PetGroomBossPro Blog — Pet Grooming Software

CSV Import: Bringing Your Client List Into Pet Grooming Software

The hardest part of switching grooming software is usually not learning the new one. It is getting your clients out of wherever they live now and into the new system without typing every name and address by hand. If your client list can be saved as a spreadsheet, CSV import does most of that work for you.

Step One of Any Move

The full move off paper and a calendar app was laid out in Moving a Mobile Pet Grooming Business Off Paper and a Calendar App. Getting your clients in is the first step, and for anyone with a digital list, this is how.

What a CSV Is

A CSV file is a plain spreadsheet saved in a simple format that almost every program can read and write. If your clients are in a spreadsheet, you can save it as CSV. If they are in another piece of software, look for an export option; most tools offer one. The result is a file with one row per client and columns for name, phone, email, address and so on.

Importing Into PetGroomBossPro

PetGroomBossPro has a CSV import for clients. Upload the file and your clients come in with their names, contact details and addresses, without retyping a single one.

The part mobile groomers appreciate most: imported addresses are placed on the map automatically. You do not have to open each client and drop a pin. Once the import finishes, your clients show up on the map, which means Pending Jobs, routing and the customer app's live map all work with them from the start.

Tidy Up Before You Import

A few minutes of cleanup in the spreadsheet saves time later:

• Remove duplicates. A client entered twice becomes two clients. It is easier to merge rows in the spreadsheet than to clean up afterward.
• Check addresses. Full street, city, state or province and postal code give the map the best chance of placing each address correctly.
• Drop former clients you know are not coming back, unless you want them for a win-back list.
• Keep one phone and one email per column so each one lands in the right place.

After the Import: Pets, Notes and Slots

A client list usually holds people and addresses, not the full detail of each pet. After the import, go through your upcoming clients and add their pets: name, dog or cat, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and the cut and behavior notes. Add van notes for each home.

You do not have to do this for every client on day one. Start with the clients coming up in the next week or two. As each one comes due, add their pets once, and from then on the next visit fills in from the last.

Then book your regulars on their slots with Add Recurring Grooming. That is the step that fills your future calendar.

Tags and Custom Fields

Clients can carry tags and custom fields. Tags are handy for grouping, like “North Side,” “Cats,” or “Monthly Account.” Custom fields hold anything your business tracks that is not a standard field, like how a client found you. Setting these up right after the import makes the list easier to work with later.

One Client, Many Addresses

Some clients have more than one place you groom: a home and a vacation house, or a property manager with several apartment communities. PetGroomBossPro supports one client with many addresses, so you do not need a separate client record for each one. If your import has the same person at two addresses, it is worth checking that they ended up as one client with two addresses.

No Spreadsheet? Type as You Go

If your clients live in a paper book, there is nothing to import, and that is fine. Typing clients in as they come up over the first couple of weeks spreads the work out. Your regulars all come around within a cycle or two.

Check the Map After Importing

Once the import finishes, take a few minutes to look at the map. Most addresses will land right where they belong. If a pin looks out of place, such as a client showing up in the wrong town, it usually means the address in the spreadsheet was incomplete or misspelled. Fix the address on that client and the pin moves. Doing this check once, right after the import, means your routes and the customer app's live map are right from the first day.

Try It During the Trial

The 14-day free trial is a good time to run the import, check the map and fix anything that looks off before you are paying. The free trial is covered in The 14-Day Free Trial: Setting Up Pet Grooming Software Before You Pay. For every guide in this series, go back to the pet grooming software page.