Heroes of the New Economy: A more efficient machine
January 17th, 2010Machine Methods Consulting may sound like a large firm with a team of people waiting by the phone ready to assist your every technical need but it isn’t. It is just me trying to help as many people as one person can handle. And, until human cloning is perfected, that is likely all it will ever be. Therefore, I need to use every tool I can to save time while continuing to maintain a high level of service for my clients.
As a “business of one”, here is how my client scheduling used to often occur…
I would get a call from a client, usually in a situation where I could not pick up (for instance, if I was assisting another client). They would leave a message with a technical problem. Later, I would call them back and often they would not answer and I would leave a message. Then, just to be safe, I would follow up with an email to let them know I got the message and it sounded like something I should make a visit for. I would ask what times are good for them. They would reply back with some times, none of which were available for me. Often, several emails may bounce back and forth, voicemails left, etc. before a solid appointment time could be set.
Here is how my client scheduling happens now…
My clients go to my website, click on the Setster Appointment Widget on the right hand side of the page, choose the service they need, choose an available time, enter their contact information, and click confirm. Done.
Setster empowers my clients with knowing that if they have a service need they can schedule me, at a time available for us both, and then rest in the knowledge that I will show up and get the job done or follow up before hand if I have further questions. They have the control. There is no back and forth, no phone tag or email relays. It’s fast, it’s simple, and a tremendous time saver for everyone involved.
Patrick Rhone is Your Guy at Machine Methods Consulting in Saint Paul, MN. http://www.machinemethods.com
Heroes of the New Economy: From a hobby to a business
January 17th, 2010Setster has transformed our business capacity and techniques, more than any other software we could add to our business model.
As a new company CheapShots Photography could only accept appointments through phone or email. As the owner of this “hobby business”, I worked full-time for a software company, and owned another business Solase Massage, on the side. I didn’t have time to answer as many calls and emails as I was getting. This third business, a photography business was supposed to be a hobby, not a job. CheapShots started growing and in 6 months, without any advertising, was doing 7-8 appointments a week. Which is not bad for one person, BUT due to the lack of time I could spend with my “hobby business” clients phone numbers were being misplaced, calls left unanswered with no message left, I was unorganized in how I booked appointments, and I felt the pressure and stress creeping in as my business was growing at a rate I couldn’t keep up with.
Enter Setster. I set up the appointment button on the side of my webpage, and viola! I made mention to it on my website, that clients could now book on-line. Instantly, within two days, I booked 7 appointments ON TOP of the others I previously had scheduled and was still scheduling. I continued at this rate with Setster as well. Setster saved me. When I wasn’t able to answer calls, I noticed my clients booked with Setster. They selected the type of appointment they wanted, set a date and then an email was sent to me to confirm or reschedule, and a confirmation to them once it was final. Period. Then it dawned on me. How many appointments had I missed simply because I didn’t have a tool to ease the process of booking an appointment? At least 7 within a two day period. For me that’s 350.00 my company was losing every two days. I would have had NO CLUE I was missing these appointments if I wouldn’t have added Setster to my business. This tripled the number of appointments I was able to book every week. I still had my calls, but if I wasn’t able to book an appointment (because I was driving) I would tell the client to log onto my website to book it. It saves their contact information, the date they scheduled, and they can add a note to say “Hey I just got off the phone with you, we talked about doing pictures at the lake”. No effort from me whatsoever. I like a business that runs itself… how about you? Time is money. Send them to my website and I’m done. I don’t want to sound lazy, but when you already have two jobs and you are crazy enough to pick up a third, you need the best tools to help utilize your time. Setster fits the profile to a “T”.
In a period of 3-4 months with Setster, my business has increased 700% in size and revenue, even in a down economy. I can afford to advertise now. I happily blame Setster for my success. In my business, I could only do so much. I hired an employee to book all my appointments. She links my Google Calendar to Setster so the appointments show in both places, so the availability on my website is always correct. It’s flawless, simple and has revolutionized my business. Guess what? She works from home. Because of Setster, I have been able to hire 6 other photographers who can easily check their appointments and get the information they need for their photo shoots without having to contact me. And the most beautiful thing about it is they can all work from home. I now run the business instead of having the business run me. I must say that I LOVE the fact that it’s Internet based. Here are the biggest benefits I see in Setster
PROS
- Ability so save client information
- Low cost
- Ability to link with PayPal to receive payments.
- Automatic emails sent to client and business
- Able to check Setster with any internet connection
- No complaints from my clients (No, not a single one)
- Ability to handle more clients because the volume is “funneled” before it’s sent to CheapShots and we can take it from there
- No data loss because it’s a web-based/hosted program
- Easy to add’s to your website with minimal effort or computer knowledge
- Ability to link to Google Calendar
…. I could continue, but I want to add a couple things. Because Setster worked so well in my “hobby business” I had my staff add it to my “real business” located in one of the busiest areas in Orem, Utah. It has also increased our appointment-booking rate within this business, with little or no advertising.
One more thing before you run off to purchase this program. I work in a software industry. Change to software programs does NOT happen over night, in fact it sometimes takes 1-2 years to restructure a program in order ton enhance a program’s features. I would like to say this is one of the FIRST companies where they have taken advice without speculation, wanting to further develop the program to fit all scheduling aspects for their clients. Within a 2 day period I had a response from the Setster team on some enhancement requests I sent in. The feasible ones that would benefit others have already been added into the software. Can I say remarkable?
Thank you Setster, for making my companies more efficient, affordable (low overhead for me, low prices for my customers) and more flexible. We would be lost without you.
http://cheapshotsllc.blogspot.com
Christy Hair
Cheap Shots Photography
Heroes of the New Economy
January 17th, 2010We are seeing a new generation of entrepreneurs that are adapting, creating new opportunities and prospering in this economy. From the one shop freelancer to large organized groups, we are witnessing a seismic shift in how technology is being applied to generate new business.
