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Rising Above the average


When was the last time you went into a store or used a service and were so impressed with the experience that you shared it with friends and family? Or even better, took to your social media pages and posted reviews about them?

The truth is, most groomers try to get away with just being average. The attitude of “This is how everyone does it, so this is how I am going to do it” must be banished. Mediocrity will always lead to more mediocrity. But an average grooming business produces mediocre results. It's the ones that put in a little extra effort to exceed their customer expectations that create raving fans who re-book more often, purchase retail and share their experience with others in person and on social media.

So, do you want to learn the importance of exceeding customer expectations to build a strong grooming business that breaks past mediocre and makes more money?

Are you strong of body, mind and spirit? Do you enjoy a challenge?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here; prior to discussing the breakdown of tactics to deploy, let's first countdown to the business case for exceeding customer expectations.

First, it’s relatively easy to do. We live in a world of mediocrity. You know this is true personally. How often do you shop somewhere and leave without any emotional feeling about the experience one way or another? Standing out isn’t all that difficult. It’s low hanging fruit for your business and one that has the ability to produce big results. With efforts that will not break the bank or your spirit.

Second, when you exceed the expectations of your customers, you create a positive association that further helps to build your brand and customer loyalty. This can significantly help with repeat visits and increasing your customer lifetime value (CLV), an important metric for any businesses. We may be or know of groomers that have groomed for families for the lifetime of their pets, and new pets and new family members and so on and so on. This IS your bread and butter customer base.

In fact, in a nationally well-known pet business journal, it was found that the most successful businesses made the majority of their revenues from repeat customers past year three of operation. Interesting statistics that are now proving that these businesses are not the average run of the mill pet grooming available to the public. No matter if you are in a brick and mortar, home based shop, house call, or mobile unit.

They have raised their vibrational frequency and manifested this idea, to attract the customers they want and need to be above average. They make their customers feel special. They touch them on an emotional response level. When this happens, a customer feels loyal to your business. They respond to that higher frequency of energy and want to share it with others. THIS is what you want each customer to do. They NEED to feel the urge to take to the web, their neighborhood and others they know and rave about how amazing your grooming services are.

A customer with a good solid grooming experience will tell others, helping you acquire new customers and lowering your overall marketing costs.

To sum it up, when you exceed customer expectations, you create customers that spend more money, purchase more frequently and help you acquire more customers by sharing their experience. In all three ways that a grooming business can make more revenue, over-delivering on expectations helps you achieve it. So far this has cost your nothing out of pocket. It is about your attitude, how you present yourself and your services, and most importantly, how you make that customer feel. Now granted not everyone who steps through your door (or you through theirs, depending on your business model) will like you, your services or will be a repeat customer. Those transient, bargain seekers, are not your demographic anyway. You will give them all your razzle dazzle, and they just won’t be razzled or dazzled by you. They were never meant for you anyway, so let them pass, acknowledge their purpose in your business plan and then move on. You can’t and don’t want to retain them all. You need to find your tribe, those customers that feel like friends or family when we work with them. Trust and Loyalty are two great business partners that will serve you well if you take care to serve them.

Customers don’t expect much, that’s why there are so many ordinary grooming businesses out there. Most of them are pretty reasonably priced and offer ho hum services with not much else. One of the main reasons the customers don’t expect too much from these businesses, is because very few pet groomers take the time to raise the bar and put these higher expectations in the heads of customers. Why should they expect more if everyone is offering the same thing in the same way?

Let’s take a look at what the average consumer expects, before we look at how you can go above and beyond.

  • Customers expect timely, knowledgeable, friendly communication, pre and post appointment.

  • Customers expect you to know about the services you offer.

  • Customers expect relatively competitive pricing.

  • Customers expect a reasonable grooming turnaround time.

  • Customers expect you to dictate how your grooming process works. They need to know the rules, boundaries and limitations of your services and business. They need to have policies to follow.

Now let’s learn how to exceed every customers expectation every time. We need to begin with understanding each of your customer touch points.

A touch point is a SINGLE interaction that a customer has with your business. These interactions can be anything from a visit to your website, a one on one phone conversation, a text message conversation, a visit to your salon, you get the idea. What is their first impression that they receive? Even if they don’t book an appointment is there a follow-up email, phone call or text correspondence, or even a single social media message? How have you emotionally impacted that customer? What type of energy did you put forward when meeting with or just communicating with that human being?

Every single touch point a potential customer has with you and your business has the opportunity to meet, exceed or fail customer expectations.

To create a memorable experience, you first need to map out each touchpoint your potential (and established) customers typically have with your grooming business. The easiest way to start this process is to break down their experience into major categories, and then list all the touch points a person would typically go through for each category.

