14. $70 to clip a Mini Schnauzer bald is too much?

July 26, 2007

A very interesting situation for a groomer. How the groomer handles this situation depends on his ability to negotiate.

I referred one dog with generalised skin diseases for the groomer to clip bald as my staff does not provide this service. I told the groomer to let the owner know about his fees first. The owner had not met him before.

"Your groomer charges $70.00 to shave the Miniature Schnauzer bald," the young man with the fair face phoned me. "He sms me to say that if I don't remove my dog from the surgery, I will have to pay $20 per day."

I spoke to the groomer.

"What you charge is none of my business," I said. "But you ought not to have to tell the owner to remove his dog or pay $20 per day. If your fee is not to his liking, just thank him."

But this groomer antagonised him. I don't know why he increase his fee from $60.00 which is considered "high" to $70.00.

I spoke to him.

"Owners come to me because they have had bad experience seeing other groomers beating their dogs during grooming," he said. "They don't mind paying my fees as I get repeat business."

"Such owners are not price conscious," I said. "They also want personalised services".

In my referral case, the owner had never met him or know his quality of work.

The angry-faced owner came to the surgery at around 9.30 a.m. today. He said, "I pay only $55.00 at (a petshop with several outlets). My friends will laugh at me if I pay $70.00."

I asked the groomer to justify why he charges $70.00. It was a time for him to be flexible too.

"I sterilise my clipper blades in between shavings so as not to get the dog infected. I clean their ears and bathed the dog in addition to clipping. It takes a long time to shave the dog. In fact,a Schnauzer cut will be faster."

In such a situation, this groomer ought to provide A LIST OF PROCEDURES in writing. I have had taught him to always provide a list.
It is more useful than talking as an angry prospect seldom listens.

There is rampant undercutting in grooming in Singapore. Some groomers do house-calls and grooming for $20.00. Some charge as low as $10.00. If a pet shop is willing to transport the dog and groom for $45.00, there are many cases.

After the groomer's explanation, I said to the owner: "You are a business-man. You can understand that you don't charge the same price as all your competitors. I don't charge the same veterinary fees as other vets for neutering a dog or doing Caesarean. No doubt you have had shopped around.

"If you feel that the fees of this groomer is not what you expect, you can always get another groomer to do the job."

The owner's tight facial features softened: "Maybe the price can be lower a bit. I prefer not to go elsewhere since my dog is here."

Now, this is the time for the groomer TO BE FLEXIBLE. I can't dictate the price for him. The groomer was silent.

"Maybe you can give a discount," I gave him a way out and still earn a livelihood.

He was not hungry. He shook his head. This is unfortunate.

"This prospect will be troublesome later," he explained to me later.

Later, I explained my situation of $70.00 to a pet shop operator in Outram as I was doing some vaccinations there.

"We charge $45.00" she said. "When we charge $20.00, we had a lot of cases."

When I had time, I tried to educate my groomer. But to educate him I read a lot about business. Some useful articles actually come from Harvard Business Review. I read one recently about Strategies to compete with low-pricing competitors and find it useful.

"Consumers go for the lowest cost," I explained to my groomer. "Do you read business articles?" I asked superfluously. He does not care to read about business matters. They can be quite boring and academic. A big yawn and chore. He has better things to spend his limited time on his hobbies.

"You also go to service providers who charge you less than competitors," I elaborated. "So do I. So, it is reasonable for some dog owners to bring down the price or compare fees of our competitors. If we can be flexible, we may match the price. Obviously, it is best to be consistent in pricing as our other customers will be upset.

"If you can give value-for-money services, the customer will not mind paying your fees."

"There is a tendency of some owners to quote the competitors' price to bring down your fees," I said. "We will like to say 'go to that competitor then'. It is best not to provide such services if we can't match the competitor's pricing."

Sometimes, one cannot be flexible to underprice one's services during negotiations. If one's fees are non-negotiable, there must be value-for-money added to compete with low-cost competitors. How to do it? More reading of the Harvard Business Review articles.

Unfortunately, this magazine is costly to subscribe and can only be borrowed from the Sengkang Community Library and not available there at most time.

Sengkang is a suburban library. It should be available at the National Library near the business district and a more central location.