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Since 2000 pet owner spending on
high-end pet products has shown marked growth in
the U.S. Many pet groomers that have
participated in broadening their sales of
upscale pet products have been pleased with the
results. Where the results haven't been
impressive we often find a common mistake.
Simply adding upscale pet retail to a
traditional grooming shop environment is not enough
doesn't provide the best venue to move upscale
pet retail.
Luxury products, and even add-on services using
premium pet care products, requires a grooming shop to
rethink its image, and communicate "pet salon" and "spa."
Personally we've helped oversee projects
radically transitioning shops into pet boutiques with
grooming departments. It's been a winning move for pet
groomers with 10 to 20 years experience and a
desire to groom
less without a loss of income. Without expanded retail
sales most of these owners had no other choice
except to
significantly expand their grooming staff to
make-up profits lost by their no longer
grooming, or to sell their businesses.
Many first time business owners are also going
the route of a boutique with grooming
department. However, some of them don't want to
groom either. Having written over 500
business plans we know that few grooming
businesses can support $30,000 or more annual
salaries to non-grooming owners until the
business grows significantly usually with a
staff of 3 to 5 groomers and bathers. By
changing their focus and priorities to a
boutique with a grooming department, the story
changes.
The non-grooming owner has time to
master retail sales procedures that work best in
upscale environments. Successfully operated the
retail sales department offers the potential to
pay the owner's compensation expectations. The net income of the grooming
department becomes bonus income, and of course,
the foot traffic of the grooming department
typically boosts retail sales by 30% where
grooming is not present.
Retail sales in
a grooming environment requires that management
or client relations staff sell, and the upscale
image. Retail
doesn't move itself in a grooming environment
where pet owners are focused on reunions with
clean, smart looking pets. But in the midst of
that joy trained sales staff has the ideal
opportunity to sell that retail.
Pet
groomers adding retail can do the same. To every
client picking up their pet they can start
conversations, "Have you seen our newest items?"
and "Wouldn't your pet (name) look great in
this, or enjoy this bed, etc." Yes,
The Madson Management System for Pet Grooming
Businesses in the business book, From Problems to Profits
relies on client relations scripts spoken naturally to sell and
support grooming services, why not the same for
upscale pet product sales?
We will take a closer look at sales language in
a separate article.
The Planning Process
The first step in adding a retail department
to a grooming business, or creating a new or
transition boutique with a grooming department is to write a business plan.
In the process you will identify if your market area has sufficient
factors to support the venture. For
example, is there an adequate supply of upscale
pet owners willing to purchase specialty pet
retail and/or luxury add-on services. You also
must identify who will do the
selling, remember, it takes customer service
skill to move
stock, and customer service is already a weak
point in thousands of grooming only businesses. Further
your plan will need to identify the types of
retail and add-on services, their cost and
sources, and financial projections must be based
on measurable retail sales
goals usually stated in number of units sold.
Click to view info about
Boutique with Grooming Business Plans
It's important to remind our pet grooming
readers that selling grooming services is not the same
as selling upscale pet retail. For this reason it works
best to have client relations staff when selling
retail, and they can also be trained to take
grooming orders with some patience while they
learn. Unfortunately client relations staff is
missing in grooming shops where the owner,
groomers and bathers also fill customer service
requirements. All too often these
positions have one thing in mind when serving
pet owners, "I've got to get back to my
workstation and finish Mrs. Smith's pet. She is
coming back at 3pm and it is already 2:45pm."
No time to develop retail sales even in a
gorgeous pet spa or salon is a dead end street.
Today's grooming business relying on bathers
and groomers to do client relations duties is a
key source of groomer burnout stress. In reality
they are covering multiple job descriptions but
their official title is "Groomer" or "Bather"
and those titles certainly don't communicate
active client relations duties.
Retailing
takes time. Sales in a grooming business
requires that you and your staff initiate suggestive conversations
about the products for sale, and to have product
knowledge too.
Grooming business owners often overlook the fact that
skilled reception staff can sell enough retail
to pay their employment costs and as a bonus,
they alleviate the need for grooming staff to answer
the phones or perform intake and outtake duties
reducing groomer stress.
