For years I have been going to Colonial Barber shop in Pekin for my bi-monthly trims. During the last twenty years of using this local shop, I have become attached to a few of the guys and gals renting chairs in this monument to hometown values.
Recently, one of my favorites, Tim, took off and left an empty chair. I found out later that he had moved over to a newer little shop in downtown Pekin called “Jakes Place”. I was still loyal to the regulars down at Colonial till yesterday.
Yesterday, one of my employees came back from a haircut at “Jake’s” and passed along a message from Tim that I should stop in. (My hair must have been really bad on my last selfie). Luckily enough, I did in fact need a haircut. During the conversation with my tech… We decided to check out “Jake’s Place” on Facebook from my desk.
I immediately noticed that a “Book Now” button was staring at me from the middle of the 
page. What’s this? I can schedule a haircut? Being the mercy of the crowd is part of the routine at Colonial, an appointment would save me the grief of sitting and waiting, sometimes for 20 minutes. I pushed on through the online scheduler.
I was able to select what kind of cut I wanted… And knew exactly the price of the service I was getting. I booked it for 4PM that same day.
That was cool enough, but it got better. 
Within seconds of confirming the appointment, I got a text message 
thanking me for scheduling and confirming the time. Minutes later… A GMail alert came over with a calendar notification. My appointment was now in my google calendar! This is all excellent for a haircut. Some might say its too much… But for me… I need these notifications and alerts especially if I am planning days out in advance.
The coup de gra came when I got a text one hour in advance of the appointment. Anyone who knows me and my schedule can attest that I can get wrapped up in something with a customer or car that leaves me wondering where the time went. The text notification reminding me that I had to be in Tim’s chair at 4 was invaluable!
I made the appointment… Tim and I geeked out a little about Instagram (He’s a pro at it) and talked about his appointment system. (BTW, This is not a paid advertisement) He said the program is run by “Square”. The same people who do the credit card slider on our iPhone run this software. The charge a monthly fee and they handle the appointments and card transactions.
It’s pretty slick, and if this is a sign of things to come… I will never miss an appointment again.
Postscript.
I checked with my current vendor for our online scheduler… My store sends out emails in similar intervals to the texts that the barber shop is was doing. But, we do not have the google calendar setup or the one hour alerts. Both of these features make the system top notch in my opinion.
I will be pursuing this!