Custom online booking tools
A booking tool shows your real availability, takes requests at any hour and confirms without you. FastSolve builds it around your rules, the ones off-the-shelf products refuse to understand.
You can see the result before discussing it: the link below is available online, with no sign-up required.
The phone ringing while you work
Four situations come up with almost every professional who takes appointments.
- You are with a client and the phone rings. You lose either the appointment or the attention you owed the person in front of you.
- Requests come in during the evening and at weekends, when nobody answers. Some of those people then call somebody else.
- Two appointments end up in the same slot because two people were keeping the diary separately.
- An unannounced no-show leaves an empty slot that cannot be billed to anyone, for want of a reminder sent the day before.
This is not a problem of personal organisation. It is that booking by phone requires two people to be free at the same instant, which is rarely the case.
Four functions that change the day
Most of the requests we handle combine all or part of these four functions.
1. Showing real availability
The client sees what is free, genuinely free, and chooses. That assumes the tool knows your hours, your absences and how long each service takes, which is rarely a simple grid.
Typical case. A practitioner offered slots by phone while consulting his diary. Requests are now made online, and the back-and-forth to find a time has gone.
2. Confirming without you
The confirmation goes out immediately, with the place, the duration and what to bring. The client is not waiting for your call back, and you no longer handle the request twice.
Typical case. A workshop called back every request to confirm. That second call is gone, and the time recovered amounts to half a day a week.
3. Reminding before the appointment
This is the most profitable function and the most discreet. A reminder the day before markedly reduces unannounced no-shows, which are a straight loss.
Typical case. A practice lost several slots a week. An automatic reminder the day before brought no-shows down in a way immediately visible on the schedule.
4. Enforcing your rules
A minimum notice before booking, travel time between two jobs, a different duration depending on the service, a limited number of places: these rules are what separate a custom tool from a shared diary.
Typical case. A repair service had to keep thirty minutes between two jobs depending on the area. No off-the-shelf product handled it. The tool now works that gap out automatically.
What a booking tool will not do
It takes the appointments. It does not create them.
- It does not fill your diary. It captures the demand that already exists more effectively, including at ten at night, it manufactures none of it.
- It does not handle what you have not written down. An exception that depends on the client and the day has to become a rule before it can be automated.
- It does not suit all your clients. Some will keep phoning, and that is fine: the tool should relieve the phone, not abolish it.
- It needs input from you. This service requires you to answer a few questions along the way, about your rules and your hours. That is why it carries a star on our home page.
The gain is in the interruptions avoided and in the slots that no longer stay empty, not in the number of clients.
Frequently asked questions
Why not an off-the-shelf booking tool?
For fixed-length appointments with no particular constraint, an existing product does the job very well and costs less. We say so when that is the case. Custom work earns its place when your rules fall outside the expected frame: variable durations, resources to book at the same time, geographical areas, preparation times, prices that depend on the slot. That is precisely where generic products force awkward workarounds.
How much does a booking tool cost?
The amount depends on the number of rules to enforce, the number of people or resources to schedule, and whether payment is taken at booking. A simple appointment form and a tool coordinating three staff and two rooms are in no way comparable. The price is set after scoping. As a guide, excluding VAT, most booking tools fall between 3,000 and 6,000 euros. A tool coordinating several staff members and resources with online payment can reach 12,000 euros.
Can I keep my current calendar?
Often yes, and generally it is desirable, so that you keep a single view of your day. It is checked during scoping, since everything depends on the calendar in use and what it allows.
Can payment be taken at booking?
Yes, and it sharply reduces no-shows. It assumes an account with a payment provider, which you open yourself: we cannot do it on your behalf. A partial deposit is often a better compromise than payment in full.
How are cancellations handled?
Your terms translate into rules: the notice beyond which cancelling is free, below which it is not, and automatic release of the slot. The client cancels on their own, which is better than a silent absence.
What about clients who are uneasy with technology?
They keep phoning, and you book for them from the same tool. The aim is not to force everyone online, but to remove enough calls that the remaining ones can be handled calmly.
Can I approve each booking myself?
Yes, and it is a common choice when every request deserves a look. The tool then works in two steps: the client submits a request on a free slot, you accept it or decline it, and the confirmation only goes out afterwards. The slot can be held for a delay of your choosing, so that a second client does not book it in the meantime. You keep control, without going back to the telephone.
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