More than just a grooming expert . . .

Reposted from the website for Deluxe’s Small Business Revolution national television series featured on the Hulu Network:

Sometimes, all it takes is someone in the same business to give you the reassurance that you’re doing it right. And when Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins met Alicia Jeffreys, she did just that.

Jennifer is an International Certified Master Dog Groomer and runs Love Fur Dogs in Glencoe, Illinois, which was recently named as one of the top pet grooming salons in the Chicago area. With almost four decades of experience as a pet professional, her opinion of Alicia’s business, Shampooches, in Alton, Illinois mattered.

First, Jennifer considered how Alicia treats her clients, the pets, and to her, Alicia was top notch. They both bonded over the hard parts of their business, like the death of the clients they love so dearly, and Jennifer was able to give Alicia ideas on more ways to increase her income.

Alicia, who is one of six business owners to be featured on Season 3 of Small Business Revolution – Main Street, may be great with her doggie clients, but there are a few areas that needed some help. On top of the marketing that Deluxewould provide (i.e. new website, logo, etc.), Alicia’s space was blank, as a former veterinary clinic that needed some love. She was also, self admittedly, bad with her finances and was unsure of what services she should be offering or having customers pay for.

That’s where Jennifer stepped in. She was able to walk through each room in Shampooches and offer advice on what to do. She pointed out the bathing area was far too small and on top of that, there were electrical outlets close to where the dogs were bathed. She suggested creating an area specifically for drying dogs, with the grooming area reserved for that function. Other suggestions included a taxi service to bring pups to and from their appointments; a daycare option and possibly a boarding service.

All these options would bring in more revenue, but Alicia didn’t want to bite off more than she could chew right away, so she settled on adding the taxi service while looking into the others at a later date.  She did, however, take up Deluxe’s work on updating and retrofitting her space to make it even more conducive to her grooming passion.

As for the financial issues Alicia was having, Jennifer showed her some tough love to figure out how much she was making and how much she needed to bring home. She also needed to pay herself consistently. And the only way to do that would be to track her finances better. Not keeping track of her numbers, meant that Alicia wouldn’t be able to determine whether the business was successful or not. It might be daunting looking at the numbers, especially if she’s not making very much, but doing so gives her something to work towards, and it also helps her figure out how much she should be bringing in and therefore, be able to figure out the best amounts to charge her customers.

Alicia has an impressive set of clients, an incredible art for dog grooming and surrounds herself with employees who share her same value to customers. She has all the right fixings for an amazingly successful business. With someone who has a lot of experience in the field providing her advice, along with the marketing masters at Deluxe, Alicia is well on her way to a more polished business that will be successful for years to come.