Our reception staff not only made retail
sales but also fulfilled our Madson Client
Relations Program
promises to pet owners with innovative courtesy
appointment scheduling, grooming reports,
medical referrals where needed and more. Our
senior reception staff completed data entry
on daily management and operations reports and
even made up bank deposits for the business.
What a relief for the owner/manager and who may
even be grooming more pleasantly, with less
problems and less stress.
There's more. Retail and service
sales conducted by dedicated staff communicated
to pet owners that we were an "upscale
operation." It set our business apart from
comparison with other businesses. Our clientele
always got a live person when they called, and
not a voicemail service, and excuses we couldn't
come to the phone for any reason. Remember, this
didn't cost us more. Retail sales profit easily
paid for the client relations staff.
It still gets better. Because we
didn't have to raise prices to cover the cost of
the client relations staff, our prices were
mid-range. There were many businesses charging
more for grooming and they had no staff
dedicated to customer service! Our formula worked and
any staffed operation can do the same today. Is
this why our hired groomers stayed so many
years. They loved being able to stay entirely
focused on their art and the pets, except to
receive the gratitude of pet owners.
Opportunity is knocking for pet groomers to
take advantage of the ongoing growth in the
sales of luxury pet products, but there are
requirements. Remember, simply placing luxury
pet products in a traditional grooming shop
won't work well.
Upscale shoppers willing to buy luxury pet
products demand more. It may mean taking the Eliza
Doolittle (My Fair Lady) of grooming shops and
transforming it into a polished operation with
patience, planning, execution and investment.
What's Upscale
In less than one minute the savvy pet owner
knows whether a business is
upscale. If you are starting a new
business the advantage may be yours because you
can choose to locate your in an area already
attracting upscale shoppers. If your existing
business is in or adjacent to an area losing its
appeal, even rundown, you have lost an advantage
to going upscale. Don't give up though, the loss
of an advantage is not necessarily a lockout. Take a clear look at your clientele and if
one-third or more
of your clients are deemed upscale shoppers, you can
still create an upscale ambiance in your
business. Pet groomers know that even upscale
pet owners will travel to areas a bit worn if
they have faith and trust that their pets will
be cared for properly by "their groomers." That
loyalty bond doesn't often hold with inanimate
retail, but with living beloved pets, that's
another story.
Design communicates upscale definitions. There really is elegance in simplicity. Many
of today's luxury pet products are creatively
packaged. In fact, look at the Pet Head
line of products here, and their unique packaging and
color. You want to set a stage for such retail,
and not over ornament your stage but avoid being
bland. You
have plenty of room to choose between modern contemporary or
cozy warmth. Regardless avoid
peg boards, slat boards or unattractive
shelving. Do add nicely framed pet art.
Write down one sentence that best
characterizes your desired
look. Whenever you are in planning mode ask
yourself if your ideas support that look. The
look must follow through the interior.
Distinctive light fixtures are important, rather
than banks of fluorescent lighting, as well as window
treatments. You do have to keep in mind that the
grooming department will create dust so keep
your retail area easy to clean.
Most pet groomers don't have a lot of room
for display. Don't plan on putting a lot of
the same stock on display. If you have
the same pet bed in three sizes, put the medium
size on display with a sign, "Also Available in
Small and Large Sizes." Groomers with minimal
storage can maintain stock in a rented storage
space,
or take orders where delivery can be made
quickly by a third party.
Ambiance plays a key role, and it needs to
match the design. If your retail
area is rife with sound of dryers instead of
soft jazz or soft rock to soft Latin, your business
is working against your upscale goal. You may
actually be disturbing grooming pets too.
In our large grooming business doing 60 to 90
pets a day, we played soft music in the
reception area and you could hear it! We
"containerized" the Bathing Department with
floor to ceiling walls eliminating most of its
noise, and the spread of dirt, dander and hair
shed. Any grooming noise that filtered front was
limited to the soft hum of clippers. It can be
done!
We didn't have to raise our voices on the
telephone, and callers didn't have to do the
same. This aspect alone put clients
at ease and made them more willing to stay and
engage in conversation about our "upscale
offerings." If the mood is not pleasant,
why stay? The more your retail environment
says pleasant to the eye, nose and ear, the more
you justify your claim to be upscale. Personally
we know a place is upscale because whether it
appeals to me or not, it's obvious that the
owners gave a lot of thought to their
presentation rather than just putting up some
shelves of retail in a grooming shop.
