The magic word is automation
The last two years have been extremely turbulent for our industry, so it’s not surprising that the majority of people simply don’t know how to cope with all the work that needs to be done. Auto-responders with texts like the following are no longer a rarity: “Sorry, due to high demand, it may take up to two weeks to respond to your request. We ask for your understanding…”
There are many reasons for this, but unfortunately few solutions. But we can recommend one solution to you: Automation.
No, we’re not talking about tattoo or piercing robots. We are (fortunately) still a long way from that. But when it comes to all the other stuff, especially organizing appointments, there’s a lot we can do.
Online appointments on the rise (see video below)
In most major cities, you can now simply book all your doctor’s appointments online. And what works for doctors, with respect, also works in our industry.
Online appointments are already well established for piercings. Here it is relatively clearly defined what is offered (lobes, nostrils, chest, …), how long it takes and how much it should cost. But what about tattoos? Here is an example:
Hey, hello, I would like to have a Kokeshi, something like this one…
How much would that cost and when would you have dates free? LG, Biggi.
Hello Biggi, thank you very much for your request. That would be something for our Tara(www.intothelight.tattoo/tara). Depending on the size and details, a tattoo costs between xxx and yyy. If you like, you can book an appointment directly with her (3 hours): www.intothelight.tattoo/booking/tara
LG, Lemmi.
For each artist we record his/her personal working hours, when which guest artist is in the studio, who offers which styles and even which artist works when in which branch or at which convention.
This means that the appointment selection process is fully automatic for the customer. No more back-and-forth scheduling.
An appointment is canceled? There are currently plenty of reasons for this: “No problem, you can easily find your own alternative date here (…link)…”
Regular customers even book their follow-up appointments or new tattoo requests directly, without me having to do anything. Or do you always have wanna-dos? Just add them to the online booking, enter the time required (and the price, if applicable) and customers can book the good pieces all by themselves.
The customer is still unsure? No problem. Of course, you can also arrange a consultation or simply make a non-binding inquiry.
And if a customer actually books some real nonsense (e.g. an Asian sleeve with a fineliner with a 1-hour appointment), then I simply delete the appointment and treat the booking like an inquiry: “Hello …, thank you very much for your booking, but we should clarify a few points in advance …”.
The more customers use this booking system and show it to their friends, the less work you have to do to book appointments. For us, 95% of appointments are now booked online, most of them after 9 p.m. while I’m enjoying my evening off.
Interested? Then take a look at our new online booking system:
Our online booking is part of our kisscal Studio Manager and can be tested for 30 days free of charge and without obligation.
Yours