Grooming Business School: #2. Purchasing A Mobile Grooming Salon

Deciding on which company to hire to build your mobile grooming salon is one of the most important decisions you will ever make for your new business. With 15-20 conversion companies to choose from at any moment, the decision can be difficult. We’ve collected all the feedback we could from customers and shoppers, and synthesized the data into 10 basic points. When shopping for a mobile pet grooming salon, the businessperson should consider the following:

1. EXPERIENCE. Assessing a converter’s experience can be as simple as looking at the end product. For example, some design features may just jump out at you as being inherently wrong. Examples of this might be wooden cabinetry, street-side drains in the tub, or having no tool area to the right of the grooming table. In other words, if ergonomics is a design feature that the converter seems to ignore, then one must wonder how much experience in the mobile grooming business they have.

There are many converters with experience, some with none. Be careful if one boasts decades of experience because it is highly probable that their “experience” is in a completely unrelated industry - perhaps car washing or something similar. One converter even advertises his experience as being “related” to a groomer. Not having actual mobile grooming experience is evident in one’s conversions and the consumer is saddled with those problems for years down the road.

2. WEIGHT. Weight isn’t as big of an issue with mobile grooming vans as with trailers. Trailers have two very important weights that should be advertised by the conversion company, the trailer weight and the tongue weight.

The trailer weight is the total weight if you were to actually put it on a scale. Make sure to understand if a conversion company’s advertising includes the weight of the water used during the grooming process. A full tank of water can easily add 400 pounds to the trailer.

A good company will advertise its tongue weight, which is the weight pushing down on the back of your truck. This is an extremely critical specification because your truck will not drive safely if the grooming trailer is too heavy.

GT clearly advertises its specifications. We also weigh each individual trailer and attach the legally required DOT tire and load restrictions sticker.

3. BATHING CENTER. The bathing center is the heart of any mobile grooming conversion and each design has its own advantages. Ask yourself what it is you are looking for. Are you looking for cheap plastic or fiberglass tubs, or are you looking for something more durable? Which ever you decide, there are a few items you should not overlook. You should not tolerate calk being used in the bathtub to make it watertight. Experienced mobile groomers know that calk will not work in the long run and is also a magnate for mildew. Also, you should pay close attention to the tub’s drainage. If the tub is on the back or the front end of the conversion, then the drain should be on the curbside. This way, the water will actually drain because of the natural curve of the road surface. A tub with two drains would solve this problem as well. Lastly, you should demand a tub design that has a tub rack to keep the pet from standing in its own dirty bathwater. Lastly, you should have a MINIMUM of 50 gallons of fresh water in your holding tank. The bottom line is that the tub speaks volumes about a conversion’s quality.

A simple rule of thumb is: Check to see if the tub is simply purchased from a hardware store or catalog. If a conversion company easily purchases the most important item in your salon from another company and basically screws it to the floor of your van or trailer, then that company most likely lacks resources or ingenuity.

Companies that build their own bathing centers are obviously interested in the overall design of your mobile salon. GT is one of only two trailer conversion companies (that we know of) able to go the extra mile for its customers. GT is unique; our partnership with a steel fabrication company allows us to include top-quality construction at a price that nobody can match.

4. FLOORS. The mobile grooming business is a wet one. Therefore, you should never purchase a grooming van or trailer that has not acknowledged this fact. Any floor that is not watertight and able to be hosed out is not acceptable to the smart businessperson. An inferior floor will rot the sub-floor, rust the frame, and destroy the most important piece of equipment in your business - your trailer. A waterproof floor should always be standard, never an option. Any converter can offer a trailer at a low price when important features are ignored. Properly waterproofing a floor is expensive, and an indicator that you are doing business with a company that understands that you want your mobile salon to last.

All GT grooming trailer floors are sprayed with one quarter inch of Rhino and is sealed six inches up the walls. We even waterproof the mechanical and plumbing compartments (usually left as raw plywood by other converters) to protect the entire trailer. We install our “often imitated” drains into the corners of your GT to help keep your work environment safe and dry - standard.

5. QUALITY EQUIPMENT. You’ve heard it before, “You are as good as your tools.” The mobile grooming business is no different. I’ve covered the tubs, but the same scrutiny should be applied to all the equipment in your mobile salon. There is no shortage of copycat products in this industry.

