Derm Connection
The Most Important Piece of Equipment –
digital vector illustration of head with brain shaped flower sprouting
Your Mind!
by Dr. Cliff Faver

As groomers, it is essential to have the right equipment to function. We try to get the best quality for the best price, and then we have to do maintenance on it or replace it when it wears out. But have you ever sat down to determine which piece of equipment makes you the most money? Probably not, because with being a busy groomer, it is often hard to find the time to do that. So, to save some time, I will cut to the chase. The most important piece of equipment you have in the grooming salon is your mind.

Using your head
The unfortunate part of it is that we are often so busy working that we forget to utilize it. One thing I have found in working with groomers (especially coming from the veterinary field) is how creative you all are. You rarely find the creative names of salons or the cute hairstyles and colors you groomers have created in the veterinary world. We are pretty dull in comparison. You are artists and exude that in many different ways. But sometimes there is a disconnect when it comes to the business side of grooming. I think this occurs because of the focus on just getting dogs out the door. We forget to contemplate how we could do it better, learn more skills or get more creative in our marketing.

John Maxwell, a well-known business/motivational writer, says you should take time daily to be bored. At first, I had a hard time with the concept. But I found that if I take time to do nothing, I get my most creative thoughts. I found I could make more money sitting in my office being creative and strategizing than working hard in the exam rooms. Why is that? It is because I thought about ways to work smarter, not harder. If you are always working, you don’t have time to think about new or different ways of approaching problems.

You have to start somewhere
Typically, the best place to start is to think about the big picture. Do you have goals? How much do you want to make this year? What are you putting away for retirement? What is your exit strategy? How can you get and keep better employees?

From there, you start taking those big items and working them down into your day-to-day strategy. For example, I need to work with an accountant to help me figure out my prices. I need to talk to a broker so I know how to prepare for a sale (years in advance). I need to figure out what to do when my body no longer lets me groom a 140-lb. Great Pyrenees. Let’s organize a training program (or utilize some already available online) for the staff. Let’s work to fill our slow times of the year with specials. Let’s get more education and offer services that we don’t already offer. The sky is the limit. The secret is that you need to take time to brainstorm and think through all the possibilities.

You only fail when you fall to plan.
Meeting of the minds
If you have a piece of equipment breakdown, most of us have a friend who will loan us one of theirs or the company will give us a loaner. The flow of good ideas is no different. Have brainstorming sessions with your staff, your grooming friends or even with people in other businesses (vendors within the industry). Sharing of ideas helps everyone.

Sometimes we think we have to do this all on our own, but the reality is, some of the best ideas are those from others. You may take those ideas at face value or morph them into your own with a twist on the original idea. Some of my best pearls of business practices I picked up sitting around with a cold drink and talking with friends.

Putting ideas into practice
The most important part of this undertaking is putting the idea into action. Many of us have wonderful thoughts and ideas, but the hard part is taking them from the idea stage to the action stage. It would be easy if it were just up to us, but unfortunately, other people are almost always involved in the process. Things like raising your prices to meet your goals or adding new education for the staff will fall flat if we don’t get buy-in for the process. So, part of the planning must include how to get others involved.

Before you force people (clients or staff) to get involved, think about what would motivate you if you were in their position. Strong-arming or being a dictator may get you there, but if the people involved are unhappy about the process, this can turn a positive strategy into a very negative experience. And if it goes bad, often, as an individual, you are afraid to stick your neck out the next time. You only fail when you fail to plan. As a general rule, people don’t like change, so as a good leader in the business, you have to work on making these changes as painless as possible.

The very last step is to keep everyone accountable in the process of change. This step is critical if any change is going to occur long term. They say it takes 21 days to change a habit (I find it closer to three months), but the change will not survive without this step.

Your thoughts and creativity that occur in your mind make it your best piece of equipment; take time to use it, trust it and hone it. When you start using it, you will find life is easier, making you far more money than any other piece of equipment in your shop.

Dr. Cliff Faver graduated with a BS in Biology/BA in Chemistry before getting a Veterinary degree in 1987. He is the past owner of Animal Health Services in Cave Creek, Arizona and now the US distributor for Iv San Bernard products, teaches the ISB Pet Aesthetician Certification program, and speaks internationally on hair and skin. His passion is to merge groomers and veterinarians to aid in helping and healing pets. He is also a member of AVMA, AAHA, AZVMA, Board member with Burbank Kennel Club, and has served on Novartis Lead Committee, Hill’s International Global Veterinary Board, and a Veterinary Management Group.

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