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What could $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 or more buy you? Would you pay off your credit card? Would you go on a vacation? Would you put a down payment on a new car? Maybe some new clothes. Maybe some new grooming equipment. Maybe a start to a retirement nest egg. Options. Options.

The path to getting this financial boost is not by doing an extra dog or two every day. If you are grooming 6 or more dogs per day, you are an average to above-average grooming professional. The most elite are grooming 8, 9, or 10 dogs per day. More than this, and you are dramatically lowering your chances of a long career and raising your chances of injury and work outage.

For the sake of this blog exercise, we are going to assume you are grooming about 7 dogs per day. I know, Doodles count for two! But you should be charging twice as much for Doodles as the average dog, but that’s a whole other blog!

How can you make an extra $3-$5k per year? 

Simple. 

Add-ons.

It’s ok. You may not consider yourself a salesperson. That is not a prerequisite to achieving this goal. What is, however, is being good at recommending. Yep, there’s a difference. 

You see, recommending something the pet or the pet parent will benefit from should come very easy to you, but it is a simple gesture that gets forgotten. Shame. Because it is so rewarding. It gets forgotten because we don’t make it our routine. Would you check a dog in without instructions? Knowing how to contact the pet owner when the dog is finished? Without knowing the dog’s age, breed, gender, etc.? Seems silly, right? All of these details are routine for you. So, let’s make recommending add-ons just as routine.

Disservice. You are doing your clients a disservice by not recommending add-ons. Remember, if they benefit the pet or the pet parent, why wouldn’t you ask?

What add-on service do you believe in? What add-on do you know is best for the pet? What add-on is best for most pets? Resist picking add-ons that most pet parents won’t purchase, like nail polish, stenciling, color, etc.  Pick add-ons that many pet owners would see as a benefit to their pet. Coat conditioning. Nail filing. Breath freshening. And de-shedding for bath breeds.

Pick one. Ask every client, every time. Make it routine. Not some of the time. Every time. Get ok with “no”. Many customers will say “no”, and that is ok. 

Pro tip: Once a client agrees to an add-on, it is likely routine for them to get that every time moving forward!

Here’s some simple math. If you groom 8 dogs per day, and only half of them agree to a $10 add-on, that is an extra $40 per day. That’s $200 per week. That’s over $10,000 per year! Not confident in your recommending skills yet….ok. Even if only 25% of your clients get an add-on, you’re at over $5,000 per year!

From the team at Groomer’s Choice Pet Products, we hope you find these tips helpful. Pick your favorite add-ons and let us help you select the best products from our assortment to deliver the best results for your clients so they order that add-on every time they visit.