Scheduling a meeting is simple when you have a single office location. But juggling physical and virtual meetings across multiple offices and client needs? That’s the real challenge.
A few years ago, the way advisors met with clients began to change rapidly. When the pandemic hit, virtual meetings, which were already becoming more common, became the norm overnight. In-person meetings sharply declined but never completely disappeared, and post-pandemic, advisors have now mastered the virtual meeting format. The real question is no longer just about when to meet, but whether an in-person meeting or office space is even needed anymore.
According to InvestmentNews, more than 70% of people under 50 like the idea of meeting advisors virtually, while over half of people 60 and up say they’re open to working with a remote advisor, and less than one in five are totally against it.
This guide will demonstrate how advisors can strategically utilize meeting locations and availability to enhance growth, increase efficiency, and foster stronger client relationships. You will learn how a multi-location scheduling software, like OnceHub, is uniquely built to handle this new era of client management.
The Strategic Significance of Meeting Location
The shift to flexible work changed how advisors think about meeting clients. Before, the default was often an in-person meeting at a fixed office. The past few years, however, have forced everyone to work differently, leading many advisors to master the virtual meeting format. The real question for an advisor is no longer just “when can we meet?” but “where is the best place to meet for everyone?”
Now, advisors need to consider a few new questions:
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How can I make my virtual meetings as effective as an in-person meeting?
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What is my client’s preference for meeting in person or online?
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When should I encourage a face-to-face meeting versus a virtual check-in?
This shift has created new types of advisors, each with their own unique way of using the meeting location to their advantage.
This new approach to meetings has led to the emergence of several distinct types of advisors. Let’s look at five different advisor personas and how they handle scheduling in this hybrid era.
Five Types of Advisor Personas in the Hybrid Era
The new approach to client meetings has created several distinct types of advisors, each with a unique perspective on where and how they meet. By understanding these personas, you can see how different strategies and tools can help them succeed.
The Solopreneur Advisor — No Office, 100% Digital
This advisor’s entire business is built on a virtual presence.
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Challenge: This advisor has no physical office. Their entire business is built on a virtual presence.
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Strategy: They build trust through a great virtual experience. By using a smart multi-location scheduling software, they can offer flexible, time-zone-friendly slots that make it easy for clients to connect with them from anywhere. Easy access to scheduling tools from both desktop and mobile apps is essential for solopreneurs who need to manage appointments on the go.
They prove that you can build a successful business without ever needing a physical space.
The Multi-Location Advisor — Branches and Offices
This advisor needs to coordinate client appointments across several branches.
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Challenge: This advisor works for a firm with multiple physical offices. They need to coordinate client appointments across several branches, making sure clients are routed to the right advisor and the right location.
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Strategy: Their success depends on using an intelligent routing system. A good multi-location scheduling software automatically sends a client to the correct branch based on their location or preference. Reporting features are essential for tracking appointments and staff performance as the number of locations grows, providing consolidated data to improve oversight and decision-making.
This makes the booking experience simple for the client and ensures they meet with the right person at the right office.
The Productive Advisor — Location by Meeting Type
This advisor understands that some meetings are better virtual than in-person.
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Challenge: This advisor understands that not all meetings are the same. Some, like a quick check-in, are perfectly fine virtually. Others, like a high-value consultation, are better done in person.
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Strategy: They automate their calendar to reflect this. They use a scheduling tool to set availability rules by meeting type, so clients can choose a virtual meeting for a brief chat or are automatically guided to an in-office appointment for a detailed consultation.
This allows them to match the meeting format to the meeting’s purpose for better results.
The Lifestyle-Conscious Advisor — Work From Anywhere
This advisor prioritizes work-life balance while still providing top-tier service.
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Challenge: This advisor prioritizes work-life balance while still providing top-tier service. They want the freedom to work from anywhere, whether it’s a home office, a shared workspace, or even while traveling.
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Strategy: They offer hybrid choices to their clients while strictly blocking out personal time in their calendars. By using a flexible scheduling solution, they can give clients the option of virtual or in-person meetings, and the system automatically updates their availability, so they never have to choose between a personal commitment and a client request.
This gives them the freedom to live their life without sacrificing client service.
The Cost-Conscious Advisor — Shared Spaces, Minimal Overhead
This advisor relies on renting or borrowing meeting rooms only when they need them.
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Challenge: This advisor works on a tight budget. They don’t have a permanent office and instead rely on renting or borrowing meeting rooms only when needed. They must carefully control labor costs and ensure compliance with minimum wage regulations to stay within budget.
