Foreign to the brilliant Pet Accountant Podcast with me, Vicky, where I will give you practical business and finance advice to help you grow a sustainable pet business.

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Welcome to this week's podcast with your favorite host, Vicky from the Pet Accountant, which is me.

And I thought I would do a different live today and we're going to talk about pricing.

And the reason why I decided to talk about that is because as an accountant, it's a question we get asked on a regular basis and in the Facebook group that we run that you might be watching in.

Again, it's a question that comes up quite a lot in there and also on the other social media platforms as well.

And it's usually along the lines of I don't know what to charge, when should I put my prices up, how do I put my prices up, how much should I be putting my prices at by, you know, a lot of price checking in terms of, you know, what do you charge for this dog?

Or what do you charge for an hourly walk?

And there's a lot of sort of sense checking as far as that's concerned between everyone, which is fine to a point, but you need to be looking at things in a bit more detail.

So you know, price.

And it's not just about the numbers, you know, and especially in the, I find in the pet industry it's quite an emotional, emotional one because people almost don't like putting the prices up because they feel guilty or, you know, they fear that clients are going to leave them or whatever the reason may be.

For some reason the pet industry, there just seems to be a bit of a barrier as far as putting your prices up or what you should charge in the first place in the pet industry.

So hopefully we're going to go through today a few questions and how to do it and the sort of things that you guys need to be thinking about when it comes to sorting your prices out.

Because as an accountant we see obviously a lot of people's businesses and their bank accounts and how profitable they are and how sustainable they are.

And generally people go out of business not because there's not enough dogs in the area or because there's, you know, 50 groomers that have popped up or 50 dog walkers that have popped up in a one mile radius.

It's because they haven't got their pricing right and they don't know their numbers.

That is literally the only reason why it happens.

There might be a few anomalies in there.

But generally it's not because there's not enough clients, it's because you haven't figured out your numbers and you haven't done your pricing right.

And we're going to go through just some tips of how to combat that.

And, you know, most pet business owners are very, very good at what they do, but it falls apart when it comes to the pricing.

And a lot of the phrases that I tend to hear from people is I just charge what everyone else charges.

Or I, you know, I compare my prices to the other walkers or groomers in the area, or a common one we get a lot is I haven't put my prices up in years because I feel bad and I don't like doing it, or I'm really busy, I'm fully booked, but I still have no money.

That is a question.

Sometimes I get from clients is that, well, I'm working sort of Monday, Saturday, 8 till 5 or 8 till 6 and I'm still got no money.

So that would automatically signal to me as an accountant that you haven't got your prices right.

Or I don't know if some of the services that I offer makes me any money.

So, again, we've had clients, especially sort of those that sell products that a lot of the products they buy don't actually sell and they don't check the products.

So again, it's looking at the services you offer as well and going, well, actually, this.

I haven't sold this service in six months and maybe I just need to get rid of that.

So there's lots of different elements, but we're going to go through sort of how your prices should be set, why people tend to undercharge and how we can go about raising those prices.

And like I say, you know, it depends on what stage you're at as well.

I can know there might be a few anomalies in there for some people, but we're just going to go through the basics and I find the first bit that I just kind of want to tackle is, you know, why is pricing so hard in the pet industry?

Like, we deal with other industries as well, maybe on a, on a lesser scale than the pet side, but when they put their prices up, it's kind of like they're not bothered.

It's like, yeah, put my prices up.

Even to a sense.

With us as an accountancy firm, if we need to do a price rise, we'll do a price rise.

But for some reason in the pet industry there is more of an emotional attachment to it because you're caring for people's pets.

So that could potentially make you feel guilty for charging more because you think, oh, I don't upset my loyal clients, or these clients have been with me for years, I daren't put my prices up.

Or you almost sort of pressure to be nice.

And I don't know whether that's a thing, like write it, tell me in the comments if you think that's a thing with the pet industry.

Almost sort of, because you're looking after the pets, you think, oh, God, I can't, can't put my prices up because they'll leave.

And what about a little fluffy?

So there is an emotional attachment to it, guys.

And this is when people then go, right, I can't do that.

So what I'm going to do is, is I'm going to copy the three other groomers or the three other walkers in my area, I'm just going to copy their prices.

