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Tricks to Keep Your Appointment Book Full – Great Ideas to Stay Busy All Year Long

When your appointment book is totally full, how does that make you feel? For most of us, it’s a sense of security. It’s a source of pride. It’s a guarantee that you are satisfying your customers’ needs. You are doing a good job.

But how do you feel when that appointment book has empty slots? Maybe you are just starting out on your own and have an open book. Maybe you are new to the salon and need to build a fresh clientele. Or maybe you have been at your salon for a while, yet you’re just not getting traction with repeat customers.

Long-time pet stylists know this unspoken rule: a full appointment book offers job security.

So if your appointment book is lighter than what you would like, how are you going to fix it?

Here are a few ideas to help you boost your number of daily grooming appointments. Read the rest of this entry »

Melissa’s Top 10 Ways to Build a Strong Clientele

A young pet grooming salon or shop owner worried about building clienteleAre you thinking of opening a new shop where there isn’t a grooming salon or expanding into a new market area with your mobile unit? You are probably giddy with excitement over the prospect of all those new clients.

Watching that superstore getting ready for its grand opening? You are probably worried that you’ll lose clients.

Are you fretting over how much to raise your prices? You are probably agonizing over how many clients will look for other options to get their dogs groomed.

These are real worries.

Your current and prospective clients have four options.

  • Use your service
  • Use a competitors service
  • Do it themselves
  • Not do it at all

Sometimes the biggest challenge you have with building a clientele is not your competitors – it’s your prospects.

So how do you win clients over? Read the rest of this entry »

Get a little holiday cheer with Learn2GroomDogs.com!

Golden Christmas Sale at Learn2GroomDogs.com

Rating Dog Personalities

Photo of an irritated Chihuahua dog - angered by the pet grooming processYou have a new client on the books. It’s a Lhasa/Maltese mix – or in the new world of designer dogs, it’s a “Lhatese.” The client arrives precisely 15 minutes late. She’s dressed to the nines and everything matches… even the dog.

The dog’s name?

You guessed it – Precious.

You know you’re in trouble.

If you’re a one groomer salon, you can keep the personalities of all your canine clients in your head. You know any dog named Precious is far from… precious.

But what if you start expanding your salon? What if you bring on a new bather? Maybe you have an assistant handling your appointments? Or maybe you have an inexperienced groomer joining your team?

Wouldn’t it be helpful to know the personality rating of the dogs scheduled for the day? Read the rest of this entry »

Correcting Behavior During Grooming – Learn the 4 Keys to Successful Pet Handling

Puppy confessing bad behavior while being groomed by a professional pet groomerIf you are a long time pet professional, you’ve probably mastered today’s topic. If you are fresh to the industry, you are probably struggling with it.

How do you handle the dog that does not want to cooperate with the grooming procedure?

You’ve heard me say this about dogs before – but let’s do a quick review.

  • They are hard-wired to think like a dog.
  • They are a predatory pack animal.
  • They are silent communicators.
  • They read body language.
  • They respond to energy.

The most over used word in a dog’s vocabulary is “no.” It’s a common enough word, but it means nothing to them. Why? They hear it all the time. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Read Classic Dog Body Language – Appropriate Composure for the Pet Professional

Photo showing aggressive dog body language
We work with pets because we are passionate about them. It’s simple: we love what we do. Yet it’s important to remember that every dog is an individual. Not only do they look different, they all have different physical and emotional characteristics. Different personalities.

Some dogs receive clear directions from their owners. They have rules and boundaries at home. This makes them very easy to work with in a professional setting. Other pets will not be well-mannered in a professional setting. The personality quirks we all experience working with pets will vary from dog to dog.

  • Many will be perfect angels
  • Others will be mildly annoying
  • Some will be potentially dangerous to work with for both the handler and the pet

Based on your level of pet interaction experience, you should be able to work through many of these personality quirks. Your commands to the pet need to be clear, concise, and consistent. Read the rest of this entry »

Paying Groomers – What is Fair?