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Strategy: They use a scheduling solution with room booking integrations. This helps them avoid conflicts and double-bookings in a shared space. Integrated payroll, pay, and time clock features also help prevent time theft and buddy punching by verifying employee presence, ensuring accurate compensation and compliance. It ensures that when they book a meeting with a client, the conference room is also automatically reserved at the same time, making for a smooth and professional meeting every time.
These different advisor types show us that while everyone has a unique strategy, managing location is always about finding the right balance of flexibility, client choice, and efficiency. Now, let’s examine some practical steps and workflows for implementing these ideas.
Practical Steps for Optimal Location Management
Understanding the different advisor types is one thing, but putting those ideas into action requires a clear plan. These playbooks are especially useful for managing appointments and resources across multiple locations, ensuring efficient scheduling and centralized control. Here are some practical steps and workflows you can follow to manage your meeting locations with a purpose.
Setting a Multi-Location Availability Profile
The first step is to combine your availability and location into one single profile. This is a unique feature of a good multi-location scheduling software. It’s more than just blocking off your calendar; it’s about defining where you are available to meet and when.
For example, a single availability profile could state that a rep is “available in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, virtual on Mondays and Wednesdays, and unavailable on Fridays.” Advisors can also define specific work schedules and hours for each location within their availability profile, ensuring precise control over when and where they are accessible. This makes it easy for the scheduling system to offer the right options to clients and for the advisor to stick to a clear schedule.
Configuring Location by Meeting Type
Not every meeting needs to happen in the same place. You can set specific rules for each type of meeting you offer. For example, you might decide that all first consultations are in-person to build a strong initial connection, while all follow-up meetings are virtual to save time.
A smart scheduling tool lets you automate these rules, so the system automatically guides the client to the right meeting format based on their choice. By configuring meeting types and availability rules, you can also help prevent overtime and ensure compliance with labor regulations.
Giving Clients Location Choices
Your clients should have a say in how and where they meet with you. This can be done in two ways. First, you can let them choose between meeting types, like “virtual vs. in-person.” Second, you can give them a choice within the types, such as which specific office branch they would like to meet at. Offering these choices gives clients a more personalized experience and shows that you value their time and convenience. These flexible options also make the booking process more convenient and tailored for customers, allowing them to easily find, book, and pay for services in a way that best fits their needs.
Enhancing Efficiency with Room Scheduling
For businesses that rely on physical space, a smart scheduling system should also manage rooms. This helps you coordinate the advisor, the client, and the meeting room all at once, preventing double-bookings. The system ensures that all resources are in the right place for each meeting, optimizing efficiency and avoiding scheduling conflicts.
This is especially useful for businesses in shared office environments or with multiple branches, where a scheduling tool can integrate with the room directory to automatically reserve a space when a meeting is booked.
Meeting Analytics for Reflection and Optimization
Finally, it’s important to track and analyze your meeting data. By using a scheduling tool that provides analytics, you can track how many of your meetings are virtual versus in-person. Integrated reporting features consolidate data across locations, appointments, staff, and operational metrics, providing valuable insights for optimizing your scheduling strategies. You can also analyze your clients’ location preferences and satisfaction. These insights help you refine your availability strategy and make smarter decisions about how to manage your time and your physical spaces.
These playbooks show how a strategic approach to location can improve your business. Now, let’s look at how OnceHub is specifically built to make these strategies a reality.
Why OnceHub Is Purpose-Built for Strategic Location Management
A simple scheduling tool can help you book a meeting, but a truly strategic tool helps you manage where that meeting happens. OnceHub is built with this idea in mind, making it a unique solution for advisors in a hybrid world.
What makes OnceHub different is that it connects meeting location and your availability in a single, smart configuration. This means you don’t have to manage different calendars for different locations. When a client goes to your booking page, the system automatically knows where you are available and when.
This powerful logic is what enables intelligent routing and booking. A client can be directed to the right advisor, at the right office, and in the right time zone, all based on a few simple questions. For a business using a multi-location scheduling software, this removes all the guesswork for the client and the advisor.
OnceHub also helps with the physical side of meetings. Its integrated room directories prevent conflicts in shared or multi-branch offices. When a meeting is booked, the system can automatically reserve the conference room, so you know the space is ready for you and your client.
Here are a few real-world examples:
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The solopreneur can look bigger than they are by offering a professional virtual booking experience to clients worldwide.
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The multi-branch firm can present one unified booking experience that automatically routes clients to the correct branch.
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The lifestyle-conscious advisor can work flexibly from anywhere without sacrificing professionalism, knowing their schedule is always in sync.
With its focus on security and readiness for larger businesses, OnceHub gives you the confidence to manage a complex schedule without worry.
