High Intensity Timely Training: Catch that cash!
Open up a world of new earning potential and start taking online payments today! Sell gift vouchers, take deposits and payments for bookings, and sell products online with TimelyPay, and manage everything from your Timely account.
Welcome to our new HITT class series, these are short and sharp 15-minute intense training sessions designed to get you Timely fit. Each week we’ll be releasing a blog and Alex and Lu will be hosting a Facebook LIVE class on a Monday (9am UKT / 6pm AEST / 8pm NZT) focusing on a different topic each week. Make sure you Follow us on Facebook to stay in the loop with what’s coming up. So what are we waiting for, let’s do this!
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The magic of online payments
Online payments are a no-brainer. They’ll help you to reduce no shows, kick cancellations to the curb, make more money, sell more retail, and gain more reliable clients! Best of all, you can use online payments on your own terms. Take a percentage of the overall cost, a fixed amount, or the whole amount to really safeguard yourself, or customise it per service (or both). Some businesses take the customisation of online bookings to the next level by turning on online deposits at particularly busy times, and turning it off during quieter times.
Tip: If you’re new to deposits it’s a good idea to try a 50% deposit first – it’s very common in the industry!
You’ll need to be on our Elevate or Innovate plan to use online payments, however you can try online payments and the rest of the Elevate features free for 30 days by clicking here.
Help guides:
How to set up your payment gateway
How to request deposits for online bookings
It’s time to get TimelyPay
If you’re not set up with a payment provider or if you’re looking for a little extra protection and competitive rates, it’s time to get TimelyPay! It’s super easy to set up (some people have it up and running in less than 2 minutes!) and because it’s ours, we give it the Timely magic that makes it market-leading and incredibly innovative.
Use TimelyPay to sell gift vouchers and take online payments and deposits, and manage all of your transactions in Timely. No more having to remember passwords and log in to other accounts to check your online payments! TimelyPay also gives your clients the option to save their credit card details, so they don’t need to dig around for their credit card and enter them each time.
Plus, in the very near future you’ll be able to save the client’s card details on the system, so that you can take contactless payments on your end and help to keep your clients and your business safe. You’ll also be able to charge a card for late cancellations and no shows. That’s right! No-show protection is coming right up.
Tip: Watch this space because lots of very cool things are going to happen with TimelyPay over the next 12 months. Join our Facebook group ‘Timely Community Hub’ to be kept up to date.
Sign up to Timelypay here: https://www.gettimely.com/timelypay/
Help guide: Getting started with TimelyPay
Gift Vouchers for the win
Like the idea of online payments but need to ease into it? We get it! If you’ve never taken online payment before it can feel like you’re jumping straight in the deep end by taking deposits or full payment for your services. A great way to dip your toe into the water is to sell gift vouchers online.
You’ll be able to make some extra income from clients who would love to introduce their friends and family to you, and you’ll also get to know the feeling of making money while you don’t even know it! You can let your clients choose the amount that they’d like to spend on a gift voucher or you can create specific gift vouchers for specific services or packages e.g. a spa day or pamper package.
Tip: If taking payments online is new for your business, it will be a big deal for your clients too! Make sure you let your clients know on your social media platforms, and put it in your newsletter if you have one.
Help guides:
How to create gift vouchers
How to sell your gift vouchers online
Boost your sales with Instagram
One thing that hit most service-based businesses the hardest when Covid arrived was having no established income stream from online retail sales. We highly recommend an online store, but you can also utilise the interactive nature of Instagram to make sales. Basically, you talk about/demonstrate how to use your products on social media and ask people to reply to the post or story if they are interested in the product!
Another great idea that clients love is to offer a product consultation service where the cost of the consultation is redeemable on retail products. Once the client has decided on what they’d like to purchase, all you need to do is raise the sale in Timely and request an online payment. You’ll then be notified as soon as they’ve paid and you can send the products to them; it’s that easy!
Tip: Jump on an Instagram live and show your clients your lovely face! It might seem scary at first, but seeing you talk passionately about the products you offer will help to sell them to your clients and make them more motivated to buy from you.
Help guide: Selling products online with Timely
Love what you’ve read and want to try out online payments? If you’re on the Basic or Build plans, you can try online payments for free for 30 days by clicking here.