As we started hearing about how our clients were using Setster, we became inspired by their stories. A surprisingly large range of individuals and companies are growing, prospering and in some cases have created unique market segments for their services.
Since seeing and having success makes dreams believable and achievable, we thought we would share their success with others.
In this series, we’ll be highlighting business using Setster’s appointment software. In their own words, users describe how they have been able to generate success. We hope you enjoy their stories and hope it motivates and inspires you to create and prosper.
The Setster Team
http://www.setster.com/blog/2010/01/from-a-hobby-to-a-business/
http://www.setster.com/blog/2010/01/a-more-efficient-machine/
http://www.setster.com/blog/2010/01/heros-of-the-new-economy-finding-a-niche-to-bridge-the-divide/
http://www.setster.com/blog/2010/01/heros-of-the-new-economy-balancing-time/
How to Sync Google Calendar and Setster
October 28th, 2009With a Setster Pro account, You can Sync your Google Calendar with Setster. The purpose of the Sync is to make sure when you are unavailable in your primary Google calendar that unavailable time shows up in Setster so your clients can not book that time.
Set up is simple.
- Log into your Google account.
- Click on the Calendar button on the top left.
- Choose your Calendar under the my calendar section and select “settings”.
- Choose the “Shared:Edit Settings” button in My Calendar Section.
- Check “Share this Calendar with others”.
- Check “Make this Calendar Public”.
- Using the drop down menu, select “see only free/busy (hide details)”.
- Save your work.
- Click on your calendar in the “my calendars” section it will bring up the “Calendar Details” section.
- Scroll down the page to the Calendar address section and click on the green “ICAL” button.
- A pop up will come up with your Google Calendar URL internet address. Copy the entire address.
- Log into your Setster account.
- Go to the Availability tab.
- Under Import calendar from, select Google in the calendar source drop down menu.
- Paste the Google calendar URL that you copied from a previous step.
- Save your work.
That is all you need to do. To make sure it is working, you can set a busy time or appointment in Google, open your widget and try to book the same time in Setster. You will notice that the time is unavailable for booking.
I use Google Calendar, what if I already have an appointment on my calendar?
October 28th, 2009Setster Free: Setster will always set the appointment. If you use Google Calendar and have an appointment already on Google, your clients will still be able to book that same time in Setster. The only way to avoid this is by syncing your availability between Setster and your Calendar.
Setster Pro: In the Pro Version, Setster communicates directly with Google Calendar. When you make an appointment in Google, the time slot and your availability are removed. Clients will not be able to book appointments with you if you are busy.
How do I make sure I am not overbooked?
October 28th, 2009With the free version of Setster, once you accept an appointment with Setster, no other appointment will be booked in that time slot.
If you use Outlook, Google, iCal, Yahoo or other application as your primary calendar, you must sync your calendar to Setster in order not to get booked during times you are unavailable on your primary calendar.
How do appointments made with Setster show up on my calendar?
October 28th, 2009Setster is compatible with the .ics file format. If you use calendar applications like iCal, Google Calendar, IBM Lotus Notes, Outlook, and Yahoo!, you will receive appointment confirmations with the time and details directly into your calendar.
There is nothing you need to do. Once you’ve accepted an appointment, we send the .ics file with all the appointment information to both you and your client.
Some calendar applications will default to automatically insert those .ics files and details into your calendar for you. Some calendar applications require you to take an action, like save the file. Once the item is in your calendar, it will look like every other appointment or busy spot in your calendar.
Blocking times with Setster, Google Calendar, Outlook and iCal
October 14th, 2009Pro version users of Setster can block their unavailable times when using third party calendars like Outlook, Google Calendar and iCal by using a published calendar. So, if you make a calendar entry in Outlook on your desktop for example; it will block that time from being available to your clients in Setster.
Here’s how it works. Every time an appointment is set up, an email is sent to both the service provider and the client that includes an .ICS file. ICS stands for Internet Calendar Standard. The ICS file is used for exchanging calendar information between calendar programs the run on your PC and online.
When an appointment is made, an email is sent to both the service provider and the user. The email includes all the information about the appointment and an ICS file that again, has all the appointment information. The ICS file is automatically imported to your calendar application where the appointment is available to view.
Once you publish your calendar, Setster is able to view and subscribe to the published calendars updates, which will let us know your available/unavailable times and blocks or opens times for your clients.
You must have a Pro Version subscription to use this option. The following blogs provide specific insutuctions for each Google, Outlook and iCal calendars.
Integrating Setster with free web sites viviti, jimdo, squarespace, webs, yola, weebly, doodlekit, groop and blogspot
October 3rd, 2009It’s a new generation. In the past, to build a website you had to rely on yourself to write the code or hire someone. You also had to generate the content and decide what the site is going to do. Today, free website creating services compete to provide a rich, functional drag and drop User Interface. The technology is practically invisible with no need to write code.
You can add features and upgrades when it make sense and can generate some sort of return. Setster integrates with many the best free web site builders on the web. Some are easier than others but each allowed us to put the tab layover where we wanted it on the website.
The following is a list of free websites that have our free widget and how to do it.
- http://edwardlujan.viviti.com/
- http://edwardlujan.jimdo.com/
- http://edwardlujan.squarespace.com/
- http://edwardlujan.webs.com/
- http://edwardlujan.yolasite.com/
- http://edwardlujan.weebly.com/
- http://edwardlujan.doodlekit.com/blog
- http://edwardlujan.grroop.com/
- http://edwardlujan.blogspot.com
This list is by no means inclusive, we are adding more. If your platform is not on the list, let us know and we’ll add it.
The Setster team.