The Best Calendar Scheduler for Small Businesses
Have you ever tried a calendar scheduler? I’m sure you’ve heard of Calendly or Acuity scheduling. These are tools to help business owners streamline booking meetings and appointments.
Well, I found a new feature in Google Calendar that I think you’ll find veeeery interesting. They’ve started allowing calendar scheduling for FREE with all Google accounts. I’ve been testing it out, and I think it works the same (if not better) than other paid calendar scheduling tools in the market.
I’m going to explain some benefits of calendar scheduling tools and how to try the new feature in Google Calendar. I hope by the end you’ll be convinced to try it out!
What is a Calendar Scheduler?
A calendar scheduler is a tool to help business owners manage appointments and meetings efficiently. You simply send a link to someone you want to book a meeting with, and it allows that person to select a time that works for them based on your availability.
Calendar schedulers can be used for any type of meeting. I often see them used for discovery calls – it streamlines the process for new leads. You could also use them for recurring client meetings, such as project kickoff calls or coaching sessions.
Benefits of a Calendar Scheduler
Small businesses can greatly benefit from a calendar scheduler. You only have so much time in your day, and it should be spent on tasks that will help grow your business, not scheduling a bunch of meetings! These are some ways entrepreneurs could benefit from an appointment scheduler:
- No risk of double-booking
- No back and forth with people over email trying to schedule a meeting
- Take scheduling meetings off your plate (hallelujah 🙏)
- Streamlined communication with people before meetings
- Improved productivity
- Reduced no-shows or ghosting (with automatic appointment reminders!)
- Flexible scheduling for you and the client
- Enhanced user experience
I recommend all entrepreneurs use a calendar scheduler. It makes running your business so much easier and gives your clients (or potential new clients) a better experience with you.
How to Use Google Calendar as an Appointment Scheduler
If you’re familiar with Calendly or Acuity, Google Calendar Appointment Schedule works similarly. You can use appointment schedules to create one booking page so anyone who wants to book time with you can do it themselves. Since it’s integrated with your Google calendar, it updates in real-time, so you won’t accidentally be double-booked. People seeing your booking page will only see times you’re free. When they schedule, the meeting is automatically added to your calendar, and that time is taken off as an option for other people to select.
You can get a link to send to people directly or embed it on your website. Either of these options takes them to the same booking page. I’ve seen people use this link in their email signatures, automated emails with clients, and in their social media bios. There are tons of ways you can use this feature to book calls more efficiently.
By customizing the booking page, you can gather more information from them before the meeting. Let’s say you use this feature for discovery calls. In addition to their name and email, you can request information such as topics to discuss and packages they’re interested in as they are booking the appointment.
Here is how you can add blocks to your calendar for appointments. I also made a quick demo video showing you how to do this!
- Click time on your calendar to add a new event.
- Select ‘appointment schedule’
- Decide how long each appointment should be
- Customize your availability, buffers, and questions you want to ask
- Determine the calendars you want the scheduler to watch so you don’t get appointment overlap
You can even require or take payment with this feature! It’s a cool feature that’s free to use as long as you have a Google account. I highly recommend trying it out before investing in Calendly, Acuity, or another paid calendar scheduler.
In terms of the best calendar scheduler for you, I’ll let you decide. In my opinion, Google Calendar works for most business owners. The features have almost everything you need (definitely everything you need to at least get started), and it’s free – you can’t beat that! Dip your toes in a calendar scheduler and see how it makes your business more efficient!
About Solution Integrators
To keep it simple, I’m Ashley, a Chief Systems Officer. I take your complex problems and find ways to simplify them. My goal isn’t just to save you time (saving you time is the easy part!) – I want to fully level up the way you interact, manage, and fulfill offers for your clients. I want to help you provide a cohesive experience. An experience that not only feels like quality but looks that way, too. From onboarding to offboarding – I want to transform each phase of interaction from lead to signed client. Let’s work together!
