Contents:

• Overview
• Definitions
• Use Cases
• Scheduling Vacations for Users
• Start Buffers
• End Buffers
• Setting Start and End Buffers
• Respecting Vacations in BookIt for Forms
• Respecting Vacations in BookIt Handoff
• With Smart Rep Suggestions Disabled
• With Smart Rep Suggestions Enabled
• Summary

 

Overview

LeanData's BookIt for Forms and BookIt Handoff products can respect a reps vacation availability to ensure that they don't receive scheduled meetings during their time off. Additionally, start and end buffers can be added to remove reps from eligibility before their vacation starts and make them eligible again before they return, optimizing the times they are available for meetings.

 

Definitions

• LeanData Vacation - A designated time that a rep will be treated as unavailable for the purposes of scheduling meetings. Vacations can be configured in the Users section of LeanData.
• Start Buffer - Number of day(s) before their vacation begins when a User becomes ineligible for a Prospect to book new meeting with.
• End Buffer - Number of day(s) before their vacation ends when a User becomes eligible for a Propect to book new a meeting with.

 

Use Cases

• Improve Meeting Options: Ensure every prospect can book a meeting with a rep at a time that works best for their schedule. With BookIt for Forms, eliminate scheduling delays and manual triage by surfacing availability for backup reps if the primary rep is on vacation.
• Enhance Meeting Host Suggestions: With BookIt Handoff, automatically suggest the next best team member as the meeting host if the primary rep is out of office.
• Improve Seller Productivity: Set buffer times to help reps manage their meetings leading up to their scheduled vacations and when they return.

 

Scheduling Vacations for Users

Vacations must be scheduled by selecting an individual User in the People > Users page or through the Schedules page at People > Settings > Schedules > Vacations Tab.

These will be the same vacations referenced in LeanData's Routing products.

For more detailed information about creating vacations for Users, please refer to the Schedules and People Guide.

 

Start and End Buffers

Start Buffers

If prospects attempt to schedule a meeting with a rep, ideally they will only be shown the calendar for a rep who does not have a vacation beginning in the next few days, as this would limit the availability options. In order to make a rep ineligible for new meetings starting a few days before their vacation, you can set a Start Buffer.

Example: A prospect visits your website and fills out a contact form. Normally, this would have progressed through LeanData Bookit and displayed the Calendar availability for Jeff, your SDR who handles contact forms. However Jeff is out of office for two weeks, starting tomorrow. You had set up a start buffer of 2 days in LeanData BookIt, so rather than showing Jeff's calendar availability, since Jeff is only available for the remainder of today, your prospect is shown Jocelyn's calendar availability instead, who will be covering for Jeff while he is out.

 

End Buffers

Similarly, you may want to make a rep eligible to schedule new meetings with, starting a few days before their vacation ends. This way, they will have some meetings already scheduled for them when they return.

Example: A prospect visits your website and fills out a contact form. Jeff, the rep who normally handles contact forms returns from vacation tomorrow. You had set up an End Buffer of 2 days in LeanData Bookit, so the prospect is shown Jeff's calendar availability. The prospect is then able to schedule a meeting with Jeff on the day he returns from vacation. Jeff will return from vacations and hit the ground running with meetings.

Note: In either of the above scenarios, prospects will not be able to schedule a meeting that occurs during the reps scheduled vacation, these buffers will only affect when a reps calendar is shown for scheduling purposes.

 

Setting Start and End Buffers

To set a Start Buffer or End Buffer, navigate to BookIt > Settings > Buffer Dates for LeanData Vacations.

 

In the Start Buffer section, specify a number of days before a reps scheduled vacation begins that they will be unavailable for BookIt routing.

In the End Buffer section, specify a number of days before a reps scheduled vacation ends when their eligibility for BookIt routing should resume.

The calendar visualization on the right will help you to see how the buffers affect your User's availability around their scheduled vacation. 

Note: the calendar visualization is just an example and will not reflect the actual dates of your reps' vacations.

 

Respecting Vacations in BookIt for Forms

In order to respect User's vacations in BookIt for Forms, you will use fallback edges in your FlowBuilder graph.

