Successful Grooming Business Owner's Experience
with The Madson Management System

by Vicki Hargett, International Academy of Pet Design
© 2000 Vicki Hargettl All Rights Reserved Published here with the permission of the author.

Vicki Hargett, was thoughtful enough to share her an excerpt of her conversation with another groomer on an Internet chat line. Vicki is using The Madson Management System in the grooming business book, From Problems to Profits, along with her business expertise to significantly erode the stereotypical image a pet grooming business. Her comments here are very enlightening and we thought you would enjoy hearing about our management system from a third party.

"I have also had not much success in the local paper finding a groomer. But! - I now have more groomers that want to work for me than I can use. All I have to do is say the word and I'd have my pick of groomers. Many have heard how nice the system is here- very low stress and low physical activity for the groomers. They feel "spoiled" by The Madson Management System (Ed. Note: she is referring to the benefits of Madson Team Trimming). They love it and word gets around. Here though is how I initially found groomers:

1. I have found that many groomers know each other and current employees have referred their friends to me. Ask current employees if they know anyone looking for work.

2. Dog show people and kennel clubs are a great source for finding groomers. Many, many dog breeders and exhibitors support their habit or supplement their income by grooming. They ALL know each other it seems, so if you get in with them, it's a great source.

3. Another great source is the people that sharpen blades and scissors in your area. They REALLY know everybody! And, it seems unhappy groomers will talk to them and let them know they are looking to groom somewhere else. Let your sharpener know you are looking.

4. Another source for inside "gossip" is your shampoo supplier. All these people talk and know what is going on in your area.

5. The last resort is to train them. That takes a lot of your time if you're not already implementing The Madson Management System. Now that I am using their system, I have a lot of time. (I don't groom anymore except in extreme emergencies.) Often, the people you train can be your best and most loyal employees if you treat them right and pay them well. I have two that I trained together that are wonderful!

What's nice about The Madson Management System is the 3 Step Business Plan. You don't just jump in. You make the changes in stages and grow from there. Another great thing about it, is it lessens your dependency on groomers. You have more than enough groomers to implement this system. Actually, I think you have too many. You could stop grooming yourself and still get rid of one. You could be the person handling all the clients, phone calls, checking them in and out. This builds customer loyalty to you and not the groomers.

I have taken that a step further and hired receptionists to answer the phone, check dogs in and out, etc. at approx. $8 an hour. I can afford this, because I am getting the profits now instead of commissioned groomers. The best way to see how the shop owner makes more money- WITHOUT PAYING THE GROOMERS LESS MONEY!- is to look at the charts in the book. I can't explain it any better than the book does. I agree with you that the owner should not have to work that hard. I now work very little- hence my spare time to help others like you. I maybe am at one of the 2 shops a total of 20-30 hours a week. I go in around 10:00 and come home around 3:00, Monday - Thursday. I take off Friday-Sunday. And I take frequent long vacations! Life is good!

My groomers work approximately 8 hours, sometimes a little more, sometimes less.  They get to come in about 2 hours later than everyone else. (Another benefit!) They are free to go when their dogs are done. The approx. 15 pets they do are all haircuts. The other bathers do all the bath/light trim dogs. Remember that the "groomer" is only finishing the dogs. If they finish 1 every 30 minutes, it takes 7.5 hours to finish 15 dogs. When the team gets real good at working together and the assistant groomer is good, the assistant can finish dogs also and then the team can finish 17-20 dogs.

The assistant groomers are currently making between $8-$10 an hour depending on their speed and skill level. They are "in training", so they are getting raises every once in a while as they improve their speed, knowledge and skill level. The bathers are aiming to move up and are willing to start low in exchange for being trained, with the potential of moving up the ladder. They see others who've already done it. They start anywhere from $6.25 to $8 an hour depending again on past experience, speed and skill level. At each of my shops I have only 2 groomers (2 teams) and we can do 50-60+ dogs a day at each one. Each "team" can complete 15-20 haircuts X 2 = 30-40 haircuts per day and then another 20-30 bath dogs/cats can be done by more bathers. That's very little actual "skilled" labor.

"Chris," one of my groomers came to me last month and told me that this is the best place he's ever worked. He just wanted me to know how much he likes it here and appreciates it. That made me feel good. It's really due to the use of The Madson Management System in the book, From Problems to Profits. It changed my life!

It doesn't do any good to just read the book- you have to do it. If you're still unsure about it, go to the workshop in California. I went to their workshop, Becoming the Business Person That Grooms, even after I had implemented The Madson Management System and I learned so much more! It's well worth the money.

Copyright 2007 Find A Groomer Inc. All rights reserved