Why You Are Missing Out if You're Not Using Appointment Reminders

If you haven't already started using automatic appointment reminders then you really need to read this article and allow yourself to be convinced of why you desperately need them! This blog will highlight the top 5 reasons, in order of importance, on how this easy-to-use and inexpensive feature can make a big difference. 30% difference to be exact!

Top Reason #1: Countless case studies, such as those done by John Hopkins, have shown that appointment reminders via call or SMS text messages have shown to DECREASE no-shows by 30%! That is a huge statistic and what you need to realize is you could be losing 30% of business simply because you are not providing an appointment reminder. That's money people!

Top Reason #2: User engagement is important for every single business and you can create this engagement by using appointment reminders. Imagine getting a tailored text from your doctor's office reminding you about your specific appointment. Makes you feel a little special doesn't it? It should and you should be using these programs to make your client feel special too.

Top Reason #3: Automated reminders save you TIME. Time is money so what I'm saying it these programs save you money! All that manpower your staff uses to create and send out appointment reminders to your customers could be used in more productive and effective ways. And if you're not using any staff to implement reminders, well that's just lazy. Don't be lazy. The goal here is to work smarter, not harder.

Top Reason #4: Automated reminders are an on-time guarantee. An emergency in your office that requires all of your staff on hand doesn't have to mean calling your clients or patients to remind them of their appointment is forgotten. You get what you need in your office and your client gets what they need on their phone. Win-win!

Top #5:  Improve customer satisfaction. Studies have proven when companies take the time to cater to their clients (or practices to their patients) their customer surveys show a higher increase in customer satisfaction.

So basically automated reminders are a win all around. Use your time to make money and leave the time-waster necessitates to automation.




Sources:
https://www.webpt.com/blog/post/top-11-benefits-appointment-reminders-patient-engagement
http://www.dialogtech.com/blog/general/6-benefits-appointment-reminder-calls

Improve your Life by improving your Timing

If you are constantly late to your appointments and can't figure out how to get a handle on being on time, then this article is for you! Being prompt is not only important in your professional life, but spills over to all other areas of your life as well. Many people would rather believe that being habitually late is just "how it goes", but that is not true, and being only 5 minutes late can make the difference between a lasting first impression and a bad reputation. Here are some tips to help you stay on track and improve your life by improving your timing:

Tip #1: Set a reminder for yourself. Many people look at our services as a great feature to remind their clients or others about appointments, but it works both ways. You can just as easily use our services to remind yourself about important or daily appointments that you need to be on time for. Our FREE account is a great way to test out our services and see how beneficial they can be for your personal life.

Tip #2: Don't schedule events that aren't important to you. Many times people are late simply because they don't see the importance of the appointment. The whole things comes down to an attitude that a person has towards being punctual. Start to change this attitude by changing what you choose to commit to. Only schedule and commit to events that you consider important and then being on time will become important as well.

Tip #3: Set your clock a few minutes ahead. I have my clock in my car set 5 minutes ahead. Although I know in my mind that the time is 5 minutes ahead, there are many times I have been on time only because I am paying attention to that particular clock. After a while you forget that it's set ahead and that works to your advantage. Check out the Procrastinator's Clock, which is a cool little gadget that might work really great for you!

Tip #4: Plan ahead. If you are habitually late many times this happens because you didn't plan for the traffic, or that phone call, or the lights, etc. There are so many reasons to why you're late but the truth is it all could have been avoided if you had planned ahead. Leaving at 4:30 pm? Plan for traffic and give yourself an extra ten minutes to get to your event / appointment. It's the little things that can make the biggest difference.

Tip #5: Decide that being on time is going to become important to you! Your attitude is the number one reason you are late. Until you decide that being on time can improve your life and is an important life style change, you will always be late. Decide now that you can improve your life by improving your timing! 

Turn Cold Calls into Hot Appointments

You may have heard recently that cold calling is dead. Apparently cold calling died along with dial-up, MySpace, and the Blackberry but in actuality cold calling is still used today. Except is not so much cold calling as it is emailing, networking, using social media, and then calling! Cold calling hasn’t died it’s just evolved and if you aren’t evolving with it then you’ll most certainly be left behind. Here are some great tips on how to turn a cold call into a warm call and a hot appointment!

1. Know when to call. This goes for any kind of communication really. You should know your target audience inside and out, so assuming you do, then you should also know when is the best time of the day to reach them. Not only to call them, but to email them, LinkedIn message them, or whatever form of communication you are choosing to use. Are they more likely to answer in the morning? Maybe the end of the day is the best time? Whichever one it is make sure you know so you can optimize your opportunity to get in touch with them.
2. Make sure you have an egaging opener. No person wants to hang up faster when they hear “Hi! My name is ___ and I’m calling from ____” so whatever you say after that better be pretty darn interesting or you’ve just about lost them! Take some time to work on this, it’s important.
3. Build a rapport first. Trying to sell within the first 30 seconds is very likely to lose the person on the other end of the line of communication. Talk to them first, attempt to start a relationship, build a rapport, THEN SELL! Remember, people work with who they know, trust, and like!

We hope these tips help you in your next go-around! Remember to utilize our appointment reminders so the next time you make that hot appointment they show up!

You got them to say yes...now what?

You’ve been working diligently on making appointments with potential customers, and it’s paid off! You’ve convinced these people that meeting with you is so beneficial they just have to make time for it so they slice out a slot in their schedule and dedicate just to you! Or do they? You got them to say yes but how do you get them to show up? In a study by BJ Psych Advances, patients miss 20% of their medical appointment. Most people would like to think a medical appointment is important so if they are missing 20% of them, how much less will they value their appointment with you? Here are some bulletproof tips to help you make sure your client not only makes their appointment but shows up to it!

1. Make sure they understand that they NEED their appointment with you. When a person feels as though they made an appointment but they don’t really need it, chances increase by 60% that they are not going to show up! They view their appointment as optional, unnecessary, or simply inconvenient and all it takes is a really good episode of Property Brothers to stop them from meeting with you. Take control of their mind set by stressing the benefits of their appointment with you as something they not only want, but need.
2. A reminder can make all the difference in the world. You’ve got them to say yes, you’ve even got them to agree with you that they need their appointment, but life is life and sometimes human error means forgetting. We get distracted by the kid with the lego up their nose, or work, or many, many other things. These little nuisances should be expected which is why your attentive appointment reminder can be the difference between a client and a no-show. We offer FREE appointment reminders, as well as paid accounts, all with amazing benefits. Check them out here!
3. Try not to set appointments more than two weeks out. Even when you’ve made all the right steps and said all the right things, sometimes your prospect really does get called away and doesn’t even think to call you and reschedule. You can lessen the chances of this happening to you by making your appointment within the same week or no more than two weeks out from the day of the call.

We hope these 3 tips really help! Don’t forget to save your own time by using our services to remind your important prospects how important you are!