When a customer rings, walks in, or has missed a session and needs a make-up, you can book them yourself without asking them to do anything. You choose the person, answer a few questions about what they are booking, and decide how it is paid for.
Where to Find This
There are three ways in, and your role needs the Bookings and the calendar permission to change bookings:
- Open Bookings and press New booking, the filled button at the right of the heading (a plus icon on a phone). The sheet is headed Add a booking and opens beside the list. You can also press New booking under Do something on Home, or choose Booking from New. Upcoming, Past and Cancelled, when they have nothing in them, and Today, when nothing is on, carry a New booking button too.
- On a customer's own screen, press Book a session. The sheet is headed Add a booking and opens with that customer already chosen, so it starts at the questions in step 2.
- In a session, press Add someone (Book someone into this session). The sheet is headed Add someone, with the session's name and time under the title. The location, day and session are already chosen for you. See Taking the Session Register.
Add a booking books sessions against what a customer already holds, or gives them free. To sell someone a pack, a plan or a fee, use Payment link on their screen, which makes them a payment link. See Giving a Customer a Payment Link.
1. Whose Booking Is It?
The first question is Whose booking is it? Type in the search box. It looks at names, email addresses and phone numbers, and at the names of the people they look after. The box reads Search name, email or phone…, with your business's word for those people added, for example Search name, email, phone or child…. Press the person you want.
- Someone who has not signed in yet carries a No account yet label. You can still book for them. They cannot see the booking in their own account until they do.
- If more people match than can be listed, a note says Only the first 20 of 150 are listed. Type more to narrow it down.
- If nobody matches, the list says No one in your business matches.
- Add someone new (They are not on your list yet) opens the Add people sheet, and the person you add is chosen for you. It is offered only to a role that may add customers. See Your Customers.
Once someone is chosen, a Booking for row names them, with a Change button in case you picked the wrong person. From a customer's own screen this question is already answered, and Change is there in case you opened the wrong one.
2. Answer the Questions
Bizzly asks about the booking one question at a time, in the order that suits what is being booked. You answer by pressing a row. As you go, the answers so far are listed at the top, each with a Change button to go back to it. A question that has only one possible answer is answered for you, and one a session has fixed has no Change.
Each choice is judged for this person. One that cannot be booked is dimmed with the reason under it.
While Which day? or Which session? is showing, two date boxes, Sessions from and Sessions to, set the dates the sessions are listed for. Leave the end date empty for the next month.
Who Is It For, and the Session's Rules
When you start from a session that has an age band or other eligibility rule (as when you use Add someone inside the session, so the session is already chosen for you), Who is it for? lists only the people on the account the rule lets in. The account holder is left out, because a rule needs a child, pet or student to check. When the eligibility rules are waived under More options, the rule is not applied and the account holder is listed again.
If nobody on the account fits, the question says so with the rule in brackets, for example No one on this account fits this session (Ages 5 to 6 years)., and Add a child (in your business's word) is the way forward.
A customer who has no child, pet or student on their account yet is asked Who is it for? as well, with Add a child under it, instead of being booked a place on the account itself. Add one and the questions carry on. If your role cannot add customers, the question says There is nothing to choose from here.
How Often
- Just this session
- Every week, Every two weeks or Every month, each marked Up to 12 sessions. These are offered only when the plan that would pay allows repeat bookings. Choosing one asks How many sessions? with a choice from 2 sessions upwards, each showing the date it runs to.
- The upcoming sessions of this series, for a session that repeats on a schedule. It leads to a checklist headed Sessions to book, with every upcoming session ticked. Untick any you do not want, or use Select all and Clear. A session that cannot be booked is dimmed with the reason. If you untick everything, the sheet says Choose at least one session.
What Pays
The choices come from what the customer holds:
- Their plan, with what is left of its allowance, for example "2 of 4 left this week"
- Their pack, with how many credits are left, for example "5 left"
- Free trial (One free session), when the service offers trials. A trial is for one session on a fixed schedule, never a free time or a run of sessions.
- Complimentary (No charge, no allowance used), for make-ups and goodwill
- Admin booking (Recorded without a plan)
If nothing of the customer's own can pay, the sheet says why, for example Nothing on their account covers this booking., and you can still choose Complimentary or Admin booking.
When a pack has fewer credits left than the sessions you chose, you are asked what to do about the rest: Book the other 2 complimentary or Leave the other 2 unbooked. A plan does not ask this. A plan's weekly or monthly allowance is checked session by session, and the sheet warns that sessions beyond it are refused when booked, each on its own.
When every question is answered, Bizzly reads back what it has made, for example the service, the day and time, the venue, who it is for and what pays. For several sessions it lists each date.
3. More Options
More options is closed, and opens by itself if you have used it. It holds the choices that are not questions:
- Email a booking confirmation, ticked for one session, with the hint Sends the usual booking confirmation email. For several sessions it reads Email a confirmation for each session, is unticked, and says Off by default for several sessions. One email goes out for each session, and nothing batches them.
- Note (Kept on the booking. For example, booked by phone.)
- Is a rule in the way? with Waive the eligibility rules (lists and books sessions outside the age band or other eligibility rules), Waive the booking rules (books outside your booking rules: how far ahead people can book, when bookings close before a session, and the cancel notice), and, once the customer has used their trial allowance, Allow a free trial beyond their allowance. A waiver is recorded on the booking.
4. Press the Button
A line above the button says who will be told, for example Sam is emailed a booking confirmation. or No confirmation email is sent. The button sits at the foot of the sheet, beside Cancel, and names what it will do:
If you press it before every question is answered, the sheet says Answer the questions above to choose what to book.
The booking is made as soon as you press, and pressing twice books once. You cannot close the sheet while it is being made.
What Came of It
The sheet then says what happened in a sentence such as "2 booked, 1 not booked.", with a row for each session and a label on it:
Under the rows it says who was told: Sam was emailed a booking confirmation., Sam was emailed a confirmation for each session booked. or No confirmation email was sent. Press Done to close it. The list behind updates, so the new booking is there.
Each session books on its own, so a series can be mixed: some booked and some not.
There is no Undo on a booking: it holds a place on your calendar and may have emailed the customer. To take it back, cancel it. See Cancelling Bookings.
A free make-up session books in seconds and never touches the customer's allowance. Pick Complimentary under What pays?.
Related Articles
- Managing Customer Bookings - The list the new booking appears in
- Looking at One Booking - How a booking you made is shown
- Running the Waiting List - What happens when a full session is booked
- Adding and Changing a Child, Pet or Student - Add the person a booking is for
- What You Ask About People - Age bands and the other rules a session can ask for