Welcome to the Pet Grooming Business Podcast with me, Bill Betts, where we give practical business advice to help you grow your pet grooming business. This podcast is sponsored by Low Pay, the low rate payment app that gives you more. So without further ado, let's get going. Hi everyone, and welcome back to this next episode. I hope you're well. First of all, before we get going, I'd like you to do me a favor. I'd like you to hit that subscribe button and if possible, leave us a little review.
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So this episode we are going to talk about some mindset around pricing. I'm going to tell you a little story of what happens with a client of mine, but I want us to start thinking about our pricing mindset. Now. When I was in the police force and they often told us never to assume anything, and quite rightly so, because we used to come across all sorts of different incidents and you never knew exactly what had gone on. So we always had to sort of look at both sides of the story.
And I, and I also think that's quite relevant now is not to assume what people can and can't and can't afford. Because I see that I say that our job as business owners is there to present our services and what we do in the best possible way that we can and present our prices to our customers and potential customers and allow them to make the choice. Now there's of, there's obviously lots of things that we can do to influence that choice.
And we've got, obviously when we're presenting our prices in our services, I have to sort of highlight that we need to do this as best as we possibly can because, you know, we want to make sure that the customer can see the value that they're getting from paying the money that you're asking. And we want to make sure that the customer understands, you know, that the, the good customer service that you're giving is worthy of the money that you are asking.
So many, many what I so what I Work with our clients on the pet growing business program is we, we work really hard on that customer service element, you know, making sure that everyone's happy, making sure that the pets are happy and that we're serving them really well. However, I am not a big believer in that the customer is always right.
I totally believe that you are the trained professionals in the service that you offer and that your professional opinion should be adhered to and should be listened to. So we have to strike a balance a lot of the times, don't we? But I'm a great believer in that we have to present our services and our prices the best that we possibly can and we allow the customers to make that choice. But what that means is, is we start to remove that preconceived idea of what people can and can't afford.
And I see this in a lot of people that come onto my business program. They come to me with maybe limiting beliefs around the area that they live in and they believe that the area is, is poor and people can't actually afford to pay higher prices. They come to me with low confidence in their own abilities or their abilities to speak to customers or the ability to sell their services and understand what they're offering.
And they come to me with a poor money mindset as well and not understanding how money flows through their business or not understanding, you know, the purpose of business in a way. And we're here to obviously the purpose of business and the reason why you've probably started your business is if we take out all the nuts and bolts, it's actually there to provide you with an income, provide you with a living.
And, and working with pets is obviously gives you an added bonus of enjoying and loving what you do. So, so when we start working on that and we start understanding more about money and more about business, we something we often help our groomers to understand that it's not our role to match our prices with our customer. We can't assume what people can and can't afford. We're here to present our services to that customer in the best possible way and allow them to make the decision.
And we potentially. Now there's potential here and I'll go into this story. We're potentially letting our customers down or doing them a disservice by making that assumption that they can't afford something. So a really good example of this on our business program, the Pet Career and business Program, we hold a Monday coaching call. So a Monday coaching call is where myself we jump on zoom and we jump on As a group normally get between 20 and 30 pet groomers on there every every Monday morning.
Some are working away in the background and listening to them on their, on their fancy headphones. Some people are out walking their dogs. Some of them are have a Monday off. So they, they dedicate some time to attend the coaching call and work on their business. So we have a coaching call every Monday and those that can't make it, we also have a coaching call on a Tuesday evening as well. So every Monday.
I think it's nice to get together as a group, as a community because, you know, it gives us a chance to start the week in a better place, reflect on what we want to work on and answer any sort of burning questions that people have over the weekend or whilst they're working on their business. So I won't name the groomer that was, was on the call. Obviously that's not very fair.
But this groomer has, is working on her finances and working on her financial position because at the moment things aren't quite working out and there's not always enough money at the end of the month for her and she's starting to use her overdraft.
And I think this is also important to highlight that, you know, you might see quite a few of my posts and we're always talking about successes and wins, but behind the scenes we're working really hard with, with our customers to, to build up to those wins and build up to those successes. So join the, the business program and they have financial difficulties. They may be in a lot of debt. They may not understand their finances quite so well or understand how money flows through their business.
And that's how part of our, part of our program is to sort of help and guide people when it comes to finances. Hence why, you know, we've got spreadsheets. We, we look at finances quite a lot on the, on the coaching calls. And also we have the, the fantastic Fanny Snade who is our money coach and she does a monthly group coaching call.
And quite literally, some people have, have honestly said that Fanny, Fanny Snave has literally changed their lives because they've managed to turn around their financial situation along with all the, the business lessons that we teach and the pricing and stuff. So I digress. So this groomer was struggling a little bit with finances and having to use overdraft at the end of the month.
So we were talking about, you know, daily targets and what she needed to achieve for her business and we were talking about, you know, what prices her grooms need to be. But also we know that as pet groomers we can deploy fantastic add ons that can be really helpful for pets, which in turn can be helpful for the owners, which in turn can be helpful, helpful for the business. So we're discussing about add ons. And the screamer said, well, I've got a lady coming in.
