Grooming Boom! Make the Most of It with Business Technology

Grooming Boom!

Make the most of it with business technology

Grooming is booming! There is no other way to tell the truth. Pet groomers are inundated with calls from dog owners. Mobile pet groomer Wayne Hartley’s Happy Heart’s Pet Care in Stone Mountain, Georgia is grooming 6 dogs a day, almost twice the volume of a year ago. Why this surge in demand? Part of this is definitely pandemic related. The loneliness of social distancing eGroomer Journal Copyright © 2011 Find A Groomer Inc. All rights reservedcreated unprecedented demand for 49

pets which has translated into unprecedented demand for pet care services such as veterinary care and grooming. Within the grooming industry, it’s mobile grooming that is hot. Why? It’s a combination of pet owners who like the convenience and COVID related safety of having a groomer come to them, and business owners’ faced with the expense of maintaining a commercial location and the challenges of

staffing that have come to the realization that going solo with a mobile business is the way to go.

What does the boom in grooming and especially in mobile grooming have to do with business technology? It’s all about taking the hassle factor out of running a business. At PocketSuite we have over 1K pet care professionals running their business on our all-in-one app and when we poll our Pros “what is the greatest benefit you get from using PocketSuite,” the #1 response is: “I get to spend more time providing service to my clients and therefore making more money.” Before moving his business to an all-in-one platform in early 2021, Wayne Hartley was juggling 4 different apps to manage scheduling, client communications, payment processing and contracts. “My business was managing me! Now I am in control. Better yet, my clients respect my business more. For example, now when a client books a grooming session I take a deposit. This means that my clients are invested in the service that I am providing.”

It’s pretty simple logic: use technology to automate your business and make more money doing what you enjoy. If you feel like your business is running you and have decided that it’s time for you to be in control, here are some useful tips that will bring happiness to both you and your clients.

Make communication faster and easier

PetGroomer.com surveyed first-time mobile groomers and a whopping 70% of respondents said their phones ring off the hook for new customers. This is even to the point where some groomers are removing their phone numbers from their vehicles. Business technology can help automate scheduling and communication with clients. Allow clients to book you online at your available times with their credit card, send and collect the service-specific contracts and waivers, and send appointment reminders and follow-ups - all automatically. This means more time for you to do what you do best, and saves your clients time, too. More availability = more revenue opportunities.

Conquer the No-Shows groomers without cancelling the original appointment. PetGroomer.com survey respondents shared the frustration about the rising incidence of noshows and agreed they are a huge waste of time. This includes the time spent following up with the no-show client in an attempt to rebook or collect fees. A business tool can help take the awkwardness and frustration out of no-shows by making sure clients specifically acknowledge your policy during booking, and receive appointment reminders. Easily set up a cancellation policy to automatically charge clients a fixed amount or percentage of the appointment. In the instance a client does not respect the policy, let the app do the work for you, so you don’t need to figure out who to charge and when.

Get Paid Enough and Paid On Time

The PetGroomer pricing survey revealed mobile groomers raised prices an average of $3.50 per appointment between 2019 and 2020. Part of the challenge is dealing with increased costs for supplies and fuel. Beyond just charging more, mobile groomers are offsetting some of these costs by offering add-on products and services.

Especially due to long waits for groomeGroomer Journal Copyright © 2011 Find A Groomer Inc. All rights reserveding appointments, clients are switching 51 PetGroomer.com Magazine www.petgroomermagazine.com Subscribe Free © 2021 Find A Groomer Inc All rights reserved

Some are upselling grooming specific services like de-matting, while others are offering branded merchandise like leashes and water bowls, right at the point of booking. Another approach to revenue generation is offering clients packages paid up front. Using an all-inone business tool to automate client payments, manage subscriptions and sell add-on products makes it much easier to focus on the most important part of your business: the pets!

