“Spare time.” For a small business owner, that phrase may elicit a chuckle, an eye roll, or even full-on laughter. The idea of having time to spare comes across as a bad joke when you have orders to track and fulfill, customers to communicate with, payments to collect and appointment scheduling to update, just to name a few items from your ever-growing list of obligations. Top that off with personal responsibilities, and the whole concept of ‘spare’ time can feel absurd and unrealistic.

But hey, they are used to keeping busy and staying on top of things. Entrepreneurs don’t start a small business for relaxation purposes; they do it because they had a vision, and are willing to put in the work to bring that vision to life. Still, they shouldn’t have to go it alone or do things the hard way just because that’s how they’ve always done it – if there are tools and solutions that can be used to get some time back on their side, we owe it to them to take advantage.

One easy way to do just that is with appointment scheduling tools. Here’s how to get started.

Identify Your Major Time Sinks
Think about where SMB owners lose the most time while running a small business. Their mileage may vary, but they probably have at least one of these time sinks that fall into the following categories:

• Manually setting appointments
• Confirming dates
• Sending client reminders and other customer communications
• Taking payments and managing customer payment scheduling

These tasks are routine and can be tedious. When they could be spending time getting creative with the next big marketing campaign, they may instead find themselves checking off these list items day after day and week after week. That’s how big plans turn into big misses as the calendar gets away, and the vortex of daily routine pulls in inspiration.

It’s important to understand where they are losing time, so you can patch the holes in their schedule and stop the minutes, hours, and days from slowly seeping away. This, in and of itself, can be a time-consuming process, so simplify it a little bit. The next time you find customers pouring too much time into busy work, make a note of it. Help them track their time and figure out where they are spending too much of it on tasks that really should be automated. Their time is precious, their time is money, and you should be careful not to waste it.

Find the Right Tool
Once you identify the big-time sinks in a routine, it’s time to find a digital solution that will help avoid them. But with so many options available, how do you find the right one for a small business?

Start by looking for a platform that simplifies the tasks mentioned above, such as appointment scheduling, customer communications, and payment management. You want automation and simplification, not further complications. Look for a solution that streamlines those processes so they can book more business with less of a hassle.

If you run a service-based business, such as a yoga studio, hair salon, lawn care business, spa, or law firm, you want to look for a tool that will enable you to provide your customers with a seamless way to schedule and pay for services directly through booking links or via integration in your business’s website.

The ideal tool will connect with top payment providers and offer an easy booking process for customers, so they can view availability and receive personalized confirmations and reminders from any device. It should include convenient scheduling functionality, such as adding appointments to calendars and sending automated emails for appointment reminders and cancellations.

Additionally, you should try to find a platform that can be used as a standalone tool so they have the flexibility to operate either solely via social media or with an existing robust business website.

Reaping the Rewards
Leveraging an appointment scheduling tool is all about freeing up scheduled so owners can focus on growing your business. With an effective scheduling solution making life easier, SMBs will be able to reap some serious rewards, including more time to focus on customer care, marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and all those little touches that make a small business special.

Do your homework, research available booking tools, and find one that makes their  life simpler while also making scheduling and payment processes easier than ever for their customers.

Who knows, with the right solution, your clients might even find the whole idea of ‘spare time’ becoming a little less humorous and a little more real at the end of each day.