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Surviving the Holiday Rush

After working professional in the pet grooming industry over 35 years, the only time I worry about dealing with clients is the Christmas holiday season.

The two weeks preceding the actual day can be a chaotic mess. With Christmas shopping, decorating, baking, family gatherings, holiday socials to attend, and every regular client you have wanting to be booked as close to Christmas as possible . . . phew! December can be an exhausting month!

But, wait – it doesn’t have to be! Christmas organizing all year round will let you create that picture perfect holiday without nearly the stress. Read the rest of this entry »

Nine Seconds to Make a First Impression

You meet someone for the first time – it could be a new client walking through your doors, someone at a grooming trade show or a new team member.

The moment that stranger sees you, their brain makes a thousand assumptions. It might be a new client or someone you meet anywhere else. You are giving off clues about yourself before you ever begin to speak. They are gathering a wealth of nonverbal clues about you.

What are nonverbal clues?

Nonverbal clues include all the ways you present and express yourself, apart from the actual words you speak. Things like eye contact, gestures, posture, body movements, and tone of voice. All of these signals can convey important information that isn’t put into words. They are extremely important at work and in business. Perception is reality. Read the rest of this entry »

Nail Mending Kits

As a professional pet groomer, you know it’s going to happen. Sooner or later you’re going to accidentally trim a nail too close to the quick – and it’s going to bleed.

You know that while the pet is in your salon, you have the resources to correct the problem: a pinch of styptic powder, firm pressure for at least 30 seconds. Done. Fixed nail.

But in the back of your mind, you have those nagging questions…

What if the nail breaks open again?
What if the nail breaks open in the car?
What if the nail breaks open in their home and gets blood all over the carpet?
How was the client going to feel?
How are they going to stop the bleeding?
How are they going to clean up the mess?

None of these scenarios will leave a positive impression with the client. So, how do you head off this problem? How can you turn a negative into a positive?

Read the rest of this entry »

What Does the Client Want?

The #1 Role of Service Based Businesses: Solution Experts

A product is a physical thing. You can see it and touch it. You can box up the parts or the assembled item and know how it will look, how big it is, and where you’ll put it when you get home. A service, by contrast, is intangible. You can’t mail a service to your house or carry it from a store.

In most cases, services are purchased – touch, taste, smell, and sight unseen. It’s a leap of faith based on the client’s ability to say what they want and the expert’s ability to interpret them correctly. When you go to a salon or barbershop, you can’t try out a haircut before you buy it. You tell your stylist what you want, then – hopefully – you get it. The better you describe what you want, the better the outcome. Dogs can’t tell you to take a little off the top, so how can you unlock the secret of what your (human) client wants?

By understanding that the person asking the questions controls the conversation!

Read the rest of this entry »

How to be an Indispensable Groomer’s Assistant

This always shocks me. A competitor or a workshop participant presents me with a DIRTY DOG for evaluation. A dirty dog?! No joke – it happens all the time.

Nails are not trimmed correctly… coats are not dried properly or completely… or worse yet, there are still mats and tangles left in the coat. These are all constant problems I see all the time. Not only at in the ring or at hands-on events, but in salons with every day grooming too.

To me, bathing and drying are the most critical parts of any groom. One bather can make or break your entire grooming department.

Here are 7 skills I look for in an indispensable groomers’ assistant (AKA the bather!) All 7 of these skills must be MASTERED in if you want to be highly valued in your grooming salon, if you want to move ahead in your career, or before you can you gather loads of glowing clients.

1. Be able to identify popular breeds

Anybody working professionally with pets needs to be able to identify the top 15 or 20 breeds that regularly come into your salon. It’s the fastest way for groomers to be able to communicate to one another.

2. Be able to handle pets safely and compassionately

How many times have you heard others (or maybe even yourself) say, “This dog is driving me nuts!” Impatient treatment of a pet is never acceptable. If you lose control, you can bet that you won’t have clients for long. Being able to understand canine body language is job requirement #1. If you are going to win the pet’s trust and cooperation, you must be able to speak its language. It will keep you and the pet safe. It will also make the entire experience much more enjoyable for all parties.

