Hi , I have been grooming part time for a bit now ( along with working at the boarding kennels where my grooming is based ). My boss has now given me 2 more days just for grooming so I want to make sure I can fill these days up  with clients. I have always gone by word of mouth which has done me up to now but now think I need to do a bit of advertising. So far I have contacted my local newspaper , village newsletter and put flyers in vets , petshops etc. I was also thinking of putting flyers on cars in car parks but was wondering if anyone knows if I have to ask permission first? Also does anyone have any other advertising ideas?

Sorry for the long post ( started to warble :rolleyes: )

Many thanks , Kate

Flyers on windscreens are a pet hate of mine, they are never noticed until after you are in the car and they cause a lot of litter.............

You would need to ask the owner of the car park eg Tesco if you could do this as this is their property and may object............

do you think they would be liked a bit more if they gave you 10% off your first visit ( for example )

When I started my business, I was going to offer a reduction.  The business advisor advised against it and told me to make my charges higher than any other groomer in the area and make sure that my work matched my charges!!!  He was right!

I advertised for 3 months in the local newspaper when I started and from then on my work was my advertising and kept me working fulltime 4 days a week for 16 years.

All of the Vets in the area would recommend as well.

You can spend a lot of unnecessary money on advertising.  If each happy client sends another client - legal pyramid selling!! :)

Oh Val im glad you replied , from word on here you're the best around!!
Do you think I should see how the paper goes before doing anything else then?

from word on here you're the best around!!

OMG she's blushing!!  Although I'm sure that there are some that wouldn't agree!! :D

ooh also val , while you're here.....
I think my charges may be a bit too low ( even some customers say so ) eg bath / blow dry= £10 - £12 , handstrip border terrier = £20 / £25 , Westie £18 . Are these too low , am I going to end up bankrupt soon?

What area are you in?  Not that I think that matters too much - there are people with money all over the country!

When I stopped 2 years ago, I was charging £22 for a Yorkie, £25 for a Westie, £28 for a Cocker for example.  Westies/Cockers would be stripped as much as possible, then finished with thinning scissors, if all else failed, then a snap-on comb - never just clipped.  People travelled many miles for a naturally trimmed dog with a pet trim similar to the breed standard.  I put all charges up every January!

I would say put a small weekly advert in the 'Pets'  column or whatever they've got in your local paper.  Just a few lines and then 'please ring to discuss'.  And then trim to the breed standards.  Don't do any once a year clip offs!  You won't need those.........

Don't listen to those who say 'I can't afford to turn those away'!  If that's what you do, then you'll get more of those - just once a year. ;)

Gotcha!!

oops can't do smilies

Hi sugar,

I'm glad you've got some great advice from Val about grooming prices etc, cos what I know about it could fit on the back of a stamp!! :)

The one thing that I do know a good bit about though is advertising. I would say, without a doubt, don't even think about doing the flyers under window wipers. Firstly, unless you are only going to leaflet drop only at dog shows etc, your chances of dropping on a non dog owning car is high, and combined with something like an average 2% response rate to this kind of advertising anyway ,you'd have to drop thousands to even get 1 client!

Your best bet will definitely be local papers and vets surgeries, at least at the vets you will be targeting the right people. Also, it can sometime be worth an ad in a local business directory, or yellow pages, as this is where a lot of people will start to look.

Also, as Val suggests, make sure your work is your best advertising, that way you will have loyal customers (who will be worth their weight in gold) and recommendations too.

Hope that helps a bit - good luck with the business. :)

Claire

p.s whereabouts in the country are you - I could do with finding a good groomer for mine.