Or you pick a number that you think, well, that feels like the right number, that, that feels like an okay number that I can charge.

Or you, when you start a business, you lower your prices to get clients in the door.

And that is a more common one.

But then the problem is, I think Teden did this as well.

A problem is you lower your prices to get clients in the door, it then takes you a hell of a lot longer to then get the price to where it needs to be.

Because if you charge as an introductory price, I'm going to charge £40.

£40.

£40 for a cockapoo.

But actually the average UK price for a cockapoo is £80.

Let's just say how then are you going to get that £40 to £80 in a short space of time?

It's going to be almost impossible because generally people put their prices up a couple of quid or a fiver.

So to get from 40 to 80 using that scenario is going to take you years to get to the point where you should be.

So never ever lower your prices to get people in the door because it just makes it more difficult for you to do that.

So the problem is as well, the number that you choose for your services, whatever it may be, never ever get revisited.

And that's why sometimes when I speak to people, they say, oh, I haven't put my prices up for years.

And that then creates a problem because everything, every year, as we know in this economy, the price rises.

Your insurance goes up, your rent goes up, wages go up, your utilities go up, food goes up, like everything goes up.

But Your price stays exactly the same and that is the number one problem is you're keeping your price the same for years, but everything else is going up.

So you can just by saying that out loud, if you say that out loud to yourself, I've not raised my prices last four years, but everything that I've just listed, insurance, rent, wages, utilities, freed has all gone up.

You know, if that's the case, then every year that you don't raise your prices, you're going to be making a loss and then your business isn't going to be sustainable from that point.

It's in three to five years time.

If you carry on doing that method of not raising your prices, but everything else has gone up at the five year period, you'll either have closed down or you burnt out and closed down.

So this is why getting your prices is so, so important.

We mention it all the time in all the podcasts about the pricing.

And then the second issue, no one's ever taught you how to do it.

Most business owners have never been shown a framework or never been shown how to do it properly or what they should be doing when it comes to prices.

So then it all automatically falls on guesswork.

Well, I'll just charge 50 quid for a cockapoo, I'll just charge 12 pounds for an hourly dog walk because that's what everyone else does and I don't really know what I'm doing.

So first problem is we're not rising them, raising them every year and costs are going up.

So that's not going to create a sustainable business.

And secondly, no one's actually taught you how to do it.

You know, I didn't know how to do pricing when I first started the pet accountant.

Lee definitely didn't because Lee, I was charging double what Lee was charging when we met four years ago.

And again because no one teaches you how to do it.

So it isn't.

What you've got to think of is pricing isn't about what the clients want to pay, it's what your business needs to charge in order to be a sustainable business.

So you've got to get out the mindset of, well, my, my clients want to pay this or my clients won't pay this or my clients need to pay this.

It's not about what your clients want to pay, it's what you need to charge as a business to make yourself sustainable, have a profit and still be here in 10 years time.

Because if you don't get that right, inevitably, inevitably can't be words out Today, your business will just crumble.

So, but don't fear because we're going to go through some tips.

I know there's some questions popping up and I will go through them at the end.

Otherwise I'll go off on a tangent.

I'll forget where I am.

So just think about that.

Are you sat there thinking, I've not put my prices up for years?

Because if that is you, you definitely need to be listening to this and get out of the mindset of what your clients want to pay, need to pay, will pay, and it's about what your business needs to charge in order for you to have a sustainable business and make profit.

Right, guys, I'm just gonna interrupt the podcast for a quick second.

As an accountant, we're always trying to find ways of saving you guys some money, which is why we have teamed up with the brilliant Low Pay, who are half the price of summer.

So make sure you guys click the link in the bio and save those pennies.

Let's get back to the podcast.

So let's go back to the basics then.

So when you're pricing your products or services, you need to think about these things.

You need to think about your direct costs.

Now, they could be things such as your staff wages.

If you've got staff, there'll be stuff like products used.

So shampoo treats, training tools, it could be bank fees attached.

So if you're using like sum up or low pay the fees that they charge you for using the card machine.

So the direct costs are something that you have to factor in your overheads.

So by overheads, I mean things like rent, insurance, software, admin expenses, marketing.

