You cannot answer the phone with a dog on the table.
Every ring is a booking, a reschedule or a question about a coat, and none of them can wait until you have finished. Wide Awake AI answers, gets the dog, the service and the timing, and fills the slot.
The booking went to whoever could pick up
A groomer with both hands busy cannot take a call, and a client who reaches voicemail books with the salon down the road. That is the whole problem, and it repeats every day.
First two figures from small business call research, 2026. Sources on request. The third describes our service, not a result.
It asks what you would ask across the table
You write the questions. It never guesses a price for a coat it cannot see. It gets the pet, the service and the history, and books into your book.
What is the dog, what breed and age, what service, when did they last come in, and are the vaccinations current. Ava asks yours in your words, on the first ring, while you are mid clip.
A matted coat or an anxious dog gets flagged so you can add time or call the owner back yourself rather than discovering it at drop off. A routine six week groom books itself.
Pricing only comes from a list you give it. Anything outside that list is captured as a question for you, not answered with a number you would have to honour.
See it on your own numberPet
Bella, cockapoo, 18 monthsService
Full groom and nail trimCoat condition
Some matting behind the earsVaccinations
On file, updated in MarchPreferred groomer
Whoever did the last oneThe rest of the business, once the phone is handled
Most people start with the phone because it is the one that visibly loses money. These three are what they ask for next.
Keeps the cycle going
Most grooms repeat every six to eight weeks. An agent calls the ones who have drifted past their window and offers the slots you actually have open.
Reminders and deposits
The booking confirmation, the reminder the day before and the deposit link all go out on their own, which is most of what makes a no show not happen.
Every pet you have groomed
Notes, coat history, temperament and what worked last time, searchable in plain English rather than living in one groomer's memory.
What gets asked before the phone is handed over
If yours is not here, ask it on the walkthrough. You will get a straight answer, including when the answer is that we are not the right fit.
Will it quote a price?
Only from a published list you give it. For anything else, matting, size, temperament or a breed you price by hand, it captures the details and tells the client you will confirm.
What about aggressive or anxious dogs?
It asks the handling questions you write and flags anything concerning to you before the appointment, so a difficult dog is never a surprise at drop off.
Can it take deposits?
It can send your deposit or booking link. It does not read out or collect card numbers on the call.
What if we are fully booked?
It offers your next real openings, and it can take waitlist details so a cancellation gets filled instead of sitting empty.
How fast can it be answering?
72 hours from kickoff. You approve every word of the script before it takes a single call.
Tell us what your phone is doing
How many calls a day, who picks up now, and what happens to the ones that arrive after you close. That is enough for us to tell you whether this is worth doing.
If it is, you get a flat number on the call. If it is not, you will hear that instead of a proposal.
- chris@wideawakeai.com
- Based in
- San Diego, CA