 

Respecting Vacations in Round Robins

If you want to respect vacations in a Round Robin distribution, open the Round Robin node where you would like to respect Vacations in your FlowBuilder graph. Under the Respect User Schedules section, toggle the Vacations checkbox

 

If you do not check this box, this Round Robin assignment will display reps' calendars regardless of their vacation schedule. If you check this box, this Round Robin assignment will identify a User within this Round Robin pool who is eligible for scheduling, taking into account Vacation time and any Start and End Buffers you have added. In Order-based Pools, the next available User will receive the meeting. In Count-Based pools, an available User with the lowest Net Meeting Count will receive the meeting.

If no Users are available in this Round Robin at the time a prospect enters this node, they will follow the No Round Robin Members Available fallback edge, under Advanced Settings. They will proceed to whichever node you have specified in that edge and continue processing. For example, you can send this to a different Round Robin node, or to Specific User, and/or send a notification.

 

Respecting Vacations in Other Schedule Meeting Nodes

If you want to respect vacations in other Schedule Meeting Nodes, open the Schedule Meeting node where you would like to respect Vacations in your FlowBuilder graph. Under the Respect User Schedules section, toggle the Vacations checkbox

 

If you do not check this box, this Schedule Meeting node will display reps' calendars regardless of their vacation schedule. If you check this box, this Schedule Meeting Node will first check to see if the intended User is eligible for scheduling, taking into account Vacation time and any Start and End Buffers you have added.

If the intended User is ineligible at the time a prospect enters this node, they will follow the Out of User Schedule fallback edge, under Advanced Settings. They will proceed to whichever node you have specified in that edge and continue processing. For example, you can send this to a Round Robin node, or to a different User, and/or send a notification.

 

Respecting Vacations in BookIt Handoff

You can also respect Vacations using BookIt Handoff. This will operate differently depending on whether you have Handoff Smart Rep Suggestions enabled or disabled. To toggle Smart Rep Suggestions on or off, navigate to BookIt > Settings > BookIt Handoff Tab and toggle the feature for Lead and/or Contacts.

 

Smart Rep Suggestions Disabled

If Smart Rep Suggestions is not enabled, the BookIt Handoff interface will display a palm tree icon next to the user who is currently on vacation. This applies to both the main host and additional hosts.

 

If Display All Pool Members' Availability is on (BookIt > Settings > BookIt Handoff Tab) and you have elected to respect Vacations and buffer times, a palm tree icon will be displayed next to the to Round Robin pool names for the main host if every single member in the pool is unavailable.

 

Smart Rep Suggestions Enabled

If Smart Rep Suggestions is enabled, suggestions will follow the logic configured in your Handoff FlowBuilder Graph.

 

Respecting Vacations in Round Robins

If you want to respect vacations in a Round Robin distribution, open the Round Robin node where you would like to respect Vacations in your FlowBuilder graph. Under the Respect User Schedules section, toggle the Vacations checkbox

 

If you do not check this box, this Round Robin node will suggest the next Round Robin User normally, disregarding vacation availability, If you check this box, this Round Robin node will identify a User within this Round Robin pool who is eligible for scheduling, taking into account Vacation time and any Start and End Buffers you have added. In Order-based Pools, the next available User will be suggested. In Count-Based pools, an available User with the lowest Net Meeting Count will be suggested.

If no Users are available in this Round Robin at the time BookIt Handoff is invoked, LeanData will follow the No Round Robin Members Available fallback edge, under Advanced Settings. The logic will proceed to whichever node you have specified in that edge and continue processing. For example, you can send this to a different Round Robin node, or to Specific User.

 

Respecting Vacations in Other Suggest Nodes

If you want to respect vacations in other Suggest Nodes, open the Suggest node where you would like to respect Vacations in your FlowBuilder graph. Under the Respect User Schedules section, toggle the Vacations checkbox

 

If you do not check this box, this Schedule Meeting node will suggest reps regardless of their vacation schedule. If you check this box, this Suggest Node will first check to see if the intended User is eligible for scheduling, taking into account Vacation time and any Start and End Buffers you have added.

If the intended User is ineligible at the time that BookIt Handoff is invoked, LeanData will follow the Out of User Schedule fallback edge, under Advanced Settings. They will proceed to whichever node you have specified in that edge and continue processing. For example, you can send this to a Round Robin node, or to a different User.

 

Summary

BookIt Vacation handling allows you to accommodate User Vacations and incorporate buffer times to optimize meeting availability and rep productivity.

 

For additional assistance please submit a ticket to LeanData Support.