So all of those overheads need to be taken into account.

And then you've got to look at the profit.

And this is always the one that people miss is the profit is not what's left over.

It's not just, well, this is how I do my groom, this is my direct costs and this is what's left over for that's my profit.

You need to have a deliberate profit margin.

It's not just what's left.

You have to decide what your profit margin needs to be.

So, so, and this is where it goes wrong, because people price to cover the costs of their business and the cost of their service and the cost of their products, but they don't remember to add in the profit.

And ultimately the profit is what we need to make money and to pay ourselves a wage.

So let's just say, for example, ours grooming is priced at 40 quid.

You take 15 quid for the groomer's wage, three pounds for the products and consumables that are used in that groom, and then your overheads is £15, that's a total cost of £33, leaving you a profit of £7.

Now people will think, oh, £7, that's great, I've got a seven pound profit for every 40 pound groom that I do.

But what you're not then taking into account is the tax paid on that.

Any sick days that you might have to cover, any quiet weeks that you might have to cover, any reinvestment into your business.

So when you take that into account, that 40 pound all of a sudden isn't seeming that great.

Because you're thinking, well actually before you're thinking, it has seven pound.

Oh great, seven pound of groom's not too bad.

But actually when you take into account the tax and everything else that you've got to cover with that seven pound forty now is just not an option.

So those people who go, oh, I'm going to, you know, under cut all my competitors, I'm going to charge £40 for a cockapoo or I'm going to charge £10 for an hour's walk, just let them do it, because it's not sustainable, you know, if, if you don't know your numbers, you're not pricing your services, it's just guesswork, you're just guessing that, well, everyone charges.

And I said this to a dog walker the other day, you know, all the dog walkers see, charge for an hour's dog walk between like 12 and 16 pound an hour.

And I'm like, who came up with those prices?

How does, how come every dog walker, and it doesn't matter where you are, charges between those amounts for dog walk?

Because surely not everyone's overheads, not everyone's profit margins are going to be the same.

But how is everyone charging the same?

Because people copy, people copy each other and go, well, everyone charges £80 for a cockapoo, so I'm going to charge £80 for cockpoop.

But like, how does everyone charge the same price?

And because everyone's profit margin, everyone's situation is going to be different.

And which is why you've got to know your numbers work backwards rather than just guessing what you think your client will pay or what you think the market averages.

Because that just doesn't work.

And that is why ultimately people's businesses fail and close.

Like I said at the beginning, not because there's not enough dogs in the world and, you know, not because there's 500 groomers in a one mile radius is because you're not pricing your things right.

And one of the biggest traps in the pet industry that I see is confusing busy with profitable.

Some people go, but my books are fully booked.

I'm working from 8am until 8pm, Monday to Saturday I'm really busy and everyone's going, my God, like you must be the best green or the best walker.

But actually, if you fully booked your work and weekends, you're exhausted and you're still struggling to pay yourselves because you haven't priced those grooms right or you haven't priced those walks right, or your training packages right?

And that is because you're setting your prices based on demand and not a sustainable business.

Okay?

If your prices are too low, you're going to need to work more hours to earn the same money.

You're going to cut into your margins.

And actually the more clients you take on is worse, not better.

Because if you think you have 500 clients paying 40 pound a groom, but you're fully booked, that's not a good thing.

You want 250 clients paying 80 pound a groom and then you're not working as hard.

So there's lots of factors that you need to take in and you've got to sort of sit and ask yourself, if I change nothing in my business today, is my business going to support me in three to five years time?

Okay?

Because your pricing isn't about what you earn in this month or what you're earning in the first six months.

Your pricing needs to sort of reflect where you want to be in five years time.

In 10 years time, do you still want to be grooming in 10 years time?

Do you still want to be doing the dog walks?

You know, because the pricing is ultimately everything in your business comes back to the pricing, which is why it's so important and why it's such an emotional topic, especially in the pet industry, because people are petrified to do it.

And I think you need to start looking at yourselves as having, you know, you're not just a dog walker, you're not just a groomer, you have a professional skill that not everybody has.

I don't know how to groom a dog.

I wouldn't have a bloody clue.

I don't know how to train a dog.

