Most groomers we speak to are turning work away, which sounds like a reason not to bother. It is the opposite. A site lets you fill cancellations, publish your prices so the phone stops ringing with quote requests, put a waiting list in front of people, and — when you are ready — put your rates up without a fortnight of awkward conversations.
A cockapoo is not a price. It depends on size, coat condition, whether it has been matted since Christmas, and whether it will let you near its feet. So every enquiry becomes a five-minute conversation while you are holding a wriggling schnauzer.
A breed and size guide with honest bands, plus a line about matting and what happens if a coat has to come off short, handles nine out of ten of those before the phone rings. The tenth call is from somebody who has read it and is ready to book.
Every groomer has had it. The dog is on the table, the owner cannot remember when the booster was, and now you are deciding between your insurance and an argument in the doorway.
Put the rule on the website in plain words — which vaccinations, that you need to see the card, that flea treatment matters and what happens if you find fleas mid-groom — and it stops being your rule sprung on somebody. It becomes the salon’s published policy that they agreed to when they booked. Groomers consistently tell us this is the page they wish they had had years ago.
On the site
Written from one conversation about how your salon runs, then kept current for as long as you are with us.
Bands rather than exact figures, with the honest caveats. Enough for an owner to budget and stop them expecting a bichon to cost the same as a labrador.
Vaccinations, fleas, matting, late arrivals, cancellations, aggressive dogs. All the difficult conversations, had in advance and in writing.
The most persuasive thing a groomer owns. A matted rescue turned into a clean, comfortable dog sells better than any words on the page.
One-to-one, no cage drying, how long a groom takes, whether owners can stay. For an anxious owner with an anxious dog this is the whole decision.
A page that captures people when you are full, so a gap on Thursday is filled from a list rather than lost.
Salon, van or home studio. Where to park, which door, and what happens at drop-off and collection.
Forty a week is a working day a fortnight spent saying the same six sentences.
Most groomers charge more for a single medium dog than the site costs for a month.
Site, hosting, domain and every change, with no contract and no build fee.
Groomer questions
So that when three regulars move away in the same month you are not starting from nothing, and so you can raise your prices in writing rather than one apologetic conversation at a time.
It links to whatever diary system you use, or to a simple enquiry form that lands in your inbox. It does not try to be a booking platform.
Yes, and you should. Having your cancellation policy published and pointed to when a booking is made is worth far more than the same words in a message somebody has deleted.
The emphasis moves to the area you cover, whether you need a driveway and a power supply, and how long the van needs. The structure and copy are planned for how you actually work.
£47 a month, no contract, and your prices and policies changed whenever you say.