![[Valid RSS]](http://blog.timetrade.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/valid-rss-rogers.png "Validate my RSS feed")
The TimeTrade Blog
The source for creative ways to increase productivity, accelerate your sales funnel, and improve customer satisfaction.
Tech Solution Spotlight: Use Yesware to Create TimeTrade-Enabled Gmail Templates
There are many benefits to using templates when creating emails, but using standard templating functionality in Gmail or other systems has limitations. Most email systems allow you to create reusable templates, but it ends there, most of the time…
We’ve found a great new tool called Yesware that helps you create and categorize your email templates and track their performance all through Gmail.
We love that the template creation is extremely easy (just compose an email and save it as a template) but what really floats our boat here at TimeTrade is Yesware’s direct integration to Gmail and popular CRM systems such as Salesforce, Highrise, Sugar, PipeJump, etc. We know the power of integration and how the purpose of using tools like this is to make life easier and to streamline processes, so when we come across solutions like Yesware that fit the bill, we are quick to find ways to use them with TimeTrade.
If you don’t already have a TimeTrade account,
click here to get started.
See a screenshot below of some of the analytic capabilities you can now get with Gmail using Yesware:
You get insights into how your customers and prospects are reacting to your message through the analytics that are viewable right from within Gmail.
Take all this cool functionality and couple it with TimeTrade and you’ve turned your Gmail account into a sales prospecting arsenal.
Check out our video below on how to get set up using TimeTrade and Yesware in no time.
Filed under: uncategorized
Tagged: crm, email marketing, email templates, gmail, scheduling software
Schedule Meetings On-the-Go with TimeTrade Mobile for the iPhone
It’s becoming more common lately for professionals to book appointments from their mobile devices. And why not? It seems that almost all of the day-to-day tasks we’re accustomed to doing on a computer are now accessible through our mobile devices.
Now, TimeTrade is part of your mobile toolbox for productivity, increasing sales and keeping your customers happy.
The TimeTrade Mobile iPhone app is now available in the Apple iTunes App Store (US and Canada) and it’s free to download. If you are currently a TimeTrade Professional or Workgroup Edition customer, all you have to do is log in and start scheduling, but if you are new to TimeTrade, you can sign up for a free trial here.
Here are some of the features you get with TimeTrade Mobile:
- Invite contacts to “Click to Schedule” right from your iPhone
- Use the in-app calendar to choose times to make available for meetings
- Use the “Follow-Up List” to instantly contact those who haven’t responded to your invites
- See a detailed overview of your activity from the app dashboard
Here’s a brief overview of how to use TimeTrade Mobile for the iPhone. Click here for more detailed instructions on using the app and to access our support knowledge base.
 |
The DashboardQuickly and easily set and follow all of your scheduling activity. From the dashboard, you can send invitations to schedule meetings and appointments, monitor your recent activity, and see how many invitations haven’t been responded to. |
|
In-App Calendar ControlYou can access any of your existing TimeTrade Activities or, choose multiple days and times to offer for meetings or appointments using a quick meeting. The easy-to-use interface will display the existing appointments so you don’t have to worry about double-booking. Tap the times you want to offer and they will automatically be included in your TimeTrade meeting invitation. |
 |
|
 |
Fast, Easy Email InvitationsYou create your email invitations, access your contacts and choose your availability right in the app. You never have to navigate away to another email application or calendar and each email sent is tracked so you know who has confirmed a meeting and who hasn’t. |
|
Keep track of contacts who haven’t confirmed appointments yetThe Follow-Up List lets you monitor who hasn’t clicked to schedule with you. Just tap the name on the list and you’ll be brought to the contact information screen where you can email or call to send a gentle reminder that they are just a click away from picking a time for your meeting! |
 |
|
Embed TimeTrade for a Better Customer Experience
It’s always a good idea to create a user experience on your website that is rich with interactivity but also provides visual and contextual continuity for the visitor. Many TimeTrade Professional and Workgroup edition users are interested in allowing customers to click-to-schedule with them but would love to have the booking process take place without leading the visitor away from their company website.
A great way to accomplish this is to embed TimeTrade on your website using an iframe. It’s quick and easy to to do if you have access to the HTML of your website (if you don’t, your web developer will have no problem setting this up for you). Just follow the steps below.
