The price must be right!
A business is not a business if your prices are not right. Everyone has seen groomers advertising doing a full groom for a fraction of the price it will actually cost them in time, shampoo, electricity, water and equipment maintenance, never mind covering the hundreds (thousands?!) of other things that need to be factored in when you are setting your prices.
How much should I charge?
There is no magic answer to this, as everyone’s situation is unique. However, if number crunching is just not your thing, Katie Rourke-Dowding (from Centre Stage Dog Grooming) runs brilliant seminars to help you with exactly that. She has developed an Hourly Rate Calculator to help you gather ALL of your business and non-business expenses together, so you can work out exactly what you need to charge to make your business profitable and sustainable, and to allow you to do the non-work things you want to do too.
to help you gather ALL of your business and non-business expenses together, so you can work out exactly what you need to charge to make your business profitable and sustainable, and to allow you to do the non-work things you want to do too.
Once you have worked out your hourly rate – stick to it! Don’t be afraid to charge your worth. You have worked, trained, studied, practiced and very probably shed blood, sweat and tears to be a groomer, so don’t under-sell yourself, and risk having a business that is not financially sustainable.
Be clear and confident with your prices
Always be clear with your customers from the start. If it takes you longer to complete the groom due to matts, then have it clearly stated in your terms and conditions that an extra charge will be incurred. People don’t like surprises (unless they are really, really nice surprises!), but they do appreciate clear, upfront details on what they are agreeing to.
Need some inspiration for how to respond to the “That’s more than I pay to get my own hair cut…..” comments, here’s a few suggestions:
1 – You don’t go for weeks (months?!) at a time without washing or brushing your hair
2 – You don’t try to bite / tap-dance / shake water all over your hairdresser
3 – Hairdressers don’t do manicures and pedicures as part of the package
4 – Your hairdresser only deals with the hair on your head!
So, in summary, work out what YOUR prices need to be to run YOUR business, so that you have a professional, sustainable grooming business to be proud off (and which can support you in the way you would like to become accustomed!)