Many of us need a simple, cost effective way to semi-automate the process of scheduling. In this post I’ll share tools I use.

You can do this one of two ways. Ask your client/customer to book the appointment first & pay second. Or, pay first, and then send the link to pay second. This is completely your choice. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to set it up with payment first.

You’ll need 4 tools for this to work:

1. Uberconference
2. Calendly
3. Paypal or Shopping Cart (like woocommerce or Easy Digital Downloads)
4. Google Calendar

Sign up for the free trial of Calendly to use the premium settings for the first 30 days, including making extra changes to confirmation emails, etc. I then downgrade to the free version until I need to do a big blitz of scheduling. I’ve been upgrading every 6 months or so, for just one month to the premium version. Everything you set up still works when you downgrade – you just can’t edit some settings in the free version…

Step 1 – Set up Uberconference

1. Go to http://www.uberconference.com to set up your account
2. If you want all of your calls to automatically be saved as MP3, go to Settings > Always Record Calls. Otherwise, make note of your “Organizer PIN #”
3. Make note of the Uberconference number they’ve assigned to you or click on the Copy button to copy it to your clipboard for Step 2 and Step 3

Step 2 – Set up Calendly event

1. Go to your Calendly dashboard
2. Edit one of the events they’ve set up for you
3. Change event time, name, duration, etc
4. Edit the custom URL if you’d like
5. Change your availability
6. If you’d like to ask any questions in advance of your meeting, add them to the Questions area
7. Click on Email Settings and edit the “Confirmation” settings
8. Add your Uberconference information (click the copy button in Uberconference) into to the confirmation email template.
9. Edit the confirmation & cancellation messages too.
10. Save your changes.

 Step 3 – Set up shopping cart item or Paypal item

1. Set up your item to receive payment
2. In the receipt copy, include the link to the URL you created in Step 2- #4

Step 4 – Share your new product item – promote

You’re basically done now! When a potential client needs to book an appointment with you, they’ll go through the following steps.

1. They’ll order the item from your shopping cart
2. They’ll receive a receipt including the link to book their appointment
3. After the client books, their appointment it will be automatically added to your Google calendar
4. You’ll both receive confirmation in your email inbox
5. At the interval you set, you’ll both receive an email reminder about the appointment.
6. At the scheduled time, click through to your Uberconference line (works in Google Chrome), or call into the bridge line on your phone with your Organizer PIN #
7. If you didn’t choose to automatically record calls in Step 1. 2, then let your client know you’d like to start the recording, and click on the record button in your browser.
8. When the call is completed, go to Conferences > Past Conferences > View Summary
9. If you promised your client the call recording, you can download the file & send it to them, or send them the link directly from Uberconference.

Giveaway for December 21, 2014 – A “Rescue Call” with me (Value $60)

And test out the process we just set up in this blog post, in action!

 To enter the contest:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. If you want an extra entry, share this post with a friend and ask him/her to say you referred them. 1 entry for them, and an extra one for you.

On December 24th I’ll draw a random name (through random.org) from the comments left on this post, to select a winner of the Rescue Call.
Happy Holidays!

p.s. remember to come back tomorrow to see what I’m giving away next, or go back to previous days & enter to win)