- Create a page where the TimeTrade booking screen will appear when a visitor clicks your “Click-to-Schedule” button or hyperlink. (ex. www.yourwebsite.com/schedule)
- Find your TimeTrade Activity URL (You’ll find the Activity URL by clicking on an activity in the left column of your “Home” tab) and copy it to your clipboard.
- Add the snippet of code below to the webpage you created from Step 1. and replace the red URL with your own Activity URL from Step (NOTE: the TimeTrade booking screen requires a width of 750px and a height of 525px).
<iframe src=”https://my.timedriver.com/xxxxx?sh=1” frameborder=”0″ width=”750″ height=”525″>
Filed under: uncategorized
Tagged: embed, embed online appointment scheduling, how to embed timetrade, iframe
Create a Seamless Online Scheduling Experience by Uploading Your Logo
When using new tools and solutions that are customer/prospect facing like TimeTrade Workgroup or Professional editions, it’s important to be sure they have a positive impact your business relationship. Whether it’s early on in the sales cycle or years after you’ve acquired a loyal customer, there are some key components to keep in mind when asking someone to take an action such as Click-to-Schedule.
Don’t Confuse Your Prospects and Customers
If you ask a customer or prospect to click a link, it’s important to make sure you’re specific and clear with your intent. Explain what they can expect to experience and where it is they’ll be headed if they do decide to click. Including a welcome message and/or your company logo in your scheduling process lets your customers and prospects know they’re still in the right place once they’ve clicked your link and to proceed to book an appointment. Reduce the unknown and you’ll reduce hesitation or confusion.
Earn Their Trust
Fresh relationships are also fragile ones, and when you’re prospecting, you probably have a lot of fresh relationships. It’s important to build trust with those you interact with and show them that you’re a professional.
People can be wary of links in emails and if you use TimeTrade, you probably send hyperlinks pretty regularly. So once someone clicks, you can counteract any inherent “friction” or “stress” by letting them know they’re still interacting with you, and not some other vendor or third party. Including your branding and a welcome message as part of the TimeTrade scheduling process is a good way to retain, and even build trust with your customers or prospects. You’re showing them that you are a professional using technology to make both of your lives easier.
Watch the video below to learn how to add your company logo to customer-facing TimeTrade pages.
If you are a TimeTrade Professional user, you will need to add the Branding Option from your “My Subscription” screen under the “Admin” dropdown menu.
Guest Blog: How TimeTrade Doubled My Productivity
Justin Shepard of ByAllAccounts took the time to blog about his experience with TimeTrade and we thought we’d post it here in case you missed it. Read below for a first-hand account of how TimeTrade can help double a rep’s productivity.
No More Games, Let’s Just Talk: How TimeTrade Doubled My Productivity
This is not an advertisement for TimeTrade. Nobody put me up to this, nor am I being held at fake finger-in-coat-pocket gunpoint by some over-eccentric staff member demanding a testimonial for ransom (not to suggest that anyone at TimeTrade would ever do such a thing, but I want my point to be made clear.) This is not a marketing ploy, but rather an honest reflection of the ways in which appointment scheduling software has impacted my performance as a sales development professional. I’m sure there are other products out there similar to TimeTrade that work great.
Having said that, TimeTrade works wonders for me. I began using the product in October of last year, and my productivity has doubled ever since. By “productivity has doubled”, what I mean is that the number of opportunities that I create per day is twice as high with the software as it was before I started using it. Why is that? With TimeTrade I can spend more time talking to prospects, and less time playing games.
Games I no longer have to waste my time playing thanks to TimeTrade:
“Calendar Invite Battleship”.
Ever try setting an appointment between two busy people via email, and end up sitting there sending and declining time proposals back-and-forth, hoping to blindly hit one of the few open time slots in each other’s schedules like some game of calendar invite battleship?
“The 7th at 2:00?”
“…miss! The 10th at 4:00?”
“miss! the…”
If so, you know that (unlike the real battleship) this is not a fun game to play, and it’s a waste of time on both ends. But, much like the real battleship however, it’s far easier and over much quicker when you can see the other person’s board. In a way, that’s what TimeTrade does—it shows you my board. With a TimeTrade link embedded in my email signature, one click brings you to my calendar to see exactly which appointment times I have or don’t have available, and (with your own calendar handy) another click reserves a time that works well for both parties. Easy, convenient, time-efficient (click, click “the 3rd at 9:00?” “hit!”)
