Are you spending more time managing appointments than performing your services?  If so then you are in luck.  With the increasing flexibility of web services, your business could have an online appointment management system set up and fully functional with just a few days.

A recent client of mine signed up to advertise her business using Living Social’s Daily Deal program.  The sales person at Living Social estimate 700-800 deals would be sold during the one day offer.  While this sounds wonderful, my client knew this would create a logistical nightmare and she would not be able to handle the scheduling of so many appointments.  After contacting me, I quickly provided a list of solutions that fit her immediate business needs within her budget.  It took a couple of days to integrate and test the online appointment management software selected.   By the time her daily deal was ready to roll out so were we.

The salesperson was right and just over 750 deals were sold that day and the phone calls started streaming requesting appointments.  Fortunately, the voicemail message was modified to refer people to the website for scheduling appointments and the calendar started filling up quickly.  Within a month, nearly 250 appointments had been scheduled on line.   Many of these were modified and some were cancelled, but in almost all cases, there was no need for my client to contact the customers.  Now everything could be  handled by the customer online. Just one month prior, these were all managed one at a time by the proprietor.

This simple tool created more time for my client to perform her services without the stress of managing appointments.  Furthermore, she no longer worried about missing calls or having to make call backs after hours as her website was always there ready to set up the next appointment.  Adding more value to her business, this tool captured all contact information, which could then be used for future email marketing programs.  As she stated, “this system was a Godsend”.

Online scheduling has proven its value to many and can assist any business that manages appointments.  It can be used for customers and employees.  Some businesses that benefit from online scheduling systems include:

• Spas, Hair Removal Clinics, Massage Therapists
• Fitness Facilities, Personal Trainers, Yoga Studios,
• Tennis Courts, Golf Courses, other athletic fields
• Nail Salons, Beauty Palors, Tanning Centers
• Business Coaches, Tutors, Counselors, Therapists
• Chiropractors, Naturapaths, Holistic Practitioners
• and many more...

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Other than making the sale, capturing leads is the most important aspect of an internet marketing campaign.  Captured leads are normally from highly interested people that are near to making a decision.   Once you have their contact information you can now put your sales force into action to close the sale.   You now have a potential client, partner, or referral source.

So how do you capture leads?  There are several techniques for getting leads but the simplest and, in my opinion, most effective lead capture method is the single purpose, call-to-action, landing page.   This page has one goal, to get information on potential customers.  Because the page is focused only on the information that the prospect is interested in, the message is clear.  There is no need for them to wade through or be distracted by other services or offers your business may provide.   In general, a well designed landing page will have the following:

• Short overview of your offer clearly defining the value proposition.  This could be through text, imagery, audio, or video.
• A motivational element, e.g. free e-book, free site evaluation, free consultation, disocunt coupon, etc.
• An input form to capture the information you need

To improve your lead capture rate, consider creating multiple pages and test each one using a method called A/B testing.  Simply put, this is a system of serving up an alternative landing page and then measuring the conversion rate of each.   After a while you will be able to determine which page works best and can then focus on the best one.

If you have questions about how to create an effective landing page for your promotion give us a call or send me an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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