With most of our professional lives playing out online, digital tools such as Slack or Zoom have become increasingly valuable for our workdays. But with time being an even more precious commodity, it’s also important for it to be managed and scheduled effectively. Financial advisors trying to meet with clients can end up wasting precious time going back and forth over the phone or email. Thankfully, there are excellent online tools available to help with scheduling appointments, saving time for advisors and clients alike.
Here are a few options along with their unique features to help you decide which tool is best suited for your own needs.
Time Trade
This classic option has been around since 2000, so many advisors still use it because they started there. But it doesn’t automatically integrate with as many other programs as most other tools on the market today.
- Mobile apps for iPhone, Android, and iPad
- Integration with Salesforce
- Ability to schedule recurring appointments
Time Trade comes in three pricing tiers:
- Small Business: $6.50 per user per month
- Salesforce: $29 per user per month
- Events & Classes and Enterprise: call for a quote
The Small Business level has trimmed-down features, while the Salesforce and Enterprise levels include more customization options and Zoom integration. The Events & Classes tier works for companies needing to schedule events rather than appointments. Unfortunately, Time Trade doesn’t offer a free version, but they do allow a free trial.
Time Trade boasts of a proven track record with Fortune 500 companies, especially within the financial sector, and market specifically to financial advisors.
Calendly
Calendly helps schedule basic one-on-one meetings and can be used to arrange in-person or virtual appointments.
Meetings can be created using special customizations, such as:
- A time buffer for before or after the event
- A minimum schedule-in-advance option
- Maximum number of meetings of a certain type per day
The one potential negative for Calendly is that all appointments are automatically confirmed, without your prior review.
There are 3 pricing options:
- Basic: $0.00 per user per month
- Premium: $8.00 per user per month
- Pro: $12.00 per user per month
- Enterprise: Contact for billing prices
All pricing plans can integrate with Zapier, Google, Outlook, Office, and iCloud. Basic comes with one calendar connection per user, personalized booking links, mobile apps for Apple and Android, one-on-one events, and unlimited meetings.
Premium offers those plus team pages, where you can find all of your team’s meetings in one area, plus more types of events including group, collective, and round robin style. The Pro plan’s only extra feature is Salesforce integration. Enterprise offers in-depth technical access to the administration end, plus phone support and individualized training.
Ultimately, while there are many unique functions for the various plans, Premium has the best value and is the most accessible choice for most users. But if you need Salesforce integration, you’ll need to spring for Pro.
ScheduleOnce
This tool, by OnceHub, is very detailed, so it might not be the best option for those looking for basic meetings.
ScheduleOnce provides unique features such as:
- Scheduling a package of sessions
- Canceling a meeting in your calendar cancels it in the program
- Offers multiple meeting types from the same booking page
Unlike Calendly, ScheduleOnce requires approval before any meetings are confirmed. This is ideal for those advisors who want automated scheduling while still being able to approve a client before accepting a meeting.
There are four pricing options:
- Starter: Free for 25 users
- Growth: $9.00 per user per month
- Enterprise: Contact for billing prices
All three plans will integrate with Google, Office, Outlook, or iCloud. They can also integrate with video conferencing tools or Zapier for an additional fee. The Growth or Enterprise plans can integrate with Salesforce and Infusionsoft.
The cluttered dashboard can be overwhelming but the multitude of available options can be extremely useful in making your business run more efficiently. ScheduleOnce includes various meeting types such as one-on-one, panels, and groups.
Up to 25 users can use the Starter plan, but the other two choices come with unlimited users per license. The Starter plan only comes with 24/7 live support for the first 30 days, but subscribers all have access to the knowledge base for any support help they may have.
Try the Appointment Scheduling Tool That Works for You
Scheduling tools can help make your life and your business run smoothly as you navigate meetings between yourself and your clients. These are just some of the options on hand for you to improve your workflow. To help you decide, try the free versions or trials of a few appointment scheduling tools to see what works best with the way you work.
If you’re a financial advisor, we can help you find clients seeking your exact skill set. Find out more about what we can do for you.
