Is it ok to follow up with a perspective NEW client if you have not heard back from them? If so, what would be a good amount time to give until you send a follow up message? Is there a proper type of verbiage to use? Thanks in advance for your help!
I've encountered this a few times.
If it's a brand new message (hi can you watch my dogs these dates?) and you respond, but they never do, I send one follow up 24 hours later "Hi Owner, just wanted to touch base and see if you still needed a sitter for Dog for Dates? Let me know as I would love to set up a meet and greet!" then I immediately archive under 'owner didn't respond'. They've either found another sitter or aren't serious about booking. If they do respond you'll still get a notification and can un-archive the message, but it clears out my inbox and releases those dates.
If it's a client that you've messaged with the owner previously or already had a meet and greet and it seemed like this booking was going to happen, I'm a little more persistent before moving on. Again after 24 hours (not everyone has the app/checks their emails regularly) I'll send something like "It was great hearing more about Dog/meeting you and Dog (etc.) and I'm very much looking forward to caring for them for Dates! Please let me know if you have any other questions for me or need any help navigating the website." That puts it back on them and hopefully they at least respond. I'll send up to two of these (especially if there was a M&G and everything seemed good) then I'll archive for 'owner didn't respond'.
Some people don't like to tell you they went with someone else or that they don't think you'd be a good fit, so they resort to ignoring you. It's annoying, but part of the business.
This is exactly what I do. I give everyone 24 hours to respond to my message, saying that I would love to meet/care for Fido but I am receiving other requests for the same time frame. Then I just archive the request with 'owner made other plans' and move on. They can still respond after archiving
I'm curious on this as well. I requested a meet and greet within two minutes of their message and nothing. Technically I could book the stay......I don't know if that's fair to them because then they'd have to cancel etc.
Even if you click Book It the client still has to confirm before their card is charged, so your accepting the stay would just prompt another email to them "Serina has accepted your stay request! You have 72 hours to confirm" or whatever.