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Company Profile

A Dog's Domain is the first pet-styling salon in Jacksonville, Fla., to offer full service pet styling by the only nationally-certified Master Groomer in Duval County. Three professional groomers provide such pet grooming services as haircuts, baths, nail trimming and filling, hand stripping, flea treatments, coat brightening and teeth brushing.

The Problem

Prior to using Appointment-Plus, A Dog's Domain used scheduling software geared specifically for pet groomers. Designed for internal use only, it did not have online capabilities, which prevented clients from scheduling their own appointments at their convenience. Groomers would take client appointments by phone, then manually enter them into the system. Additionally, the software did not pair owner and dog information together on the same screen, creating an extra step to access it. The system would also occasionally lose client notes and data.

Analysis

Yvonne Aitken, owner and nationally-certified Master Groomer, determined that more efficient and reliable appointment software would be beneficial to both clients and her groomers. The most important consideration was online self-scheduling for her clients, as she wanted to offer them the convenience of setting appointments at their convenience 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Solution

Ms. Aitken learned of Appointment-Plus through a Yahoo grooming group, whose members discussed several appointment-scheduling software providers and the pros and cons of each. After researching several other software companies - whose products did not offer online self-scheduling - she signed up for a free trial of Appointment-Plus. She received great feedback from clients who used it to book their appointments online. Based on the convenience and functionality it offered, she chose Appointment-Plus for her appointment-scheduling needs.

Results

Ms. Aitken and her groomers at A Dog's Domain are spending more time with their pet clients and less time answering the phone, thanks to Appointment-Plus. She uses the software to schedule all of her 60 weekly pet grooming appointments, both self-scheduled and manually-booked ones. Approximately 80 percent of her clients now book appointments online, which has reduced the number of phone calls by over 75 percent. This has a tremendous impact on her business operations, as it decreases the rate at which groomers must stop what they're doing and answer the phone. Ms. Aitken states that most of the calls her business now receives are from prospective clients seeking information. Client feedback has been very positive; in fact, some clients book their appointments up to a year in advance. Ms. Aitken adds that clients also enjoy receiving e-mail reminders on their upcoming appointments. In addition to the scheduling functionality, A Dog's Domain also uses Appointment-Plus to generate daily reports. Overall, Appointment-Plus is a "wonderful system" that offers convenience and reliability to clients and groomers alike.