Making great tips is one of the keys to making the big bucks in this career.

Once you’ve become a good groomer and learned how to keep your clients happy, most of them will reward you with great tips.

Like any other service industry, the amount a customer tips a pet professional can vary widely. So many pet parents ask themselves, “how much should I tip the dog groomer??”

According to the national average, pet owners should tip their groomer 15 to 20 percent of the service total.

That seems reasonable and in line with standard tipping practices in the U.S. but just like pricing your grooms, there are so many variables that come into play.

Trust me… pet owners are just as clueless as groomers on how to effectively tip for their pet grooming. We dove into this topic and found a thread with over 200+ replies from dog owners discussing how they think about tipping for dog grooming.

As you can imagine, the responses were all over the board which makes the topic of tipping an interesting “art” to explore….

Some simple strategies to get your clients to tip more…

• Here’s a simple “hack” to drive additional revenue through tipping! Change the defaults in your POS system to be 20% minimum. We recommend setting 3 options as 20%, 25%, 30% but feel free to also add a custom field. (Normally tipping settings are 5%, 10%, 15%)

  • Again, if you do excellent work, you should demand excellent service from your customers, as well. And you know what? They won’t feel guilty about giving a higher tip amount because you are THEIR groomer.

• Put up a sign or poster that encourages customers to tip your groomers for Christmas. Some of our favorite things you can say:

  • "Treat Your Groomer Like Santa Treats His Elves – Generously!"

  • "Help Santa! Our Groomers are on the 'Nice' List!"

  • "Yappy Holidays! A Tip is a Gift of Joy to Your Groomer."

• But don’t forget the basics:

  • Establish a positive connection with customers.

  • Provide high-quality grooming services.

  • Exceed expectations and provide a memorable experience.

If you’re interested in more strategies to receive more tips and recognition as a groomer make sure you dive into our full blog post on the Daily Groomer website - The Fuzzy Finance: 5 Tail-Wagging Tricks To Boost Your Dog Grooming Tips!