3. Understand the many different coat types found on individual pets

Each coat type has special needs that need to be addressed in the bathing and drying process to get the best results. A Beagle has different bathing and drying needs than a Standard Poodle. The same holds true with a coat on a Golden Retriever or an Airedale Terrier. A talented bather will instantly be able to identify dogs that possess simple coats or dogs that are going to be time-consuming and a challenge.

4. Bathe the dogs until their coats squeak

If they don’t squeak, they are not clean.

Period.

This is absolutely the foundation of every fabulous grooming job. I cannot stress its importance enough. There are many products on the market to help achieve superior results in only one or two baths. Even if you use the best shampoos on the market, the dog will not get squeaky clean unless they are rinsed thoroughly. Rinse until the water runs clear and you hear the ‘squeak’ when you push the water through the coat. And not just the easy to see or reach parts. Get soap and water to the undercarriage, under the ears, and the special parts. If the whole dog isn’t clean – it’s still dirty. Nothing wastes time or money more than having to re-bathe a dog because you didn’t do the job right the first time. There’s an old saying: if you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? Get it right the first time.

5. Dry the coat to perfection

Most of the time, this will mean utilizing a form of active drying. There are several drying methods and combinations to choose from, based on the coat type, trim, and the pets’ tolerance. Incorrect techniques or careless attention to drying will waste more time than almost anything else in the grooming process. In most cases, high velocity and stretch (or fluff) drying techniques will need to be used to get superior results. Oh, and the pet needs to be bone dry too!

6. Learn efficient and SAFE brushing techniques

Systematic brushing is the only way to effectively work through a coat and get right down to the skin. Selecting the correct tool for the coat type will be important. Knowing how to hold the tool along with how much pressure to exert is also important. Not enough pressure and you will not be efficient. Too much pressure and you’re going to make the pet uncomfortable and could cause injury. The key is to work methodically and gently over the entire dog – right down to the skin until a wide tooth comb can easily be pulled through the fur.

7. Nails, ears, and glands

Trimming nails and cleaning ears is just an automatic process when it comes to grooming pets. If it is not done – or not done well – it’s considered sloppy. Clients don’t want to spend their hard-earned money on sloppy work. Stylists executing haircuts should not have to go back and double-check this type of preliminary pre-work. Some salons routinely check and/or express anal glands. Whatever your salon option is, you should follow their guidelines.

Being a bather – or being a groomers’ assistant – can be extremely rewarding. However, it does carry a lot of responsibility. Many of these skills are considered the foundation of all grooming.

If you need detailed information in how to do any of these skills, become a member of Learn2GroomDogs.com and watch the Core Grooming Skills & Techniques Skill video lessons (click here for a complete video list) or review the front section of my book, Notes From the Grooming Table. Learning the skills does take time. They take dedication and focus to master them. You should never underestimate the value of strong foundation skills. They will form the building blocks of a long and successful career. Mastering these core skills to an absolute fault will ultimately determine how successful you will be in your career. (For more tips on how you can be more efficient and make more money, read my blog, The Need for Speed.)

Remember: every owner faces a choice when it comes to grooming. They can come to you, do the job themselves, not have the pet groomed all… or go down the road to someone else. Make sure they make the right choice by sticking with you.

Happy trimming,

Melissa

The Importance of Systems

My husband and I were just at the hospital for a scheduled surgery. Luckily, it was a non-emergency situation – just to get his nose repaired so he could actually breathe out of BOTH nostrils. Still, it was surgery and as much as he wanted to have it done, the anticipation levels were running high. We were a bit nervous.

The medical team was great. Their thorough procedures helped squelch our anticipation jitters. Everything, from the pre-screening call days before… check in… pre-surgery… waiting room… recovery… home… and follow-up, was explained to us. At every step along the way there were systems in place to ensure that the surgery went off without a hitch, which put our minds at ease. There weren’t any hiccups in the communication process or the surgery itself.

Checks and balances were firmly in place. Everyone in the medical team clearly knew their job. They understood how important their roles were, no matter how large or small. If even one of them made a mistake, it could have a devastating effect on the outcome of the surgery. We’ve all heard the horror stories.