We’ve looked at what makes a platform like OnceHub so powerful. Now, let’s see how these features play out in a few real-world scenarios.
Also read: Common Causes of Scheduling Conflicts and How to Avoid Them
Use Cases: Location-Driven Scheduling in Action
It’s one thing to talk about the power of strategic location management, and another to see it work in real-world situations. These case studies highlight how businesses improve customer experience and streamline the management of scheduling tasks and requests. Here are a couple of examples of how businesses use multi-location scheduling software to solve big problems and get better results.
A Professional Services Firm's Scheduling Nightmare
Imagine a client, Maria, trying to book an important consultation with a law firm, but the firm has multiple offices across the state and also offers virtual meetings. Maria gets confused about which location to choose. She fills out a general contact form, but the inquiry gets sent to a central email inbox. The office administrator then has to manually figure out which lawyer is best for her needs and location, and then they have to email back and forth to find a time. By the time a meeting is finally set up, Maria has often lost interest or gone to a competitor.
The firm fixed this problem by implementing a smart scheduling system like OnceHub. Now, when Maria goes to the booking page, the system immediately asks if she wants to book at the nearest office or with a virtual specialist. Once she chooses, the platform shows her only the correct availability for that location, with the time automatically adjusted to her local time zone.
The system even sends out reminders to her phone. Additionally, attendance tracking features help the firm monitor staff presence and appointment fulfillment across all offices, ensuring consistent service and simplifying payroll and reporting processes. This solved the problem of clients booking at the wrong location and eliminated time zone confusion, making the entire process seamless for both clients and staff.
A Financial Firm's Lost Opportunities
A financial advisory firm with offices across the country was losing business because prospects didn’t know who to talk to. They would go to the website and fill out a general contact form, but the inquiry would get sent to a central email inbox. The office administrator then had to manually figure out which advisor was best for the prospect’s needs and location, and then they had to email back and forth to find a time. By the time a meeting was finally set up, the prospect had often lost interest or gone to a competitor.
The firm fixed this with an intelligent form from OnceHub on their website. The form now asks a few simple questions about the prospect’s goals and their location. Based on these answers, the platform automatically routes the prospect to the nearest available advisor. Integrated time tracking features help the firm optimize advisor availability and appointment scheduling, ensuring that meetings are booked efficiently and without conflicts. The prospect can then book a virtual or in-person meeting right away from a single, branded booking page.
This removed the long, manual process and made sure that high-intent leads were immediately connected with the right person, speeding up conversions and creating a better experience for everyone.
These case studies show that location-driven scheduling is a powerful strategy for any business. Let’s finish with some final thoughts on how to make this work for you.
Conclusion
"Multi-location support with centralized management enables businesses to provide consistent scheduling and service experiences across all branches, improving operational efficiency and client satisfaction." - Apollo Technical, 2025
The way you manage meeting locations is more than just logistics—it’s a strategy. Advisors who master this new way of thinking win on several fronts. They boost efficiency by automating their workflows, they can cut costs by being more thoughtful about office space and travel, and they strengthen client relationships by offering a personalized experience. A great multi-location scheduling software, like OnceHub, is what makes this a reality, enabling a more flexible and intelligent future.
Ready to simplify your strategic location management? Try OnceHub free and see how a smart solution can help you grow your business and improve your client experience.
Read next: How to Reschedule Appointments Like a Pro (Without Losing Trust or Time)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s the difference between employee scheduling software and client scheduling software?
A: Employee scheduling software is built for internal use, helping managers create work shifts and manage internal teams. Client scheduling software, on the other hand, is designed for external use. It gives clients and prospects a way to book appointments with you, and it syncs with your calendar to make sure your availability is always up to date. While they share some features, their purpose and audience are different.
Q: Can OnceHub handle scheduling across dozens of locations?
A: Yes, a key strength of OnceHub is its ability to handle scheduling across many different locations. The platform is designed to be highly scalable, allowing a business to manage a unified booking experience that routes clients to the right person and the right location, whether it's a few offices or dozens of branches nationwide.
Q: How does location-aware availability actually work?
A: Location-aware availability works by tying your availability to a specific location. For example, you can set your profile to show you're available for "in-person" meetings at your main office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for "virtual" meetings on Mondays and Wednesdays. The scheduling software then only shows clients the appropriate options based on their own location preferences, making the booking process smarter and more efficient.
Q: Does OnceHub integrate with room booking and CRMs?
A: Yes, OnceHub is built to work with the tools you already use. It integrates with many popular room booking systems to prevent double-bookings in a shared space. It also integrates with leading CRMs, ensuring that all client information gathered during the booking process is automatically saved and organized in a centralized location.
