March 30th, 2010 | 
Author: What is worse than phone or email tag to schedule a simple phone call or meeting? The back and forth and back and forth, just when you think you got it, someone sneaks in and schedules the time before you get the confirmation. Sometimes it takes longer to schedule the face to face than the actually call or meeting.
So what is a time crunched entrepreneur to do? Get an on-line scheduling tool and leave the tag games to the playground.
This article will compare two great tools that will automatically schedule meetings on your current calendar, Tungle.me and TimeDriver.com.
Comparing the Features
|
Tungle.me |
Timedriver.com |
| Free for basic / Premium features cost | $29.99/year after free trial period |
| 1 calendar | Unlimited Calendars (Schedule Books) |
| A unique link to each invitation sent from you | No invitation to specific times, they see availability and pick a time convenient for them. |
| Synchs with Outlook, Google Calendar, iPhone App, Apple iCal and Entourage | Synchs with Outlook and Google Calendar |
| A lot of control over message content that is sent, how it looks, etc, may add to the ease of scheduling. | Customized messages but a one time setup of the generic message. Simplified invitation. Simply embed or send the link. |
| Confirmation of the invitation schedules appointment on calendar (2 step process) | The client picking the time and confirming it automatically schedules to your calendar. (1 step process) |
| Dashboard interface on website account to edit details of scheduled meetings, changes trigger updated emails to invitees | Dashboard interface on website account to edit details of scheduled meetings, changes trigger updated emails to invitees |
| Multiple people can be invited with multiple proposed times | Single person invited to schedule |
| No download required for invitee | No download required for invitee |
| Can share details of calendar (Actual calendar entries) or just availability. | Only shows availability |
| Total control of availability shown. | Total control of availability shown |
| Meeting requests initiated by a client have an extra confirmation email on their end | Meetings initiated by a client are automatically scheduled |
| Single address http://tungle.me/yourname | Multiple addresses according to your Schedule Book address. Not easily given out as they are a “code”. |
| Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing links on your profile page that the client sees. | |
| Tungle.me widget to share availability on your website. | |
| Activity Feed Log to view history |
There are pros and cons with both programs.
Tungle.me is very robust and has given a lot of control to the user, allows multiple invitees and put safeguards to protect you from spammers. Some of the features add a few more steps into the scheduling process and in some cases complicates it a little. If your client’s are not technically savvy this may have a longer learning curve and they may miss some steps. All in all Tungle.me is a very good tool for scheduling.
TimeDriver.com is a very simplified version of a scheduler:
- Send the link via email or embed in other materials.
- Client pick the time from the availability.
- It’s scheduled on your calendar.
- Reminders are sent out.
Having the ability to separate calendars and tasks is a big plus for TimeDriver. Limiting interfacing with only Outlook or Google Calendar may make the decision for you.
Either of these programs will simplify the scheduling of your meetings and phone calls.Before you decide which program to use, try both of the Free versions and see how you like them. Check out the interfaces and controls, schedule a few fake meetings and see how it works from both sides of the scheduling process. They are different enough, you will probably clearly make a decision on one or the other based on what you want to experience or what you want your client to experience.
Either way you can’t go wrong and it will give you back a little bit of your precious time…to go play real tag.
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