Hey. It’s your Coat Management Disorder friend who likes to rename things.
Let’s talk “time”. It seems that how much time it takes to groom a dog is a less than helpful measure when setting prices for services.
What if we started thinking about time as “parts and labor” instead?
Ya know…grooming and car repair are not that different. Think about what happens when you take your vehicle to the mechanic for service. You bring your car in, a receptionist talks to you about your car, and figures out what services you need. They check the computer, and then tell you how many hours of labor and all the parts you have to pay for if you want that service.
Now this receptionist has never met your car. Sure, they’ve seen cars similar to yours, but maybe your car is quirky or extra greasy, or maybe it’s super easy to work on.
So how does that receptionist know how much labor time your car’s service will take?
They don’t. They’re using a minimum labor fee for that service on that kind of car. It doesn’t really matter how much time your particular car takes to service IF that service is completed within that time set for that service. If the mechanic is working on your car and they find an unexpected problem that’s going to take more time or more parts, they call to tell you how much more it will cost. And, they don’t drop the price if your service took less time because they are charging a minimum labor fee for that service.
What is labor if it isn’t time?
Labor is both the physical and mental effort required to perform a service.
Wait. What? Yup. The mechanic is charging you for the physical and mental effort it takes to fix your car.
There is ample physical and mental effort required for grooming, so let’s build labor our prices just like a mechanic does. Think about types of labor as direct, indirect, or embedded, when creating your fee structure.
Direct Labor: Time spent performing a service. This is the actual grooming part, including passive time such as cage-drying.
Indirect Labor: Time spent performing tasks related to direct labor. We schedule appointments, we meet with clients before and after, we keep and maintain records, we drive to clients’ houses, we clean our tools and our space, we refresh our body and brain with a rest or meal break, we process payments, we send reminders…
Embedded Labor: Methods, techniques, skills, experience, knowledge, equipment, tools, space that are required to perform direct and indirect labor. These aspects are what create differences in safety, welfare, client retention, speed, quality, and style of businesses and individuals when providing or performing a service.
Just like at the mechanic, parts are also required to perform grooming services. Parts are the products used during the performance of a service. Once a part is used, it can’t be used again. Think of all the one-time use products required to groom a particular dog: water, electricity, shampoo, towels, ear cleaner, cotton balls…
When you’re at the auto shop, it appears you are being charged for specific parts. You pay for a starter, or tires, or brake pads. They aren’t telling you or even keeping track of amount of electricity or hand cleaner that was used to service your car. You pay for that electricity though, when they charge you retail price for the parts they bought wholesale.
Groomers don’t usually charge for specific parts. We aren’t measuring how much shampoo or electricity we use for a particular dog, and we’re not going to make a list for each client of how many cotton balls we used to clean their dog’s ears. For certain though, every time we perform a grooming service, we are using parts. And, we use more parts on bigger and furrier dogs than we use on the wee ones. For the same reasons an oil change is more expensive on a motorhome than it is on a two-door hatchback a groom on a large, hairy dog should cost more than a groom on a small, hairy dog. Even though parts for a specific service are hard to measure, in some fashion, they should be included when setting your prices.
There ya go. Grooming is more than just time with a dog in the tub or on the table. It’s all kinds of parts and and labor.
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