Using courtesy in your business is a way of showing respect to your customers or potential customers. In a post-Covid world, many people have experienced less courtesy than we remember having in the past. In the grooming industry, there are some simple steps to ensure you are offering the people who reach out to you the kind of courtesy that will make them feel good about you and your business practices.
Do you prefer that your customers contact you via telephone, text, or a messaging platform? Increasingly, groomers are giving up the standard phone call in preference for messaging. The benefits are as follows:
When we bought our current home twenty years ago, I visited the local hardware store the first week to stock up on various little things I needed after moving cross-country. I struck up a conversation with the guy at the checkout counter. He introduced himself as the store owner and asked my name. A week later, I popped in to buy something else, and as soon as I walked in the door, he called out, "Hi, Daryl!" I was shocked and delighted that he remembered me. From that day on, if I had a choice between shopping at the local big box hardware store or where they knew my name, guess which place I chose? Following, you will find five simple ways to make your customers feel appreciated.
There was a time when I lived in a city with many other groomers. I would invite a few of them to my house to watch grooming videos regularly. I’d put out lots of snacks and a couple of bottles of wine, and pretty soon, we’d quit watching the video and just gab, swap stories, and laugh. It was a lot of fun. As I cleaned up the next day, I’d put the video back on and watch it myself. I could pay much better attention when I wasn’t swapping “worst anal sac” stories with other groomers.
One of my groomer friends recently told me, "I lost a customer today. I told her that I had noticed her dog had gained a lot of weight and was concerned about its health. She got all upset, told me to cancel her future appointments, and stormed out."
Some breeds of dogs, such as Schnauzers, typically have their ears clipped smooth. Sometimes, we shave other dogs' ears smoothly to remove mats and tangles or simply to create a unique look.
The winter holiday season is upon us, and that means most groomers will have busy days planned. It’s not too late to ensure you have what you need to get through this time gracefully. Here is a checklist that may help you prepare for a successful season.
People who are devoted to Scottish Terriers love the breed's unique look. Known for their compact bodies, carrot tails, and long heads, a few quirky things about this breed set them apart from other terriers regarding grooming. One of those things is their long, distinctive eyebrows.
Although not a common diagnosis, post-grooming furunculosis is a severe skin infection that has been widely publicized recently and frequently discussed in online grooming forums. Many groomers have never heard about it before or don't understand what it is.
It's the phone call or message no groomer ever wants to get. It usually goes something like this, "After my dog got groomed, ____ happened." The blank might be, "He became really itchy," "He got an ear infection," or "He began to limp." The possibilities are endless. Sometimes, the problem is something we can work with. If the dog is itchy after grooming, we can note that and try using different products the next time it is in. But, other times, we are at a loss as to what to do.