I wouldn't have a clue.

You guys don't know how to do tax returns.

Well, some of you don't.

And that's why I exist.

I have a special skill that I'm very good at doing tax returns.

So I charge money for it.

Much.

If I charge 20 quid to do my tax returns, I'd have a quadrillion clients, but I'd be working my ass off, I'd be stressed, I'd be burnt out and I'd be earning pennies and it just wouldn't sustain.

It just wouldn't be sustainable.

So you've got to think about all those things.

So the next bit that we struggle with is how to increase those clients.

Because increase the clients, increase the prices is because people automatically think if I increase my prices I'm going to lose clients.

That is not the case.

And I promise you, when you raise your prices, you're not going to have a mass exodus of people.

Okay?

And I say this to people who go VAT registered.

I get a lot of clients that say if I go VAT registered, I'm going to lose all my clients.

And we have a bit of a debate about it sometimes we have tears about it and it happens.

And they might lose one or two clients.

Yes.

But the majority of them stay and then they just carry on as if being VAT registered then wasn't a thing.

You will not lose everybody, I promise you.

You might lose some and that's fine.

Okay?

We don't want them anyway because if the client is going to leave you over a five pound increase or a ten pound increase, they are solely price driven clients and they're not for you anyway.

And all that means is if a groomer or a walker or a trainer popped up next door and charged £10 less, they would just move anyway.

So don't worry about the ones that leave.

It doesn't matter.

The good clients will understand the value that you give them and they won't care whether you increase your prices by 2 pound, 5, 10 because they will stay with you because of the value that they give them and they trust you with their dogs, their cats, their pets.

Okay?

So I promise you, you're not going to lose everyone.

And losing a few wrong clients is actually healthy.

I don't know if some of you saw the post in the group yesterday after a very bitter person wrote a on a public grooming Facebook group that I was rude and didn't look after clients, et cetera, et cetera.

And you know, I will repeat what I've just said.

Losing the wrong client is healthy.

Do I want that person as a client for the next 10 years?

Absolutely not.

Was I rude?

No.

But hey ho, these things happen.

And as Mel Robbins says, we just let them Crack on.

They want to slander us online.

We don't mind because losing the wrong clients is fine.

So, you know, set your boundaries.

If you have clients on route, you get rid of them.

If you have clients that you know, question your abilities, get rid of them.

You know, if they just do anything that's negative and they don't fall within your values and get rid of them, it's absolutely fine to lose some clients.

So don't panic.

That's the first thing I just want to say to everyone is losing a few clients is not a bad thing.

Make your price rises intentional, okay?

Don't do them whilst you get desperate.

If you wait until you're burnt out and it's.

You're raising around a negative feeling, then it's gonna then turn emotional and you're not gonna do it properly and it will become emotional and that's why it goes a bit tits up.

So make your price rises intentional, okay?

Don't sort of apologize, you know, be clear and consistent with your price rises and people will get used to them.

But don't wait until something triggers a price rise like you get burnt out, like you start resenting your job because you're working your ass off for 50 hours a week, 100 hours a week, okay?

Do it intentionally and be clear and consistent with it and don't apologize.

So rather than saying, I'm so sorry, but I've got to put my prices up with fiverr because automatically you're putting yourself in the back.

But we don't need to apologize for putting our prices up.

We're a business at the end of the day and these things happen.

Every business puts their prices up because the world changes every year and unfortunately it means that we have to put the prices up.

So instead, rather than starting the message with I'm really sorry, but or I apologise but to start by saying to continue providing high quality care and running a sustainable business, our prices will be increasing from X date and put the date.

Usually give people a month's notice.

That's generally the rule of thumb is giving people a month's notice.

You don't want to do it and say, right, well tomorrow I'm putting the price of the buyer, it's given a month's notice and there's two approaches you could do it and these are the most common.

So with your existing clients you do smaller increases, but they're planned, okay?

So if you exist in client base, smaller increases, but planned ones with new clients that come in higher pricing immediately, okay?

So only way you're going to test things out is by using the new clients.

You know, it might be that you say, right, for the next 10 clients, or for the next 10 solar walks, or for the next 10 small breed, or just for the next 10 customers, I'm going to set my prices at X, Y and Z and out of those 10, so the next 10 phone calls that you get, you stick with that price and then at the end of the 10, look at those 10.