Well actually I said let's look at today's diary. What animals have you got booked in today? What dogs have you got booked in today? What problems will they have? So if they're a dog that they've, that you've seen before, what problems they normally have, what do they come in with and when, what, what products, what services have you got in your, your tool belt, your kit and your armory in your business? What solutions or what, what have you got to try and help that dog? And that owner?
And the groomer said well I have a, I can't remember the breed of the dog but I have a dog coming in in a minute, in 10 minutes time. The problem, the dog has some really sort of bad skin conditions and some greasy skin. You know, you kind of, you can probably smell the dog from the description that I'm giving to you right now. And so, so I said well what have you got then that can on top of what you normally do for that dog? What have you got in your shop that can help that dog?
And the groomer was like well I stock this product. I can't remember the specifics. It was a couple of weeks ago. I stock this product that could really help ease the itchy skin and get rid of the cheesiness and, and sort of break down that. And that would really help the do. I said it, I buy it in. But I, but it sits there on my shelf and I said it, I upset it for £5. So I said so what stops you asking the customer that walks through the door or about adding this to their, to their groom today?
And the groomer turned around and said well the customer obviously is an elderly lady and I just don't think she can afford it. I can't, I can't. I don't think that she can afford to add this to her groom. And this made me, you know, this, this obviously needed a bit of coaching. So we started to look into this kind of mindset and you know, I got a little bit sort of looking at the mindset. I'm like who, who are we?
Who are we as people, who are we as people to assume or judge what people can and can't afford? Surely it's their decision whether they can afford that. It's their decision whether they would like that product or not. How, how is it our right to assume what they can and can't afford? That person has free choice.
They can walk down the road, they can choose to buy a coffee, they can choose to go shopping in a particular shop, they can choose to get a bus, they can choose to get a taxi, they can choose to walk. They have choice. So is our job, our job as business owners to present that choice to them and allow them to choose whether they would like that service and whether they can or cannot afford that service? This podcast is sponsored by Low Pay. Low Pay is half the price of Sumup and Zettle.
So you keep more of the money that you earn. Rate start at 0.79%. So, you know, I get a little bit animated and like, you know, I love, I love helping pet groomers with this sort of stuff. And so the groomer took this on board and said, well, she's coming in in 10 minutes time. So I was like, right, you know, we, let's go through this sort of checklist. The dog's coming in for its groom, it's usual groom and it has a specific problem that you've got a product to help it with that's five pounds.
And, and let's say, let's face it, five pounds is not, it's probably not the right price for that kind of add on. I think that add on probably deserves a higher, a higher price. But I didn't want the groomer to worry about the money at the moment. I just wanted the groomer to start thinking about asking the customer about the upsell. So we kept the price the same. £5, not a problem. It's not about the money, it's about the shift in the mindset in this, in this particular occasion.
So the groomer was prepared. She was happy that the person was coming in. She was happy that the dog had an additional problem on top of the groom. The grooming was happy that she had a product that could particularly help that, that dog. And now she was happy that she was there to present that solution to the customer and not to assume whether that customer can or cannot afford that. So this was halfway through the coaching call. The coaching calls normally about an hour and a half.
So we're all sitting here, all I think is about 20 of us. On the call. The groomer obviously muted herself and then went and greeted the customer. And I moved on to the next groomer who had a question to ask and it was fantastic. We got a little message in the, in the zoom chat, just saying the customer was really like pleased and has taken the five pound spot. And it was that simple. It was such a pivotal moment in that groomer's mindset.
Just helping her get to the point where we dropped those pre, preconceived ideas and then we just ask the question. And I'm a great believer, you know, if we, if we serve people and we serve them well, we serve them honestly and you know, we solve their problems and we help them, the money side of things will just come in. That's part of, part of the service. That's, that's part of providing good service. The money is a byproduct of that. So we took money off the table.
We didn't make, we didn't make money an issue. It wasn't the pressure in this situation. It was more about helping the customer, helping the dog and the money kind of. The extra five pounds came along naturally. So think about that story when you're grooming. Have a look at your diary and see what, what dogs are coming in next and try it, try.
And if you've got thoughts coming into your head about what people can and can't afford or you're talking to friends and family and they are sort of telling you that people can't afford this and you know, we live in a poor area and stuff like that, I want you just to challenge that and just say, well where's my evidence for that? Have you gone out there and asked loads of people to add thing about add ons and asked for higher prices? Are you getting those to that?
I want you to get some evidence around that and as usual, you know, you know I am, you're listening to this podcast. If you feel you could benefit from further help and support then please get in touch and we've can discuss how, how, how more we can help you. But for now that's, that's me. I just wanted to share that little story with you. Hopefully it helps you and mate might commit some dots for you, join some dots up for you. Remember, don't assume what people can and can't afford.
You're there to, to your, your, your task as a business owner is to present your, your products and services the best you possibly customer to choose. Okay? And remember, no is not a problem. No now doesn't mean it's a no forever. All right? So just keep plugging away, keep plugging away. You're doing really well and I'll see you on the next episode. Take care. Bye Bye. I hope you have enjoyed this podcast. Please make sure you give us a like or a review to help people find it.
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