GeoCalendar
Four or five dogs, and the drive between them
A mobile groomer’s day is short on slots. A full groom takes an hour to two, so the van holds four or five dogs between morning and late afternoon. Most of them are regulars who come round every four to eight weeks. The rest are new clients, and each of those is booked by someone who has no idea you are in their neighborhood on Tuesdays.
A new client dropped into the wrong day puts a forty-minute drive between two dogs. In a day with five slots, that drive is where the fifth dog was going to go.
What a badly placed first groom costs
Say a new client wants a first groom next week, and you have two openings. The IRS business mileage rate is 76 cents a mile. The drive times are illustrations.
| Opening | Extra driving | Extra miles | Vehicle cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday at 11:00, between two regulars across town | 45 min | 20 mi | $15.20 |
| Tuesday at 1:00, three streets from a regular | 6 min | 2 mi | $1.52 |
The mileage is the smaller part. The thirty-nine minutes are what decide, on most days, whether one more dog fits.
What happens when a new client books
The owner enters their address and picks the size of their dog. GeoCalendar reads the grooms already on your calendar and offers first the times that sit beside one of them, which in practice means the day you are already in that neighborhood. The other open times stay available under more options. Once booked, the drive is on your calendar with the groom.
Bringing a regular back in six weeks
Regulars are usually rebooked at the van door. When you add the next visit by hand and choose the client’s address, GeoCalendar lists the open times over the next four weeks that add the least driving, best first. For a client on a longer cycle, send the booking link when the time comes round and let them choose from the suggested times themselves.
Setting it up for a grooming van
- Use a custom event type with a service for each size: a small dog at an hour, a medium dog at 90 minutes, a large or double-coated dog at two hours. Each can show its price.
- Ask on the booking form for the breed, the weight, the date of the last groom and anything the dog is nervous about.
- Cap the bookings per day at four or six, whichever the van’s day really holds.
- Limit the service area by max drive time, at 20 to 25 minutes. That also caps the drive between two appointments.
- Keep your regulars on the connected calendar with the client’s address in the location field. Those addresses are what a new booking is ranked against.
What it does not do
GeoCalendar does not keep vaccination records or grooming notes, take payment or deposits, or create repeat appointments on its own: the customer books each visit, or you add it. Reminders go by email, a day before. It is a booking page that knows where the van will be, not a grooming salon system.
Common questions
Can clients book a standing appointment every six weeks?
They book one visit at a time. You can add the next visit yourself at the end of each groom, and GeoCalendar lists the open times in the next four weeks that add the least driving for that address.
Can the price and length depend on the size of the dog?
Yes. A custom event type holds several services, each with its own title, price, description and length, and the owner picks one when they book.
Does it send appointment reminders?
Yes, by email, 24 hours before the visit, with the time, the address and a link to reschedule. It does not send text messages.