If you’re a small business with limited time and resources, rather than react to random phone calls, have prospects arrange to talk using an embedded website calendar system.
Video Transcript
Hello, I want to say a few things about handling inquiries through your website. It's about protecting your time. Rather than react to random phone calls, it's better if prospects and even some clients arrange to chat with you using an online calendar system.
I'm not talking about Google Calendar, that is part of it, but I'm talking about these systems like Calendly, TidyCal, they're great. Some of them are free, some of them have a paid tier, which I recommend.
And this is for very small businesses, solopreneurs, consultants, people that tend to work by themselves.
Depending on what industry you're in, your phone number is probably plastered all over your website in various places. I get it, I know why people do that. They're trying to make easy for people to get in touch and make an inquiry and hopefully that inquiry leads to a sale.
But, well... it's never as easy as that, is it?
I think you'll find that if you add just the right amount of friction, you will ultimately be doing your prospects and your clients a lot of favours.
So what would you do? Well, three things.
Number one, first of all, stop plastering the phone number all over the website.
Number two, stop talking in terms of "taking inquiries".
And number three, install that calendar system on the website. It embeds with some code, easy to do.
On that first point, when you put your phone number all over the place, here, there and everywhere, leaflets, flyers, blah, blah, blah – for the pleasure and convenience of complete and utter strangers – it shows that you're available at everyone's beck and call for any reason whatsoever and people will often take advantage of that. We know that.
At the very least, remove your mobile number. Only let certain people have that. The exception is, is that it might be someone's job to answer the phone.
So if your number is all over your website and people do call to make inquiries, well, maybe you've got a team of inbound call handlers. It's their job to do that. That's fine. That's the exception.
But if it's a business run by a few people, then you can't really have the phone ringing. I'm a one-man band, so I've got to have this calendar. It's non-negotiable, really.
On that second point: taking inquiries. People who take inquiries tend to get lumped into the same category as people who work in pizza shops.
You're an order taker, basically, and you're reacting to other people's phone calls.
Number three: installing the calendar system is pretty easy to do. It takes a bit of configuring and setting up.
I started off using Calendly, the free version, but it's a bit too restrictive. If I'd paid for it, it would have been a monthly or annual recurring subscription, and really, it was a bit overkill for what I wanted to use it for. That's more like an enterprise solution, I think.
But TidyCal, it's a one-time payment. It's a lifetime license, and they'll continue adding to it. I've got to say, it adds a lot more predictability to my schedule.
I've really reaped the benefits of it. I get to choose my own availability. When you use TidyCal, you divide your day or week or month into chunks of time.
When people book a block, an alert is sent to you by email, and you can reply to that email to tell the person that you're accepting their booking request. But you can actually cancel it, or you can reschedule if you need to do that. TidyCal also figures out time zone differences for you, so there's no going back and forth trying to find the time that works for the two of you.
And you can set up different types of calendar for different types of call. You might have the initial 15-minute chat, but then you might have a longer chat, say one hour. You might also want to sell consultation calls.
You can do that. You can integrate Stripe or PayPal into TidyCal, and then you can set a price for your consultation call, which means the person booking this call has to pay before they can actually successfully book the consultation call. So, great way to take payment in advance.
If you have multiple calendars, there's no possibility of double booking either. TidyCal will block off time from all calendars when any slot is booked. I should also say at this point, this is where the Google Calendar integration comes in.
Let's say you're going to a wedding. You can go into your Google Calendar, and you can set a family wedding for all day. And maybe the next day as well, maybe you're recovering from a hangover.
So, that's two days that you want to make unavailable to TidyCal. Well, if you've integrated the Google Calendar with TidyCal, that availability is taken away from all of your TidyCal calendars. Overall, I'd say that any kind of system or process that you integrate for the purposes of communicating with people, it's like a moat around the castle.
It's like a drawbridge that you only ever lower for the people that you're expecting. Not everyone does this. A lot of people are afraid to restrict access to themselves.
They think that if they don't include the phone number on the website, they're somehow missing out on business. Well, look, if you want to have your phone number on there, that's up to you. Just remember that an incessantly ringing phone is a massive disruption.
If you're having to stop work to answer the phone, then you're not in control. The person who's placing the call is in control. They decided they'd phone you up just because they feel like it and you've answered.
So, who's in control there? Not you. Speak of the devil. One second.
Sorry about this. Hello? Yes, it's Darren. Who's this? Oh right, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm sorry. I can't talk right now. Have you been to the website already? Yeah.
Yeah. Do you have a pen? Yeah. IlkestonWebDesign.com/contact.
Yeah. There's a calendar. If you scroll down, there's a calendar.
You can book a 15 minute chat with me. Yeah. All the availability is on there, but you pick a time that's good for you and I can give you all of my attention.
So, forward slash contact. Yeah. All right. Thanks. Bye.
Time is the one thing they're not making any more of.
I mean, governments print money for God's sake. What did they call it? Quantitative easing or something.
You can't print more time.
That's a scarce and finite resource. I mean, rich people don't need any more money. What they want is to make the most of the TIME that they have.
