A free consultation page that fills your calendar with the right calls
A free call is the most expensive thing you give away, because it costs your time. The page in front of it should do two jobs: make the right people want to book and make the wrong ones decide not to. Say who the call is for, what happens in it and what it isn't, ask a few qualifying questions, and only then offer a slot.
Who the call is for, in writing
Most unsuitable bookings come from vague pages. "Book a free 30-minute call" with nothing else attracts students researching the field, people looking for free advice and competitors. A sentence of specifics does more filtering than any form:
- Who it's for: "Owners of service businesses with five to fifty staff who want to move their bookkeeping off spreadsheets."
- Who it isn't for: "If you're looking for a one-off tax return, this isn't the right call; try the guides below."
- What happens on the call: "We'll look at how you work now, I'll say whether I can help, and if I can, what it would cost."
- What doesn't happen: "It's not a free audit. I won't review your accounts on the call."
- What it costs afterwards: a starting price or a range, so nobody is surprised.
That last point is the one people resist. A visible starting price removes the callers who could never afford you, which is kinder to them as well.
Qualifying questions worth asking
Ask only what changes whether you take the call or how you prepare. Three to five questions is plenty; each extra one costs bookings from good prospects too.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What does your business do, and how big is it? | Fit, at a glance |
| What prompted you to look for help now? | Urgency, and what to prepare |
| What have you tried already? | Saves the first ten minutes of the call |
| Roughly what budget do you have in mind? | Filters out a mismatch before anyone's time is spent |
| When would you want to start? | Separates live projects from research |
Questions first, or the calendar first
There are two common orders, and both work. Putting questions first gives you the most control: people apply, you read the answers, and you send the right ones a link to book. It's slower, and some good prospects drift away while they wait. Putting the calendar first with the questions on the page as "before you book, please check" is faster and relies on the copy to filter. Many consultants start with the calendar and only add a screening step once poor-fit bookings become a real cost.
How Anticode builds it
Ask for "a free consultation page for my bookkeeping practice with who it's for, what happens on the call, a starting price and a booking calendar". Anticode's booking calendar always shows the coming days (Mondays skipped) with six fixed times, from 09:00 to 17:30; you can't set your own hours or call length. It refuses dates in the past or more than 120 days ahead, won't let two visitors take the same slot, and leaves confirming each booking to you. Its form asks for the service, day, time, name, phone and email. Requests are saved, sealed at rest and can be emailed to you, and you can send them on to Slack, a Google Sheet or a CRM such as HubSpot with the connectors.
Because the booking form's fields are fixed, the qualifying questions can't be added to it. You have three options. Use the copy above as the filter. Offer separate call types as services, such as "Discovery call: existing businesses" and "Discovery call: new businesses", so the choice itself tells you something. Or put an application form first as a custom form tied to a site function. A formula can refuse an application with its own message, for example when a budget figure is below your minimum, and the thank-you message can tell accepted applicants where to book. The discovery call booking workflow and the qualify website leads workflow cover both routes.
Limits to plan around
- No calendar sync. Bookings don't appear in Google Calendar or Outlook automatically, and your existing meetings don't block slots. Copy each booking across, or send it to a tool that can.
- No video call link is created. Send one when you confirm.
- No hard gate. The booking page is public, so someone refused by the application form can still find it.
- No reminders to the caller. A short confirmation email from you the day before cuts no-shows.
- No deposits. If you move to paid consultations, take payment through a checkout link from your own provider.
Questions people ask
How long should a free consultation be?
Long enough to decide whether you can help and what it would cost. For most service work that's 20 to 30 minutes; anything longer starts to become the paid work.
Should I charge for consultations instead?
If free calls attract too many people who never buy, a small fee credited against the work is a common fix. Take it through a payment link.
Can callers reschedule themselves?
There's no self-service rescheduling. Ask them to reply to your confirmation email and agree a new time there.