Welcome to my Blog.
Please take a minute to view the blog entry titled, “Let me introduce myself” or by reading below to get acquainted with me. I am hopeful you find the information I share informative and interesting. I am even more hopeful you find it appealing enough to forward it to your friends and colleagues and follow me over time. Feel free to offer comment and enter your email address to receive post and update notifications. Email me directly at joe@joezuccarello.com.
Enjoy!
Who is Joe Zuccarello?
As of now, I have had the luxury of selecting one of the most stable and growing industries (not to mention one of the most fun) in the world. The Pet Industry.
If you would have asked me, back when I was thirteen years old, working a Summer job bathing dogs for a local dog grooming facility in the St. Louis area, what I would be doing with my life nearly 27 years later, I would have had no clue I would have remained in the industry for this long.
While I “cut my teeth” in the pet industry at a very young age, one thing was for sure. While I could appreciate the efforts and talents that come with dog grooming, I was not going to be able to support a family on this life skill because I couldn’t groom worth a darn. I just don’t have the talented hands needed for such a profession, my clients would have been very dissatisfied, and I would probably be living in a cardboard box somewhere.
What I recognized early on, however, was just how incredible this industry was and still is. People LOVE their pets and I LOVE people who love their pets! If we didn’t love our pets so much, why would we incorporate them into our lifestyles and spend the lavish amounts of money on them as we do? Life insurance, health insurance, luxury resort accommodations, personal trainers, natural high quality diets, exercise programs, etc. are just some of the options available for us to spoil our fuzzy family members.
Once I found out I was not going to be a super star groomer, I quickly decided I wanted to stay in the business, but in order for me to do so, I needed to excel in my education of Business. Raising a family, working full time, and accomplishing my Master’s Degree in Business was no easy chore, but looking back, I am thrilled I made the commitment to myself, my family, and the industry.
My path has lead me down some exciting career opportunities including Luxury Pet Resorts, Grooming Salons, Doggie Day Cares, Training Programs, Consulting, and Product Sales through large retailers and even on television as a guest host on HSN.
My hope is to share some of my experience with you so that you may benefit and make smarter choices in your business and yield as much knowledge and profitability as you every hoped.
Joe Zuccarello 
Hi Joe,
I met you at your Hiring class at Groom Expo. I am the person who asked you afterwards about how to tell people I was cutting back on my grooming days without upsetting them. I am seriously thinking of taking myself out of the day to day grooming and work ON the business instead of in it. I heard comments from other speakers during their presentations that it is very difficult to make any profit that way (after paying employees, rent, and all the other expenses.). But yet a lot of Business experts say that is the ONLY way to make a good profit. What are your thoughts on that. I know you have been in the industry for a long time.
Also you mentioned in the Hiring class that employees should not have access to the customer address and phone numbers. How can that be done? They have to update the files each time they do a groom so that we know what blades, shampoo. etc were used that particular time so we know next time.
Hello Charlene,
I hope all is well. Thank you for reaching out.
Managing a grooming business for a profit is not an easy task, but with some diligence and the right direction, it is certainly possible. There are many factors that drive profitability in grooming, and to truly explore them would require spending some time together so that I may learn what exactly you are wanting to accomplish (long term) so we can develop a short term plan to help you get there. Some of the factors we can explore are payroll arrangements, types of services offered, selling extra services, pricing, availability and convenience, customer attraction and retention…just to name a few! If you would like, we can talk about the services I provide and how you can take advantage of them. Simply email me at joezuccarello@yahoo.com to get the conversation started.
As for the customer contact information, it all depends on your recording system. Are the files kept electronically? If so, are there security measures in the computer program that will only allow visibility and access to certain fields in the customer/pet files? I agree that our staff must record detailed instructions for future use, but there is really no need for anyone other than the business owner or manager to view specific customer information such as addresses, etc. Again, there is a variety of systems we can put in place that will help secure your sensitive information, but I would have to learn more about your current setup first before I could make the best recommendations.
I know I can help you reach your goals. Let’s chat. Shoot me an email at joezuccarello@yahoo.com at your convenience. I look forward to working with you soon.