Annual Wage Projections for Commission Basis Groomers

Here is the formula to project annual wages if you work on commission. First you must determine the projected gross daily wage.
 

For each grooming assignment the formula is:

Service Fee X Commission Rate = Gross Wage

Next, total the projected number of daily grooming assignments:

Add Daily Grooming Fees = Gross Daily Wage

To estimate projected daily earnings you must know the average number of grooming assignments you can complete in one working day. Therefore, productivity is important to determining your potential income. If you can only groom three pets in eight hour work day you will of course earn half as much as the groomer who can groom six pets in eight hours. Clearly increasing productivity, yet retaining quality, is one of the most important goals of every groomer.

To determine wage estimates in dollars you must know the average service fee of your employer’s business. Some grooming businesses are well-managed and their owners can provide you with accurate average service fees. Others simply guess. You may also get this classic response, “What are you asking about?”

The importance of accuracy when working with averages is not to be taken lightly. You can easily over or underestimate projected wages when you apply inaccurate numbers.

Assuming we have a good figure, we can estimate the income you may earn on an average day, week or month, and even over a year (the biggest factor for year projections is the stability of pet owner demand over the year).

The formula to calculate your projected annual compensation (gross wages prior employment taxes) is:

Est. Annual Gross Wage=

Avg. Service Fee  X  Commission Rate  X  Avg. # of Pets Groomed Daily  X  # Days Worked Annually

Let’s assume the average service fee is $35 per grooming and you earn 50% commission. When you work five days a week year round the total is 260 days a year. If you are not offered paid vacation deduct vacation days. For example the adjusted work days is now 250 after deducting 10 work days for a two week vacation without pay. Finally, you must know the average number of grooming assignments you will groom over the year. We will assume six per work day. Productivity may vary based on your grooming experience, and the workload made available by the owner. We have enough for our formula:

$35 X 50% X 6 X 250 = $26,250 a year (gross wages prior employment taxes)

Many employed groomers with a year or more of experience will find this a reasonable estimate of their projected wages and work performance. Can you earn a higher income as an employed groomer? Yes. In general, you will need to work full-time for a business that can provide you with plenty of work year round. You must be productive and the average service fee should be above-average in your area. There are employed groomers with experience earning $40,000 to $50,000 a year (gross wages). You will occasionally see wage offers in this range in the PetGroomer.com Help Wanted Classified Ads.

Let’s complicate matters (smile). It will be worth it. You need to better under job offers too.

For example, Business A offers you 55% commission while Business B offers you 50% commission, and both offer the same number of grooming assignments on average. Which business will provide you with the higher income? It seems logical that Business A offering 55% commission is the best best. However, if the average service fee of Business A is lower than Business B, you can actually earn less!

Business A: 55% X $35 = $19.25 commission wage for grooming assignment

Business B: 50% X $40 = $20 commission wage for grooming assignment

In the example above a full-time employee doing six grooming services a day, five days-a-week would actually make over $1,170 more a year on the lower 50% commission! So why do groomers boast about their higher commission rate and not the average service of the business they work for?

Are you wiser now? Do you see how critical average service fees and average grooming production are to your projections? Don't take it for granted, tens of thousands of groomers don't conduct comparison studies as you have learned here!  Most groomers make a serious mistake thinking that a higher commission is certain to generate a higher income. The average service fee is just as critical as the rate of commission. Our biggest concern is business owners giving you inaccurate average service fees. Here is a rule of thumb. We’ve review thousands of financials for pet grooming businesses as consultants, and the average service for complete style and bath pets usually averages out to their price for Miniature Poodle.

If you want to become an expert at grooming industry compensation we suggest Mastering Groomer Compensation, a workbook with CD-ROM. It’s one of the titles in the Grooming Business in a Box™ series and due out in the second half of 2008.

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