They’re not all your customers

Our goal today is to talk about how every customer is not your customer. And I don't wanna talk necessarily about customer service and things like that,

but making sure it aligns with what you want and the best way for you to live your life. So this is also for people that are employees. It doesn't even always just mean somebody that is a business owner. And you might be like, how is that? So the best way I can explain it, and I've done this in one of my blog articles,

is when we talk about customers, I say, let's say coffee. Lots of places sell coffee. Let's talk about, we have Dunkin Donuts here. That's our like mid-level coffee. We've got Starbucks, which is our more high-end, expensive coffee. And then I'll use the example of McDonald's. 'cause McDonald's is a dollar coffee. You get a dollar coffee any size.

So the truth is all three of these places sell coffee. McDonald's, it's a dollar. So with that said, dunk of donuts is your mid-range coffee. It's like 2, 2 50 for a medium cup of coffee and Starbucks is jelly, what, two 50 or $3. Now you're sitting there going, that's not a lot of difference. But when you put in perspective,

going from $1 to $3 is literally triple the price, right? Because it's triple the price. If you think about it in the responsive grooming, instead of someone having a $40 groom, now we're talking $120 groom. That is a substantial difference. Even though it's a small monetary amount, the value has gone up significantly. So, and again, you know,

going up a dollar from Dunka Donuts to Starbucks, that is again, that is a 50% increase. It's a lot of increase. That'd be like going from a $40 room to an $8 room, right? Why do people choose to get their coffee at Dunka Donuts, Starbucks and McDonald's, we don't actually know. We are not in someone's head to find out exactly why they do things.

But if I were to take a wild guess, people go and get coffee at McDonald's because it's cheap, it's cheap, it's convenient, it's fast, they're everywhere. You can just run in and out and grab it. So with that said, that same person gets very similar convenience with Dunking Donuts. However, dunking Donuts is a specialty store. So if you're going to Dunking Donuts,

you're going out of your way. 'cause there's not as many of them, let's say as McDonald's. So that said, that person caress a little bit more and they're gonna pay a little bit more. They're gonna vote with their dollars. And Starbucks, I'm a big Starbucks person, everyone knows that I overspend my money on Starbucks. That said, I will go out of my way sometimes a long time outta my way.

So with that, I want you to think about who are you? Are you the convenient, cheap, fast person? Are you kind of mid-range? And people would like to be with you, but if they can't, then they won't. Or do you wanna be Starbucks? And Starbucks has a lot of their own problems because obviously there are less people who wanna go to Starbucks,

then McDonald's or dunk and donut's, they're gonna do less customers, but that's why they charge more to make up the difference. So in this analogy, you can also look at this for employment. You know your skillset, you know everything that you're doing. So when you're looking at this, you have to say to yourself, okay, how much am I do I need to make in a day?

What is reasonable for me to groom? What are my skill sets? What is my branding? All of these things. Sometimes when this is happening, you have to make sure that what you are doing lines up with everything. So let's say if I am a competition level groomer, but my shop looks incredibly tacky and people are wearing overalls and it's not a aesthetically pleasing place to walk in.

You know, I walk in and there's hair everywhere, which I understand. Mid Saturday there's nothing you can do. But as a customer, if I'm a wealthy customer, an affluent customer, I don't wanna come in with my Chanel heels and walk all over dog hair in the waiting room. And so we have to think about things like that. If you want somebody who's a little less high maintenance,

it's great, but someone who's less maintenance is probably not going to invest the money that you might want. So a lot of times people will say something to the effect of, I want every four week clients who pay whatever I would tell 'em to pay. And they want their dogs, not 10 strips. Like, okay, well who is the person?

Who are these people that have enough money and they see value in their pets being clean and maintained? Those are generally the same kinds of people that take care of their own selves. So those are your ideal customers, if that's what you wanna do. If you wanna be Starbucks, when you're looking at that, look at your skillset and ask yourself, am I really the groomer that I wanna be?