If every 10, all of those 10 have said yes to that price, your price is too low.

If three out of the ten have said yes, your price is right, so don't look at it and go, well, seven people have said no, so therefore it must be wrong.

No, no, no, no.

We don't want everyone to say yes.

If everyone says yes, you're too cheap.

And this is where the burnout comes in because you're just taking every single person that comes through the door and then you can't service them properly because there's too many.

The only way to narrow that down is to up the prices until you get to that sweet spot of maybe 50% say yes, 50% say no.

If the first 10 people have said no, then maybe you've gone a bit too high and then you just need to tweak it.

But you know, just, just trial it with new clients.

Everyone says this, Bill says this in his groups, just trial it, but don't do it with your existing clients, just small planned increases with the existing ones and test your numbers out with the new clients.

Once you've got that base price and you've got your, then add your profit margin on, use those prices and just see what happens.

So if everyone says yes, you know, that's an indicator of 10 out of 10 people say yes, it's too cheap and you definitely need to increase it or decrease it.

If it's the other way around.

If, and like I said before, if a five pound increase breaks the relationship between you and your client, then the price was never the issue in the first place because a five pound is a coffee these days, you know, so there's obviously something going on in the background.

If a small increase and they decide to disappear.

So existing clients, small planned ones, new clients, high prices immediately.

And if you're a bit unsure, like I said, just get a price.

Do 10 calls or 10 customers that come through the door, ring you up and just see how many out of that 10 say yes.

And that will help you find your sweet spot.

So, and I will Go through questions, guys.

I know there's a few on there.

Um, but I just want to get through this with you.

So simple framework then of how we set out this new price.

Like I said before, we need to know our costs, overheads per hour, staff, hourly cost if you've got them, service time, okay?

You then need to decide the margin that you want, but not a margin that feels nice and go well, you know, fibre feels okay or tenner feels okay, but a margin that supports your business between now and 10 years time that keeps you sustainable.

So again, you've got to take the emotion out of it sense.

Check the market is what I've just said with the first 10 people.

Do not copy.

Whatever you do, do not copy who is around you because you don't know what that person has based their prices on.

They could have base their prices wrong and all you're doing is copying someone's wrong theory.

Okay?

The person you copy and could be a masses of debt.

Person you're copying could be a millionaire and it's just been a dog groomer or a dog walker for a hobby and you're copying their prices.

Copying never ever works.

Okay?

You can position yourself correctly in the market, but do not copy because you do not know what situation that dog walker, that dog groomer, that dog trainer is in and you don't know where they've got their figures from.

It could be undervaluing themselves, it could be overvaluing themselves and you just don't know.

So we take anything from this little pricing series today is to don't copy, okay?

And please do not discount to feel better.

Don't go to a new client or well, if you just come in, I'll give you know, I'll do it less for you on this first time or I'll do your second dog for 50% off.

Stop discounting your services because all it does is lower your perceived value.

So don't discount, okay?

Don't feel like, oh God, I'm gonna have to give her a discount.

This is really awkward.

Okay?

If it feels uncomfortable, it should feel uncomfortable.

But that's usually the sign that you're getting closer to it being correct.

Okay, if it feels a little bit uncomfortable, if you underprice your services, you won't have a business in the next three, five years time.

You will start to resent the clients because you're not charging enough.

So you'll start hating your clients.

You'll start hating the business that you've built from scratch, that you've put all the efforts in because you're not making enough money and you'll burn out.

Simple as that.

If you're doing 500 clients a month because you've charged 20 quid for a groom, then you're just going to burn out and then again you'll give up after 12 to 18 months.

So your pricing will protect the love of work that you do.

It's going to protect your business.

Okay?

And if it feels uncomfortable, that is absolutely fine.

It's meant to feel uncomfortable.

As an accountancy firm, you know, we don't like putting our prices up, but we have to every year because our staff costs go up with the new budget, our staff costs have gone up massively, our software fees get increased by the software providers.

So there's a lot of increases that we have to incur that aren't.

That are out of our hands.

