Google Apps has a feature which many may not be are of in the Google Calendar area. You can set appointment slots for your customers, partners and co-workers to use as part of a self-service process. This can prevent the back and forth associated with trying to pin down a time and coordinating with a busy schedule.
Recipients are able to find an open slot based on the availability of your own calendar. You set the time slots and your appointment function is associated with a url that you can distribute via your web sites, landing sites, inbound marketing campaigns or simply by email.
You can see the screenshot above to start the process. When making a new Google Calendar appointment, select the function for Appointment Slots. The wizard there will help you create the url with appointment times that you want available for anyone seeking to make an appointment.
Here are a few strategies to take advantage of this Google Apps feature:
- Sales Meetings. Make it convenient in your sales follow-up to set a time to meet with a prospective customer. You can edit the meeting with online conference call information later.
- Support Calls. If your customers are having issues, you can have a landing page for them to set up their own calls based on your own limited availability times.
- Office Hours. If you have visiting times as part of your management, teaching or professorship, you can set office hours this way. If the time is taken, then it will not be made available.
- Training On New Systems. To help drive success and adoption of technologies and process, you can send a calendar invitation with your appointment slots. This allows your team or customers to train when it is convenient.
Think strategically about how to incorporate this feature in your own workflow and process. It is powerful for automating the flow of your knowledge work.
How can you use this in your business?
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