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Build Your Dream Team: The Power of Growing Your Dog Groomers

Infographic with icons demonstrating why growing groomers is beneficial for salon leaders from paragon's online dog grooming schoolIn today’s dog grooming industry, salons that thrive aren’t just those with skilled individuals — they’re the ones that grow skilled teams. As a salon leader, one of the smartest investments you can make isn’t in more marketing or equipment—it’s in growing your salon’s dream team.

When you take time to train a student groomer, you’re not just helping them—you’re building a stronger, more resilient salon. Here’s why training students isn’t extra work—it’s a winning strategy for long-term success:

It Elevates Your Leadership

Leadership isn’t about doing it all yourself—it’s about helping others rise.

Being a skilled groomer is important, but real impact comes when you guide and grow those around you. When you invest in a newer groomer’s development, you’re not just shaping their future—you’re strengthening your team, building trust, and creating a lasting legacy. That’s the kind of leadership that sets you apart and fuels long-term success.

Groom Techs & New Dog Groomers Lighten Your Daily Load

Students who are training as Certified Groom Techs and Pet Groomers can assist with bathing, prep work, drying, and cleaning—giving you more time (and energy) for complex grooms, higher-ticket services, or even a well-deserved break. A well-prepared student doesn’t slow you down—they support your salon’s flow.

It Creates Your Dream Team

Let’s face it—hiring isn’t getting easier. While Paragon handles the technical grooming training, you have the unique opportunity to shape your student into a future team member who aligns with your salon’s culture and standards.

Want a team you can count on? Start by recruiting individuals who show up with the right attitude, reliability, and professional appearance—then let us take care of the grooming skills.

It Helps You Plan for the Future

Rather than scrambling when someone leaves or retires, you’ll have a pipeline of trained talent ready to step up. Every student you support is one more layer of protection against staffing shortages and turnover. You’re not just grooming dogs—you’re grooming salon stability.

It Allows You to Hire for Time Blocks

Do you have hours in the day when tables sit unused? Bringing in a grooming student or entry-level team member for those specific time blocks can be a smart move. Hire someone for attitude, appearance, and availability—not just experience. If they’re available when your salon is underutilized, you have the perfect opportunity to train them while generating additional revenue. It’s a win-win: you grow a future groomer while making the most of your schedule and space. And you’re not letting a table go “cold.”

The Bottom Line?
 When salon leaders support students, everyone benefits. You sharpen your leadership, reduce burnout, and build a team that’s equipped to grow with you.

 

How to Get Your Clipper Work Smooth – Like a Summer Hay Field

summer hayfield to depict smooth clipper work, learned at paragon pet grooming schoolIt’s been over 40 years since that first time. I still remember standing in awe, watching a talented pet groomer give a dog a haircut. She handled her clippers with ease. The long fur fell away like a hot knife through butter. The end result was smooth and gorgeous. And she was fast – super fast. She made the whole process seems so simple.

The first time I tried, I quickly discovered it was not simple. Those initial attempts were pretty pathetic. Saying my first efforts were rough and choppy would be polite. There were long tufts hanging out everywhere. I was frustrated beyond belief.

I was determined to master the skill. After all, the groomer I had been watching proved it could be done. It was simple – I just had to focus and figure it out.

Fast forward a few years of practice and a couple hundred dogs later, and I could make any dog look amazing. When I did a simple haircut on a pet, the fur fell away like a hot knife through butter. The end result was smooth and appealing. I could finish dogs in no time. I’d gotten very efficient with my clippers.

