Check Out Claudia Vargas’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Vargas. 

Hi Claudia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Collar Cuts Mobile Grooming opened their business in 2001 with one small trailer and one groomer. Originally, Lana and Dan created this company to avoid the issues that many in shop stores were currently dealing with, not knowing that they were creating an innovative way to get pets groomed. Very soon after openings Collar Cuts, the groomer that was hired ended up quitting and leaving the state. Being a headstrong individual, Lana quickly learned how to groom to keep the company going. She would review grooming books and watch YouTube videos every day to perfect her skills. 

Throughout the years, Dan and Lana slowly began to hire new employees and at the end of 2021, they went from one trailer to having eight with 12 employees on board while expanding the products their company offers. I am thankful to be on this team as a lead manager as we have begun developing new ways to increase employment in the pet grooming industry, which has had a huge demand of pet groomers. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The pandemic created a demand for mobile pet groomers, which was something we were not prepared for a year ago. While rapid business growth was a dream of ours, we quickly needed to learn how to navigate rapid growth and the challenges that came with it. 

A key concern of ours was hiring. Attracting and retaining talented groomers that fit our values and quality limited our growth. There weren’t many groomers looking for new employment and there weren’t many opportunities for those interested in the pet industry without experience. 

It took us a while to understand that in order to be successful, we needed to be willing to train individuals on how to become skilled groomers. It’s a challenge not many competitors are willing to do, but we felt as if it were our duty to teach the new generation of groomers while providing high-quality work for our clients in the surrounding areas of Broomfield, Colorado. Collar Cuts Mobile Grooming has always had an innovative edge. Although hiring was a challenge in 2021, it also opened our eyes for other opportunities in the grooming school world. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Collar Cuts Mobile Grooming provides mobile groomers from Erie to Arvada, Colorado. All our groomers specialize in dog grooming, but we have a few talented cat groomers that have expanded their skills. Most of our clients come to us through word of mouth with positive reviews from family and friends. 

Relationship building is key to our business. People come to us because we care about their pets. Many of our groomers have been taking care of our clients since they were puppies. We are there from the first grooming experience to the last. Even those that we groom only a handful of time can say that we created the first steps of building trust with their pets for the next groomer that cares for them. 

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
There are times when as a manager, we have to step back and accept not everyone can be a customer. We were adding as many people to our schedules, decreasing time at each stop, and hiring anyone with prior grooming experience. We wanted to please everyone, but as result, we were going against the values of our company, which is high-quality services while creating relationships with loyal clients. 

Thankfully we learned our lesson quickly and changed our entire marketing plan. We concentrated our services closer to the Broomfield area and began asking clients what their expectations were. From there, our team hired an office assistant to run weekly customer service questionnaires with clients and report to our training manager of feedback on improvements. 

Regardless of how talented our groomers are, all groomers have checkups with our most experienced groomer and train to learn innovative ways to perfect their skills. 

Pricing:

• Dogs under 30lbs $80 – $125 for full-service grooms. This includes a brush, bath, nails trimmed, exterior glands expressed, ears cleaned and plucked, pads shaved, full-body hair cut.
• Dogs 30lb -70lbs $135 – $185 for full-service grooms. This includes a brush, bath, nails trimmed, exterior glands expressed, ears cleaned and plucked, pads shaved, full-body hair cut.
• Short hair dogs under 30lbs $50 – $70 for a brush and bath service. This includes a brush, bath, nails trimmed, exterior glands expressed, ears cleaned and plucked.
• Short hair dogs 30lb – 70lb $75 – $110 for a brush and bath service. This includes a brush, bath, nails trimmed, exterior glands expressed, ears cleaned and plucked.
• Cats: $130 – $160.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@collarcuts.com
• Website: https://collarcuts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collarcuts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/collarcutsmobilegrooming/