And in order to have a sustainable, growing business, that means we have to pass that increase on to the customers.

But it's all about knowing your numbers and knowing how much you need to increase that by.

Because you might think, oh Christ, I need to increase it by a tenner.

But actually if you work your numbers back, you need to increase it by fiverr.

So our price increases.

As far as the accountancy firm is the very structure that there's a lot of thought process that goes into it.

We don't just pick a figure out of thin air and go, I'll tell you what, or just sand tenner on to the self assessments this year.

That feels okay.

It's structured and it's planned.

So just remember this, pricing your business properly is going to allow you to do what you love.

It's going to allow you to pay yourself a proper range and it's going to allow you to build yourself a sustainable business.

So what I want you guys to do after listening to this, if you all listen to it now, do it tonight, do it at the weekend.

But review your top three services that you offer and look at the pricing and break it down how we've just discussed.

Work out your direct costs, work out your overheads.

My dogs are going to start to bark.

And there's one here, little Frank is here and see how your pricing works out.

Look at your profit margin, see if your profit margin is big as you think and then think to yourself, is this going to be sustainable?

Have I put my prices in the last few years?

If not, this is what I want you guys to do, okay?

If you need help with it, then you know where we are.

You can get in touch.

Make sure you follow the podcast.

I'm going to be doing a lot more of these sort of topics on the podcast.

So we're going to mix it up.

We're going to have some tax related ones, going to have some business related ones.

So it's going to be a mixture of business and finance like the group is.

And we're not just going to talk about tax topics.

We're going to do little lessons on various different things that I might see come up in the accountancy world or might see come up in the group and we'll try and hash them out together.

And I know, you know, some of the questions are going to be, well, you know, all my competitors are cheaper.

Everyone in my area is a cheaper dog grimoire or a cheaper dog walker.

But then my questions to clients are, but cheaper than what?

Cheaper than.

Cheaper than what?

What are they cheaper than?

Because are they cheaper than the rising costs?

Are they cheaper than paying yourself properly?

Are they cheaper than running a sustainable business?

Cheaper than what?

And this is what you've got to ask yourself.

So a lot of pet businesses underpriced because they don't fully cost their services.

And that underpins everything that we've just gone through.

It doesn't make that that price is right, it just makes it common.

Like I see with the dog walkers, you know, they're all charging relatively the same price.

And how can that be?

Because it's such a common price that everyone charges and everyone copies of each other.

It's a natural thing to do because no one's taught you how to do it.

So this is hopefully going to give you some food for thought.

Okay.

And just don't copy and cheaper than what?

I said, cheaper than what?

Basing your prices on competitors keeps you stuck at the same level as everybody else.

Even if your, your costs, your overheads and your experiences are completely different.

If you copy off everybody, you're just going to be the same level as everybody else.

And that's what you've got to think about.

So I hope that this little mini pricing series, we haven't gone into masses of depth.

We could probably talk hours on this subject, but I just wanted to give you guys the basics and what you need to think of.

Okay?

No one's going to do it for you.

You're going to have to sit there on an evening or on a weekend and work out what all these costs are and work out what your profit margin is.

And that is how you price.

We don't ask everybody what they charge we don't copy everybody else.

We don't go with what the norm is to, well, everyone else charges this for a dog walk or everyone else charges this for a cockapoo.

Don't work.

You've got to do it on your business and I promise you it will work.

I probably missed loads of comments.

I did this 15 years ago, was too low when qualified and experienced.

Exactly, Helen.

For some reason, people, when they're starting out, they always price lower.

And, you know, Tegan did exactly this and she would tell you as well that it just makes it more difficult and longer to get to the point where you should have started with in the first place, rather than saying, right, I'll start my cockapoos at 40 pound, or start my dog walks at 10 pound and just start them at the price you're going to charge, so 80 quid, for example, and just give them a 10% discount if you want.

If you want to do a discount or an introductory offer.

That way they know the next time they come in is 80 quid and you're not having to go for 40 pound to 45 pound to pound, 50 to 55 pounds, 60 pounds.

It's going to take you for the years, so do it that way.

If you do want to have some sort of offer on.

I'm working harder, not smarter, hence I've joined the package.

Yeah, exactly, Helen.

