parties.
3. Multiple Appointment types (WITH CUSTOMIZATION)
This is a huge benefit compared to other scheduling platforms. You can create as many different appointment types as you want within Acuity - and you can customize the links. You can create a link for free discovery calls, coaching calls, paid one-off calls, etc. and link different forms (or no form) to each appointment type. You can also set a different schedule of availability for different appointment types. For example, maybe you only want to take potential new client calls on Mondays, and then client calls only Tuesdays and Thursdays - it’s super easy to set up these boundaries for each call type.
4. Reminders & follow up emails
You can easily set up reminder emails to go out automatically to reduce the likelihood of no-shows and missed appointments. You can set up email reminders and/or text reminders before your scheduled appointment. Similarly, you can send automatic follow-up reminders if you want to request feedback or send additional info about your services. These automations save time, and a delay in making sure you’re collecting or sending the right information to potential new clients.
5. Selling Paid Services or Packages
Acuity makes it really easy to sell paid services or packages. You can set a price for a single appointment type, or you can create a package which is a series of calls someone can redeem with that package option. The benefit? It tracks all the calls in that package for you for each client. It also connects with both Stripe and PayPal, making it easy for clients to pay you.
Truly there are SO many customizations you can make within Acuity and that flexibility is so helpful and what makes it a superior platform compared to other scheduling tools out there. Added bonus - it syncs with your iCal, Google calendars, Outlook calendars, etc. so there’s no “double bookings'' on your calendar either. I have used many other scheduling platforms out there with clients and every time I switch them over to Acuity because it’s just THAT much better.
The only negative thing I’ll say about Acuity is that they recently changed their affiliate program and they say due to “tax laws” they can no longer pay people in more than half of the US - which is unfortunate since I literally sing this platform’s praises every day… but here I am still sharing and promoting it - so you know it’s gotta be good!
Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.
After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.
Katelyn is also a wife, stepmom, dog mama of three furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.
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