PetGroomBossPro Blog — Pet Grooming Software

Pet Grooming Software: The Complete Guide for Mobile Groomers Who Work From a Van

A mobile grooming business looks simple from the outside. You drive to a house, groom the dog in the van, take payment and drive to the next house. From the inside it is a lot of small details that all have to be right at once: which pets live at this home, how each one is cut, which one hates the dryer, where to park so the van is level, which outlet to plug into, what time the owner expects you, and whether the card on file still works.

This guide walks through what pet grooming software built for mobile groomers should hold, and how PetGroomBossPro handles each piece, from the first booking request to the tip on the paid invoice.

Why Mobile Groomers Need Different Software

The full overview of the product lives on the PetGroomBossPro pet grooming software page. This guide is the long version.

A salon books chairs. The dogs come to the groomer, and the hardest question is which table is free at two o'clock. A mobile groomer books driveways. The van goes to the dogs, so every appointment also carries an address, a drive time, a parking note and an owner who needs to know when you are close. A plain calendar can hold the time, but it cannot hold the rest of the job in a way that shows up on your phone at the curb.

Mobile groomers also tend to run on repeat clients. The same golden retriever every six weeks on a Tuesday morning. The same pair of shih tzus every four weeks on a Friday. Once a client is booked on a slot, the business works best when that slot keeps itself filled and the details of the last visit carry into the next.

The Pets, Saved on Every Visit

The heart of grooming software is the pet record. In PetGroomBossPro each job holds the pets at that home, up to four per visit. For each pet you keep:

• Name and whether it is a dog or a cat
• Breed
• Size: Toy, Small, Medium, Large or Giant
• Coat: Short / Smooth, Medium, Long, Double Coat, Curly / Doodle, Wire or Hairless
• Rabies due date, typed in by the groomer or the office
• A notes line for the cut and behavior, like “#7 blade body, teddy bear face” or “muzzle for nails”

Add-ons are ticked on the job: De-Shed Treatment, Teeth Brushing, Nail Grinding, Flea & Tick Bath, De-Matting, Ear Cleaning, Paw Balm, Blueberry Facial, Bow / Bandana, or whatever you set up. Van notes on the home cover where to park, the gate code and where the outlet or water hookup is.

The part groomers notice first: the next visit at that home fills in from the last one. The pets, the cut notes and the add-ons are already there. Nobody re-types the schnauzer's blade length every six weeks. The details of this are in The Next Visit Fills In From the Last: Why Nobody Re-Types the Pets or the Cut.

Repeat Appointments at a Set Time

Add Recurring Grooming books a client on the same weekday, the same time and the same van, every week, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, monthly or on custom days. You keep one service list and pick the frequency per client, so a doodle on a four-week schedule and a lab on an eight-week schedule both use the same Full Groom service.

Every visit is written up front. Each one waits on Pending Jobs with its planned day, time and van until the office confirms it. Most offices work Pending Jobs the day before: open tomorrow's tab, check the visits, confirm them with one click, and each one keeps its planned day, time and van. New requests that do not have a day yet sit on the No Day tab until you find them a slot.

The Recurring Clients list is where you change a client's van, day, time or price for upcoming visits, extend the series, or stop it when the client moves away.

The Groomer App

Groomers run the day from a phone. The groomer app works in the browser on iPhone and Android and can be installed to the home screen, so there is no app store download. Each groomer signs in with the company login and a personal PIN.

The day's appointments show in order with their set times. Each card has a navigation button, every pet with its breed, size, coat and cut notes, the add-ons, the van notes and past notes. The groomer taps Start, Skip or Complete, takes before-and-after photos, and works the grooming checklist for each pet: coat and skin checked on arrival, brushed out or de-matted, bath and conditioner, blow dry and fluff, haircut or style, sanitary trim, paw pads, nails, ears, eyes and face, final brush-out, plus the add-ons and a note for the owner. The office can print that as a Grooming Report.

On-the-way and arrived texts go out on their own. Complete creates the invoice and can charge the card on file. The time clock is on the same phone, and the van's GPS shows on the office map.

Booking, Quotes and Texts

New clients come in through the Book Now page, a link you put on your website, your Google Business Profile and your social bios. The customer picks a service, how many pets, each pet's name, breed and size, how often, add-ons and a preferred day and time of day, and sees a price right away. You set the base price per service, the add-on per size, a minimum, frequency discounts and add-on prices. Each booking lands in Leads with everything the customer picked and the quoted price, and you get an email. It is a request, not an instant calendar booking: the office confirms the time and books it. More on that in Online Booking Priced by Pet Size: The Book Now Page for Mobile Groomers.

For homes that need a custom price, estimates come from your service list, the customer approves online, and the approved estimate becomes the job with the same pet details. Two-way texting runs from the office, and automated reminders go out by text and email. Customers choose their own alerts: the night before, when they are next, and when the groomer arrives.

Getting Paid

Invoices carry line items and sales tax. A card on file can be charged automatically on completion or on a schedule, and customers can pay online from the customer app. On a paid invoice they can leave a tip of $10, $20, $30 or another amount, and tips have their own report. Past-due invoices get follow-up.

Some accounts are not one house and one dog. A senior living community with a monthly pet day, a doggy daycare with bath days, or an apartment community can be set to Monthly and get one statement each month covering every visit.

The Customer App

Pet owners get their own app. They see today's route on a live map, “You're stop 12 of 20 — the groomer is 5 stops away,” so they know when to have the dog ready at the door. They can request service, sign up for services and pricing, update their card, see invoices, pay, tip, rate and refer.

Running More Than One Van

Employees get their own PINs and are assigned to vans. A groomer and a bather can share a van. The Scheduled list filters by van, auto-route orders each van's day Closest First or Furthest First from the shop, and route sheets print for anyone who still likes paper on the dash. Office users get roles, client lists can be tagged and given custom fields, and CSV import brings in an existing client list with the addresses placed on the map automatically.

PetGroomBossPro works in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and bills customers in their own currency.

Pricing, Trial and Demo

Plans are Start at $59 a month, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199. Each plan includes a monthly text allowance of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 texts sent and received in the US and Canada. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. If you would rather look before you sign up, the live demo is a fully stocked sample mobile grooming company you can click around in.

The next guide in this series covers the whole product end to end in a shorter form. To see every guide in one list, go back to the pet grooming software page.