How and what professional groomers get paid is always a hot topic. There are so many variables:

  • Hourly?
  • Commission?
  • Pay rates?

Over the years I’ve tested just about every possible combination of scenarios to try to determine what was fair, what worked, and what didn’t.

When I started my first business, I groomed in the vans right beside my mobile groomers. My team earned 50% commission of the grooming charges. We also had an extra “house call charge” for the front door service per stop (not per dog).

My mobile fleet grew from one van to six in about five years. Plus, I added a grooming salon to the mix. We were busy all the time. However, every once in a while, cash got tight.

Have you ever been there? Read the rest of this entry »

Are You Taking Care of Your Best Customers?

The Spring Shedding Season is just around the corner. What does your appointment book look like? Are you booked full?

If you are, CONGRATULATIONS! Give yourself a huge pat on the back. Being proactive with your schedule feels great, doesn’t it?

If you’re still trying to fill holes in your schedule, there’s a question I’d like to ask.

Do you know who your most valuable clients are? Whether you are a solo flyer or work with a team, you can benefit from knowing what type of client brings in the most revenue. Read the rest of this entry »

What Keeps Clients Coming Back?

When a student graduates from The Paragon School of Pet Grooming, I love to hear about their success stories down the road. They might work for someone else or work for themselves. They love what they’re doing and their careers are thriving. But what makes those graduates successful?

For many of them, it might not be what you think.

We all have good friends. When you think about those friends, what traits draw you to them?

Quote In A CircleMy good friends are honest, dependable, self-confident, empathetic, and are good listeners. They have integrity. I enjoy being around them.

Bottom line, I trust them.

Not every groomer needs to be an all-star stylist to succeed. However, having repeat clientele is the lifeblood of any business. It does not matter if you are a solo groomer or work with a team of pet stylists with a support staff. Getting customers to come back on a regular basis pays the bills.

We are not in the business of washing and styling pets. We are in the trust business. For many of the clients that we deal with on a regular basis, their pets are an extension of their family.

I’m not a parent but if I were, I would never leave my child anywhere I felt apprehensive about the facility, the people, or about any part of the service. Most of our clients feel the same way about their fur babies. If you are going to be successful, your clients need to trust you.

To be a successful pet groomer or stylist, you need to have repeat clientele. Repeat clients are attracted to the same types of characteristics as your good friends. When you get others to trust you, it’s easier to grow your clientele and/or your business. It allows you to give all your clients and the pets exceptional service.

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Unfortunately, trust is fragile. If you lose it, it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to restore it.

You can’t fake a genuine relationship built on trust. The same characteristics that build a good friendship will build strong relationships with your clients and their pets.

Trust can take a long time to build. Yet it can take only a moment to weaken or disappear because of one senseless act. Without trust, you don’t have a business – or a job.

Trust keeps clients coming back. Repeat clients keep your business healthy. Take the time to build trust and strengthen relationships with your customers – you’ll be amazed at the result!

Happy trimming!

Melissa

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Thank You!

It’s an amazing honor to receive the Barkleigh Honors Award for Website of the Year. We are thankful beyond words to be nominated among such devoted and talented people. Thank you to Barkleigh for your recognition and for the tireless work you do every day to improve our industry for all groomers and the pets entrusted to us.

team photoReceiving this award is both humbling and inspiring. We created Learn2GroomDogs.com to help people who love working with pets become the groomers and stylists they’ve always wanted to be. We’re so grateful to be part of an industry that values education as well as professional and personal growth. Thanks to our subscribers, we’re more excited and motivated than ever to keep bringing you the tools and materials you need to make your lives better and improve the safety and well-being of pets everywhere.

This was so much more than the four of us could achieve alone. Helping people is our passion and you have always been the driving force behind everything we do.

Thank you to our dedicated team, our amazing Training Partners, and our subscribers for your feedback, insight, and support. This award belongs to all of you, as well. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for all of you. Thank you for being part of our family.

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