7 Reasons Why Your Business Should Offer Pre-Booking

Who doesn’t enjoy small incentives every now and again? If you’re a frequent customer to your favorite department store, and you tend to spend quite a lot throughout the year with that store, then getting some very special deals in the mail, by email, or text message is a great incentive to keep coming back. And what about students? Did most of them put forth good effort throughout the semester and participate in class? Well, if they did (let’s hope so), then maybe an extra credit assignment or small project could be an incentive to help boost their grades or even possibly encourage them to think favorably of you as a teacher when they fill out course evaluations (uh huh).

Anyway, the point that I’m trying to make is that incentives or deals can go a long way as far as building loyalty whether that’s with students, customers, or clients. And today, since you’ve joined us for another great tip of the week, we’re going to talk about pre-booking and 7 reasons why your business should be offering it.

Why Offer Pre-Booking?

There are 7 reasons that we’re going to explore as to why your business should offer pre-booked appointments through our online scheduling system. In the end, pre-booking allows your customer to take the first step toward making a purchase without having to do so in advance. This is a great option to allow customers to commit to an appointment without having to make payment in advance.

Build Client and Customer Loyalty

As probably one of the first reasons that might come to mind, by allowing your clients or customers to pre-book appointments with you, you're encouraging them to stay connected & continue doing business with you.

The added incentives of discounts or joining a loyalty program also shows them that you appreciate their business. As an example of pre-booking, imagine that a client wants to book a hair appointment online with your salon. You could advertise on your website or send out text messages to your client base that those who book an appointment also have the opportunity to pre-book their next appointment and receive 15% off of the service. *If you're able to join us, next week we're planning to show you just how to do this with our appointment scheduler.

Get Them to Tell a Friend

And when clients or customers really enjoy doing business with you or like your services/products, they will most likely tell a friend. Word of mouth is powerful, and if they've received excellent service, they will likely want to tell someone.

It's just like learning, to your surprise, that something good has happened when you imagined that things were going to go awry. When you find out the turnaround of that situation, you might be so excited that you can't wait until your husband, wife, mother, father, sister, or brother gets off from work to tell them, so you text or call. Our words do have power, and by allowing clients to pre-book appointments and enjoy their service, this can be fire to help your business grow.

More Appointments Equals More Business and Productivity

And when positive things are floating around about your business, that can help bring in more appointments and keep down-times at bay. Let's face it - it's kind of odd to be at work and have nothing to do - that's down-time. Sometimes down-town is great after continuous business, but when there is a slump, that's not a good sign.

So pre-bookings + good service + spreading the word = more appointments & a productive day.

Help Clients Meet With Their Staff Member of Choice

If a client has visited or done business with your company at least once, then he or she may have a preference of a certain staff member that they want to work with. However, let's say that a client wants to schedule an appointment, but it's during one of the more busier times of the year like the holidays and he or she cannot see the staff member with whom they may have a rapport.

That client just might re-consider scheduling the appointment so that he or she can meet with the staff member of their choice, or they might book the appointment anyway, but might be less than excited about it because the staff member might not understand their preferences, likes, and interests. To avoid a less than satisfactory experience, encourage clients to pre-book so that they might have a greater chance to meet with the staff member of their choice.

Help Clients Get the Service They Really Want (And Not Settle for Second-Best)

When we find out that we might have to settle for second-best, then we're often disappointed and we may reconsider settling at all - thus turning away and seeking further assistance. To avoid this happening with clients, pre-booking can help them have the service done that they really want and not settle for "second-best" or a similar service because one service is not available due to a staff member being out of office for a while or on leave.

Get Staff Members Excited

When a staff member gets a client or customer to pre-book an appointment with the business, then he or she could receive a reward whether that's an additional discount, a free service/product, or even an outing. Make this offer fun for your staff members so that they will be happy to get involved and encourage clients to set up appointments ahead of time. You could also make this a group or team effort by awarding groups of staff member who have the most pre-booked appointments by the end of the month.

Get More Insight on Your Services

Feedback is very valuable. It's good to know what your clients and customers are thinking about your services and your business as a whole. Should you change the way that you're offering a service? Is there something new in your industry that you can learn about and try? Can you change something about the environment that you're working in? Different ways to encourage clients to provide you with insight might include filling out a brief survey before the end of the service (or at the end), asking a brief question and prompting feedback before the end of the service, or even asking the client what would he or she do if they were in your shoes (a scenario type of question). And this can particularly come about by simply asking your client if he or she would like to go ahead and book their next appointment with you.

Finally, if you offer pre-booking it is important to clearly communicate your cancellation policy. Even if you do not accept advance payment, clearly communicating a cancellation policy can help reduce last minute cancellations and no-shows. Pre-booking is not the best option for every business, but it is a viable option for many and is worth considering in your business model. There are many benefit to pre-booking, so consider them as you weigh out your options.