5 tips to start offering online nutrition consultations

Offering online nutrition consultations can be a great way for you to start or grow your business. Check our tips to start offering online appointments.

I'm sure you are currently aware of the world's response to the new pandemic of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

As a result of the current safety and preventive measures, there are now millions of potential clients at home who need your expertise on nutrition and how to improve eating habits.

In addition to the growing information about facing this new reality, we've seen much misinformation spread about nutrition. Thus, it is essential that you and all nutrition professionals act now and adapt their business to this situation, ensuring that clients are still given access to nutrition counseling, even if not face-to-face.

Make chaos your opportunity to reach more clients and make a difference in their lives when they need you the most: with online nutrition appointments.

If this is a reality for you already, check how you can make sure you got everything you need. If this is new for your business, see how to set up your online nutrition practice today, with 5 simple steps.

How to organize bookings for your online nutrition consultations

It is essential to streamline the scheduling process and ensure that this is not a hassle for your clients.

Ensure they know that the consultation will be online (via video conference, for example), and what information you need from them beforehand, such as e-mail address or phone number.

If you currently use Nutrium, you can set up the new scheduling platform where your clients can quickly schedule an appointment with you. The chosen time and date will be automatically added to your Nutrium work calendar (all bookings must be confirmed by you).

With this platform, you can also send messages to the client before the appointment with further instructions on how the consultation will proceed.

Click here for more information about this feature.

Video conference platforms

Having a platform to make a call with your client during the consultation is crucial. Seeing and chatting with the client is super essential for you to know him better and have a more holistic approach to their recommendations.

Video conference platforms allow you to break the barrier of not seeing the client face-to-face. Actually, many professionals have been doing this for a while. Here are a few platforms that are very efficient and safe to use:

• Google Hangouts - It's the Gmail video conference platform that allows you, within your Gmail inbox, to initiate a conversation with your client. Both parties must have a gmail.com address, and to begin the conversation, you just need to send the client the link. This platform is free of costs.

• Zoom - Zoom is a video platform that can be used for free with a few restrictions - only individual calls, up to 40 minutes. To initiate the conversation, you just need to book a meeting and invite the client by e-mail or link. The client does not need to have this platform installed.

• Skype - This platform has been one of the first video conferencing solutions. Requires that both parties have the platform installed on their computers and log in to access.

With Nutrium, you can schedule online appointments by integrating your video calling platform or telehealth service. Ensure to add the platform's link (if you are using Hangouts, Nutrium provides you with an automated link) and sync with Google Calendar.

Clients will receive an email notification and join you on their computer or even through their mobile app directly. Check here how to enable this.

After the appointment follow-up

When the appointment is finished, it's time to send the client the meal plan, additional recommendations, and any other relevant information appointment-related.

I'm sure e-mail is what comes to mind, even though there are currently platforms that allow professionals to deliver all these to their clients in a more secure way.

The Nutrium mobile app for nutrition clients is free of charge and available for iOS and Android.

With the Nutrium mobile app, clients can:

• Send messages with questions or asking for feedback;
• Send weight evolution logs;
• Register food diaries (you will receive these updates daily);
• Ask for updates on their meal plans at any time (which most of your current clients will definitely need);
• Send updates on physical activity and water intake;
• Receive (automatically) notifications and reminders to eat and drink water (extremely helpful when working remotely);
• Require new appointments, reschedules, or confirm any booking updates.

Check here:

• The mobile app benefits for nutrition clients;
• The follow-up benefits through a mobile app for the nutrition professional.

Secure payments for your online nutrition consultations

It's important to continue billing clients as you usually would. If you haven't used an online billing platform, here are a few:

• Paypal - If you already have Paypal, you can easily use the feature send & request and generate an invoice to send to clients. Check here how to set it up.

• Invoicely - This platform allows you to create automated invoices, accept credit cards and other forms of payment, and track all your expenses and transactions. It has a free subscription option, and prices are reasonably competitive.

Nutrium Payments Platform: Request and collect payments from nutrition clients by integrating Stripe with your nutrition services.

With the Nutrium Payment System, nutrition professionals can now offer their clients a much easier, safe, and convenient way to pay for nutrition services by integrating with the Stripe - Payment Management Platform.

This feature is integrated within our software and allows clients' to receive by email all the information they need to successfully pay their nutrition professional for nutrition services such as consultations, bespoke programs, or packages.

By offering different payment methods and a direct way to process the payment, you can stand out from the crowd and mark your presence online.

Check our Help Center article to learn all you need about creating a Stripe account, requesting payment, and transferring the collected money to your bank account.

Share and announce the new service

Now that you have everything set up, it's time to let your clients know about this new online appointment service.

Here are some practical tips:

• Send a message to all your clients if you are currently using Nutrium;

• Send an e-mail with the instructions to schedule an appointment;

• Share on social media that you are offering nutrition consultations online, and add your scheduling link;

• Publish an article on your Nutrium personal website. Such as the one linked here.

This is also a great opportunity to improve your nutrition practice online presence.

Or even create your personal website at Nutrium so clients can find you and book online nutrition consultations.

After ensuring that bookings, video conference platform, follow-up after the appointment, and payments are all set, you are ready to start receiving online appointment booking requests.

Do you usually use other platforms to help you manage your practice online? Let us know so we can add them to our article.

Haven't you tried Nutrium yet? Nutrium helps you manage, counsel, and monitor all your clients and nutrition appointments. Make sure to explore the 14-day free trial.