It took years of hard work. There were years of standing on my feet until they throbbed, working until my hands and shoulders ached. However, my pain can be your gain. Here are a few tips to enhance your speed when it comes to simple, low maintenance haircuts:

  • Use the most powerful clipper you can afford and are comfortable holding. Duel speeds or variable speed clippers are great options.
  • Work with the natural lay of the coat. You can work with or against the grain. If you reverse clip, the end result will leave that fur approximately two blade lengths shorter than working with the natural lay of the coat.
  • For a large majority of low maintenance trims done with a #4F, #5F, or a #7F blade with the grain, you will go over the pet three times before it’s really smooth.
  1. The first time removes the bulk.
  2. The second time takes out the high spots.
  3. The third time erases what you missed.
  • The strokes are long and smooth. They overlap slightly. I often tell students to think about a hayfield. The farmer wants to be as efficient as possible – but he doesn’t want to miss anything, either. Most farmers work in nice, neat rows as they cut hay, slightly overlapping each row to ensure they don’t miss any portion of the field. Think about the dog’s body in the same manner. It’s a hayfield. Your clipper is the tractor. You want it done right… and you want to be done before the dinner bell rings.
  • When clipping the legs, remember the actual contact of the cutting blade is minimal due to the shape of the surface. It’s round – like a pencil. Only a few teeth will make contact with the surface as you run the clipper down the leg. Thus, on legs you need multiple passes to get the same effect as three passes on the larger flat surface of the body. You can clearly see this relationship by simply running a blade down your own finger and looking at the blade’s point of contact.
  • Back brush. Back brush. Back brush!

You’ll always get a smoother cut on a dog that is clean and the coat has been fluffed. Once you make the initial pass to remove the bulk of the long coat, it’s time to pick up the brush. Back brush the entire dog and go over it a second time. On the third pass, again gently back brush the entire area that needs final attention. Did you get that? Back brush!

When do you know you are done? You are done clipping when there is no more coat coming off the dog after it is been washed, dried, and effectively back brushed. Period.

Clipper work on a low maintenance haircut style can be extremely frustrating for new groomer. But once you master the clipper and understand how to work with the coat, it becomes second nature. It becomes simple. You become fast. And you will be able to perform the haircut safely with great precision.  You can do it. It just takes focus.

Happy trimming!

~Melissa

 

 

Learning is a 50-50 Responsibility


In this video, Certified Master Groomer Melissa Verplank discusses the importance of “bringing your game to the table” when you’re learning to groom dogs. Selecting the best program, instructors, and mentors is half the task. The other half comes from focusing on the instruction you’re given and committing to ongoing improvement. Education is everything! It’s the key to building a successful career in the pet grooming business.

Want to enhance your techniques? Even experienced groom techs and groomers can “level up” at Paragon with an advanced level course through its Certified Professional Grooming Programs. Get $100 off Tuition with code LUCKYDOG.

Want to sharpen your skills with access to detailed “how-to” videos every day, all year? Join our GroominarNetwork.com pro membership community for unlimited access to more than 1,000+ in-depth videos on every breed in the book.

Transcript
Melissa V: Hi guys, Melissa here. Today I want to talk about how to grow your career, or how to learn. Learning, there’s a lot to it. I don’t care whether you go to the best school available to you, or whether you are self taught, learning takes focus, and it takes dedication.

I always say you can only be as good as who your instructors are. If you are self taught, you’re going to be looking at books, today you’re going to be looking at videos. You can teach yourself. You can learn on YouTube. I mean, how many of us jump onto YouTube when we have a question about something, and we need to figure it out? Yeah, we jump on YouTube.

But I’m going to tell you when it comes to dog grooming, that can be a little bit dangerous because what is out there and available on the Internet, come on, everything is the truth and everything is right on the Internet, right?

Be careful what you look for, and who you follow. It’s not to say that free education isn’t good, but more than likely you’re going to have to pay a little bit of money to get the best teaching, to get the best coaching, whether it be through videos or books or programs, or maybe you go to a formal educational type school. Be careful. Check out your schools that you’re attending, look at what the instructors are because you will only be as good as what your instruction is.

But there’s another side of this, because learning is a 50/50 gig. It doesn’t matter how good your instructors are if you, the learner, don’t bring your full game to the table. If you aren’t dedicated, if you aren’t focused, there is no way that even the best teacher can teach you. You’ve got to be in the game. You’ve got to be there and focus on what you’re dealing with, and learn and absorb it.