We've got to work harder.

Well, you're working harder, not smarter, or hence you've joined the package.

Right, I'm with you.

Yes.

We need to work smarter, not harder, not harder, not smarter, as Helen said.

And this will help you because, like you say, your pricing, again, it's linked to everything you do.

Okay.

It's literally linked to everything Tegan's.

But I think a lot of it is mindset and confidence.

That was my downfall.

Again, it's confidence in standing in front of someone and saying, well, actually, my solo dog walks are 30 pounds an hour.

It's going to feel mega uncomfortable and people don't have the confidence to do it.

But once you start breaking it down and looking into the costs involves new profit margin, it will become more of a business thing and less of an emotional thing.

And you'll be thinking to yourself, well, I need to charge this for my business to be sustainable.

And then you won't have any issue standing in front of that person saying, this is what I charge for this service, because it becomes less emotional.

It's hard for ad hoc walking day while boarding.

Yeah.

If you're doing ad Hoc things then.

But again, if you're pricing your main business offerings right, then the ad hoc stuff, then it doesn't matter if you get that wrong once or twice because you're covered with your main offering, so don't worry about that.

Vicki can mean you write up a generic price increase template so that can be tailored so we can help them with the wording if they find it difficult.

I know Helen was asking us for a price increase template.

It is something we can do and it is something that I can look into doing.

The only issue with that is I think if you are going to price increase, and obviously this depends on the job you do, for example, with us, because we work with people all across the uk, the only way we can communicate price increase is via email or giving them a letter because we don't see everyone.

It's a bit different if you're.

If you're.

You've got a daycare or a grooming salon whenever and you see the customers every day.

I always think the best tip to do price increase is tell them in person.

I know that might feel more uncomfortable for the person giving the price increase, but also if the person stood in front of you and you say, okay, by the way, in a month's time, I mean, don't word it like this, but by the way, price has gone up to X amount starting from the first of April.

That person's less likely to challenge you when they're stood in front of you than they are on the back of an email because people become keyboard warriors.

So yes, we can do a template that you can use to send out.

But my.

I would always say do it in person.

If you can't, then use a template to send out.

But I always think it's better and a bit more personal to do it in person.

Give me one second because Frank is barking.

I'm just going to let him out.

The joys of having a dash ain't so.

Yes, we can do a template is something we can look into.

But just bear in mind, I think it comes across more personal telling them face to face.

Hi, Laura.

Hi, Darren.

Brilliant advice.

Thank you.

Just talking about Crufts.

We will be at Crufts Hall.

One stands 72.

I think I originally said 73, but I meant 72.

Clients looking for cheap won't be local anyway.

They will always scream a hop looking for someone cheaper.

Exactly.

You know, if someone says, rings you up and goes, how much, how much do you charge for a cockapoo?

You know, immediately they're price Driven.

Okay, so again, gauge the clients, listen to what they're saying, because you will pick up on cues that they're just looking for someone cheaper.

Why did you leave your last groomer?

Why did you, you know, move from your last dog walker?

Probably come down price and the price hoppers.

So don't worry if they go away and don't do it because you don't want them anyway.

My biggest pet peeve is seeing Facebook groups, price check for this dog.

Exactly.

Because it doesn't matter whether someone charges £80 for a cockapoo.

100 pound for a cockapoo, 150 pound for a cockapoo.

Because all of your prices should be individual to your.

Yes.

You don't want to go, like too wild and just go, do you know what?

I'm going to charge £200 for a cockapoo.

Like, you can send a check to the market, but don't base your prices off it because someone says to you, I charge £8 for a cockapoo.

They might have worked out their margins, they might not have.

It might just be a random price.

So just honestly follow that framework and you probably find that your pricing will be dramatically different.

Darren's put £40 for a copy.

Make no money.

That's why I'm not a groomer.

I've got no clue.

So there we go.

Laura has put, we are the most expensive in our area, but also the most experienced, most qualified, etc.

So people are getting good value for money from us.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, value what you have, value your experience, value your qualifications.

But again, being the most expensive, it.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter if you've got 50 people that are cheaper than you.

Cheaper than what?

Like I said before, cheaper than what?

And, you know, don't copy everybody.