Phone-Tag & Cat-and-Mouse.
Before I had TimeTrade, I used to feel like I was always trying to chase people down on their phone. I also felt like when I actually would catch people, it wasn’t at a great time. Wasting time on the chasing and waiting game is bad enough, but the last thing in the world I want to do is in anyway bother or seem intrusive to prospects. But, if you pick the time you want to speak, then I’m not catching you off guard or at a bad time. In fact, I’m doing the opposite—fulfilling your request to have a conversation on your terms. Now, not only do I not have to chase you around or feel like a bother, but when you schedule an appointment with me, I know that you’re genuinely interested in our product and what I have to say. In that regard, you might even say that TimeTrade adds an extra layer of lead qualification to a certain respect.
I am also opposed to using a “hard-sell” approach, because I simply don’t like being pushy or pressuring folks (not to criticize those who do, it just doesn’t work for me personally). Instead, I try to be as polite and personable as possible, while still being informative of the benefits of our product. I don’t sell, I help prospects buy. TimeTrade caters to this preference because by attaching my calendar link in email blasts and posting it on our website, the prospects come to me, and all I have to do is be friendly and tell them what they want to know. And many times these appointments are with those I wouldn’t have ever called. Again, that means no more wasting time (ours and theirs) calling people who aren’t interested. And, all the time I used to spend chasing can now be used for something more productive, like researching and preparing for upcoming appointments, which are never hard to set with a calendar that fills itself.
My tagline for TimeTrade: More conversations. More quality conversations. No more playing games.
About ByAllAccounts:
ByAllAccounts provides a unique combination of transaction detail, data quality, and custodian coverage specifically required for the professional wealth management market. Thousands of financial advisors rely on ByAllAccounts to efficiently scale their business, increase held-away assets in their billing schedule and deliver exceptional client service. Each night, hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of financial data records flow through our patented aggregation engine. Visit their blog at http://www.byallaccounts.com/blog/.
How to Convert Email Marketing Leads With a “Click-to-Schedule” Call-to-Action
If you use email marketing, this probably sounds familiar. Prospects get an email from you and if they are interested in your offer they fill out a form to download or request more information. But what if they want to connect with you or even buy right away? They have to go to your website and fill out a form and the chances are they end up waiting to hear from a sales rep.
Often, by the time the prospect has an actual conversation with someone in your company, days have gone by and the prospect has quite possibly lost interest.
Watch this video to see how using a TimeTrade “Click to Schedule” link as a call-to-action in your email marketing campaigns, can help you be sure interested prospects don’t have to wait. Instead, they just choose a time for an appointment and book it while they are still interested and you are still top-of-mind.
If you use TimeTrade’s Workgroup Edition and have the Appointment Router, click to see the configuration guide. To set up the Appointment Router to ensure that customers and prospects set meetings with the right representative within your company, you simply create your assignment rules and use the automated code generator to embed TimeTrade in your landing pages. When someone fills out a form to instantly confirm an appointment, they’re shown the calendar of the rep you want them to be talking to. They’re also captured as a lead if you’ve set up integration with Marketo, Eloqua or Salesforce.com.
Click here or more information on the Appointment Router for TimeTrade Workgroup Edition.
Filed under: TimeTrade Best Practices, appointment scheduling
Tagged: appointment router, eloqua, email marketing, marketo, salesforce
3 Ways to Use Salesforce Integration with Online Appointment Scheduling
If you’re using Salesforce.com you know it’s a great way to keep track of your activity with prospects and customers. Many salespeople spend the majority of the day in the tool; tracking leads, following up, calling new leads, and monitoring campaigns. Where Salesforce.com falls short is in providing you with the ability to invite others to view times you’ve selected to offer for appointments and instantly book a time with you.
Here are a few ways Salesforce integration with online appointment scheduling can help you get more meetings, keep track of those meetings, and stay connected with your prospects and customers.