There are so many opportunities, but again, you have to make sure that your image is on point and not everyone is your customer. So if you own a higher-end boutiquey salon, a new found, a once year Newfoundland walks in the door, you probably don't have time to service them. And even if you do service them, it's gonna take so much more time,

energy, money on your part in order to take care of that customer. And you're taking away from the good customers that come in every four weeks. If you want a salon where you're like, oh no, I want everyone come in six to eight weeks, I'm totally fine with that, that's great. But then you have to remember that somebody who's willing to slide on times,

you've gotta fill in that spot. So knowing what you want in a customer is gonna be incredibly helpful. And not everyone is your customer. I made my, my last business. So the C rooming business, I'm mobile, I want it to be really tight. So with that, it sounds crazy, but it's a hundred to $165 per cat. They have to be on a four week schedule.

And I try to make everyone on the same schedule. And if I make it all on the same schedule, then that's gonna really help me out. I, I don't chase customers. I know the condition the cat's gonna be in. I know all of these positive things, and that's what I want in my business. And because I want those Starbucks level clients,

you know, I have a uniform, I have, you know, my branding, I believe is on point with those women. These are not necessarily, they are people that are willing to invest in the right place. I can see that in all the patterns of their purchases and like when I talk to them. And in the middle, you have lots of people in the middle,

especially if you want people with young kids. So depending upon where you live, if you live in a commuter town or in an area that's wealthy, but it's mostly young families. Someone with a young family needs more flexibility. They don't know what the hell's gonna happen with their three kids. And so if you want somebody for that, then you have to remember that that person is probably gonna cancel a lot of appointments.

That person will do their best. But if one kid gets sick, what are they gonna do? They're not gonna cart that kid to your grooming salon and then wait two, four hours for the dog to be done and then grab the dog again. That's not gonna happen. They're just gonna cancel and let the dog get dirty. And that dog is going to be a lot more maintenance than a dog owned by a woman,

let's say in her fifties or sixties when her kids are grown and they're out of the house. And on the flip side, if you want somebody who doesn't view their pet as family, or they don't invest in their pet as family, that's a lot harder sell. Those tend to be your once a year, you know, grooms, you know, either right before Christmas or right before summer.

You know, they either wanna shave them because they think they're gonna be hot or they wanna make sure that the mother-in-law doesn't judge them on Thanksgiving. There are so many people like that. I would say that's about half of the community that own pets. And then there's various shades of how much people care about their animals. But when you're in the veterinarian industry,

I notice that it's essentially like the people that will pay things. So if the pet gets sick, let's say the dog ate a sock, you have people that'll just put the dog down, you get people that'll put it on the credit card, but only for like one or two grand. And then you have people that say, I don't care what it costs.

And we tend to be the, I love my animal, I want 'em to be better, but not everybody is. And we just always assume that people will be that way. And then you start feeling compassion fatigue because you so desperately wanna make all these animals lives better and there's nothing you can do because this person has decided your McDonald's people have decided that it,

if not, it is not cheap, it is not wic, it is not convenient, then they don't want it. They will go elsewhere. So back to your skillset. With your skillset, figure out does what you wanna do with your skillset fit your clients? If you're that person who wants to do hands scissor dogs, you need the Starbucks clients because even the Dunking Donuts clients,

they can't pay you for your time. The extra time it takes you to scissor up a dog versus just running a five blade through it, it's at least double. And if you want someone to pay you double for your time, and let's be honest, double wear and tearing your body scissoring is so bad for your hands. So how are you gonna attract those people?

And then if you're an employee and you love hand scissoring, or let's say you love hand stripping, anything that's a higher end skillset, if you actually know breed profiles and make sure if you have those amazing skills that you're going to work for a place that is actually going to pay you accordingly and actually cares that you have those skillset. So if you're an employee,

tell me why you chose the business that you're working for. Do they have the customers that your skillset and what you want fits? And then if you are a business owner, are you getting the clients that you want? And if you're not, stop and think about why you're not.