I've only had one no-show up until this past month *one out of an entire year of tastings!*. Now, I'm up to three in two weeks. I definitely DON'T want to opt the way of charging for tastings, but it frustrates me that I go to the trouble of making fresh samples of cake, cookies, mints, and icings; getting out all of my albums, researching ideas and techniques and then, no call, no show. I am interested to hear of how you all handle these. Any thoughts or suggestions, or is it just part of being in business? Thanks for your input.

I can't say from personal experience as I haven't dabbled into anything needing that as of yet but I can say that I have had someone just back out on me....

I had someone inquire about a baby shower cake that was 3 tier just like a wedding cake and I went to all the trouble of looking into it, getting the specs, asking advice, getting a quote straight, and emailed her with all the info I could about it. She then told her sister, who is my best friend, that I scared her away with too much information. WTH! All I said was "what flavor(s) of cake and fillings, if you want fillings, will you be interested in" and I even offered to do a practice cake fully!!! decorated ready for them one month in advance for them to sample the flavors and such. She has yet to call, or reply to my email. I see her a few weeks later (2 weeks ago) at a bday party for my god daughter (her great niece) and she's showing off her digital camera with pictures displaying the cake she did, the identical cake she asked me to make, she made one and her soon to be daughter in law (the one who is pregnant) did one. They did them with canned icing, and couldn't figure out why it "melted off" the cake, they used the spray can stuff from Wilton to do the coloring of the icing and couldn't figure out why it didn't turn out right. I just got my stuff together and left. The only thing she said in between my email and the party was she told her sister she would wait and see what they barbie doll cakes would look like and then decide if she wanted me to it or not and then raved about how beautiful they were and couldn't believe they were so good.... but still haven't heard anything back from her.

I'd suggest you start charging for tastings. You're out the money you put out to make the sample cakes, you have to find someone to eat them or trash them, you have put your life on hold for the entire day for them to come, not to mention the entire week before planning and arranging it. I'd start charging a fee that will be returned to them in the form of a discount off their wedding cake IF they order with you. Say you charge a $25.00 sitting/tasting fee and if they place the order with you they will receive a $25.00 discount off their order.

I view it as just part of the business. If you see this as a trend, you might re-evaluate how you are setting them up. For example, I know of a wedding planner who has a terrible show rate! She and I deal with a lot of the same brides, but my show rate is great and her's is in the toilet! Observing how she works, I can only attribute it to how she is not really very professional. She gives the impression that it's a "come on over when you have the time!" type of thing.

I think I differ from her by the way I talk to the bride on the phone, plus confirm the appointment via email and confirm what foods she will be sampling, plus ask that "..... if you run into traffic or run late for any reason, just give me a call". I also send a confirming email the day before or the morning of the appt to again confirm our meeting date/time "..... for sampling of cake and buffet items..... " I think this gives a more profession impression and the expectation of what I will be doing for the sampling. Mine can get a little costly. I'm not only serving cake samples, but also hot food items, so a no-show can really impact my cash!

I'm just guessing here ..... maybe I just luck out with very responsible brides, but I find it odd that they show up for my appts but the same brides are no-shows at the wedding planner's appts.

However, I will never consider charging for samplings. It's part of the advertising budget .... part of the sales call.

I don't think you should charge for a tasting but I'd get a deposit for in case of a no-show..

Basically, you charge, say, 20 dollars in advance. They come to the tasting, they get the 20 dollars back. If they don't come, they do not get it back. If they want to schedule another tasting, they'll need to put down another deposit.

Most of your customers should understand this-- a LOT of businesses charge entirely refundable deposits on meetings and it just ensures that your customer is serious about coming when they're supposed to. And do you really want to work with someone who can't understand why punctuality is important?

Still. You're asking money to reserve time for a sales call.

Sales are a business expense.

Agreed with debi, if a lot of your prospects are backing out you need to look at how you're prospecting.

Your inexperience isn't the client's fault. Everyone's been there, everyone learns sometime, but it's not your client's fault or responsibility that theirs is the learning experience. So you had to research the cake. Next time you'll know.

I agree with indydebbie. I have a website that they first look over the price list & flavors & pictures. I do alot of taling on email first. Then phone calls. I can honestly say I have never had a no show. However, one day last summer I came walking home soaking wet from water aerobics, to find a MOB waiting in my driveway. I had her down as the next day, but she swore it was for that day. But she did come back!

Here lately, I've had a few no call no shows. I don't know what's going on with people. I handle everything very professionally. When I take the call, I get as much information as I can from the potential client, then immediately email them a consultation letter that also confirms the date/time/location of the consultation. I follow up the day before with a call or email to confirm the appointment, and still some are not showing up.

Thankfully, I do not do sample cake for each consultation. I have small samples of each cake flavor in my freezer and pull them out when needed. I do not want to charge for consultations either.