If you stop and think about it, a grooming salon client has the same kinds of anticipation levels. They are entrusting you with one of their most precious possessions – their pet. Most clients are not that familiar with the grooming process and have no idea what truly goes on behind closed doors.

Is you grooming salon set up like a well-oiled medical team? We may not be doctors but our “pet clients” are extremely important to their owners. There are many steps within the grooming service procedure that could turn into shining moments – or go horribly wrong:

They get the wrong haircut.
The pet isn’t done when promised.
They’re charged the wrong amount.
They get the wrong collar or lead – maybe even the wrong pet!
A pet is injured – or worse.

This list could go on and on. The larger the team that works together, the more processes you need in place for a smooth running operation.

Every grooming salon needs:

a customer service team (even if that team is YOU)
a bathing department
a drying department
a grooming/styling department
someone in charge of client records/data entry
client education
marketing
proper cleaning and sanitation

To be successful in the long-term, you need to spend time in the short-term setting up processes. Systems are your routines – the way you do things every time. Here is a short list of items that need to be in place for systems to work:

Every procedure needs to be broken down, step by step.
Each process needs to be written down and reviewed regularly.
Every person participating in the activity needs to know and understand how to correctly perform the procedure.
Every person then needs training and follow-up supervision until the task is perfected.

Accountability is the key to success. Positive and negative consequences need to be in place and consistently enforced.

If you don’t have any systems in place at the moment, don’t fret. Take one procedure at a time and break it down into smaller chunks. Figure out what needs to be done or happen for each piece. Then move to the next one – and the next one.

Remember the story book fable about the tortoise and the hare? You don’t need to be a jack rabbit straight out of the gate. Slow and steady will win this race. It all starts with the first step. It might take you a month to get your systems in place – it might take a year. If you are in a state of growth, creating systems for your business might be an ongoing process. The trick is not to be overwhelmed by looking at the big picture. Keep it small so you don’t give up – and keep going.

At the end of the day, you always need to focus on your overall goal: to offer outstanding, consistent customer service – just like my husband and I received with his recent operation.

… As for those horror stories? Don’t be one of them. The salons that have the right systems in place will be prepared. Their staff will offer better service and the guests (furry and human) will feel better knowing that they are in good hands. it’s never too late to start. Do it now! Take that first step.

Happy Trimming,

-Melissa

The Jennifer Hecker Story

It was May, 1996. Star pupil Jennifer Hecker was three days away from graduating from grooming school and I was still very much a hands-on Director of The Paragon School of Pet Grooming.

I remember walking into the lobby during check-in. The front staff was just greeting a new client with a very large Bouvier des Flandres. I looked at the dog and immediately sensed something was off. The dog came in willingly enough, but its body language and eyes were telling me to be very, very careful with this dog.

Once the owner was gone, I told the front staff to attach the dog to a wall tether. I sensed we could have a real problem if we tried to place that dog in a kennel. Being out on the practical skills floor where we could closely observe this dog without the housing restriction was much safer. I suggested that the instructors place a muzzle on the dog before they attempted to do any grooming, just in case.

Because we didn’t see that many Bouvier’s at the Paragon Training Center, it was assigned to Jennifer, one of our most advanced students. At that time, Jennifer had shown Giant Schnauzers and had advanced one of them through the highest levels of French Ring Sport. She was not intimidated by the size or the potential attitude of this dog.

Not 15 minutes into the class, someone raced into my office and told me I’d better get out to the practical skills floor – fast. Someone had been hurt. Seconds later, I was on the practical skills floor. The first thing I noticed was how empty and quiet the room was.

The second was the blood trail.

It led diagonally across the space towards the bathing room. There was a crowd of people around a small prep sink. One person in particular was obviously in great distress – Jennifer.

Our general manager was holding her hand under cold water and asking her series of questions. One of the questions still haunts me today…

“Can you feel your fingers?”

I got a glimpse of Jennifer’s hand. Place a quarter on the meatiest part of the heel of your hand. Now imagine that area… gone.

