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 7^th at 2:00?”

“…miss! The 10^th 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 3^rd 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/.