PetGroomBossPro Blog — Running a Mobile Grooming Business

Hiring a Bather for Your Mobile Grooming Business: Two People, One Van

There comes a point in a busy one-van business where the groomer is the bottleneck. The book is full, customers are waiting for openings, and every appointment includes a long stretch of bathing, drying and brushing before the scissors even come out. A bather is often the first hire a mobile groomer makes, and it can change the shape of the whole day.

Signs You Are Ready for a Bather

Texting and office habits were covered in Texting Customers From the Office in a Mobile Grooming Business. Those habits matter more once there are two people in the business, because the information has to be shared, not kept in one head.

A few signs suggest a bather could help:

• Your book has been full for a while and new customers wait weeks for a first visit
• You are turning down repeat schedules because there is no room
• Most of your day is bathing and drying rather than finish work
• You finish late most days and are tired before the last appointment

Before you hire, talk with your accountant about payroll, and look into what your area requires for employees. This guide covers the day-to-day side.

How the Work Splits

In a two-person van, the bather typically handles the early steps for each pet while the groomer works on the finish for the previous pet. The exact split is up to you and depends on the bather's experience, your van's layout and the kind of pets you see. The point is that two people working in sequence can often get through more appointments in a day than one person doing every step alone.

Plan your schedule around the new pace. If two people can do more grooms per day, your repeat slots need to change to match, and you may be able to take on clients you had been turning away. Take it slowly at first while you find your rhythm together.

Shared Van, Separate Logins

In PetGroomBossPro, employees are set up with their own personal PIN and assigned to a van, which the software calls a team. A groomer and a bather can share a van. Each person logs into the groomer app with the company login and their own PIN, so the work they do and the hours they clock are recorded under their own name.

Both people see the same day of appointments in order with set times, the same pet cards with breed, size, coat and cut notes, the same add-ons and the same van notes. The bather does not have to ask which shampoo the customer asked for or where to plug in. It is on the card.

The Checklist Keeps Two People in Step

When two people work on the same pet, it is easy for a step to be missed because each thought the other did it. The grooming checklist in the groomer app helps. For each pet, it lists coat and skin checked on arrival, brushed out and de-matted, bath and conditioner, blow dry and fluff, haircut and style, sanitary trim, paw pads, nails, ears, eyes and face, and final brush-out, plus the add-ons ticked on the job.

Either person can tick off what they did, and the groomer can add a note for the customer before Complete. The office sees the checklist on the job and can print a Grooming Report for the customer.

The Time Clock

Once you have an employee, you need a record of their hours. The groomer app has a time clock, so the bather clocks in and out on the same phone they use to see the day. That keeps hours recorded as they happen, instead of written on a scrap of paper at the end of the week.

The time clock is also useful for you as the owner. You can see how long a two-person day really takes, which helps when you decide how many appointments to book.

Training a New Bather

A bather who has never worked in a van will need time to learn your setup, your products and your routines. Spend the first days side by side. Show them where the pet notes are, how the checklist works, and what the van notes say about each home. Write good notes on each pet, like “nervous with the dryer” or “muzzle for nails,” so a new person knows before they start. That is covered in Pet History in a Mobile Grooming Business: The Cut, the Coat and the Notes That Carry Forward.

The Next Step

A bather often leads to the next question: should the bather become a groomer, or should you hire a second groomer and run more appointments? That is covered next in Hiring a Second Groomer for Your Mobile Grooming Business.

To see how employees, PINs, vans and the groomer app fit together, visit the mobile grooming business software page.