PetGroomBossPro Blog — Repeat Appointments

Add Recurring Grooming, Step by Step: Booking a Repeat Client in PetGroomBossPro

Booking a repeat client should take about as long as the phone call where they say yes. In PetGroomBossPro that happens in one form, Add Recurring Grooming. This walkthrough covers each step in the software, in order, so you know what to have ready before you start. It is about the booking screen only — how you groom the dog is up to you.

Before You Open the Form

The case for booking repeat clients on fixed slots is in Why Set Slots Work: Same Weekday, Same Time, Same Van for Every Repeat Grooming Client. Once you are on board with that, the booking itself is quick if a few things are in place first:

• The client and address exist. Add them from the Clients screen, convert them from a website sign-up, or bring them in with a CSV import. Imported addresses are placed on the map automatically.
• Your service list is set up. Full Groom, Bath & Brush, Cat Groom, Puppy Intro Groom, Nail Trim and whatever else you offer, with your prices.
• Your vans exist. Each van (a “team” in the software) has the groomer, and maybe a bather, assigned to it.

Step 1: Pick the Client and Address

Open Add Recurring Grooming and choose the client. If they have more than one address, such as a home and a vacation place, pick the one the van will visit. The series belongs to that address, so van notes like where to park, the gate code and the outlet or water hookup come along with it.

Step 2: Check the Pets

Each visit holds the pets at that home, up to four. For each pet you have the name, Dog or Cat, breed, size (Toy, Small, Medium, Large or Giant), coat (Short / Smooth, Medium, Long, Double Coat, Curly / Doodle, Wire or Hairless), the rabies due date you type in, and a notes line for the cut and behavior, such as “#7 blade body, teddy bear face” or “muzzle for nails.”

Get these right now and you will not type them again. Every visit in the series carries them, and the next visit fills in from the last one. Why that matters is covered in Pets Carried Onto Every Visit: Why Nobody Re-Types the Dog on a Repeat Grooming Schedule.

Step 3: Choose the Service and Add-Ons

Pick the service from your one service list. Then tick any add-ons this client gets every time, like Teeth Brushing, Nail Grinding, De-Shed Treatment or a Bow / Bandana. Add-ons are whatever you have set up, at the prices you set.

You do not need a separate service for each frequency. A Full Groom is a Full Groom whether the client comes every four weeks or every eight.

Step 4: Set How Often, the Weekday, the Time and the Van

This is the slot. Choose the frequency — weekly, every 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, monthly, or custom days — and then the weekday, the arrival time and the van.

A few practical tips from the screen's point of view:

• Pick a start date that matches the weekday, so the first visit lands where you expect.
• Choose the time the van should arrive. That is the time on the groomer's card and in the customer's reminder.
• Choose the van that already works that part of town on that weekday, so the new client fits the route.

Check the price on the series, too. It starts from your service list and add-ons, and you can adjust it for this client if you have agreed on something different.

Step 5: Save and Look at the Visits

When you save, every visit in the series is written up front. They go to Pending Jobs, each with its planned day, time and van, and each holding the pets, cut notes and add-ons you just set. The series itself shows up on the Recurring Clients list, where you can change it later.

It is worth a quick look at Pending Jobs right after saving to make sure the first visit is on the day you told the client. If something is off, fix the series now, before reminders start going out.

What Happens Next

From here the series runs itself. The day before each visit, the office opens tomorrow's tab on Pending Jobs and confirms the planned visits with one click. The customer gets the reminders they chose. On the day, the groomer sees the visit on the phone with its set time, grooms, and taps Complete, which creates the invoice and can charge the card on file.

For everything else repeat clients can do in the software, from price changes to stopping a series, head back to the recurring grooming software page.