Papa John
Lifetime Supportive Member
SO here's an update on my past "Booking Policy Post"
About 10 minutes before my next appointment I get a VM: "Is your machine loud? My baby just went down to take her nap. Is that going to be a problem? Oh well we will discuss our options when you get here."
I'll save you all the details of our discussion But---I informed her that babies have slept through the cleaning with no problem. And I continued with the cleaning.
I have had several similar incidences like this during my new Deposit/cancellation policy where It was Mildly inconvenient for the custy to keep the appointment-- but the policy made them keep their agreement with us.
We had a few callers decide not to book with us because of this policy- but I figure they knew themselves and were flakes anyway. We had 3 people who were SUPER flakes and lost their deposit 2-3 times-- and still rebooked with us! We kept the deposit on about 21 cancelled/rebooked appointments. We paid out $50 - 1 appointment for us being late.
It seemed that about 60% of the people even forgot that they paid a deposit.
Our first Month that we had the policy was our best month ever- $54,450.
This policy was just a test during the busy holiday season And I think I will still keep it in place. The downside is that it takes my dispatcher more time booking the appointment and me more time with the bookkeeping.
Bottom Line: Collecting a deposit during the booking process held customers accountable to their appointment and reduced Flakes.
About 10 minutes before my next appointment I get a VM: "Is your machine loud? My baby just went down to take her nap. Is that going to be a problem? Oh well we will discuss our options when you get here."
I'll save you all the details of our discussion But---I informed her that babies have slept through the cleaning with no problem. And I continued with the cleaning.
I have had several similar incidences like this during my new Deposit/cancellation policy where It was Mildly inconvenient for the custy to keep the appointment-- but the policy made them keep their agreement with us.
We had a few callers decide not to book with us because of this policy- but I figure they knew themselves and were flakes anyway. We had 3 people who were SUPER flakes and lost their deposit 2-3 times-- and still rebooked with us! We kept the deposit on about 21 cancelled/rebooked appointments. We paid out $50 - 1 appointment for us being late.
It seemed that about 60% of the people even forgot that they paid a deposit.
Our first Month that we had the policy was our best month ever- $54,450.
This policy was just a test during the busy holiday season And I think I will still keep it in place. The downside is that it takes my dispatcher more time booking the appointment and me more time with the bookkeeping.
Bottom Line: Collecting a deposit during the booking process held customers accountable to their appointment and reduced Flakes.
