I must turn away almost half of all inquiries I get; more if you count the obvious timewasters. Of course sometimes it's just a case of tricky scheduling issues but just as often, it's because a caller or emailer gives me a Bad Feeling.
It goes without saying that anyone who texts gives me that Bad Feeling, unless we've met before and I've explicitly told them they may text if they prefer.
I apologise if this is stuff that goes without saying for you, too, but sometimes I still hear about escorts taking bookings from 'unknowns' via text, or even via AW booking but without a proper confirmation phonecall to suss them out, and it worries me! Texting is usually a great sign of disrespect - you can't get an appointment with any other sort of professional by texting "hi babe r u free 2day" and I literally can't imagine what my dentist/doctor/hairdresser would say if I did try doing it that way! So clear, precise and enforced confirmation procedures are absolutely vital.
Again, sorry if that's all stuff you do extensively already. I'm no expert - I stole all my procedures from members of this very forum who have been around far longer than me and know far more about the industry! But to be honest, things like taking the money up front are rules that should never be allowed to lax even if you've got a regular that's been seeing you every week for 10 years. Also, stuff like getting one of those counterfeit checker pens and making sure to always use it right at the start, too - cos nobody can tell if someone's going to try to rob or con them just from looking at their face! We all have to do the same stuff day-in and day-out and yes, it's a bit boring but we all know that that one little time that we let our guard down will probably be the time that something goes wrong.
Try not to worry! Just up those efforts with screening, confirmations and taking payment and you'll be fine. We can't all be Super Prossie all the time.