The Bouvier had done exactly what I had feared. The instructor and Jennifer had done what I had requested. They had muzzled the dog before team-lifting it onto the table. That’s when it struck. Unbelievably, it bit Jennifer through a muzzle. It was a nylon muzzle that was open at the end of the mouth so the dog could breathe freely. This type of muzzle can be effective as long as it fits snugly. In this case, they had selected a muzzle that was slightly too large. Even though the dog was muzzled, it could still open its mouth just enough to grab the heel of her hand to chew through her flesh…

…and it did.

We raced Jennifer to the medical treatment center. The local med-station felt that they could handle this wound despite the fact that she had lost sensation in her little finger – or maybe the pain was so great – she couldn’t be sure. They stitched her up, bandaged her, pumped her up with antibiotics, and sent her home.

The following day she was she was back at the doctor, but this time to see a hand specialist. They ripped out all the stitches from the night before and started over. Jennifer was looking at a long recovery period.

Jennifer had such a great attitude towards this whole thing – it was hard to believe. Even though she missed the last three days of class, she still graduated with very high grades. However, finding a grooming job was certainly out of the question for her – at least for a while. We ended up hiring Jennifer for our front office at Paragon while she healed.

As Jennifer’s medical bills mounted, we collected everything and turned them into our insurance company. However, our carrier did not feel the situation warranted a payout on their behalf.

What??

That’s when we learned that in the state of Michigan a pet owner is ultimately responsible for their dog – even if they are not with it. The insurance company went after the pet owner. They were able to collect from their homeowner’s policy. That was news to me and served as a lesson to all of us.

As the story unfolded, we got more information that was unnerving. My initial gut reaction was well-founded. This was the third reported bite case for this dog – and the third owner. Of course the owner never bothered to share that information with us upon check-in. The dog was destroyed after this third incident with Jennifer.

We learned 5 lessons through this unfortunate event.

Trust your gut. Never do a dog that you feel is dangerous to you, your team, or itself.
Use muzzles when necessary and make sure they fit properly (we changed to full basket-style muzzles).
The pet owner is ultimately responsible for their pet regardless of whether they are with them or not.
In the state of Michigan, if the dog creates an insurance situation, the pet owner’s homeowner’s policy will be responsible for paying any damages or claims.
Love and passion for dogs can still shine through despite severe injuries inflicted by them and long recovery periods.

Jennifer has been grooming with us for over 18 years. I’m fortunate that she is still on my team. She has become one of our most talented and productive pet stylists. She grooms every day at our luxury kennel, Whiskers Resort & Pet Spa. Plus, Jennifer has been one of our talented Training Partners on Learn2GroomDogs.com since the beginning.

We just filmed her for Learn2GroomDogs.com. We had been looking for someone to do a traditional style grooming lesson on a Bouvier des Flandres for a very long time. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect Jennifer Hecker to step up to the grooming table for this lesson! I’m so glad she did. Her love and compassion for all dogs is clearly evident – even for the Bouvier des Flandres.

Happy trimming,

Melissa

Ten-Year Anniversary of Notes From the Grooming Table – Time for an Update!

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday Lisa and I were buried within the creation of Notes From The Grooming Table. Notes was designed to be a reference guide for the professional pet groomer. With every breed, I identified the “correct” grooming method for the AKC confirmation show ring. However, in the book, I gave basic pet grooming directions and how to maintain the integrity of the breed using pet grooming techniques with clipper’s and scissors.

In total, Notes From the Grooming Table took over three years to write. At the time there were 150 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. Those were the dogs that we included with Notes. When we first started working on Notes, we had no idea the global appeal this book would have on our industry. We sell almost as many books abroad as we do here in the United States.

Since Notes was first published in 2004, the AKC has accepted almost 50 new breeds in just 10 years. A number of those breeds come in multiple sizes and a variety of coat textures. 10 years ago, the Miscellaneous Group was so small, we didn’t even opt to include in the book. Today there 15 breeds in the miscellaneous category of the AKC! We have opted to add them to the updated version of Notes From the Grooming Table.

Ten years ago, the Internet wasn’t even close to what it is today. The amount of research Lisa (my illustrator for Notes) and I had to do with individual breeds was mind-boggling. Finding reference material about each dog required book after book — magazine after magazine — and many dog shows. Today, research is much easier via the Internet. But as you know, not everything on the Internet is totally accurate. It still requires an awful lot of reviewing, sorting and double checking before I feel the information is accurate.

