You, too, have probably noticed the rise in the use of online booking systems. They are typically used by service providers to enable you to ‘Book an Appointment’ directly into their calendar. You may even use one yourself.

I don’t. I don’t use one for my diary, and I also don’t use them to book into yours. It is not about the technology; it’s about the relationship.

I get it. These systems are designed to eliminate the back-and-forth emails and voicemails required to set up a meeting when you’ve got two busy people. And I am very happy to slot myself into my GP’s diary online. But that’s because I already know her, and the trust has already been developed, and I also know I can also call my GP’s reception and book the appointment the old-fashioned way.

For me, sending me a link with an invitation to book myself into your diary when we don’t have an existing relationship is too impersonal. It makes me feel like you are saying that your time is much more valuable than mine, and that you are too important to deal with such a trivial matter. Do you really want to start a business relationship in this way?

This approach can also imply a power imbalance: I need to come to you. It presupposes I even know how much time we’ll need. 15 minutes? 30 minutes?

I was on a Zoom call over one of the lockdowns, in room with a large number of people that I didn’t know. Many were from other parts of the country. I was in a breakout room and met a chap from another city there who was in a similar business line to me. I had not come across his company before, and suggested we catch up separately. I sent him a LinkedIn invite. He sent me back a link to his Calendly schedule, inviting me to book some time. I clicked through (begrudgingly) and looked at his availability. So now I am doing the work of matching his calendar to mine. I decide to park it until after the Zoom call. An hour later, I am back in his diary, not knowing if 15 minutes is about right for him. That’s when I realise the booking system didn’t have his email or phone number for me to make contact, and I couldn’t send him a question without locking down an appointment. I could go back to LinkedIn, but I had no actual sense that he had any real interest in talking with me. I felt the Calendly link was more akin to him fobbing me off. At that point, I felt I had made enough of an attempt at connecting, and abandoned. We still haven’t talked.

Another issue is the faith needed in the system. You need to believe it to be reliable and secure. More recently, I was watching a webinar. At the end of the webinar, there was an invite to arrange a call with the host for follow-up. I clicked the link, and sure enough I was back in a scheduling system showing his calendar. With no other way to make direct contact, I booked a time, and provided my details. I soon received an email with the Zoom link and calendar invitation. I accepted the invitation.

I assume this should have resulted in similar details being popped into the host’s diary, and that nothing more is required from me. At the scheduled time a couple of days later, I go into the allocated Zoom room. I get one of those ‘waiting for the host to open the room’ messages. I wait. I waited 10 minutes. Given it was a 15 minute slot I had booked, I think this was reasonable. After 10 minutes I cancel, and then (possibly out of guilt), I clicked the Zoom link again – just to make sure I had done it right the first time. I had. They weren’t there. They had my email and phone number from my registration, but they haven’t made contact.

So I have pretty much given up on these solutions. Over the last couple of months, I am yet to find a situation where I felt it made sense to book into someone else’s diary to start a dialog or relationship. I even struggle to find them useful with people I already know. These systems may present themselves as an efficient way to optimise your time, but I would be concerned with how these calendar systems would be perceived by potential clients.

I am going to stick to the old-fashioned way of getting things done. It works for me. If you’d like to chat, let me know, and we can tee something up!