It's.

It's one bit of advice.

Just don't copy and look at your figures.

And I say there's pretty much nine out of ten podcasts that I do.

Everything you do in business comes down to your numbers, okay?

Everything falls back on your numbers, which is why you need a good accountant or good bookkeeper, okay?

Because everything you do in business comes down the numbers.

You know, your burnout will come down to your numbers.

Your pricing obviously comes down to your numbers.

Your marketing comes down to your numbers.

Everything that you do in business will hinge on getting your figures right.

So this is why it's so important, okay?

I need to set new prices for Cat Queen, and it's not launched yet.

I just looked at Websites are new around here and put the same.

There we go.

Michaela, it's not your fault.

Bless you.

Like I said earlier, people aren't taught how to do this stuff.

You've copied all you, the cat groomers in your area, but let's just say you copied three.

How do you know if those three are making a profit?

How do you know what margins those three?

How do you know that they're not just hobby groomers?

There's so many questions that you can't, you can't answer by copying their, their figures.

What you need to do, Michaela, is say, right, I have these overheads, so my monthly overheads come to grant.

Okay, I want to make as a, as a wage, two grand a month, so that's four grand.

And then just work backwards of how much you're going to have to charge per cat in order to achieve that number.

But never, ever copy because you don't know the ones that you've copied off their website, what their situation is.

They could be millionaires and doing it as a hobby.

They could be running in debt, they could be running at a loss every year and all you've done is copy their prices.

Don't be worried about you being cheaper than them or more expensive than them.

You just need to do what is sustainable for you.

We charge a lot for cats because we always have two groomers and cats.

Yeah, I can't imagine grooming the cat's going to be that easier.

I know we are lesser spot of breed as no one wants to take on a cat.

Yeah, I can imagine that grooming a cat cannot be easy, which is why you need to charge more.

You know, we've got a few clients that are cat groomers and they charge, you know, 150 quid per groom for a cat on some occasions, depending on the cat, and that's way more than a dog groomer.

And because cats, funnily enough, probably don't like being put in water.

So again, please, Michaela, re look at those prices before you launch and do your maths on what we've just gone through and see after you've done your maths, whether those prices come out the same, less or more than the ones that you copied.

It'd be interesting to know.

So just go through what we've done and see if the prices that you copied are the same prices that you actually need, because it would be good to know.

And, you know, if you're listening this on a replay, please do the homework, please go and revisit your Services, do the maths and see if your prices come out the same, less or more and then please put it in the comments.

Just type in same, less or more and then we'll see where everyone's at because it'll be good to see whether it does get you more money.

But just remember, take the emotion out of it and prices are going to build you sustainable business.

If not, that's the only reason why people fail is because their prices are all wrong or they get burnt out and knackered and can't do any more than think, oh, grooming's not for me or walking's not for me because I'm fucking knackered.

So we just accidentally swear there we'll be blush, but.

Right, I'm gonna go now.

I hope you found that useful.

Like I said, please do the homework and write in the comments less, same or more.

And we will come up with another good topic next week.

Or if there's anything you particularly want me to go through, then please let me know.

The podcast is going to get a bit of a revamp, so that will work on that.

Behind the scenes, obviously we've got Crufts coming up, so please come and visit us at Crufts at Hall 1, stand 72.

We're basically slap bang the middle.

And if you want to learn more and you want to grow sustainable business, then please grab your ticket to the Pet Pro Expo, which is on the 3rd of October this year in Birmingham Lee side Rooms.

Because these are the sort of conversations that we have and the sort of topics that we go over.

And the whole aim of it is so that you do have a sustainable business in the next five to 10 years.

That was why I built the Expo and why the Expo was created is so that you can have that sustainable business.

So please get your ticket for that@thepepwareexplore.co.uk.com website.

Although the website is not done yet.

So don't judge on the website.

It's there, it's just a ticket platform.

We will be releasing the new website very soon, when it's ready, so please don't judge me on that.

But other than that, I will catch up with you guys through the week and I'll see you next week for more business tips for me and I hope you have a good week and let's just carry on making lots of money and having fun with it and I'll catch you guys later.

Bye.

Thanks for listening to the podcast.

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Sam.