Everybody learns at a little different pace. Dog grooming isn’t for everybody, but if it is for you, it’s really a rewarding career, but you’re going have to work at it. There are very few people out there that are just naturally talented, that can just pick up the clippers and sheers and go to town, and do a really good job straight out the gate.

Every school system, every training program has it’s A, B, C, D, and what do we do with those other type students, you know? Even if maybe you weren’t the strongest student in school, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go on and continue your education and get better.

One of our top trainers that we have at the school, and she’s been with me on and off since the early ’90s, I still remember when she was in school and she was … It was a 600 Clock-Hour program she had signed up for, and she was really close to graduating. I happen to walk through the bathing room, and she had a golden retriever on the table. As I walk by, I noticed that the dog was still really sopping wet.

I have always had a phrase that I want the towels to do a large portion of the work before you even begin to turn on the high velocity dryer. So what it told me is that she hadn’t listened throughout the course of the lessons. I mean, here she is close to graduating and as I walk by the golden retriever, I just run my hand down the dog’s leg and I pick up the foot and I give it a soft squeeze and the water literally just runs off the foot into a pool on the table.

I didn’t have to say a word. I know, and she shared with me later, that that was a really hard blow. That was something that she remembers still to this day, years and years later, and she remembered that.

We fast forward another year or two down the road, and I’m looking for an instructor and she comes in and she applies, and I’m thinking to myself, “Oh yeah, she could barely even graduate and here she is applying for an instructor position.” I got to tell you, during her working interview, she blew me away. She worked on a little black and white Shih Tzu in a fuller guard comb type trim, and she absolutely crushed it. That dog was so cute, so well done, that I was amazed. I said to her, “What has happened, what has changed?”

She realized that when she was in school, she really didn’t focus as much as she should have. And when she got out there into the real world, that’s when her real learning started.

Whether you do it in school, which is actually where I would suggest you try because you’ve got your trainers right there, but no matter what, learning is a 50/50 choice. It’s going to 50% be where your instruction comes from, and 50% of what you bring to the table.

Just because you’re at the best school or have the best books or have the best videos, you still have to put it together. It comes from here. It comes from what you bring to the table and what you can do for the dog, how you apply what you have learned.

Gang, I’m going to tell you, it does take practice, practice, practice. And it never stops, you can continue to learn, and it doesn’t necessarily mean just dog grooming. I continue to grow my career. I have books like crazy. I highlight, I tag them. If I flip open my books, they’re all marked up.

No matter what you’re dealing with, mark your books up. I personally am not a fan of the digital books because I can’t mark them up, I can’t write in the margins, I can’t tag the pages.

To really cement something in your mind, one of the best things you can do is write it out longhand for yourself. They say, if you ink it, you think it, and that is so true. For me, that really helps sink a thought, sink the idea in. But I’m always reading with highlighters, I’m always making notes in margins. It doesn’t matter whether I was reading a grooming book, or whether I am working on some other aspect of what I need to learn to run my businesses.

Focus, focus, focus, and always remember, the learner brings half of it to the table. So just think about that when you go in and you learn and realize that some people, learning comes easier than others. And if you’re one of those folks, kind of like what I am, I’m not the fastest study out there, and I really have to work at learning and work at getting it embedded into my brain.

But stick with it, you can do it. But just know, half of it is going to be from the instruction that you receive, and the other half is going to be what you bring to the game to make that lesson stick in your mind.

Finding Your Success


How do you define success? Where do you want to be a year, five years from now? In this video, CMG Melissa Verplank discusses ways to find, and define, your success. She’ll help you explore and discover what you’re most passionate about so you can make a plan, start building your knowledge and achieve your dreams.

Success looks different to everyone, and it changes over time. Whatever kind of grooming success is driving you, we have the tools to help. Further your dog grooming education with our Online Pet Groomer Training courses, or visit our huge library of expert dog grooming training videos at GroominarNetwork.com!

