Virtual Receptionist for Dog Groomers — Books the Right Table

A receptionist for the salon where the client has four legs and the phone is under the dryer

You can't hear the phone over a dryer, and you can't answer it with a wriggling spoodle under one arm. Giday answers: takes the dog's name, size and the groom they're after, books the right length on the right table, and texts the owner a confirmation. Your 24/7 receptionist. From $49 a month — first week free.

What a call actually sounds like

A realistic call, the way Giday runs it:

Giday: Giday, you've reached Muddy Paws Grooming — Verity speaking, on a recorded line. How can I help you?

Caller: Hi, I need a full groom for my cavoodle, Biscuit, sometime next week?

Giday: Lovely — a full groom for a small dog is about two hours. Next week I have Tuesday at 9 or Thursday at 1:30. Which suits?

Caller: Tuesday at nine.

Giday: Done, Biscuit's booked Tuesday at 9. Your name and best mobile, and I'll text the confirmation?

What happened: Two hours on a table, the dog's name on the booking, a text to the owner, a text to the salon. Nobody put the clippers down.

The dog's name on the booking, the right length on the table

Your receptionist asks what you'd ask: the dog, the size, the groom. Each groom on your list carries its own duration, capacity is per table, and the booking takes the time it needs. Tell it a large double-coat is three hours and it won't offer a one-hour gap.

Name your groomers on the settings page and a regular can ask for "the one who does Biscuit". A dog that needs the vet rather than a groom gets a message to you, not an opinion.

Where it fits

Overflow. You keep answering; Giday picks up what rings out while you're with a dog on the table.
Before open and after close. Divert at close, divert back at open. The 7:50am rebook is in the calendar before you've unlocked.
All the time. The one-person business with no front desk.

Bookings land in your calendar through a subscription feed any calendar app reads, and by text. On the Busy plan and up they can go into ServiceM8 too. There's no link into other salon, grooming or job software yet; if you run one, bookings reach you by calendar and by text, not inside it.

Which plan fits

Every plan answers 24/7, books into your calendar and takes messages. The difference is minutes and machinery: Starter $49 for a solo groomer with a handful of calls a day, Steady $99 to read your live calendar and keep transcripts, Busy $199 to quote from your price list and link ServiceM8, Flat Out $399 for custom call flows and the on-call roster. All AUD with GST, month to month, no setup fee. The full table is on the pricing page.

Give it a go

Sixty minutes of call time on us, for a week. Card up front, nothing charged, and the clock doesn't start until your receptionist answers its first call. Setup takes minutes: your business name, what you do, your hours, your services with how long each takes, and your receptionist is live on its own Australian number. Divert is one dial code.

Straight answers

Does it ask about the dog?

Name, size and the groom, as the questions you set. It writes those on the booking and texts you.

Will it give advice about a dog's skin or coat?

No. It books and takes messages. Anything that sounds like a health question for the dog becomes a message for you.

Will it pretend to be a person?

Never. Ask and it says it's your virtual receptionist, straight away. Every call opens on a recorded line. Anyone who wants a human is put through to you or leaves a priority message.

Can it quote my groomer prices?

On the Busy plan and up, from a price list you approve, item by item, hedged in words that suit your kind of business. It never estimates, never adds two prices together, and takes a message for anything not on the list. On smaller plans it states any fee you've published and takes a message for the rest.

What if I'm fully booked?

You set how many jobs you can run at once — one per chair, table, van or person — and it only offers a time when there's genuinely room. Your own calendar entries block time outright.