BOOKING SOFTWARE VS DMS

H’ooookay, girl, I’m about to take a, shall we say, controversial position today about one of the most important part of any #lashnerds business: bookings! 👩🏻‍💻 

Now, some people out there think that you should handle all of your bookings yourself… AKA, you should be answering client DMs and texts and calls at all hours of the night to create an amazing client experience.

I am NOT about that. 🙅🏻‍♀️

I am a firm believer that you should use booking software to book your clients. Let’s get into it:

#1: Get Your Life Back

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It’s 8pm on Christmas Eve and you’re hanging with your fam.

Everyone’s getting ready to sit down for dinner and you are hiding in the bathroom because you need to respond to your Insta DMs to book in a client at the last minute for New Year’s Eve.

Okay, sounds extreme, but we’ve all been there, right?

When you’re doing personal bookings you are ALWAYS on. You’re taking phone calls, you’re taking texts, you’re taking DMs. And it’s SO MUCH. 

You basically are at the mercy of your clients: when they’re on, you’re on. Unless you have the self-control to not check your DMs (which, let’s be real, very few of us do), then you’ll be always answering your phone.

When you use a booking software, you’re getting your life back. Your clients can book at any time and you can be out doing you, without any stress about trying to be constantly tied to your phone.

PS: That’s a great experience for clients, too (more on that in a sec).

#2: Your Relationship Is Built In Person

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Sometimes, people say that your relationship is built-in booking. I agree with that, to an extent. You want your booking process to be seamless and easy and to give a good impression.

But that DOESN’T mean you have to be constantly DMing back and forth or having a long conversation before you meet in person.

You’re going to be building your relationship in person. That’s when you’ll be having long conversations, getting to know each other, and building that trust. Your job on the front end is to get them in the door.

Later, is when you’ll do the actual work of getting them to be a forever client.

#3: The Service Is More Seamless

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Like we mentioned before, it’s actually a better service experience for your clients to be able to book what they want, when they want. If they’re waiting for you to respond to your DM or if they need to leave a voicemail, they might decide to go with a different lash artist.

People like to get service exactly when they’re interested in it. You can actually lose people by not giving them the option to book instantly because they might not answer their DMs later or come back to you or respond when you get back to them. Just think of how long it takes for you to answer your DMs, check your calendar, then get back to them with proposed dates.

Instead, they can just look at all the available times and pick what suits them easily.

Imagine that!

Pick What Works For You

Ultimately, you’re going to want to choose what works best for you. If you’re not super tech-y or can’t afford a software, then maybe accepting bookings via phone or DM is fine! But if the only reason you’re doing that is just because you’re nervous to lose clients without the real connection, then you’re worried for nothing! You can offer just as amazing and experience using booking software as responding to personalized requests.