Transcript
Melissa V.: Hi guys, Melissa here, and today I want to talk to you about one of my favorite things, and that is helping others find their own success, and in the world of professional pet grooming, there’s a lot of different ways to define success, and the one thing about the word itself is it is highly personal. How I define success and how you define success could be totally different, and that’s fine, and the other thing about success is that it’s elusive, it moves.

How I defined success in my 20s and how I define it now in my mid 50s, totally different, and that’s okay, but what I will tell you is that with every layer of success that you achieve, it opens up another level for you to aim for, to strive for, and so just because you think you’re successful at one point in your career, more than likely there’s a lot more things that you can achieve, but you’ve got to be able to know what you’re looking for. You’ve got to have some kind of an idea of what kind of a path you want to take, and so you’ve got to ask yourself some questions, and some of the questions are things like, what does truly matters to you? What do you think about? What do you want to achieve with your life, with your career? And how can professional pet grooming get you to that point?

And then the next thing is to be passionate about whatever you’re doing. Now, obviously if you are in the world of professional pet grooming, I’m certainly hoping that you’re already passionate about pets, but even within that passion, find your own personal superpower. Some folks love to do just the small dogs, others love the big furries that they make huge transformations in what they look like, others love to do just low maintenance, every day salon trims, making their customers happy as they walk out the door, other people love to do the show dogs or the more fancy trims, while still others maybe don’t want to do dogs at all. Maybe they just want to do cats. Maybe they want to be a feline exclusive.

Whatever your superpower is, whatever breed, haircut, type of animal you like to work on, all of those are fine. Find your superpower and work to be the best that you can be, and the one thing that I find with success is that normally it doesn’t come with just fall in your lap. You generally have to be really focused, really dedicated, and you’ve got to work at it and you’ve got to build your knowledge base because if you don’t have the knowledge, then you’re not going to have the confidence to be able to communicate with your clients, to be able to execute the skills with ease, with safely and to do it efficiently, and so you’ve got to build up that knowledge base.

You’ve got to be really focused and really diligent about learning, and then stop and think about things like, where do you want to be a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now? Don’t just think about tomorrow or next week. Take it out further than that. Where do you want to be and how can the career take you there? Think about, what does success look like? Do you want to spend more time with your family doing what you love or doing things that you love to do? Or do you want to build … have a wealth play going on? What does it look like and what is it going to take to achieve that success? Write it down, think about it and make a plan to get there, and how are you going to achieve it?

And like I said, success looks different to everybody and not only does it look different to everybody, it’s going to change as you change with your own life and your own career. So the one thing I will tell you is that for those of us that have achieved some success, most of the time, especially in our field, we love to help others achieve their own personal success, and so we’re going to reach out and I don’t care whether you reach out to myself or my team or the companies that we have, but what I will tell you is that people that have succeeded love to help others also achieve success.

So reach out, look for that knowledge, figure out how to gain the confidence so that you can have your own success, and if we can help you in any way on your own personal journey, we would love to help you out.

Lighting the Fire of Passion?

Dog groomer looking lovingly at dog to depict finding your passion in a career as a certified dog groomer
By Melissa Verplank, CMG

I don’t know about you – but I was a crummy student in school. How I ever got through high school, I’ll never know. Anything but basic math was a total mystery to me. Comprehending a foreign language? Forget it. And science? Ha. I spent my time doodling images of horses.

But get me outside the classroom and I excelled. I could never get enough of anything that had four legs and fur. Ship me to the barn for days on end and I was a very happy girl. Send me to a horse show and things were even better – I enjoyed improving my skills. I loved the arts and photography. I loved the outdoors. I loved creating things in the kitchen. Business intrigued me. Hard work never bothered me.

I had passion, it just wasn’t for academics. Typical classroom learning bored me- I just couldn’t understand why I needed to learn things I would never use in my life. However, one of my high school counselors always believed in me. It didn’t matter what my GPA was. She knew I had passion. She said “If you can do something you love, you are going to be really good at it.”

