Here are all posts by the author Frank Cort: Page 5 of 7

Entries by Frank Cort

5 Benefits of Personalized Appointment Reminders for Law Firms

1. Fewer No-Shows & Last-Minute Cancellations Avoid same-day cancellations and no-shows by notifying your clients about their upcoming appointments using friendly, personalized appointment reminders. With an appointment reminder service like Apptoto, you choose how best to communicate with your clients (including emails, voice calls, and text reminders) based on your needs and preferences.  Appointment reminders ensure your clients are aware of their upcoming appointments and arrive well-prepared. But, should something come up, you can also include an easy cancellation option in your reminder message to give clients the proper tools to reschedule. This allows your team to refill the vacant appointment time and prevents your staff from preparing for a meeting that won’t be happening. 2. Personalized Appointment Reminders Help Clients Plan Ahead In addition to reminding your clients of their scheduled appointments, you can tailor your message to include the essential details of your meeting, including what they need to bring. For instance, templates can be customized to accommodate a variety of appointment types, such as consultations, depositions, and court appearances. Each of these meetings will likely require the client to travel to a unique location. They’ll also need […]

Reduce “No-Show” Appointments with Automated Reminders

If you’ve ever had the displeasure of preparing for an appointment, gathering your documents, and making your way to the meeting only to find yourself idling in wait, you know how frustrating it can be. As usable minutes pass by with no word from your client, it becomes clear why appointment reminder services for law firms are becoming more popular every day. When you take into account all of the wasted resources created by these missed opportunities, the true cost goes beyond just billable hours. Although the loss of income is nothing to ignore. Legal calendaring software and appointment reminder services can eliminate costly manual work for your staff and mitigate the fallout that comes with no-show clients. Let’s walk through how to calculate the total cost of no-show appointments together and then look at one simple step to recoup that money and time! Calculating Lost Income & Beyond To figure out how much no-shows are costing you financially, we’d need some time alone with your books. We’re guessing your accountant may protest granting us such access. Instead, we’ve lined out the costs associated with no-shows and last-minute cancellations below. […]

Staying Connected with Family Using Call Reminders

It’s always fun to see our clients making use of Apptoto in unique and creative ways.  Most of our readers/users know us as simply an Appointment Reminder system. However, Apptoto is an appointment messaging platform that can be used creatively. In this case, call reminders were used to set up a “reverse phone tree” two years ago to help our Founder’s family encourage their 83-year-old grandmother to go for a walk twice a day. Setting up a “reverse phone tree” like this in Apptoto was actually quite simple. In summary, we set up a calendar in Apptoto containing “fake appointments” for when various family members should be reminded to call Grandma. Apptoto sends a voice call to the family member at the start of each event on the calendar. The family members are given the option “press 1 to be connected”.  If 1 is pressed, the family member is directly connected to Grandma (using a hidden “Call forwarding” feature inside Apptoto). Since we set this up in 2016, Apptoto has orchestrated over 1,100 calls to our Founder’s grandmother from her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  During those 1,100 calls, countless stories […]

Uncover Appointment & Client Insights with Apptoto Search

Apptoto Releases Search Feature Apptoto has released a very powerful search feature that allows you to search for customers, confirmed appointments, no-shows, and custom fields, with robust reporting and messaging capabilities. How Can You Leverage Apptoto Search? Search allows you the ability to manage appointment messaging, view your customer’s appointments, and enhance reporting. Viewing your customer’s behavior is easy with search. You can look at the history of their appointments, who they booked with at your business, if they attended, and their appointment cadence. Apptoto will also create a custom report for your searches. If you leverage custom fields in Apptoto, for example, if you use Apptoto to manage your sales calls, you can search for all your upcoming prospect calls. Common Search Syntax: “confirmed: true” → Confirmed Appointments “confirmed!=true” → All Unconfirmed Appointments “cancelled: true” → All Cancelled Appointments “start_time> today” → All Appointments After Today “name: Jane Doe” → All Appointments with Participant named Jane Doe You don’t need to remember these, though. You can select the funnel on the search bar, and they will populate for you.  Also, check out our in-depth article on search syntax for […]

How to Add Appointment Scheduling Links to Your Google My Business Profile

Google is always rolling out new features aimed at helping small and local businesses bring more customers through the door. Their aim seems to be to establish themselves as a one-stop shop for finding and learning about SMBs anywhere in the world. One feature that has gotten an overhaul is the addition of appointment booking links right into Google Business Profile (fka Google My Business) listings. Depending on your business type, you can add customized links that allow users to take specific actions, like viewing a restaurant’s menu or booking an appointment with a lawyer or doctor. This is a great marketing opportunity for appointment-based businesses that makes booking an appointment seamless for clients. If used properly, someone could do a search and then book an appointment right away — after making just one click. This kind of convenience marks the future of consumer expectations and provides a way for savvy providers to set themselves apart from competitors. Why Should I Add Appointment Links to my Google Business Profile? It can sometimes be overwhelming to consider all the marketing activities you have to do to promote your business. And this […]

