Massage Therapist Heals Business Woes With Web-based Scheduling

"Simple" task stunts business growth Beginning as a trainer for a university women's volleyball team and moving on to train for professional sports teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Jersey Nets and Tampa Bay Lightning, Drew Freedman was constantly working with athletes. He assisted them with injuries and helped them to recover quickly and thoroughly.

Based on seeing the results of several types of therapy including massage, regular athletic taping, ultrasound and icing, Freedman's strong belief that clinical massage was the most beneficial therapy led him to launch his own practice. Initially, he shared an office with a Boston, Massachusetts chiropractor and a few years later opened The Boston Bodyworker.

As Freedman's reputation grew, so did his client roster. Prospective clients would leave voicemails requesting appointments. However, trying to return calls in between massage sessions was inconvenient for Freedman, and as requests for his time grew, scheduling became impossible.

Typically prospective clients left close to 10 messages during an hour long massage session and Freedman's last appointment often ended as late as 9 p.m. Callers were sometimes kept waiting up to 2-3 days at a time for a reply.

Freedman realized that if people couldn't book a massage appointment immediately, they would likely take their business elsewhere.

Freedman previously had considered booking appointments a simple task, but it quickly became a major challenge to further business growth. As a brand new business owner, hiring a receptionist was too expensive an option. So in 2001, Freedman turned to TimeTrade Systems, the leader in self-service appointment scheduling, for assistance.

By leveraging TimeTrade for self-service scheduling from his website, Freedman has seen his company flourish. With the ability to schedule online at any time of the day or night, clients have booked more sessions, increasing revenue and enabling Freedman to open another facility and add more therapists. Using TimeTrade has also freed up the phones for other client inquiries.