The problem with booking by phone
Booking an appointment by phone usually means someone has to stop what they're doing, open the calendar, read out times and type in the details. When nobody can pick up, the customer leaves a message and the booking turns into a round of phone tag.
How booking works in RingMind
Your assistant can only book into a calendar you've connected. Setup takes three steps:
- Connect a calendar in Integrations. Calendly connects with a token; Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook connect by signing in.
- Turn on the booking tools on the assistant's page: check availability, and book an appointment or create an event.
- Publish the assistant again so the live version has the tools.
During a conversation, the assistant:
- Asks what the customer wants to book and when suits them.
- Checks the calendar and offers open times.
- Collects the customer's name and contact details and reads the booking back to confirm.
- Books the appointment, then tells the customer it's done.
Each attempt shows up in Appointments with its outcome. The appointment details themselves stay in your calendar; RingMind doesn't keep a copy of what the customer said.
Calendar by calendar
- [Calendly](/integrations/calendly): the assistant checks available times over the next seven days and reads them out in your workspace's time zone. Booking directly through Calendly's booking API needs a paid Calendly plan. It can also create a one-time booking link instead, and Calendly sends its own confirmations.
- [Google Calendar](/integrations/google-calendar) and [Microsoft Outlook](/integrations/microsoft-outlook): the assistant checks your calendar's availability and creates the event.
Without a connected calendar
The assistant never claims a booking is confirmed if it can't book. It takes a booking request with the customer's name, number and preferred time, and says your team will confirm. Requests appear in Calls & Messages, where you can turn each one into a task.
What the assistant won't do
- It won't make up availability. It offers only the times the calendar returns.
- It won't take deposits or card numbers.
- It keeps to your industry assistant's rules. The dental office assistant, for example, books visits but never gives clinical advice.
Limits to know
- All integrations are in Beta: built and tested, but not yet checked against every type of account. Check your first few bookings.
- The calendar tools create bookings. They don't move or cancel existing ones; the assistant takes those as requests for your team.
- Changing tools means publishing the assistant again. See integrations and tools.