How to Automate Follow Ups When an Appointment is NOT Scheduled

How many times have you forgotten to follow up with a new lead in the timing you intended? It’s so easy to forget (or straight up procrastinate if you’re like me and just don’t like sending them!) If you’re using a CRM like Dubsado to manage your clients, the obvious solution is to automate those follow ups. But Dubsado doesn’t have an obvious way to automate follows up when an appointment is NOT scheduled.

Workflows can trigger actions when a call IS scheduled, but not if a call IS NOT scheduled… which leaves most people stumped and sending out reminders manually.

Here’s the Dubsado hack you need to know to automate follow ups when an appointment is not scheduled… without lifting a finger!

The hack: How to automate follow ups when an appointment is NOT scheduled

1. What you need in place before you can automate your follow ups

• A workflow that includes a “Send Scheduler” step (let’s call it Workflow A). This is when the appointment scheduler is sent to your client.
• Write the follow up emails that you want to send and save them as canned emails in Dubsado. (Templates > Canned Emails)
• A separate workflow (let’s call it Workflow B) that includes any actions you want to happen after the appointment is scheduled

2. Set the automated follow up emails in your workflow

Open Workflow A.

Find the “Send appointment scheduler” action and create a new workflow action after that to “send email.” You’ll want the timing to be “X days after all previous actions complete.” Select the appropriate follow up email that you want to send.

Repeat for any additional follow ups that you want to go out if the appointment isn’t scheduled.

3. Start a new workflow when the appointment is scheduled

Now, skip to the end Workflow A to add a step for “Start a Workflow.” Select Workflow B. The timing should be immediate (aka “0 hours after an appointment is scheduled”).

This allows the next series of actions to trigger once the appointment is scheduled. But we still have those follow up emails to deal with because we don’t want those to sending after the appointment has already been scheduled!

4. Pause the current workflow when the appointment is NOT scheduled

That bring us to the final step in the workflow: “Pause Workflow 0.02 hours after an appointment is scheduled.” This ensures that none of Workflow A’s follow up emails will send after the appointment is scheduled.

I’ve included a buffer time of 1 minute (0.02 hours) between the actions to ensure they trigger in the right order. If Workflow A is paused before Workflow B is triggered, then Workflow B can’t start.