"By appointment" schedules...

[PAWS]

For those of you who have certain days or all days "by appointment", what exactly does this mean? Do you take your first one when you feel like it and not schedule the day full if you don't want to? I usually arrive at my first at 9am and take the last one at 2 or 3pm. If I need to finish early once in awhile, I just say I have nothing left after such and such time. If I need an extra day off for errands or truck maintenance, I just say the day is already full. Thanks all!

[diamienono]

I try to make my first appt at 9. I hate to get up in the morning. So does my daughter. I REALLY don't want to wake her. She is scary. Then, if I have nothing going on I will sometimes schedule up until 6. Usually 3 or 4 is my last. I don't work on weekends. So often I will do at least 1 or 2 evenings a week.

[workingchihuahua]

i've been doing mobile long enough, to be very accurate in the times given to a customer. everybody is by app't. give or take 15 minutes. of course, the bane of my existence are school buses. nothing will screw up a schedule faster than getting behind a school bus stopping at every mailbox.

[Fur Elite]

I am not sure what you mean, I think most mobiles are by appt only...I can't imagine working any other way? People call and you book them an appt for a date and a time. I am almost always on time or early to my appts, but i give 30 minute window in case something happens (like a matted client or a traffic jam) but am usually on time on the dot. If I am running early, I call and see if it is convenient if I come early...it usually is with my client group (retirees who are always home) and I finish my day early probably at least half of the time. I only book however many appts I can do on any given day, allowing for picking up kids from school, various personal appts etc. And, I like to have a day off at least every other week. So, I block off whatever times I don't want to work or can't work due to personal commitments, and fill the other slots with clients as they call or that are already prebooked. When those are full, you just tell the caller that you have no openings left on such and such day but that you can book them on (whatever the next day is you have an opening). You do not need to go into detail about why you have no openings left...no need to explain that you have to pick your kid up from school, or you have a drs appt or if you are just going to be sitting in a bar all day with friends. You are just not available.

[toomuchfunbnme]

Appointment length and travel time

I was wondering how much time you guys usually leave per appointment. Of course i realize it will vary for different types of grooms. Do you find it difficult to schedule mobile because of variences in traffic and such?

[diamienono]

i've been doing mobile long enough, to be very accurate in the times given to a customer. everybody is by app't. give or take 15 minutes. of course, the bane of my existence are school buses. nothing will screw up a schedule faster than getting behind a school bus stopping at every mailbox.

You know when I was a kid 500 yrs ago, we all got dumped like 1/2 a mile from our house and had to walk. Just another reasone for adolescent obesity. It won't kill those kids to walk a few blocks.

[toomuchfunbnme]

Too Silly!

diamienono, you are sooo funny! I can't stop laughing!

[plushpuppy]

I try to make my first appt at 9. I hate to get up in the morning. Then, if I have nothing going on I will sometimes schedule up until 6. Usually 3 or 4 is my last. So often I will do at least 1 or 2 evenings a week.

I agree with Lisa I am a terrible morning person, I do do Saturdays most of the time and will also do one or 2 later nights

[Fur Elite]

In general, for new clients I leave 1.5 hrs for an appt. For clients I see regularly and their dog is well maintained and behaved, I leave an hour (also only if the people live in the same area). If I have to drive, I tack on another 15-30 minutes. You should be able to judge just based on your knowledge of the your service area and the traffic patterns. If there is an unusual traffic jam that delays you, just call the client and tell them you are running late.

[Soap]

I start super early a few days a week and it works great for me. I work Mon-Fri days and Thursday nights. First appt at 6:30 am on my early days and 8am on my late days.

[diamienono]

I start super early a few days a week and it works great for me. I work Mon-Fri days and Thursday nights. First appt at 6:30 am on my early days and 8am on my late days.

You actually have clients that are out of bed at 6:30 am? I had people moan and groan at the holidays when I started at 8

[toomuchfunbnme]

Hours

I think that starting a couple days super early and then having a couple of days start out late would work out really well. That way you can offer a wider range of hours for clients.

[toomuchfunbnme]

Early Appointments

You actually have clients that are out of bed at 6:30 am? I had people moan and groan at the holidays when I started at 8

I don't think some people sleep! In my former career I had standing appointments at 5AM every day! One of my clients was a 4AM standing appointment who was waiting for me every time when I got there! I would get there 15 to 20 minutes early to open the business and she would complain that she had to watch me open every time! Ha Ha.

[PAWS]

Sorry if unclear, Fur

What I meant by "by appt" is do you have set "hours" or you just schedule as you go. I have set hours, 9am to 4pm. I take my last at 2pm or 3pm, depending on what it is and how many dogs. I give an hour for regulars (except certain easy ones, like I have a 3 beagle home I get done in less than an hour!), plus add 30 mins before scheduling the next to allow for travel time and rebooking. (ex: 9am, 10:30am, 12pm, etc.) If I know I will be more than 15 mins early or late, I call ahead...so far, working out great. But what made me wonder is there is another mobiler I talked to in my area and her schedule is irregular and all over the board, she calls this "by appt". It sounds like she works 7 days a week all hours when it's busy, and much less when she isn't busy. She also will travel very, very far if she can get enough dogs to make her day worth it. I have offered to go outside my "zone" if a client can get friends/family/neighbors to keep me at the same relative location for 4 or more dogs. So far, only 1 taker.

[Fur Elite]

Oh, i see. that sounds like a very chaotic way to run your business, but if it works for that other mobiler then great. I have general hours...I don't start before 8 but rarely schedule an appt before 8:30 or 9. In general, I don't schedule anything past 3 (3 is the last appt or it may be 3:30 if it is a bath only dog) as i pick up my son from school at 4:30. But, during the holidays when it is very busy and the kids are out of school anyway, I may work until 6 or 7 just to get everyone in. I only work M-F. So in general, I work by appt only M-F, 8:30 - 3:00. Even during the holidays I did NOT give up my saturdays. It sounds like this other person just schedules people whenever it is convenient...so she/he probably has few if any personal commitments and can be available and is willing to be available anytime. Nothing wrong with that if you can sustain that and want to work that way. I prefer to work within an established timeframe...i find that fitting someone in outside your regular schedule only leads to future expectations that you may not want to get trapped into. Remember, give a person an inch and they may take a mile. Set your days of business and hours the way you want them to be. The only time I have made and exception to the weekend was to actually meet someone who wasn't able to be home during the week, meet the dog and get the information on how to get access to the dog...but did not groom the dog at that time. In general though, i have found that going outside your general "rules' (be it schedule, the types of dogs you accept, the weight limit, condition, etc) allmost always backfires and you end up in a situation you wish you weren't in. This is when it is important to listen to your intuition and remember that you have established your rules for a reason.