Accountability vs. Responsibility in Business

Most business schools dive into existential topics that surround business but may seem superfluous to actual day-to-day operations. Two ideas often covered are accountability vs. responsibility. In the business world, we often see these terms used in connection with things like meeting quarterly goals or undertaking major projects. So much so that many people believe these words mean the same thing. To be accountable is also to be responsible—right? By unpacking these two terms, we can see that they’re not simply vapid buzzwords meant to spice up your PowerPoint. Knowing and understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility is actually quite useful for understanding how businesses should think about what these terms mean and what effect it has on the performance of individuals and teams. The first thing to know is that some level of accountability is often a driving force for success. Projects often fall apart without a specific party being accountable for the outcome. Entire goals get thrown out the window. Let’s explore what accountability vs. responsibility really means in more detail. What Does It Mean to Be Accountable? Accountability is a way of understanding the outcomes of […]

Expect the Unexpected: A Playbook for Handling Unpredictable Schedule Changes

No matter where you live, you’ve probably experienced erratic weather patterns over the last few years that have completely changed your entire schedule/day last minute. In the U.S., changing weather patterns have brought floods, storms, and huge snowfalls to new areas at different times of the year. Weather—and life in general—is often unpredictable. Things change. For businesses, this can present logistical problems, especially when it comes to managing unpredictable schedule changes. It can create delays and cancellations that throw your entire schedule into disarray, causing confusion and frustration for your team and your customers. Whether it’s unprecedented extreme weather or a last-minute schedule change, no appointment is truly set in stone. The best way to deal with unpredictable schedule changes is to be proactive. Have a gameplan for each scenario that may be relevant to your business. That way, you’ll have an actionable way to deal with the unexpected on short notice. Here’s a short playbook to easily handle schedule changes using a service like Apptoto. This method minimizes disruption to your business and your customers’ lives, no matter the circumstance. Late start If there’s a delayed start to your […]

Case Study: Wayne Metro Community Action Agency

When we profile businesses that use Apptoto, we tend to focus on the most common: healthcare clinics, dental offices, and lawyers. But these aren’t the only kinds of organizations needing help managing their schedules and keeping their constituents updated. We discovered Wayne Metro Community Action Agency and the amazing work that they’re doing to help those in Wayne County, Michigan. By connecting citizens with community programs and assistance, they change lives every day. Of course, that’s only if those who need the assistance show up for their scheduled appointments with Wayne Metro staff. We spoke with Jeremy Biddle at Wayne Metro to learn that they’re using Apptoto as a tool to keep them organized so they can focus on the important work of impacting and bettering lives. Knowing that Apptoto has helped them in their mission is inspiring, and we’re happy to share their story. Can you briefly describe your business? Founded in 1971, Wayne Metro Community Action Agency provides essential services, diversified programming, and community resources to low- and moderate-income individuals and families throughout all Wayne County. The concept of Community Action was initially pioneered in 1961 by President […]

Understanding CAN-SPAM: U.S. Commercial Message Regulation

Now going on its 15th year as law, the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act was originally signed by George W. Bush. As the internet, online businesses, and online marketing were growing, the law was meant to reign in some of the more insidious marketing practices that had become commonplace online. While there is much debate about the overall effectiveness of the CAN-SPAM Act, its main regulations are fairly straightforward. The law’s intent was largely a mechanism to define commercial messages and enforce basic rules about how these messages are sent to consumers online. Let’s dig into the specifics. CAN-SPAM: The Basics At the core, this legislation comprises a few basic components: Definition of “commercial message” — Outlines specifics of which messages should be considered “commercial” and which should not. This is then used to define which messages are subject to the requirements laid out afterward. Requirements for commercial messages — Sets a number of standard requirements that all commercial messages must meet in order to be in compliance with CAN-SPAM. Penalties and punishment for noncompliance — Spells out specific punishments and penalties for companies that run afoul of these regulations. All told, […]

How to Turn Complex Calendars into a Sleek Patient Scheduling Process

Whether your practice books 20-minute, 30-minute, or 90-minute appointments, there are common challenges and hurdles that come with booking, managing, and coordinating time between your business, its providers, and each and every one of your patients. No matter how you look at it, taking on the challenge of improving the patient scheduling process is daunting. We’ve written before about the many drawbacks and pitfalls that come with scheduling. No-shows, late arrivals, mix-ups, and overbooking are just a few of the most prominent issues. The room for error is also enormous. Most importantly, each of these small mistakes can have major consequences for your business and your patients. No one-size-fits-all scheduling process will remove all the stress and uncertainty of running a practice. Instead, you can re-engineer how you manage appointments to create a streamlined, reliable, and predictable system that works for everyone. Deconstructing the scheduling process Of the four stages in problem-solving, generally, the most difficult is the first step: identifying the problem you are trying to solve. In the case of the patient-scheduling process, this is best accomplished by first deconstructing the entire patient experience. Identifying the outcomes you […]