Luckily I found my calling even before graduation from high school. However, I didn’t know it at the time. I had landed a job at a kennel. I scooped a lot of poop and was thrilled. A few years into the job, the groomer was released. I had a new job at the kennel. I was the groomer – and I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

My new job fulfilled my passion on many fronts. And the more I did it, the better I got. The more I learned – the more I wanted to know. My passion had been ignited. Success was at my fingertips.

Over the years, I’ve learned you don’t have to be the best student to excel or to succeed. Anyone can excel if you have passion.

Everyone has unique natural talents. But at times, you must step up to the mirror and ask yourself a very important question. Are you doing everything you can do to become everything you can be? If you become passionate about reaching your full potential, you can’t help but stay motivated.

Key to any success is passion. Maybe it’s with your career. Maybe it’s with your family. Or your health. Or a charity. Nothing can be successful without passion.

What I have learned over the years, success is more about passion than talent or having a great GPA; it’s more about reaching YOUR potential than being gifted.

So where is your true passion? More importantly, have you lit the match to set it on fire yet?

Happy Trimming!

~Melissa

Is Your Salon Ready for Prime Time?

Neat, clean grooming salon with groomer and sheltie depicting professional presentation of a dog grooming salonIf your local TV station or a popular Vlogger were to drop by, un-announced, to do a feature story about you and your business — would you be proud? Would you be delighted of the impression you will make on the community? What about being seen by thousands watching the local news or visiting popular online channel?

If the answer is no, take the steps necessary to create that positive, professional image that will make a lasting impression on all of your clients, every day.

For new clients walking through your door, they’re going to make a lasting impression in their minds about you in less than 30 seconds. In those 30 seconds you have the opportunity to make a positive impression with three of the five human senses; smell, hearing and sight.

In over 30 years of business, trust me – this scenario has played out many times with my multiple business. If there is a slow news day, nothing can fill the space better than pets! Luckily for me, I have lived by this credo for years. We are always ready to be front page news. In all my companies, cleanliness and professional appearance have always been a top priority.

Daily maintenance is critical on an ongoing basis. Any day that your appointment book is light, that he phone is not ringing and you’re wondering what you can do with yourself, I’ve got the answer for you! Push up your sleeves and get ready to apply the elbow grease.

This is the perfect time to do all those pesky little tasks you’ve been procrastinating on. It doesn’t matter whether you are a stationary salon or a mobile grooming unit — most of these items apply to both.

  •  Deep clean all areas of the salon (we’re talking on your hands and knees using a scrub brush type cleaning!)
  •  Apply a fresh coat of paint
  • Organize your reception area
  • Clean out your computer files
  • Clean the lint traps of your dryer(s)
  • Organize your supply cabinet
  • Sort out your tool kit
  •  Revamp your print marketing materials
  • Clean and perform maintenance on all of your grooming equipment
  • Refresh your website and Facebook pages
  • Rearrange your retail area (if you have one)
  •  Change the art in your salon if you have room
  • Install clocks in every room
  • Oil and service your grooming tables
  •  Order new smocks and/or grooming attire
  • Pamper yourself with a personal makeover for fresh look

Many of the above tasks would create an immediate positive impression to your clients. Even if the client doesn’t immediately sense the impact of one of the listed items, it doesn’t mean it won’t affect them. It will affect you in a positive way. That positive energy will transfer to your customers. You’ll also be more likely to take photos to share on social channels and your local Google business page.

The next time your local news company calls for an interview, you’re going to have the confidence to greet them at the door even if you only have a few moments notice before they arrive. When your photos or video is splashed across the screen, you’re going to be proud of what you see — and your clients and prospective clients will be impressed.

There is no amount of marketing dollars that can buy free publicity. Are you ready to be promoted?

Happy Trimming!

~Melissa

Professionalism in Grooming: How to Walk the Walk

professional dog groomer with clean, fresh look grooming a doodle to depict looking professional and presentable in a dog grooming business

If you want to be treated as a true professional, you need to walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk.