I don’t want to think about how many drawings and sketches Lisa created to make Notes come alive. When she felt she was close on the drawing, she would bring it to me for review. I know she hated this, but it worked. I’d pick up my scissors, tape, a red pen and my trusty AKC book. I’d read the standard, measure the dog out and then start cutting the dog into what look like puzzle pieces. Lisa watch from the sidelines horrified. I cut it apart, re-measure it, change body shapes and tape it back together. I’d hand her back her draft drawing and tell her, “Do it this way.” And she always did very willingly – although I’m sure there were times she was cursing me under her breath!

When I first wrote Notes from the Grooming Table, certain tools didn’t exist. They weren’t even an idea yet. Or if they did exist, there have been huge advancements with the piece of equipment. The tools that are high on my radar list are the extensive variety of attach-on guard combs. Wow. Those have come a long way! Battery operated detailed trimmers are another piece of equipment no groomer should be without. Another tool that has gained wide acceptance are the large blending shears. When Notes hit the press, I’d never even seen this item!

Back in 2004, we never anticipated we would have a global market. We never address the different styling techniques and trends depending on what continent you’re grooming salon is located. And not only are the styling trends different, in some countries we are starting to see docked or undocked tails along with cropped or uncropped ears. These variances are sometimes personal preference or laws from the individual countries. Whether the dog has a tail or not is going to dictate how that tail is going to be handled in the grooming salon. Same thing goes for ears on many breeds.

Ten years ago, the art of hand stripping was just starting to take root in the professional pet grooming salons. Today, we see more and more pet stylists applying hand stripping techniques to pet dogs than we’ve ever seen before.

What’s up with all the hairless breeds? We’re going need to put an entire section and how to care for dogs that don’t have any coat to protect their skin. They certainly have different needs than the coated varieties!

How many of you realize what kind of deadline we were under to get Notes published for the first time in 2004? We had done a large PR bit announcing the release at a major tradeshow. Of course, our timing wasn’t going quite as planned with the final printing. There were issues. Lots of issues.

In order to get this book on the press in time to make our debut trade show, we only had 24 hours to proof the entire book. I opted to keep the first run of Notes From the Grooming Table a small run. Good move on my part. It was riddled with typos. If you are one of the early purchasers of Notes, check it out. It’s pretty funny because some of the typos are absolutely blatant. (Like the color of the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.)

Luckily, many of you were gracious enough to simply point out our typos. For the first few years, we continued to keep our print runs small. Every time we went back to press, we would fix a couple more typos. One of the typos I can’t believe has totally slid under the radar for all ten years has been the spelling of the breed Schipperke. It’s still wrong today. Whoops. Go ahead – grab your book and check it out – I’ll wait. Needless to say, that will be fixed in our revision of Notes From the Grooming Table!

For our tenth year anniversary, we are working on revising Notes From the Grooming Table. Lisa and I are excited to be able work on this project again. For the first time in years, I am literally going through Notes From the Grooming Table page by page. I have a highlighter, a colored pen and lots of sticky notes. It’s hard to believe there so many new breeds to address. We’re enjoying updating the styling trends that have changed slightly on established breeds. It’s fun being able to share with you so many new tools that make grooming dogs so much easier.

This is turning into a major undertaking. However, with this revision of Notes From the Grooming Table, we want to take our time. There will always be opinions on what is right or wrong with all aspects of the style and trends of professional dog grooming. We want to make sure we give you lots of options to create a dog that is well groomed – even if you have never physically groomed that breed before. Armed with Notes From the Grooming Table, you will have the most current and up-to-date pet styling book available anywhere in the world. Look for the revised edition of Notes coming out late in 2014.

Happy Trimming!

~Melissa

Surviving the Holiday Rush

Nine Seconds to Make a First Impression

Nail Mending Kits

What Does the Client Want?

How to be an Indispensable Groomer’s Assistant

The Importance of Systems

The Jennifer Hecker Story

Ten-Year Anniversary of Notes From the Grooming Table – Time for an Update!

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