Helping receptionist understand appointment booking when they have zero prior grooming experience?

[reveal77]

Hey y’all. So, I recently started grooming at a daycare that never had a stylist before. This has been great so far, but the original receptionist parted ways and now we’re working with a newer receptionist who’s never worked with a groomer before so I wanted to type up a little sheet to help her set up appointments.

There have been a few miscommunications where the client is ultimately unhappy with the service because it wasn’t our in the system right and they drop off before I arrive. These are small things mostly like a customer asking for a small trim (where I do a face, feet, & sanitary trim) but they actually wanted a full haircut just not taking off a whole lot of hair. This is partly my fault for having not called them to double check but up to this point it was never an issue and the notes put in were what the pet parent requested. This has even resulted in a bad review, unfortunately.

So far I’m the only thing I can come up with is:

-are you looking for an all over trim / or just a tidy up on the face/feet/sanitary?

I am also struggling to figure out a way for her to understand when I have openings and for what dogs. There is a day in the future where I have 5 large doodles booked all within a two hour time frame. I regularly do 7-9 dogs a day, so I feel like that’s where it may be confusing to her because it fits within the number. I explained I typically view one doodle as two dogs due to the amount of work but other tips are greatly appreciated.

Much thanks

 

[livelifeliving33]

@reveal77 Outline everything. Maybe see if you can use price ranges as a way to limit how many dogs are scheduled within the same day or to keep them to appropriate times. Check your schedule throughout the day and if you see anything crop up, bring it to her attention so it's fresh in her memory.

I'd write down each individual service you provide and give a written description of it. Even using terms like "tidy up" to the receptionist could = full haircut. So for face/feet/sanitary I'd note that you're literally just trimming those 3 things and nothing further.

 

[reveal77]

@livelifeliving33 Yeah I think that’s where a lot of confusion is coming from. I’ve verbally explained the differences before but it is a lot, writing it down will probably help a lot. Thank you!!

 

[chaz1268]

@reveal77 The best thing you can do is give her a reasonable list of rules to follow and then make sure that she is the one calling customers to fix an issue when there is a mistake. Scheduling is a tricky thing, especially for someone not familiar with the different breeds of dogs. She will catch on much quicker if she’s forced to fix her own errors.

It’s also suuuuuuper important that you’re watching your schedule like a hawk. The sooner you notice a problem, the sooner it can get fixed and everyone will be happier for it.

 

[reveal77]

@chaz1268 Oh I check my schedule frequently. The day with five doodles is mid Feb, luckily I caught it and didn’t walk in blind! Thanks for the tips! I wasn’t sure if having her call and fix the schedule issues was being too harsh with her or not, so I will def do that.

It’s a bit of a learning curve for all of us. Her not having worked with groomers & me never having worked with people in this capacity who weren’t also groomers.

 

[littlemiracle7]

@reveal77 Okay but how do I do this if the "new receptionist" is actually the owner of the shop with 20 years experience on me

 

[reveal77]

@littlemiracle7 God I wish you luck. I wouldn’t be able to deal w that at all

 

[littlemiracle7]

@reveal77 Thanks I need it xD

 

[sana8520]

@reveal77 Does the salon use an app for appointment scheduling?

Because I know you can categorise the dogs via size, weight etc and add different specifications to it. Meaning I can say a small dog will take 1 hour, a medium dog will take me 1.5 hours.

This should definitely help in easing out the schedule and reduce scope for jamming in your schedule.

 

[reveal77]

@sana8520 They use the same system they use to book for daycare and boarding which doesn’t let the clients book just submit a request but 5 people can request the same time so if they aren’t paying attention and approve everyone all at once it ends up being a catastrophe. I’m gonna suggest maybe using a different service for grooming

 

[sana8520]

@reveal77 Oh, that's interesting. What are they using now?

 

[reveal77]

@sana8520 Pet exec

 

[sana8520]

@reveal77 Thanks! Just went through it. I don't know if your team has looked at MoeGo.

It's real good, and it's a lot newer. I know migrating is a pain in the butt, but maybe your team can check their demo and see if it works in parallel.

Sorry couldn't be of more help though :/