Years ago when I was still at my grooming table every day, I was out to upgrade the image of a pet groomer. My clients were amazed when I greeted them in a skirt. My hair was done. My make-up was in place. (OK – by the end of the day it wasn’t quite as fresh as when I started out) My nails were always done professionally. (…and it hid the problems that come along with trimming toenails a tad too short!)  I found lipstick that was a stain, giving my lips a hint of color instead of magnet that attracted dog hair. When I met a client for the first time – my introduction was a warm greeting, a big smile and a handshake.

I constantly looked at ways to be a more knowledgeable groomer. With a bit of effort, it didn’t take long before I honestly turned the corner from a basic groomer to a pet stylist.  I made a very positive impression on my clients. I sweated the details – and it paid off ten-fold.

Sweating the details translates into all areas of your salon or mobile unit too. It will be influenced by; what your client sees, what your client hears and what your client smells.

In most professional services, you are not really selling expertise, your expertise is assumed. Generally, your prospect cannot intelligently evaluate your expertise anyway. Instead you are selling a relationship – a professional relationship. Your perspective may not know at first if you are competent at your craft.

But they do know if their phone calls are answered promptly and politely. They can sense instantly how a salon looks. Does it look crisp and clean? Does it smell bright and fresh? They know if their pet is treated with compassion. And they certainly know if they are being treated respectfully.

Your clients have four options:

  1. Use your service
  2. Use a competitor service
  3. Do it themselves
  4. Not do it at all

Give yourself the edge. Sweat the details. Take the time, and effort, to present yourself as a true professional. Make sure your personal presentation is well pulled together.  Gain the skills you need to communicate effectively with your clients. Enhance your grooming techniques so you can give them the best job possible in the least amount of time. Always remember to keep the safety of both you and the pet foremost in your mind.

Happy Trimming, Melissa

ICYMI: MoeGo x Paragon: The KPIs Every Grooming Business Needs to Track

 
“If you don’t know what to measure in your business, it’s sort of like driving down a freeway without your headlights on at night, right? There’s a good chance you’re eventually going to run in either off the road or hit something really hard that’s going to cause you a lot of pain.”

This is how important tracking pet grooming business KPIs is to Joe Zuccarello, President of Paragon School of Pet Grooming, who’s been working in the pet industry for over 40 years. Yet, shockingly, most pet grooming businesses operate this way, and they are missing out on thousands in hidden revenue and burning out teams with guesswork.

In our recent joint MoeGo x Paragon webinar, we cracked open the key performance indicators (KPIs) that separate thriving salons from those stuck in the “hamster wheel” cycle. Below, we break down the exact metrics to track, how to calculate them, and why one tweak could double your profit margins.

KPIs 101: Why “What Gets Measured Gets Done”

At its core, KPIs are your business’s vital signs. They reveal:

  • Whether you’re profitable (or just busy).
  • Which groomers are overachievers (and who needs support).
  • If clients secretly love you (or are about to ghost).

5 Grooming KPIs that Expose Hidden Profit (and Danger Zones)

Joe highlighted several key benchmarks that healthy grooming businesses typically achieve:

  1. Revenue Per Station: The $150k Benchmark
    Target: 125k–150k/year per station.
    Why It Matters: A 3-station salon hitting this range = 375k–450k/year.
    Fix Low Numbers: Optimize pricing, reduce no-shows, or add mobile services.
  2. Gross Profit: Gross Profit Margin: The 60% Rule
    Formula: (Revenue – Operational Costs) ÷ Revenue x 100.
    Goal: Strive to keep 60% of the money that comes in as gross profit.
  3. Add-Ons: Your Secret Money Machine
    Target: 75%+ clients buy extras (nail filing, teeth brushing, etc.).
    Tip: Use tools to streamline the upselling opportunities during online booking, and train staff to recommend add-ons during check-in.
  4. Staffing Efficiency: The 80% Sweet Spot
    Goal: Groomers at stations 80% of open hours.
    Tip: Stations sitting empty? Adjust schedules or offer walk-in promotions.
  5. Average Ticket Price: Know Your Average Ticket Price
    How: It’s calculated by dividing the total grooming revenue from full-service appointments by the number of those appointments, or check report & insights for real-time visibility.