For example, you may decide you break out your major categories like this:

  • Pre-Appointment: -All the interactions a customer has with your grooming business prior to deciding to utilize your services and business.

  • Purchasing Services: The communication a customer has with you after they have made the decision to employ your services/business.

  • Deliver Services: All the wonderful attributes of your business you discussed with your customer now must be fulfilled in a timely manner.

  • Post-Purchase - All the interactions a customer has with you after they have purchased grooming services from your business.

Another way you may choose to categorize you touch points might be by type:

  • Social Media Communication

  • Direct Communication (Emails, text message and face to face)

  • Auto-responders (Email, Newsletters, social media postings)

  • Informational (Service Descriptions, website pages, social media pages/profiles)

  • Business Policies (Refunds, release forms, payment terms, terms of services)

Once you define your main categories, you’ll want to break it out into all the touch points your customers are likely to have with your business.

Here's an example:

Pre-Appointment

During Purchase of Services

Post-Purchase

Social Media/Website presnce

Communication

Purchase Receipt

Face To Face

Personal interaction/instructions

Return of Pet

Advertising/Marketing

Policy explanations

Thank You Note

Email Inquires

Checkout Experience

Rebooking immediately

Of course, this is just a small example. You'll want to consider every point-of-contact with your customers for each of your major categories, no matter how small. Breaking this down into the smallest points will help you to plan better for each interaction and also to pre-pan your reactions to customers who can be frustrating, uninformed about pet grooming or pet ownership. Remember we are always the first line of defense when it comes to educating customers and their pets. We see them more than their veterinarian, trainer, pet sitter etc. So be confident in your knowledge and exude that confidence when speaking with customers. Be the authority, that they can be loyal to and trust your judgement. This is what I mean wen I say raising your vibrational energy. When you are confident in your stature and speech, you give the customer the energy to trust what you are saying. If you come off as hurried and rushed, un informed and indecisive, you are giving off an energy that is unbalanced and un trustworthy.

You can't be everything to everyone. Over-delivering across all touch points can get expensive, and there's a point of diminishing returns. Your best bet is to start by choosing one touch point to focus on and do the best you can with that, and slowly add others to your plan as you raise the level of your interactions with customers.

Once you choose a touch point to focus on, ask yourself, "What does the average person expect from this?". Once you've determined an average customer expectation, you'll want to brainstorm ways that you can exceed those expectations. Something as simple as adding a signature to your text messages or emails that conveys your interest in them as a potential customer, speaks volumes to the person reading it. Be excited to share your business with them, let them see, feel and hear that excitement through your interactions. I wouldn’t want a service person who was flat and uninspired when choosing where to bring my pet.

What are your check outs like? Something as simple as giving them a small bag of wrapped treats at the end of each grooming with your business info on it can really impress a customer and the cost is minimal. Do you issue a receipt? Or do you give a rebooking reminder card, email or text. Add something to those such as a free spa facial or toothbrushing. Rewarding customer loyalty is huge to a person who is using your services. This builds loyalty, and it is an exchange of positive energy. Just the words thank you, can make a world of difference to your customers, if they can feel the sincerity in it.

Once you’re happy with your newly crafted customer experience, try testing it out yourself. Go through your entire purchase experience as if you were a brand-new customer. Or have someone you know role play these scenarios with you to perfect your customer experience. Don’t forget to put the negatives in also, like dealing with those that are unsatisfied with your services. How we handle the negative experience impacts how we deal in the positive realm as well. It is all about balance.

Does the whole experience exceed your expectations as a new customer? Would it exceed others? Is it an experience worth sharing? These important questions need to be answered when looking at how you actually interact on a business level with all customers. You need to re-evaluate every so often to make sure things don’t get stale or complacent.

Finally, you’ll want to ask your customers for feedback. If you’ve truly done a great job, you’ll likely see some of the fruits of your labor in the form of increased positive customer emails, as well as mentions on social media. Don’t be shy, ask them to review your services on review sites, and you can even offer incentives like a percentage off their next groom, or a free upgraded service for positive reviews. Many also offer referral bonuses to their customers who bring in new business. It is an exchange, a give and take with your customers. Make it worth their while to do something for you, and to thank them you need to open your bag of generosity (to a degree) and make them feel appreciated for spreading the good word about your great work.

Ultimately it comes down to the question, are you willing to do what it takes to become above average in a sea of average grooming businesses? Raise your energy level and with careful planning, you can attract more, better, and loyal customers who share your passion for the animals you groom. If you put your spirit into each interaction, customers who value your special energy and love for your craft will seek you out and lead others to you. It’s all about staying grounded and knowing that you are going above and beyond, to make your business stand out.

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