If you've got your shit together, then you should be managing your time. A good system sets you free. Have rules, have boundaries. Otherwise, it's chaos and chaos is needlessly expensive.
We’ve all spent far too long chit-chatting with time wasters, tyre kickers, price buyers, discount seekers, brain pickers, ear benders, scammers, salespeople, liars, manipulators and lunatics.
And why does this happen? Well… because it was so easy for them to get in touch by phone.
Granted, some businesses are staffed by teams of receptionists or inbound call handlers paid to specifically handle enquiries. They spend all day answering questions, setting up appointments, and acting as gatekeepers. 🛡️
Thing is, not all of us have this luxury.
Time’s Running Out…
It’s possible you work by yourself. You or someone with a hundred other things to do must manage incoming calls, emails and private messages as well as actual business operations.
The situation becomes orders of magnitude more aggravating when you spend large sums on advertising campaigns, since you’ll be opening up the floodgates to random people who all want to “talk” for reasons that might not align with your own. 😩
Therefore, it pays to be clever in how you choose to approach the use of the telephone as part of fielding inbound enquiries…
What should you do? Three things:
- Stop plastering the phone number all over the website
- Stop talking in terms of “taking enquiries”
- Install and manage a calendar booking system
1. Stop plastering the phone number all over the website
When you put your phone number here, there and everywhere, for the pleasure and convenience of total strangers, it sends the subtle message that you’re available at everyone’s beck and call.
Those subtle messages, like all commercial messages, forms part of your marketing. 🙈
If you have to have the phone number on the website, at least only have it on the contact page. Maybe just a landline number with voicemail.
Be smart about it. Only let serious prospects or clients have the mobile number. Guard and protect.
2. Stop talking in terms of taking “enquiries”
People who “take enquiries” get lumped into the same category as people who work in pizza shops. They get treated like an order taker who becomes obligated to do what The Enquirer demands.
Order takers who answer the phone whenever it rings are reacting to other peoples’ phone calls and by doing so, allowing others to control their time.
Instead, you want to be the trusted advisor who can only be reached by booking or arranging a phone call. That’s a stronger position.
3. Install and manage a calendar booking system
Calendar systems like Calendly or TidyCal can be set up, configured and integrated/embedded directly on any website page. You choose your availability and divide your day or week into chunks of time. ⏲️
Prospects then book an available slot/block.
Deliberately adding just the right amount of friction up front and in advance does you, your prospects and your clients many favours.
Everyone’s time is respected and everyone has chance to mentally prepare.
Best Online Calendar Appointment Software (IMO)
TidyCal is my number one choice, but Calendly has its merits too.
The reason TidyCal wins for me, is that you only need purchase a single lifetime license as opposed to doing the recurring payments with Calendly.
Both have free tiers, of course, and that might be enough for you.
However, if you want a more choreographed process for whatever it is (sales, onboarding, consulting, etc), you might need multiple types of calendar that each represent bookable appointments of different lengths/purposes.
I can set all this up for you as part of my website admin and maintenance services. You’d create a TidyCal account, add the password to a doc like this, and give me access.
TidyCal: Better Value Than Calendly
The TidyCal lifetime license works out better value for money than Calendly if you need a greater set of features with multiple calendars.
Book Slots
The blocks/slots are presented in the calendar according to when you want to make yourself available.
Personally, I choose not to let people book on the same day. There’s a buffer of a few days and zero availability at weekends.
Booking Alerts in Dashboard and by Email
When people book a block/slot, an alert is sent to you as a new booking request via email. The bookings are also shown in the TidyCal dashboard, with the option to cancel or reschedule.
Confirming TidyCal Bookings
The only thing missing is a “confirm” button in the TidyCal dashboard. It would be handy if TidyCal included this (it’s been requested as a feature by other users of the software).
There’s a workaround for now. When a booking request arrives, just reply to the email alert with a simple sentence letting the person know you’re accepting the booking.
No Double Booking is Possible
It won’t be possible for someone to book, say, a 15 minute chat if you’re already committed to a call with someone else. No possibility for mix ups.
I have multiple calendars for various purposes – seven in total – and it’s important that my availability is always accurate.
Google Calendar Integration – Highly Recommended
If you integrate your Google Calendar with TidyCal, any events created in Google Calendar will automatically block off time in TidyCal. ⚙️
Charging for Blocks/Slots in TidyCal
Do you normally charge for consultations? Need to take payment in advance? Don’t want to mess around sending invoices and waiting for BACs transfers?
Well, TidyCal handles that. You can hook it up to your PayPal or Stripe account and take payments that way.
Summary: A Little “Friction” Disqualifies Time Wasters
Unless your marketing funnel is exceptionally well-targeted to perfect prospects, you will forever have to fend off, filter out and disqualify those destined to gobble up your precious minutes and hours.
Unless it’s someone’s job to “take enquiries”, stop reacting to a ringing phone with such optimism – we’re all sick of salespeople, scammers and whoever else is out there. 🛑
Have appropriate filters (like an online booking calendar) in place to help prevent that.
