What’s on your schedule today?
Meetings. Meetings. And wait … let me guess, more meetings.
If you’re a manager, salesperson, or individual contributor, a portion of your day might be spent scheduling meetings. This can take time, especially if you receive a “meeting declined” notification from a contact in response to your meeting invitation.
Lengthy email threads and back-and-forth messages will follow, wasting time and energy.
Luckily, there are scheduling polls and survey tools that can speed up the scheduling process.
These scheduling polls and survey tools will help you find the best time to meet with a group of colleagues or a prospect.
1. HubSpot Meetings Tool
One solution to all the back-and-forth emails would be to simply send over your calendar and have the person select the time that works for them. That’s what the HubSpot meeting tool does (without revealing your entire appointment book).
You simply create a custom meeting link based on parameters such as meeting length, and it will send a calendar picker of available times for them to book.
Not only do your availability and meetings sync automatically to your Google Calendar or Office 365 calendar, but contact and meeting details are also added to the all-in-one (and free) CRM. This makes meeting scheduling a simple, painless process for you and your meeting attendees.
Price: Free
2. SurveyMonkey
If you’ve ever planned an event or large get-together, you know that getting everyone on the same page can be tricky. SurveyMonkey is a great option for coordinating meeting times with multiple people because it lets you select meeting dates and times and create a scheduling poll. The poll is then sent to the attendees via email, or it can be embedded on a website or Facebook page.
Automatic reminders are sent to the contacts if they don’t respond to the survey within a certain time frame. Once you have their responses, you’ll be able to select an event time that works for everyone.
Price: Free, more advanced functionality available for premium users
3. Zoom.ai
This meeting scheduler eliminates the back-and-forth for both one-on-one and group meetings. What makes this tool unique is that it’s geared specifically for video meetings — just connect your video conferencing software to get going. It’s compatible with Zoom.us, Microsoft Teams Video, Skype, and more. It can even integrate with elements of your software stack including HubSpot.
Price: Free, more advanced functionality for premium users
4. Arrangr
You can connect your calendar to Arrangr, use an automated process to coordinate meeting times, and automatically integrate this scheduling tool with your conferencing software.
The tool doesn’t just work for video or phone conferencing either — you can take advantage of Arrangr’s Intelligent Spot Finder feature to choose meeting places. Use your favorite restaurants or find a convenient meeting location at a halfway point. Arrangr also offers many integration options that can streamline follow-up workflows.
Price: Free, more advanced functionality for premium users
5. Doodle
Doodle is a tool designed specifically for scheduling. As the host of the meeting, you’ll suggest times to meet. The scheduling poll can be sent to the meeting participants so they can enter their availability.
Once their responses are collected, select the best meeting date and time based on the responses you received.
Price: Free, more advanced functionality available for premium users
6. Xoyondo
Xoyondo helps you find a meeting date and time that works for everyone. Select potential meeting times, send the suggestions to your contacts, and each invitee can vote for the dates that work best for them.
Xoyondo offers support for unlimited polls and participants, which means it’s ideal for those who meet regularly or work in client-facing roles. It offers the ability to attach files to the poll for attendees to review, and you can manage everything from your dashboard.
In addition, create custom branding for your polls and publish them to a personal page with the URL of your choice.
Price: Free
7. Calendly
With Calendly’s scheduling tool, connect your calendar, set your availability, and send a meeting link to contacts. Calendly uses a rule-based system with criteria that you set to present the best available times. Contacts can book a meeting using the link and book a meeting that works for them.
The meeting time they select is automatically blocked off on your calendar. Adjust the Calendly settings to add buffer times around your meetings or set a limit to the number of meetings you’re able to have in one day. You can also set one-on-one, collective, or round-robin availability.
Price: Free, more advanced features available for premium users
8. NeedToMeet
NeedToMeet has easy polling features that help you schedule meetings in three steps: enter meeting details, suggest dates and times, invite attendees, and let the scheduler do the rest. It will collect any attendee comments and notify you when attendees respond.
The Outlook plugin is particularly useful for Microsoft users, but NeedToMeet has multi-platform functionality.
Price: Free, more advanced functionality available for premium users
9. Meetingbird
Meetingbird has a tool that allows you to sign up with your Google or Office 365 account to create scheduling polls. Select some potential meeting times from your calendar and send the poll to your contacts using a link.
You’ll be notified when they respond to the poll. And your contacts will automatically receive an invitation to the event once it’s scheduled. It even integrates with Zoom and has a Gmail plugin to make scheduling even simpler.
Price: Free
10. Rallly
If you want a more collaborative scheduling poll, Rallly is a free option where you share a page with meeting attendees and put dates up for a vote. The software allows attendees to discuss in a forum-style interface using comments before the final decision is made.
Price: Free
11. When2meet
When2meet is a free scheduling survey tool that requires no login or sign-up. The website is simple, making it the best choice for finding the best time to carry out internal company meetings. We wouldn’t recommend this tool for client meetings or events with target accounts.
With this tool, you can select a date and time range for the event, and your colleagues can select the times that they’re available. After they respond, you can easily identify which times most people are going to be able to make the meeting.
Price: Free
12. Microsoft FindTime
Microsoft FindTime is one of the best polling options for Outlook users, because you don’t have to depend on an external tool to determine the availability of your invitees. Simply install the add-on to your Outlook app to send scheduling polls to colleagues and prospects.
Those whom you invite don’t have to use Outlook, Microsoft 365, or even FindTime — you can send the voting link over email or send a FindTime invite directly.
Price: Free
13. Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling lets you send a link to your personal or business scheduling page. Your invitees can choose the time that works for them based on your availability. Plus you can schedule follow-up and reminder emails to ensure no one misses the meeting.
Sync your calendar with this tool and integrate it with other platforms such as Stripe and Google Analytics. This app is best for individual client meetings and consultations. (Pro tip: Show up to your meeting with a sales meeting agenda to make the most of your time with the client.)
Price: $14/month
14. Google Forms
Google Forms can help you determine the availability of multiple people for group meetings — while the tool isn’t used exclusively for setting up meetings, it can be used to share meeting polls.
Simply list a few predetermined times for your colleagues to choose from and invite them to submit a response. We wouldn’t recommend this tool for client meetings, since a dedicated meeting scheduler would likely work best. However, Google Forms is a great way to capture availability for a company event.
Price: Free
15. WhenAvailable
WhenAvailable pairs When2meet’s ease-of-use with a more modern user interface (UI). This tool allows you to plan and create a meeting poll for free.
On the “Plan” page, set an RSVP date and choose a few different times on the calendar. Then, send it to up to 20 people over email. Alternatively, send the link to your colleagues, prospects, or customers so they can respond with their availability without having to log in. If anything about your event changes, you can add messages and news to the event page.
Price: Free, with additional attendee capacity when you upgrade
Use a Scheduling Poll Tool to Save Time
Scheduling polls and surveys make it easy to book time with prospects, customers, and colleagues. They automatically allow people to select meeting times that work with their calendars as well as your availability. This saves you time that ca be spent nurturing and closing deals. So, get started using a scheduling pool tool to amp up your productivity and simplify your workflow.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
SOURCE: Sales – Read entire story here.