Appointment Scheduling Software

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Brian Hansen
Brian Hansen Member Posts: 75 Expert
5 Insightfuls First Anniversary Name Dropper
edited August 2021 in Digital CS (Engagement Programs)
Hello, GGRers! I'm curious if anyone has instituted Calendly or another appointment scheduling software to cut down on time spent chasing customers for calls and to give customers the control/flexibility/modernization they're looking for.

Anything stand out that ties best with Outlook, matches your org's IT requirements, and controls the investment level?

Thanks for any thoughts!
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  • Renee Murphy
    Renee Murphy Member Posts: 18 Thought Leader
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    edited August 2021
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    I love using calendly to help with the what times work for you.  At first I thought it was weirdly pushy but customer and others prefer the ease of it.   Often the back and forth is also a way to delay or escape meeting so it takes away that excuse.
  • Rick Emery
    Rick Emery Member Posts: 4 Navigator
    2023 Success Network - Supporter First Anniversary
    edited August 2021
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    Hey, Brian.

    We just started implementing OnceHub for this purpose - it seems to work well and is free for the first 25 users.

    Good luck
  • Brian Hansen
    Brian Hansen Member Posts: 75 Expert
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    edited August 2021
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    I like that angle of it, Renee. It shows we're committed to THEIR availability too so there isn't anywhere for you to hide. Ha! Do you use a free or paid version of Calendly, @Renee Bochman? Thanks!
  • Renee Murphy
    Renee Murphy Member Posts: 18 Thought Leader
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    edited August 2021
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    I did the pro version for my multiple calendars (doctor appointments and such that I put on my personal calendar so I don't have to duplicate them), multiple event types, and multiple people to be able to schedule.  The price is digestible to justify for me so it was worth the extra convenience.
  • jennyweigle
    jennyweigle Member Posts: 3 Navigator
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    edited August 2021
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    I don't run a team so I can't speak to that, but I use Calendly and absolutely love it. I encourage many of my clients to bookmark my Calendly link so that they can schedule something anytime they need to and they don't need to ask me first. 

    A friend of mine took advantage of this deal to become a lifetime customer of TidyCal (a Calendly competitor) for $19, and I do wish I had known about that and tried it first before I bought the Calendly pro subscription (though I've been very happy with Calendly).
  • Richard Brereton
    Richard Brereton Member Posts: 8 Seeker
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    edited August 2021
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    We use Calendly. It has massively cut down on the time taken to schedule meetings. Many clients now just proactively book calls with CSMs when they need to discuss anything. Being able to set rules around availability is really helpful as is the ability to create shared calendars. You can create events that will book a call with multiple people based on their combined availability. You can also have team type events that will rotate between different team members. We have found this very useful for lower value clients that don't necessarily have a dedicated CSM. You can also add hidden events that can only be booked by people with that URL. Finally the ability to have multiple event types with different rules and durations enables CSMs to have an idea of why the call has been booked.
  • Brian Hansen
    Brian Hansen Member Posts: 75 Expert
    5 Insightfuls First Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited August 2021
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    Thank you for the comments, everyone. Very helpful!
  • Scott Hair
    Scott Hair Member Posts: 9 Seeker
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    edited August 2021
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    I inherited Calendly at my previous organization.   At the time when I arrived, Calendly wasn't fully implemented.  I led a small team responsible for Sales, AM and CS functions, including securing and processing annual renewals.  The account to rep ratio was unfortunately off the charts and we needed a way to cut down the administrative back and forth of calendar coordination.  I found calendly fantastic for individual and team calendar coordination.  There are alot of great youtube videos to help you through the setup and ablity to share standard meeting types across multiple people.   I've also had experience with YouCanBookMe, but prefer Calendly.
  • Sophie Quinn
    Sophie Quinn Member, CS Leader Posts: 22 Thought Leader
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    edited August 2021
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    Hey Brian, 

    I may be a bit late to jump on this thread. However, I am currently looking into the same area. 

    Our company has two different products that run off different emails. Has anyone worked with a Calendar tool that allows you to have multiple Calendar links that work off two different emails. 

    For example: 
    We want our 'Safe Food' customers getting Calendar reminders from Safe Food and our 'Site App' customers getting Calendar reminders from Site App.

    It's been quite a tricky one to find a solution to so would love to hear peoples thoughts.
  • Bobby Thomson
    Bobby Thomson Member Posts: 2 Navigator
    edited August 2021
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    I looked at ChiliPiper and Calendly. Probably can't go wrong with either.  I ended up going with Calendly since they were started here in the ATL. I've really liked the platform so far as its almost dummy proof. My only issue, which is probably user error, is it is not syncing with my Outlook 365 calendar so  I just go directly to Calendly to view upcoming appts. The integration with Zoom and for customers to choose that option has  been awesome too. Calendly has proven very useful and especially liked having the mobile app to copy a schedule link and send via text to customers and they can easily lock in the appointment.  The automatic reminders you set up for email and text 24 hrs before and 1 hour before appt time has ended up in 100% success to date for me on appointments sticking and one cancellation through the reminder.
  • Jennifer Cramer
    Jennifer Cramer Member Posts: 2 Navigator
    edited August 2021
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    Hi Brian,

    I might be a bit late to this thread but I use Chili Piper and it's been a game changer for me!  I use it to schedule candidate interviews, to schedule customer onboarding calls with multiple participants from our company, and it integrates with our solution which is incredibly powerful!  What I love is that the scheduler is embedded in my email so it's easy for the recipient to see the available options and if none of them work, they can click a link and check out my broader availability.  

    Good luck with your research - I'm happy to discuss my experience any time!

    Best,

    Jennifer
    VP, CS at Planhat
  • Jennifer Cramer
    Jennifer Cramer Member Posts: 2 Navigator
    edited August 2021
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    Hi Brian,

    I might be late to the party here, but wanted to chime in as I use Chili Piper and it's been a game changer for me!  I use it to schedule meetings with candidates (I'm doing A LOT of recruiting right now!), and also use it to scheduling onboarding meetings (typically with many players, recurring, etc.) with customers.  I really love it because it's visually very easy to use - options are prominently displayed in my email and then if those options don't work for the recipient they can click on a link and look at the rest of my availability.

    Chili Piper has my vote - hope that helps!

    Jennifer
  • Alex Gold
    Alex Gold Member Posts: 1 Navigator
    edited August 2021
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    Hey Brian,

    Just wanted to add we use Chilipiper and we love it.  It allows my team to save time booking meetings and captures everything in SFDC reducing admin.  There's also a suggested time feature that allows you to share times to meet directly in an email so that your guest can instantly book without having to open another calendar. As well as just the flexibility of booking calls full stop, we have set up invite templates (e.g. success planning, kick off etc) that log in sf as a customer interaction so we can track these by CSM as well and use this to understand engagement with our customers. We co-wrote a post on our integration if you want to see more on this https://www.chilipiper.com/resources/wistia-chili-piper-case-studies/gocardless
  • Jessica Harris
    Jessica Harris Member Posts: 1 Navigator
    edited August 2021
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    Hi Brian,

    Another advocate for Chili Piper here! As well as all the great stuff that others have mentioned, it's been fantastic from an internal operations perspective, allowing us to standardise meeting invitations across our CS & Onboarding teams and track these effectively within Salesforce (as well as being super easy to administrate).

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