Online Scheduling Apps Are Going Mainstream And Coming To Be Used By Consumers Hot
Today, a booking platform for healthcare professionals, ZocDoc, announced it had named former U.S. Senators Tom Daschle and Dr. Bill Frist to its advisory board. ZocDoc, says TechCrunch, allows users to book doctor appointments online.
The real news for advisors and other professional services firms is that these online scheduling apps are starting to spread from the business world to consumers.
To be clear, apps like ZocDoc and Tungle (which was bought last year by BlackBerry) integrate Outlook with an online calendar. People who you invite to meetings can see when you're available and not. They can book a meeting with you and the appointment gets fed into your Outlook calendar. These apps work with mobile devices as well as desktops.
A year ago or two, when I started using online scheduler, Tungle, some people I tried setting up meetings with just didn't know what to do to make it work right.
Now, a lot more business people are comfortable with these systems. It's only a matter of time before they go mainstream, as evidenced by ZocDoc's high-profile effort with medical professionals.
Many advisors already use online scheduling apps because booking meetings this way is so much simpler than playing phone tag and getting assistants involved. Tungle, incidentally, works pretty well and is integrated with Outlook.
As these apps move toward widespread adoption by consumers, I'd be curious to hear from advisors about their use of an online scheduler.
Do you use it with clients? Or do you consider it too impersonal or unprofessional? an
For an advisor who is busy, these apps promote productivity. But I'm guessing many advisors are not ready to send links to their calendars to allow clients and prospects to set up appointments.
Business-to-business appointments can definitely be streamlined using of these apps without offending anyone. Financial advisors would likely benefit by adopting an online scheduling app and using it with attorneys, accountants, and other professional contacts as well as vendors.
Using an online scheduler with clients is a different story.
Some clients are likely to prefer booking a phone appointment or in-person meeting with their advisor using an online calendar and won't find it impersonal. They may actually appreciate your efficiency. You have to know the client and how good he or she is with technology.
I would avoid using these apps with prospects. Unless you're targeting Silicon Valley or New York digerati, nothing says private wealth advisor like a personal phone call.
If you love your online scheduling app, please post the name of it. And please let us know if you are using it with clients and prospects and how that's going.
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