Choosing Mobile Grooming Business Software: What to Check Before You Switch
Switching software is a real decision for a mobile groomer. It takes some evenings to set up, your customers will notice the change, and you will live with the choice every working day. A good fit saves time and stress for years. A poor one adds another app to juggle. This last guide in the series is a checklist of what to look for, based on everything a mobile grooming business actually does.
Start From How You Work
Moving your clients was covered in Switching Software With a CSV Import: Moving Your Mobile Grooming Business Client List. Before you move anything, make sure the software fits the way a mobile grooming business runs.
Write down a normal week: how customers find you, how they book, how you plan the day, what you need in the van, how you get paid, and what office work you do. Then check each piece against the software. A tool built for salons with a front desk may not fit a van in a driveway.
Pets, Not Just Customers
The first test is whether the software understands pets. Check that each home can hold several pets, each with its own breed, size, coat and notes, and that dogs and cats are both handled. Check that the cut notes carry forward to the next visit so you never re-type them.
In PetGroomBossPro, every job holds the pets at that home, up to four per visit, each with name, dog or cat, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and notes. The next visit fills in from the last one. The full picture is in Pet History in a Mobile Grooming Business: The Cut, the Coat and the Notes That Carry Forward.
Repeat Appointments That Fit Grooming
Mobile grooming runs on regulars every 4, 6 or 8 weeks. Check that the software can book a client on the same weekday, time and van on those schedules, and that changing a client's day or van does not mean editing every appointment.
PetGroomBossPro's Add Recurring Grooming books every week, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, monthly, or custom days. Every visit waits on Pending Jobs until the office confirms it, and the Recurring Clients list changes van, day, time or price for upcoming visits in one place.
Booking, Leads and Estimates
Check how new customers get a price and ask for a visit. Look for a booking link you can put on your website, Google Business Profile and social bios, with pricing by size and add-ons. Check whether requests arrive complete, with the pets and the quoted price.
PetGroomBossPro's Book Now page shows an instant price, and each request lands in Leads with everything the customer picked. It is a request rather than an instant booking, so you confirm the time to fit your route. Estimates can be approved online and become the job.
A Groomer App for the Van
Check what the groomer sees on the phone. You want the day in order with set times, navigation, the pets and cut notes, add-ons, van notes, a checklist, photos, and a way to complete the job and get paid. Check whether it needs an app store download, and whether it works on both iPhone and Android.
PetGroomBossPro's groomer app runs in the browser and can be installed to the home screen. It has a company login plus personal PIN, the grooming checklist for each pet, before and after photos, Start / Skip / Complete, automatic on-the-way and arrived texts, and a time clock.
Customer Texts and the Customer App
Check whether customers get reminders without you sending them by hand, and whether you can text customers from the business rather than your personal phone. Ask how many texts are included. PetGroomBossPro includes 500, 1,000 or 2,000 texts sent and received per month on Start, Pro and Crew in the US and Canada, and customers get a customer app with a live route map, invoices, card updates, tips, and rate and refer.
Payments and Monthly Accounts
Check that you can charge a card on file when the groom is complete, take online payment and tips, and follow up on anything past due. If you groom at senior living communities, daycares or apartment communities, check that an account can get one statement a month covering every visit. PetGroomBossPro does all of these.
Growth, Price and a Real Trial
Check that the software will still fit with a bather, a second groomer and a second van: employees with their own PINs, van assignments, filtering by van, routing from the shop and van GPS. Check the price, and whether the features you need are on the plan you can afford. PetGroomBossPro is $59/month on Start, $89/month on Pro and $199/month on Crew.
Finally, try it properly. Click around the live demo at my.petgroombosspro.com/demo.html, then start the 14-day free trial with no credit card and run a few real days. To see everything in one place, visit the mobile grooming business software page.
Try It With Your Own Clients
PetGroomBossPro gives mobile groomers pet records, repeat appointments, a Book Now link, a groomer app and payments, from $59/month.
Start Free Trial