Defining Grooming Business Success
“To make money, of course!”
Ok, well, that’s part of it, right? We all have bills to pay and need to make money. Beyond that, what does your business accomplish?
My goal is to help pet owners solve their grooming problems. It sounds strange, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t the purpose of a professional groomer be to “groom pets”? Maybe so, but that wasn’t right for me. I needed a “why.” Why am I grooming this pet? Why are owners contacting me to have their pets groomed? Because there’s a problem that needs solving. The problem may be an overgrown coat, matted fur, excess shedding, or simply making a pet look nice, but there’s always a reason.
Yes, I may have a financial goal of having X amount of clients on a recurring schedule, but I approach that from underneath the primary goal of solving grooming problems. When I think about my business from this perspective, I’m able to be honest and authentic with folks, and I’m not under any pressure to “make a sale.”
For example, I once groomed a short-haired cat for a new client. This was a house call appointment during which the owner watched and asked questions as I trimmed her nails, shampooed her coat, blow-dried her coat, and combed her through. She was an absolute doll for everything! Afterward, we discussed how to keep her dandruff and shedding under control, and he confessed that he thought he could keep her bathed himself. Quite honestly, I agreed! I told him as much and told him to contact me if that didn’t work out. Did I hear from him again? I sure didn’t! And you know what? That’s ok because my primary goal was to help him manage his cat’s shedding and dandruff, and I did that while being paid for my time and expertise. I didn’t need to feel upset or panicked that he didn’t rebook on an 8-week schedule, I didn’t need to “hide” my grooming methods from him, and I didn’t need to compromise my values by selling him something he didn’t truly need.
I have had quite a few one-time appointments similar to this, where I offer information that solves a pet owner’s grooming problems in a way other than suggesting or requiring a frequent recurring schedule. While this may seem counterintuitive when trying to grow your clientele, I can speak from a place of experience when I say that those one-time clients hold my services in such high regard and have so much trust for the education I offered them that their referrals are priceless. This has the added benefit of establishing a relationship of trust within my community so when the best solution to a client’s grooming problems is to be on a recurring grooming schedule, they know that I am being honest with them rather than trying to “sell” them something they may not need.
Furthermore, having the goal to help clients solve their grooming problems allows me to separate my personal feelings from business interactions. This means that if a client decides to have someone else groom their pet, for whatever reason, that’s awesome because it’s a solution to their grooming problem! That’s my goal, right? Help them find a solution, which won’t always be for me to groom them because there isn’t one right answer for every pet and owner, ya know?