Attract and Keep the Right Clients for your Business PocketSuite is able to capture a ton of data regarding appointment frequency (a huge factor in grooming business success), as well as the kinds of services most in demand, cancellation rates, dispute rates and more. Groomers have a digital “audit trail” at their fingertips to assess the health of their client list.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow your business, you may consider buying a client list from a groomer who is selling their business. If you haven’t read it yet, the experts at PetGroomer.com wrote a guide to the client and operational data you should analyze before making the (often pricey) commitment to purchase a client list. This method is also a valuable way to do a pulse check on the health of your own client list. Business tools can help you gather and visualize all that client personal data and history in one place so you don’t have to crunch the numbers by hand. A groomer who 52 Copyright © 2013 Find A Groomer Inc. All rights reserveduses a business automation tool like Subscribe www.egroomer.com PetGroomer.com Magazine www.petgroomermagazine.com Subscribe Free © 2021 Find A Groomer Inc All rights reserved

Business technology is not a new concept to pet groomers. Many of our Pros tell us that before they joined PocketSuite they relied upon a variety of apps to help them run their business. The frustration they express is that they found themselves juggling several different apps all of which needed to be synched and updated which added an additional layer of complexity and expense to the business. All-in-one apps such as PocketSuite provide a seamless business in-a-box at a price that is a fraction what your client pays you to groom their pet. Even better, you can try it for free! Plus, PetGroomer.com readers get 25% off an annual subscription to PocketSuite Premium. ◄

Pandemic Pups Are Here to Stay People Are Paying More Than Ever for Their Care

In the past 18 months more dogs and cats have been adopted from shelters than ever before in US history. This has caused a boom in the pet care industry from pet food to supplies to pet care and grooming.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, roughly 23 million American homes have added at least one fur baby to their families (APPA). Contrary to initial fears, studies have shown that nearly 90% of people that became pet owners during the last year and half have no plans to rehome their new pets (ASPCA).

With nearly 7 out of 10 American households becoming pet owners, it is right to wonder how well these animals are being cared for in their new homes.

Fortunately, data shows that pet owners, new and old, are trying to provide

(Continued on page 55) eGroomer Journal Copyright © 2011 Find A Groomer Inc. All rights reserved 53 PetGroomer.com Magazine www.petgroomermagazine.com Subscribe Free © 2021 Find A Groomer Inc All rights reserved

the best care possible for their pets, regardless of the cost. Over the past 12 months pet owners are spending up to 50% more on the pets over the previous year. This indicates pet owners are buying better quality food, using fresh, organic ingredients. People are choosing to purchase pet friendly toys instead of going for the cheapest ones on the shelf. Pet owners are also spending an all time high on grooming services.

During the height of the pandemic, mobile pet grooming exploded in America. Despite the cost usually being up to 50% higher than they were used to spending, pet owners were willing to pay increased pricing to provide a one on one, low stress, grooming experience to their animals.

In fact, the boom in mobile grooming was so profound that it extended past the heart of the pandemic and continues to grow rapidly today. with the increasing demand for grooming.

In Orange County and San Diego California, Happy Spa Dogs Mobile Grooming is pioneering a new program that they call “Groom California.”

It is a nationwide search to find talented groomers and help them relocate to sunny SoCal to join the Happy Spa Dogs team. “With 70+ new client calls a day, in addition to the large number of repeat clients we have, it’s becoming harder and harder to keep up with the demand using only local talent” says Chris Ansevin, owner of Happy Spa Dogs, “we’ve decided the only thing to do is to find groomers from across the country and bring them to us. We bring them out to visit, help them move, and then pay them over $100,000 per year. We really believe we have the best opportunity out there and we are excited to extend that opportunity nationwide.”

Many mobile groomers have been turning away new clients since August because they have been booked out into January (ABC). Some larger mobile operations are getting creative to keep up

Whether you’re in grooming, pet supplies, or pet food, it is an unprecedented and exciting time to be in the industry. Here’s hoping that the trend of quality pet care in the US continues. ◄