Calendar and booking

Since this video: Google Calendar and Outlook calendar sync both work now.

This video shows the Calendar: reading it, booking and changing appointments, handing out the week's estimates, and setting up online booking, hours and appointment types.

Views

Calendar sits right under Home. Pick Day, Week, Month or Agenda, use the arrows to move, and Today to come back. Weeks start on Monday, and days your company is closed stay hidden. The line under the dates shows the next open estimate time.

What to show

The column on the left has a small month to jump to any day. Under People, tick or untick each person; leave just one ticked to see when they're busy. Types shows or hides each kind of appointment, and Locations narrows it to one location.

Your own calendar

Connect your Google or Outlook calendar from the same column. Your appointments and meetings go into it, and your busy times come back, only the times, never what they are, so nobody books you twice.

Book appointment

To book, click Book appointment, or click an empty time. Pick the appointment type, who goes, and the length. Any available finds whoever is free. Pick a time, or click Custom time to type one. If that person is busy, ECHOPS warns you first.

The customer

Then pick an Existing lead or deal, or click New customer and type the name, phone and email. Answer the type's questions, and leave Email the customer ticked to send the time, with a link to reschedule or cancel. Booking an estimate moves the lead to Scheduled and opens its deal.

The appointment

Click an appointment to open it. Call, Text, Email or get Directions. Change Who goes, and mark what the client said: Confirmed, Needs to reschedule, or Client canceled. Reschedule shows open times. Mark it Done or No-show, or Cancel it with a reason. Or just drag it to a new time.

Next steps

When the appointment belongs to a deal, Next steps are right there. Create quote opens the quote builder, and the estimate buttons for your trade start the on-site estimate with the client filled in.

Assign estimates

Owners and admins get Assign estimates: the week's estimates by day, and how many are unassigned. Click one to see who's free first. Click Suggest to fill the rest, then accept them one by one or all at once. Assigning also gives that person the lead and the deal.

Appointment types

The gear button opens Calendar settings. Under Appointment types, click Add a type, or Edit, to set the name, length, color, free time before and after, and the intake questions. Tick Clients can book it online to offer it on your booking page.

Online booking

Under Online booking, tick The booking page is open. Add a title and a few words, then choose what clients can book, who takes the bookings, how far ahead, and how much notice. Each booking becomes a lead, and the client gets an email with a link to reschedule or cancel.

Hours and estimate team

Under Hours, set the company's open hours and time zone, and each person's own hours. Under Estimate team, pick who goes to estimates. Owners and admins change these settings; everyone else sets only their own hours.

Keep everyone's hours up to date, so open times and online booking only offer slots your team can really make. Next: Meetings.