Marketing It's not about discounts. You
may have a sale table, but your focus is on the
unique qualities of your retail that typically
cannot be found at Wal-mart, Target and the
like. It's in your favor if you have an
established grooming clientele. You can
distribute advertising to them, and we suggest
adding to your retail and add-on services
expansion to your company brochure. Upscale
pet owners often participate in pet events. Your
advertising could be placed in their brochures,
or if they offer a booth try setting one up.
Again it's your benefit if you are also a
grooming operation because you may just pickup
new grooming clients from your marketing
efforts. Make sure that your advertising and
promotional materials always reflect a complete
picture of your business, upscale retail,
grooming and luxury add-on services. Pictures!
Create an attractive board for pictures of your
clientele's pets enjoying the products you sell.
Take pictures of pets enjoying your add-on
services, such as facials and massage. Pictures
do speak a thousand words! Post them on your
board and it's sure to capture attention.
Merchandise Selection Tradeshows are an
excellent source of pet retail as well as
gift-oriented tradeshows. Pet groomers, don't
confuse grooming tradeshows with major retail
pet tradeshows. You will find some retail there
suitable for your upscale retail and certainly
for your add-on services, but the major retail
pet shows are many times larger than grooming
tradeshows increasing the likelihood that your
are going to see much more product. We have
attended gift tradeshows and always found
inventory appealing to pet owners. We
recommend these pet retail shows:
Global Pet Expo
Luxury Pet Pavilion
H.H. Backer
Shows
Pet
Fashion Week
SuperZoo
We have provided you with a Retail Inventory
Shopping List that you can print and make
copies. Keep in mind that your retail should
address the three stages of pet lives, 1) puppy,
2) adult and 3) senior. People with puppies
often need more shopping to equip themselves to
be pet parents. Senior pets require more
comfort, and we sold for example lots of pet
ramps (not steps). Pet parents travel with them
and we suggest a travel section, items that make
that travel easier like steps/ramps and seat
covers. Always keep a supply of the pet care
products you use as a groomer available for sale
too.
Safe holistic pet foods saw a dramatic increase
in 2007 and it's an ideal product because just
as pet owners return for grooming on a regular
basis, pet owners must restock food supplies
year round. Whatever creates repeat visits is
essential to meeting your sales goals. In fact,
the reason so many vets or retail stores adding
grooming was to create foot traffic for their
retail. So you as a groomer already have that
foot traffic and that leaves you with the
challenge of what else you can do to accentuate
your advantage, it's specialty pet food. If a
bag lasts 4 weeks, a satisfied pet owner that
may go 8 weeks between grooming appointments
will have to return for pet food between them.
Remember, you don't want to sell what is easily
available at traditional pet retailers. Your
focus is safety and holistic quality, often
human grade ingredients only. We have a
GroomerTALK Radio Show on this topic.
Add-on Services Bathing, styling, nail
clipping, ear checks, anal gland expression,
medicated baths, dematting, flea treatments and
de-skunking are traditional services offered by
groomers. Since 2000 de-shedding has become such
as popular add-on service it wouldn't surprise
us if soon we will consider it a given service
offered by every groomer. If you haven't got on
the bandwagon for de-shedding you should.
Besides helping pet owners maintain the
cleanliness of their homes, it can help allergy
sufferers, so consider that in your advertising
for de-shedding. Spa packages are a natural
today and your industry is supporting that with
new lines of product especially created for pet
spas. You should have at least 2 add-on packages
available based on product, such as pet facials
and special coat conditioners. Pet massage is
actually a great skill for groomers. Why don't
more of them learn it as a method to calm
anxious pets before and during grooming? That
question aside, pet massage works in some
boutiques with grooming and spas. You may want
to contract with a pet massage professional to
come onsite on specified days rather than
maintain them as regular staff. We know pet
masseuses that work for several pet spas and on
a revolving basis and it brings in the foot
traffic for the spa and the opportunity to make
additional retail sales. Typically the masseuse
pays a commission to the owner out of fees
collected, but that is not set in stone. |
