Our client work is our focus and we want to make sure that we provide a personal service.
To avoid being a receptionist as well as a homeopath, it’s wise to choose a good booking system.
Simple can be beautiful
Your business can be kept very, very simple with a paper diary. For many homeopaths, this system works beautifully with their client base and nothing needs to change.
Many homeopaths use Zoom integrated with a calendar app, which can be simple and cheap or free.
(I personally don’t like Zoom as I find it clunky and unnecessarily complex.)
Simple can be frustrating too
As our practice grows we may find that our personal work becomes secondary to our work of ‘being our own receptionist’.
We find ourselves playing email/text tag with clients who want to book or rearrange appointments.
This is one reason I recommend having a separate phone for work and only using email for communication.
The truth is, we are living in busy times. We are busy, and our clients are busy too.
Some people are well organised and remember appointments without reminders.
Others are less organised or distracted, and this often leads to last minute requests for changes.
How Timely helps with bookings
An online booking system will send out an automatic booking confirmation email and SMS as soon as an appointment is made.
It will also send out a reminder to your clients without you having to do a thing.
You can decide when that message will be sent.
I choose to send it 5 days in advance.
Your booking system can also allow your client to rearrange their own appointment using a link in their appointment confirmation email.
They can rearrange a time online when it’s convenient for them.
You can set up the cut off time.
How Timely helps with payments
If your clients book online they can also pay at the time of booking and even use a credit card quickly and easily.
I prefer to take a deposit because card payments incur fees and that’s lost revenue.
Timely can also be used to send invoices for consultations, and products or packages or just about anything else.
I love to use it to log when payment is received and view a list of outstanding invoices so you know who might need a reminder.
My experience
I resisted using a booking system for many years but during the summer of 2016 I had so many late cancellations/rearrangements and late payments I decided it was time to make the change.
It took a little while to get it set up and but my clients soon got used to the new system.
I can’t begin to count how many hours of ‘email back-and-forth’ I save every month and helps me look and feel so much more professional.
New or existing clients can book online.
I send out invoices before each consultation.
I’m rarely paid late and I find it so useful for selling ‘add-on products’.
I’m a Neal’s Yard Organic consultant and the system helps me take payments for products easily.
Why I Recommend Timely
I started out with a free booking system but I soon upgraded to GetTimely.com as it has a beautiful design and lots of useful features.
Here are the things that spring to mind:
- They have friendly UK based support people to help you get set up and answer any questions you have, plus a Facebook group community.
- It’s easy to set up invoices for payment by bank transfer (saving on card fees).
- SMS messages are included, and you can message clients directly as well as sending reminders.
- There’s an easy way to set up client intake forms.
- You can set up client packages easily.
- The phone app is great, so you can check and change things on the go.
If you’d like to try Timely*, there is a free trial period (no card details needed) and if you decide to use them, your first two months are half-price.
I’ve been recommending Timely* for years, and it’s always lovely when other homeopaths come back and tell me how good they feel about it.
What is your next step to make bookings, payments and accounting easier?
*This is an affiliated link, which means that I receive a gift card if you join Timely through me.