How to Track Grooming Business Metrics for Success

While the above are key end-result KPIs, Joe also discussed the crucial data points you need to track to ensure you’re on the right path:

  • Staff Efficiency: 1.25 hours on average per full-service groom = industry avg. Slower? Invest in training.
  • Client Retention: Track cancellations/no-shows. A spike = service issues.
  • Cost Per New Client: Divide marketing spend by new clients acquired. Understand how much you’re spending to attract new customers.

How to Set Goals that Actually Work

When setting goals, avoid simply “plucking a number from the air” based on historical data. Instead, consider a capacity-based approach. Factor in:

  • Your staffing levels (80% target utilization).
  • The number of grooming stations.
  • The average number of appointments per station per day (based on groomer efficiency).
  • Your average ticket price.

For example, based on the capacity-based formula, you can:

  • Calculate Max Capacity: Stations x Workdays/Month x Avg. Appointments/Day (e.g., 3 stations x 22 days x 6 dogs = 396 appointments).
  • Apply 80% Utilization: 396 x 0.8 = 317 realistic appointments.
  • Multiply by Avg. Ticket Price: 317 x $75 (e.g., $75 as average ticket price) = $23,775 monthly revenue goal.

Turn Your Team Into Profit Rockets (Without Micromanaging)

To measure your team’s productivity, you need four key pieces of data:

  • Appointments completed
  • Revenue generated
  • Hours worked
  • Wages paid

You can then calculate their efficiency, or simply check the KPI dashboard for real-time metrics with ticket-level details.

Joe also recommended brief, monthly one-on-one meetings (around 10 minutes) with each team member to discuss these metrics. Focus on identifying areas for improvement and collaboratively addressing any obstacles.

In addition, while commission-based pay naturally rewards productivity, you can also create incentives for employees across team.

  • Hourly staff: Bonus for hitting add-on targets.
  • Receptionists: Reward for rebooking rate.
  • Team: Group bonus if the business hits the gross profit goal.

key performance indicators in a grooming salon depicted by showing a graphic of MoeGo software interface

Want more information? Connect with MoeGo today!

Beyond Haircuts: The Bath-First Strategy to Grow Your Grooming Business

In case you missed it, check out this Free Webinar hosted by our friends at The Daily Groomer.
Paragon President Joe Zuccarello shares real, actionable strategies to boost revenue in ways that don’t burn out your team or frustrate your clients.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

✅ “Add-Ons” That Work: The most profitable (and simple!) upgrades you can offer—think nail trims, specialty shampoos, or custom packages.
✅ Upselling That Feels Good: Learn how to give clients more choices without feeling pushy or sales-y.
✅ A Mindset Shift: Move beyond the usual advice and discover creative ways to grow income.
✅ Success Stories: Real-world examples from salons just like yours who are already crushing it.

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How to Give A Dog A Facelift

ParagonPetSchool.com founder Melissa Verplank demonstrates how to give a dog a facelift in a blog depicted by her holding a small dogIn our salons, one of the most popular head styles is round. Especially when it comes to Doodles, mixed breeds of all sorts, lots of drop-coated breeds plus a few others.

Did you know there is an easy way to make any dog look younger? More perky?

And the best part – it’s SIMPLE!

Shorten the ears and the muzzle.

Long ears and muzzles drag a dog down, making them look older. It also detracts from a bright expression.

Plus, all the excessive coat is a dirt magnet. It’s constantly getting dragged through their food and water dishes. Longer fur drags on the ground as they pick up all their ‘doggie messages.’ (that’s gross!) Unless it’s being washed almost daily, it gets dirty, stinky and oily. And the potential for mats and tangles is increased the longer the coat.

How short do you go? That’s up to you and the owner.

Whatever the look, it should complement the trim and the dog. It needs to balance with the overall haircut.

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