For example, you clipper vac should be an actual clipper-vac, not a vacuum cleaner with a poodle sticker on it. Your table should be a quality grooming table, not a Chinese-made freight lifter marked up to almost a grand. Your bathing system should be designed for its function, not a cheap sump pump that dumps dirty water back on top of the dog marked up to $400 or $500!

Yes, you will find plenty of hobbyists or kool-aid groupies who have purchased inferior products, but the smart businessperson needs to look through industry gimmicks and make decisions that will help their bottom line.

6. DOES NOT ENCOURAGE YOU TO GO INTO DEBT. The hobbyist might not understand, but the businessperson will. Debt is needed for our economic system to work, but nowhere in the Wealth of Nations does it say that you need to carry the debt!

Companies that try to sell to just anybody are immoral. Any conversion company can have a downloadable credit application that will allow a naive groomer to be up side down for the rest of her career.

If you need to finance, an available plan should be offered by the conversion company but should be discouraged. Too many hobbyists have gone out of business - largely because of their debt.

As you enter this business, try to pay cash for as many of your expenses as possible. Nobody ever got rich by adding up points on their credit card! If you need to finance a portion of your start-up costs, that’s alright; but try to at least get your trailer paid for before you start adding up debt for your supplies, insurance, schooling, or advertising. Remember, each dollar that you send to the banker could be yours to keep. If I just persuaded you to think twice about purchasing a GT, then good for both of us. As mentioned in the “Business School Introduction,” we sleep well at night!

7. ATTENTION TO DETAIL. Some of you have been in the position of hiring employees. The first thing I look at when I read a resume is grammar and spelling. The resume shows me how much attention to detail the prospective employee possesses. Everybody makes mistakes, but if every page of a resume (or website) constantly makes a mockery of our language, then imagine how much attention is given to the mobile grooming conversion.

8. ERGONOMICS. Have you ever designed a kitchen? If so, you know that every good kitchen design is built on a “triangle concept.” Mobile grooming salons share the same principle.

There are three main parts of any mobile grooming salon, van or trailer. The tub, the table, and the equipment cache. A good design will always have easy access to the tub from the table. Some conversions use ramps to get the pet into the tub, and some companies allow the pet to “step” from the table right into the tub. What you need to avoid is a “lack of” any design that allows the pet to easily enter the tub.

Easy access to equipment for the groomer when standing at the table is just as important. The groomer needs quick, unrestricted access to all the essential supplies like clippers or blades without needing to open up a cabinet, turn 180 degrees around to a tool chest, or any other inefficient means of finding supplies. Having your supplies at the right hand of the table is always the best design. Some conversion companies offer NOTHING at the right hand of the table except a flat wall. When shopping, ask yourself, “Where will I set down my clippers?”

When shopping for a salon, pay close attention to subtle design aspects. For example, where are the electrical outlets? Are they placed in a way that electrical cords need to be strapped up on the ceiling so your clippers can be operated with your right hand? Is the dryer placed so that the hose doesn’t obstruct your direct view of the pet when the dryer is being used? Are there “moving parts” like drawers, cabinet doors, etc. that can (and almost always) open during travel?

GT has figured it out. Why else would so many other companies try to copy us?

9. INTEGRITY. Integrity is defined as “adhering to a code of values.” A company’s website speaks volume about the company’s character. The hobbyist might be comfortable doing business with companies with unethical websites, but smart business people should take note. You might notice in your shopping that conversion companies use other company’s names in their text merely in an effort to hijack web traffic. They may also keyword stuff, or have hidden doorway pages on their sites. Tactics such as these might be fine for some, however, smart business people prefer to do business with companies that can keep within the guidelines the search engines request.

It is fair to judge a company by how they manage their website.

If you decide to build a website for your own mobile grooming business, we recommend that you hire a competent and ethical Webmaster to design your site. Websites are de-indexed by the search engines all the time for unethical practices (one of GT’s competitors have had 3 of their 5 sites de-indexed by MSN) and you don’t want your website to disappear. Your long-term strategy is dependent on maintaining integrity.

10. HONEST AND UP-FRONT PRICING. Why tolerate conversion companies holding you hostage just to get a price? If a mobile grooming conversion company hides its price from you or requires you to give them personal information before giving you their prices, they do not deserve your business. You need to be careful of “bait and switch” tactics in this industry as well. Likely, if a company cannot communicate their prices without requiring you to utilize a secret decoder ring, you should continue in your shopping. There are conversion companies that don’t sink to the “used car salesman” approach, and you don’t need to look far. GT is up-front and clear about its prices.