PetGroomBossPro Blog — Running a Mobile Grooming Business

Monthly Accounts for a Mobile Grooming Business: One Statement for Many Visits

Most mobile grooming work is one home at a time. A monthly account is different. It is one customer, such as a senior living community, a doggy daycare or an apartment community, that sends you many pets on a regular grooming day and pays once a month. For a grooming business, that can mean a full, predictable day on the calendar every week or month, with one bill to send instead of a stack of small ones.

What Counts as a Monthly Account

Running two vans was covered in Adding a Second Van to a Mobile Grooming Business. A monthly account is one of the best uses for a second van, though plenty of one-van groomers take them on too.

The three common types are:

• Senior living pet days. A community where residents have pets, and the groomer comes on a set day.
• Doggy daycare bath days. A daycare that offers baths to its dogs and brings in a mobile groomer to do them.
• Apartment communities. A complex that sets up a grooming day as a perk for residents.

Each has its own guide in this series. This one covers what they have in common.

Who Pays?

The first question with any monthly account is who pays. Sometimes the account pays for everything and recovers it however it likes. Sometimes the account pays for some services and residents pay for extras. Sometimes each pet owner pays and the account only arranges the day.

Agree on this in writing before the first grooming day. If the account pays, set it up in PetGroomBossPro as a client with billing set to Monthly. It then gets one statement each month covering every visit, instead of an invoice per pet. If individual owners pay, treat them as separate clients with their own card on file.

Price the Day Clearly

Monthly accounts usually want a clear price list up front. Use your normal service list and size steps, and send an estimate built from it. The account can approve it online, and an approved estimate becomes the job.

You might offer a lower per-pet price for a full day at one location, since you save on driving and setup. Whether you do, and by how much, is up to you. Make sure the day still pays well after you count the hours. The estimate side is covered in Estimates for New Customers and Multi-Pet Homes in a Mobile Grooming Business.

Schedule the Grooming Day

A monthly account works best on a fixed day. Add Recurring Grooming books the account on the same weekday, time and van every week, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, monthly, or custom days. Every visit is written up front and waits on Pending Jobs with its planned day, time and van until the office confirms it.

The account's address can have its own van notes: where to park, which entrance to use, where the outlet and water hookup are, and who to check in with. Every groomer who works that day sees them on the groomer app.

Keep Track of Every Pet

A monthly account can mean a lot of pets over a month, and each one needs its own record. In PetGroomBossPro, a client can have many addresses, and each visit holds up to four pets with name, dog or cat, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and notes. For a busy grooming day, you can split the pets into several jobs at the same address.

The grooming checklist runs for each pet, with a note for the owner, and the office can print a Grooming Report. For a senior living resident or a daycare parent, that report is a nice touch that shows what was done.

One Statement, Not a Stack

The big time-saver with a monthly account is billing. Instead of creating, sending and chasing an invoice for every pet, the account set to Monthly gets one statement each month covering every visit. Sales tax can be added if it applies, and past-due follow-up handles a statement that is not paid on time.

Agree on payment terms at the start. Many accounts prefer to pay by card or online. The account can update its card and pay invoices from the customer app.

Finding Monthly Accounts

Monthly accounts rarely find you. You usually have to ask. Approach the manager with a short, friendly offer: what you would do, on what day, and what it would cost. Mention that your van is self-contained, so you only need a parking spot and possibly an outlet or water hookup.

Next in this series: Senior Living Pet Days: A Monthly Account for Your Mobile Grooming Business. To see how monthly billing fits with the rest of the platform, visit the mobile grooming business software page.