Spring can be a busy time for personal fitness trainers. As the summer months approach, more and more people seek their services for that perfect beach and vacation body. Like all small businesses, the number of customers and clients has a dramatic effect on bottom line and overall success. The more clients you have, the greater the profit and satisfaction of helping individuals achieve their goals.

However, an increase in business can also create administrative problems, especially for those trainers who operate solely on their own or have limited staff resources. This is especially true when it comes to scheduling and managing clients' sessions and information. As a necessary component of your overall operations, appointment-scheduling can be the most important factor in determining whether your fitness training business thrives or stalls.

Think about how you currently schedule your clients. Do they call you directly, or do you have a receptionist or staffer take the calls? Can they e-mail you? Do you call or e-mail to remind them of upcoming sessions? Do you receive calls during your clients' sessions? Do you typically follow up and confirm appointments outside of your normal training hours?

If this describes your session-scheduling process, you might want to take a look at online appointment-scheduling software, which can be the perfect partner in your fitness-training business.

WHY SCHEDULING SOFTWARE?

Unless your business has a full-time employee devoted almost exclusively to managing and scheduling your clients and their training sessions, chances are you can benefit tremendously from online appointment-scheduling software. Although functionality and features varies among scheduling providers, most offer standard functionality that's perfect for the needs of today's personal fitness trainers. These include:

•Client Self-Scheduling. This is one of the most beneficial features of online scheduling, as it allows your clients to schedule and manage their own sessions. Because online scheduling software programs are Web-based, your clients can access their account at any hour of the day at their convenience. Your clients will certainly appreciate it, and it can dramatically reduce the number of phoned-in and e-mailed appointment requests.

•Online Payments. Besides the tedious task of manually scheduling clients, fitness trainers must also process their session payments. Online schedulers often give users the ability to securely accept and process credit card transactions.

• Automated Reminders. Studies have shown that any type of reminder is beneficial in keeping appointments; in fact, it can reduce the number of "no-shows" who don't appear at their scheduled time. Online appointment-scheduling systems usually offer automatic e-mail and text message reminders sent to clients prior to their scheduled appointment. Considering the potential for lost revenue and time judi slot online for other clients, these can be a tremendous benefit in maintaining your bottom line.

•Recordkeeping. Do you maintain several folders and files for client contact information and notes? Online appointment-scheduling software centralizes all inputted information, allowing the user easy and quick access to this valuable information. You can also export information for client reports.

• Accessibility. Most personal trainers are not 9-to-5 workers seated at a desk with a computer in front of them. They're either in their studios, health clubs or at their client's homes for on-site training. As most online scheduling systems are Web-based, they're accessible from any Internet connection. You can access and manage your clients and services from any hour of the day without your home or office computer.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A PROVIDER

Numerous online appointment-scheduling software providers exist on the market. Functionality differs, so it's important to determine your own individual needs before choosing a service. Many offer free trials of their product, which can be beneficial in seeing how it works and if it meets your expectations. It will also make apparent any bugs, glitches or other technical issues that could affect its usability.

Considerations include:

• Reliability. The ability to access and properly utilize the service at any time is crucial for your business operations. Make sure the product is proven before incorporating it.

• Ease-of-use for staff and clientele. Make sure the program you choose doesn't require users to be computer experts to properly utilize it.

• Capabilities. Although they can vary according to your individual needs, features to look for include:

•Calendar Adjustability. The ability to easily set multiple appointments per time slot, block off days and times, set future appointments up to a year out or longer, and determine the status of a scheduled appointment-such as "completed," "rescheduled" or "canceled"-is important.

• Automated E-mail and Text Reminders.

• Packages. If you offer training packages that include numerous sessions or add-ons, this feature is a necessity.

• Point-of-Sale Capability. This allows you to take client payments online.

• Accurate and Robust Recordkeeping. It can be especially helpful when creating client session reports.

• Security. Although almost every Web site ensures the utmost security, look into the site's credentials and safety features before using it as your appointment scheduler.

• Customer Support. You never know when you'll need assistance using your software. Make sure the provider you chose offers exceptional customer service, not just during the initial set-up of your software, but throughout its usage.

Scheduling client appointments has always been a time-consuming task for personal fitness trainers. More and more of them now rely on appointment-scheduling software as their trusted partner in automating and streamlining this important process.

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