Offer Appointments to anyone outside your company with
an “Offer Appointment” Button
Click the image above to learn more about offering appointments from Salesforce
The ability to offer appointments to those outside of your company, and let them see times you’ve selected to make available is not a luxury you have if you’re using Outlook or Google Calendar alone to schedule appointments. By using an online appointment scheduling system to publish your availability to your prospects or customers, you let them confirm meetings with you without ever having to go through the tedious back-and-forth emails and phone calls. This saves you time and frustration, and let’s you spend those saved hours selling.
Track your booked sales meetings as Activities in Salesforce.com
When you use TimeTrade’s Salesforce integration, meetings that get booked show up as open activities under the lead or contact who booked the appointment and automatically appear on your calendar. This eliminates the manual process of creating the activity and ensures you and your manager are accurately tracking your sales activity.
Include a schedule link in your Salesforce email templates
If you include a link to your online appointment scheduling calendar in all of your communications, including those from Salesforce.com, you’ll quickly find that your links start doing your work for you. As you communicate, your contacts will see your “Click to Schedule” link and you’ll see a noticeable increase in your sales meetings, meeting attendance, and ultimately in closed business.
For more information on Salesforce Integration with TimeTrade’s Workgroup Edition, visit our Salesforce Integration page or find us on the Salesforce Appexchange.
Filed under: TimeTrade Best Practices, online scheduling
Tagged: activity, online appointment scheduling, sales meetings, salesforce
Enhance Your Google Calendar with Online Appointment Scheduling
Getting up-and-running with an online appointment scheduling solution is a great way to manage your appointment flow, let people inside or outside your company self-schedule time to meet with you, and publish different sets of availability you’ve selected to use for appointments.
But what about your existing calendar? It’s a lot of work to manually take inventory of your schedule and plug in times you want to make available, especially because as appointments flow in, you have to manually monitor your calendar and remove those time slots so no one double-books. It’s nearly impossible to stay on top of it all and you’re bound to double-book something somewhere.
If you’re using TimeTrade online appointment scheduling, you can set up your account to connect directly to your Google Calendar. TimeTrade works 24/7 to automatically update your schedule as meetings roll in and will only offer up times that are open on your calendar. This basically lets you “set and forget” TimeTrade and be sure that meetings will only show up on your calendar when and where you want them to. You’ll be more efficient and more productive.
For a quick step-by-step explanation of how to connect your TimeTrade Professional or Workgroup Edition account with your Google Calendar, visit our FAQ or click the image below.
Click the image to learn how to connect TimeTrade to your Google Calendar
Filed under: TimeTrade Best Practices, uncategorized
Tagged: google calendar, howto, online appointment scheduling, productivity
Color-Code TimeTrade Appointments in Microsoft Outlook
Setting up automatic color-coding of appointments in your Outlook calendar as they come in is a great way to stay organized and get a quick, visual understanding of what your day will consist of. When you set up activities in TimeTrade Workgroup or Professional Edition and assign a color to each one, you’ll have a much better grasp of what kind of appointments fill up your calendar and will be able to be more productive in how you prepare for each day.
This is a quick and easy way to give you that little extra productive boost and to stay on top of your online appointment scheduling activity in Outlook 2010 (click here for Outlook 2007). Watch the video in full screen mode to see the full detail.
When you set up your TimeTrade activities, you can use this method to color-code each one. So at a quick glance, you can see how many Introductory calls, 1-hour demos, or any other activity you’ve set up. It’s also a great way to track how often each TimeTrade activity is being used.
3 Easy Ways to Offer TimeTrade Appointments
Here’s a few neat alternatives you can use to offer up appointments and publish your availability.
1. Add a “Click to Schedule” Link In Your E-mail Signature Line
Offer up as many days and times as you’d like in a link that gets sent in all your e-mails. Watch this short video to see how – expand to full screen if it’s hard to see:
2. Offer Appointments Through LinkedIn
Put a Published Availability link in your LinkedIn profile so your LinkedIn contacts can request a call or meeting with you. Remember that the Timetrade Activity lets you customize which part of your calender gets used:
3. Put a ” Schedule a 15 Minute Call” On your Website or Blog “Contact” Page
Replace the Information Form on your website or blog, with a “Click to Schedule a Call” link for more effective outreach to customers and prospects:
Filed under: uncategorized
Tagged: appointment scheduling, appointments, linkedin, outlook, social media