We get customers who will book an appointment and when they get off the phone, they still call around booking other shops who may come faster or cheaper, next thing you know you’re getting a cancellation call.
This gets expensive as sometimes we aren’t able to fill the slot that could have been offered to someone else.
Should we ask for a card over The phone?
I’m not in the industry, but as a consumer I would find this unusual as I’ve never encountered that from other similar trades. Maybe if you pitched it as a booking fee of $25 or something cheap that would be rolled into the final bill? Don’t know if that’s worth it at that point. I often do in-person consulting and bill at the time of service - I just try to do a quick pitch of why I’m better than my competitors before I get off of the phone. I just look at cancellations as part of the business model