Starting and growing a successful dog grooming business takes dedication, skill, and smart planning. According to dog grooming expert James Bennett, Director of the Australian Dog Grooming School, there are three keys to building a thriving grooming business.
Learning Essential Grooming Skills
For James, proper training is the critical first step for any aspiring dog groomer. “When you’re starting to get into the industry and wanting to become a dog groomer, there’s a lot of different avenues you can go down whether it’s social media, finding a private school or learning yourself from home,” James explains.
He cautions that as a beginner, it can be tempting to opt for cheaper tools or quick online lessons. However, James stresses the importance of an accredited grooming school with experienced teachers. “You really want to do your due diligence and really find out, because where you start to learn from to get those best techniques of training is so important for your later foundation as well that’s going to set you up for success.”
In particular, James highlights the core skills like bathing, drying, clipping, scissor holding, and tool handling. “It’s not as easy as you think – there’s proper techniques to do it as well,” he notes. Going to grooming school ensures aspiring groomers properly learn all of these techniques, establishing a strong base on which to build a career.
“You want to make sure when you’re going and starting out you find those best ways and the best techniques through going to the best schools,” James advises. With the right formal training, new groomers gain the expertise needed to deliver quality services from day one.
Establishing a Unique Brand
With competition thriving in the grooming industry, James emphasizes the importance of defining your brand identity and niche.
“There’s a lot of competition in dog grooming all around the world,” says James, who operates two distinct salons in different Australian cities. “There’s a lot of cutthroat competition there to get through to all the different companies and try and make sure you’re a standout brand.”
For James, building a successful business starts with mastering grooming itself. “You have to understand your clients’ needs, understand what your niche is and understand how to bring that to the clientele,” he explains. From colors and aesthetics to marketing and pricing, James believes groomers must know their target audience and craft their brand identity accordingly.
His own salons aim for a high-end positioning with tailored aesthetics. James also focuses heavily on providing exceptional service and care. “For me, I really focused on giving high quality service, high quality work for my clientele and making sure that they felt valued because then that just built up what we already had going,” he shares.
With strong branding, service and relationships, James has seen his business thrive even amidst fierce competition. “Myself, I have those two salons in Australia – they’ve been voted Australia’s best grooming salons multiple times in a row and the multiple best grooming salons in their own state as well,” he notes.
Growing Through Mentorship and Education
Even as an established industry expert, James remains dedicated to constantly upskilling himself through mentorship and education.
“Times change, trends change, techniques change as well. I’m a big believer in getting the right mentors around you to mentor and educate you whether that’s grooming techniques, working with staff or clientele,” says James.
He credits much of his success to learning from business and grooming mentors over the years. “I’ve been quite fortunate to have some of the best mentors around myself whether it’s in business or in dog grooming as well to teach me how to be a better leader, a better dog groomer, a better teacher as well,” James explains.
From creative styling methods to leadership strategies, James sees knowledge-sharing as central to the industry’s advancement. “With dog grooming becoming so popular, groomers always need to keep upskilling,” he urges.
James continually invests in advancing his own skills as well as those of his team members. “I myself have over a decade of experience but if I stopped upskilling and learning to be better and get more skills and more knowledge, my businesses and myself and my students that I’ve worked with over the last 10 years now wouldn’t be at the levels that we’re all at now,” he reflects.
To learn more about James Bennett and his approach, check out his Website.
