Latest / The Local Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Small Business, Google Maps, and Local SEO / How a Local Pet Groomer Uses Google Maps to Build a Waitlist
Transcript
- Lucas: There's this pet groomer in Austin — she runs a one-person shop, no receptionist, no website to speak of — and she's got a waitlist that stretches three weeks out, every single week, without spending a dollar on ads. Luna: Three weeks out for a solo groomer? That's impressive. How is she doing it? Lucas: She's using Google Maps as her booking system, her marketing channel, and her cancellation buffer all at once. And the key insight she figured out is that a waitlist isn't a problem to solve — it's an asset to manage. Luna: I love that framing. So she's not trying to get rid of the waitlist; she's using it to build demand. Lucas: Exactly. And this is something that works whether you're a groomer, a plumber, a massage therapist — any local service business with limited capacity. So let me walk through her exact playbook, because the numbers are pretty striking. Luna: Let's hear it. Lucas: First thing: she updates her Google Business Profile every morning at 7 a.m. with her same-day availability. Not a generic post — she uses the 'what's new' feature to say something like 'I have two openings today at 10 and 2, first come first served, book through Google Maps.' Luna: So she's using Google Posts not for announcements, but for real-time inventory. That's smart. Lucas: Right. And because she does it consistently, her regular customers know to check her profile in the morning. She told me that about 30 percent of her same-day bookings come from people who literally have a calendar reminder to check her Posts at 7:05. Luna: That's a habit she built. And it keeps her from having to call people or send emails. Lucas: But here's where the waitlist comes in. She also has a Google Q&A — she pinned a question at the top that says 'How do I join the waitlist?' and she answers it with a link to a simple Google Form. No fancy CRM, just a form that asks for name, phone, and preferred day. Luna: And the Q&A section is public, so every new person who looks at her profile sees that question and the answer. It pre-qualifies them. Lucas: Exactly. She told me that before she added that Q&A, she was getting calls from people asking 'are you available?' — which she had to answer every time. Now they self-select. And the form captures their info automatically. Luna: So the waitlist builds itself. How does she convert it into actual appointments? Lucas: Every afternoon, she looks at the next day's schedule. If she has a gap — maybe a cancellation or a slot that didn't fill — she sends a text to the top five people on the waitlist who said they prefer that day. First to reply gets the slot. Luna: First come, first served via text. That creates urgency without pressure. Lucas: And it dramatically reduces no-shows. She told me that before she started the waitlist system, her no-show rate was about 20 percent. In the first 90 days after she implemented this, it dropped to 12 percent. And now it's under 10 percent. Luna: Because the people who book through the waitlist are more motivated. They've already expressed interest, they're waiting for an opening, they're not just casually booking. Lucas: Right. The psychology is different. And she also uses the Google Maps appointment booking feature — the one that lets customers book directly from the profile. She turns it on only for certain slots, like Tuesday mornings, which are historically her slowest. That way she controls availability. Luna: So she's using the booking feature as a pressure valve, not as her primary scheduling tool. That's a smart way to avoid overbooking. Lucas: And the result is that she went from averaging 22 appointments per week to 28 per week — a 27 percent increase — without adding any extra hours. She just filled the gaps more efficiently. Luna: And all of this is free, essentially. Just the time she puts into updating her profile. Lucas: Which is maybe 10 minutes a day. She does it while having her morning coffee. Compare that to running Facebook ads or a Google Ads campaign — which she tried briefly and hated — and the ROI is wild. Luna: What about reviews? Did she do anything specific there? Lucas: She didn't chase reviews, but they came naturally because her service improved. When you're not rushing to fill slots, you can give each dog a better experience. Her rating went from 4.3 to 4.8 over six months. Luna: That's the virtuous cycle. Better experience, better reviews, more visibility on Google Maps, more people finding her profile, more people joining the waitlist. Lucas: It's a flywheel. And the best part is that she's not dependent on any third-party platform that takes a cut. It's all through Google's free tools and a simple text message. Luna: You know, this kind of practical strategy is exactly why people listen to this show. And it reminds me — a handful of listeners actually chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many episodes ad-free. Lucas: Yeah. We don't run ads, we don't have sponsors, so the people who find value in these conversations and want to keep them coming — they're the reason we can do deep dives like this. No pressure, but if it's useful, that's how it stays free. Luna: Exactly. Now back to that groomer — she also uses Google Maps attributes in a clever way. She set her business attributes to 'appointment required' and 'accepts online booking.' That filters out people who just want to walk in. Lucas: Right, which sets expectations. If you show up at her door without an appointment, you're going to be disappointed. Better to know that upfront. Luna: And she added the attribute 'women-led' — which is true — and that resonates with a lot of her customer base in Austin. Lucas: So the whole profile is optimised not just for discovery, but for pre-qualification. Every element — the Posts, the Q&A, the attributes — is working to make sure the people who contact her are the right people. Luna: I think the big takeaway here is that you don't need a fancy booking system or a marketing agency to fill your calendar. You just need to use the tools that are already on your Google Business Profile more intentionally. Lucas: And to think of your waitlist as a demand management tool, not a problem. This groomer told me something that stuck with me: 'A waitlist means people want what you have. Don't apologize for it. Use it.' Luna: That's a good mantra. So for any local service business listening — start with your Google Posts tomorrow morning. Post your availability. Then set up a simple Q&A for your waitlist. See what happens. Lucas: And if you want to share your results, we'd love to hear them. Reach out to us on the Fexingo Business social channels. We might feature your story in a future episode. Luna: Alright, that's it for this one. Lucas, see you next time. Lucas: See you, Luna.