How do I attract more bath dogs for mobile?

[Downtowndogs]

I was looking through a couple postings listing what types/how many dogs a day you guys do and noticed tons of people who had several bath dogs in a day. How did you attract bath only clients? I groom 4-5 dogs daily(Sometimes 6) and maybe in a week I get about two bath dogs and the rest are haircuts. I'd love to get more Bath Only Clients! But how?

Now, I know of a shop near my house that'll wash any small-large dog for about $20-30 so I'm not trying to compete with them. But I know I lost four of my bath clients to them.

[TAILSRWAGON]

Retired shut in's

Market yourself to the retired community and the shut ins that have dogs but don't go out much. Most of my bath dogs are either people that can't get out or the dogs do not do well in a shop environment.
Vet's offices may be able to help with referrals.

[SharPeiMom]

Can you do large dogs,too? Most of my bath dogs are labs. I do have a few JRT but most are large dogs. Around here no other mobiler will take large dogs so I'd say quite a bit of my clientelle is large dogs. Just a thought.

[Starshan]

I'm in the same boat. I will take up to 60lbs, but don't have many bath dogs. I have maybe 5 out of 85 clients. Lately I've been getting a few calls to bath Chi's but the problem is the shops around here still charge $20 or so. I'm about $20 more then that & you can hear the person's jaw drop over the phone. So I don't have many tiny breeds unless they got in when I was still juggling my prices. My second yr I got the guts to stick to my prices & not lower it hoping to get every person calling. I do have one boston that takes me all of 15mins, the owner is in a trailer park & can't drive. So I do agree with others in trying to target the older shut in type.

Atleast on the tiny dogs I'm kinda thinking about coming down 5 & see if I can get a couple in, if i can get a couple in then the price drop wouldn't be so bad. Don't know though.

Shannon
The Soapy Puppy

[FurReal]

Me too, most of my bath dogs are big dogs. I have a few little ones but my price is more than most want to pay for, say, a Chi bath. A lot of people just don't want to load up those big dogs and take them to and from the salon.

I didn't really try that hard to attract bath dogs they just found me, part of it is just demographics.

[Gracy Rose]

Create a Maintenance plan for clients. I would guess that 90% are every 2-3 weeks and 75% are weekly.

The whole idea is to create less work for yourself and the client by keeping the dogs brushed out and maintained.

[Mamabearwith2]

Now, I know of a shop near my house that'll wash any small-large dog for about $20-30 so I'm not trying to compete with them. But I know I lost four of my bath clients to them.

Just be sure to price baths only about 5-10 dollars less than a full groom and resist offering a "bath only" for a dog that REALLY needs a full groom just to get the client. No need to shoot yourself in the foot.

[gottalovegracie]

Big Dogs!

Most of my bath only dogs are big dogs also...golden retrievers really! Never seen so many goldens in my life!! I wish I could get more short haired baths! I've had enough big hairies for awhile. The big dog people are willing to pay your prices! They really don't want the hassle of loading them up in their cars and them doing the baths at home just doesn't take care of all the shedding. I really stress the difference they will see in loss of hair between doing it at home and me doing it with my dryer and other tools. My problem is I don't think I'm high enough for these big hairies. I get quite a few people acting like "oh...that's all?" I'm seriously considering raising those prices cuz I think they would pay another $10-15 easy! They usually tip me another $20 anyway so I might as well! The only problem with "just baths" are they don't seem to be as regular as full grooms for me. I have a few that bathe every 4 weeks or so. But most are "whenever the start stinking or shedding".

[fshrchik]

Bath Dogs

The majority of my small bath dogs are in multi-dog homes. I think they like the mobile service and they like not having to load/unload multiple dogs to take them to a shop. I do an extremely thorough job of de-shedding the dogs as that (and odor) is why they get the dogs professionally groomed. I didn't do anything in particular to attract them. I was very lucky and these wonderful people with very nice dogs found me.

[Downtowndogs]

The majority of my small bath dogs are in multi-dog homes. I think they like the mobile service and they like not having to load/unload multiple dogs to take them to a shop. I do an extremely thorough job of de-shedding the dogs as that (and odor) is why they get the dogs professionally groomed. I didn't do anything in particular to attract them. I was very lucky and these wonderful people with very nice dogs found me.

That's exactly who I want to attract, all those small dogs. Since my weight limit is 60-65lbs and I'm not really willing to budge on that for any new clients. I think I may add a section to my website offering a different rate for families with multiple small dogs. Like two small smoothies (short coated dogs) one price kinda deal. But still making my average $$ for the time spent. Dunno if that made any sense? Maybe that would appeal to people.

[cattledogz]

My bath only clients are also mostly big dogs, and by big I mean 70+. All but one have cooperated and walked across my table bridge to the tub, and his mother helped me lift him. A 15 yr old lab that couldnt stand well.

All of my bath dogs saw me out driving my van and one new one saw my website. The new one I picked up is a pitbull and he is about 75 lbs. He is booked with me for 2 week intervals!!! and literally from start to finish took me 35 mins. I almost feel bad charging my minimum, however he does live in a gated community way up a hill so I have to figure travel time too. His dad has more $$$ than time and is more than happy to pay me to wash his dog. I wish I had more pitbull baths, he was the sweetest easiest dog I've had recently.