What is Scheduling Software?

Scheduling software allows businesses to book appointments, schedule employees and contractors, and digitally handle all their scheduling admin. 

For service businesses offering in-home and mobile appointments, it’s a practical and time-saving way to automate their often complex scheduling needs. The right scheduling software can eliminate the headache of organizing a team of employees or contractors with variable hours and makes it easy to match customers with the right service provider, in the right location, at the right time. 

The key is to look for scheduling software built specifically for your business operating model, e.g., offering services from a fixed location, in clients’ homes/places of work, or online through conferencing software such as Zoom. This ensures the software will have the necessary features to help your business run smoothly. 

(Scheduling software is also often referred to as mobile workforce scheduling software, job scheduling software, service scheduling software, and even appointment scheduling software. It’s a good idea to focus on the features offered rather than getting hung up on the name — especially since some, like MarketBox, are an all-in-one solution that combines scheduling with many other helpful business management features.)

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Key Benefits of Implementing Scheduling Software

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• Faster customer response times 
• Ability to introduce online booking options (the #1 preferred way to book appointments)
• Easy matching between customers and service providers
• Optimized labor costs, saving you time and money
• Eliminates inefficiencies in schedules and reduces travel times 
• Simplifies employee/contractor time tracking 
• Prevents payroll errors 
• Increases employee satisfaction 

Let’s look at a few of these benefits in more detail. 

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Scheduling Software Reduces Time Between Customer Inquiries and Booking Confirmations 

With digital service scheduling software, you can easily see which providers are available to work a job, so as soon as a customer request comes in, you can answer it immediately. Even better is scheduling software like MarketBox lets customers self-book using an online booking flow complete with smart-matching capabilities that will only show them providers available to travel to their chosen location. 

Simply put, scheduling software reduces the risk of losing sales due to excessive delays. 

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Online booking puts customers in control, and scheduling software makes it possible

94% of customers want to book online and would consider switching to service businesses that offer that option. But online booking isn’t possible without access to employee schedules — how else will the software know a customer can book a swim lesson at 3 pm on a Wednesday? 

If you’re implementing online booking (and you should if you want to keep customers happy), don’t even consider software that doesn’t have integrated employee scheduling capabilities, especially if you have a mobile workforce operating on unique schedules. 

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Digital scheduling is the new, easy way to schedule

If your scheduling process involves finding a customer’s location, scanning a list of providers in that area, comparing each provider's availability to find one that matches the customer's desired time, confirming with the customer, and then manually updating the relevant provider’s schedule, there’s a better way to do it. 

New scheduling software options built specifically for businesses with mobile and virtual workforces remove all of the limitations of “traditional” scheduling software. Instead, it matches customers with the right provider, at the right time, in the right location instantly, and without any human intervention. Think of the hours pouring over spreadsheets it would save!

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Software helps you and your team to work smarter, not harder

Job scheduling software takes care of everything (assuming you have the right one). For small businesses, it can make the difference between needing a full-time employee just to handle scheduling and not. For service businesses operating on a larger scale, the time-saving efficiency it introduces mean 

1. Team members are free to focus on other money-making activities
2. Booking calendars are optimized, so you have the capacity to take on more jobs if that’s a goal
3. Travel time (and therefore costs) are reduced, so your profit margin increases
4. Employees aren’t overstretched rushing from one job to the next 

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Payroll gets simpler

Processing payroll can be a handful at the best of times. For businesses with employees/contractors setting their own hours or working inconsistent hours week to week, it’s even harder. 

Employee scheduling software makes it easy to see at a glance how many hours each employee has worked. Many even offer the option to export this data straight into payroll software like QuickBooks. Some even go as far as letting service providers track their hours directly into the software, which is a useful feature for businesses that give employees control over what jobs to accept. 

If you are looking for scheduling software for your business, MarketBox can help. Our fully scalable solution simplifies booking, scheduling, payment processing, and more for services businesses and their clients. 

Book an introductory demo today to learn more and discover how MarketBox can make running your in-home service business easier.