Empowering Pet Groomers: Nextmune and Its Impact on the Industry

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Welcome to the Pet Grooming Business Podcast with me, Bill Betts, where we give practical business advice to help you grow your pet grooming business. This podcast is sponsored by Low Pay, the low rate payment app that gives you more. So without further ado, let's get going.

Welcome everyone. Welcome back to this and podcast Facebook Live. I'm Bill and today we have a really exciting episode for you. So if you're a pet groomer or even if you're a pet professional listening to this, make sure you listen all the way through because today we're joined by John from nextmune uk. Welcome, John. Oh, hi, Bill. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, you're welcome. Nice to have you and finally start to introduce you to our, to our listeners and our viewers. So a few weeks ago I did a Facebook Live.

Facebook's going around deleting all these lives that I'm doing, so I thought we'll probably have to update you. I did a little Facebook Live about a company called Nixmune and the next immune products that us as pet groomers are going to have access to and going to be able to stock in our, in our shops. So the next step for us was to bring yourself on John to talk about the company, understand what the products are and, and get to know you really. So it's nice to have you here.

Well, thanks, yeah, it's great to be along maybe. First of all, we start, tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into the, the pet industry and then how you found NextMune and started working for NextMune. Yeah, so my background, I'm a veterinary nurse and I guess I still am still have the VN after my name. Yeah, I started working grief now as background in 2001 and then qualified as a, as a VN in 2004. And yeah, worked in a practice in reading for about 17 years.

But during the course of that, that journey I got, I quite liked the lab. So I got into looking at things down the microscope and, and a lot of that was skin samples. So I got into dermatology and ended up running a, like a skin clinic. So if you had a dog with skin problems and you went in and saw the vet in the practice that I was in, they would be like, right, you need to go and see John. And then the owner would come and see me for like an hour and I do a skin workout with them, which is, you know, sort of various tests on, on the patient as well as chatting to the owner for A really long time really.

And helping them understand skin disease and allergies which as I'm sure going to is. Yeah. Is very prevalent and problematic. Yeah. With, with, with pets. But yeah, I did that for eight years and that kind of led me then to work. I was. Well, I was selling a lot of, of Nexmune. They weren't called Next Mean then, but selling a lot of Next Mean products anyway because they are as we'll get into, they're really good products for, for people who, who aren't vets. They're non prescription so as a nurse they were a really good option for me to sell but vets are selling them as well.

They're really good products. So yeah, we're selling a lot of those. So I think. Yeah. How did I get working with Next Mean? It was initially to try and help support nurses doing more with dermatology and then it just became easier to work for them. And now. Yeah, now I'm the head of marketing and education here in Xmune and I've been being with them now for seven years. Yeah. Wow. So I mean when I, when I talk to some pet groomers that are or have been veterinary nurses, many of them know of the Next Immune brand or, or the company that was before nextmune but is Next being.

Is going to. Quite new to the, to the pet grooming community but it sounds like it's quite an established company. Yes, it is. Well, the products themselves are go back further than the history of, of Nexm per se. So we initially were, we actually had a different name we call Vetrus when I joined and the products were. They're manufactured in Italy, a lot of them, not all of them. You know, we have products from different suppliers but the, the core of our products manufactured in Italy and they're really good and they weren't available over here and we had lots of dermatologists and vets who wanted to get hold of them.

So that's how the company sort of came to exist. But then Nexmune is a, it's a global pharmaceutical company which have purchased other companies and at one stage purchased the company that were making those in Italy. So but it's, it's helped because their, their focus is on dermatology, on skincare and pets. So it's actually expanded what we do and so we now also encompass doing allergy testing and immunotherapy vaccines. So vaccines against what they're allergic to. So yeah, that's, that's kind of, I guess kind of how, how the products came to be.

I'm trying to think when they first appeared, it was probably about 2011 that they, they started, but they, they grew very quickly because, yeah, as you'll see, they're great products. Yeah. Something that we, we certainly use within our salon. And again, this is how I got introduced to nextbe. My wife, who is a veterinary nurse but has been a dog groom for 21 years. You know, we, we started using and stocking and selling NEXT Immune products. And she kind of said, hey, Bill, I think you need to introduce these people to the, to the pet grooming industry as a whole.

And that's how we started networking, didn't we? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not going to talk about the specific products in this, in this episode. We'll, we'll go on and do that in, in another podcast because I don't want to overload everyone, but it's just to get to know who Next mean is. But how long have you been helping, how long's Next being helping the veterinary industry? Yeah, well, I say since 20 or 2011 here in the UK.

The products themselves would have been helping in other parts of the world, you know, starting with Italy for a lot. For longer than that. I couldn't actually tell you off the top of my head for how long. But, yeah, for us here in the UK, since 2011, 11, we've all worked in the veterinary industry and obviously, you know, we have some contact with pet owners directly, but, yeah, mainly through vets. Yeah. And what will the, what do you find that the, the, these sort of products that are sitting on the vet shelves to upsell to customers or the vets, like practically using them themselves in practice.

Yeah, a bit of both. Bit of both. I mean, there are, it's, it's. As I'm sure you guys, as groomers are aware, it's not particularly practical to do any kind of shampooing or clipping or grooming stuff generally in a veterinary practice. And as a vet nurse, I could say this, when we did do it, we weren't very good at it. I would occasionally do, you know, shampoo in practice. So then you would have a, you'd have Zinka Seb or something, one of our products on the side there, because, yeah, they're good things to use, but no, mainly 99% is something you can give the client to go home with that's going to help their dog's skin when they've got skin problems.

And that's where obviously they're so useful for you guys as groomers because you can do exactly the same thing. So it, it's, you know, possibly more thinking of them as something that you can use to help someone who's coming with a problematic skin condition rather than necessarily actually using them, you know, for every wash that you do, every shampoo. So that's kind of the focus for the products is that too to help with specific skin conditions or, or allerg, you know, air conditions and stuff? Yeah, absolutely that absolutely.

And I'm sure as groomers you see and we, we've been chatting to, to groomers more and more thanks to you Bill. As, as well as you know, going to a couple of shows and it's, it's obvious that it, it's, it's very common that you'll see someone come in for, for a clip and, and actually their, their skin's unhappy in some way. Allergies affect a large portion of dogs and in fact 30% of the cases that come in a veterinary practice, just regular consultations are skin related. It's the largest organ on the, on or in the body and it's exposed, it's the only organ exposed to the outside world.

So while it's very resilient, it does also yeah, struggle and suffer. And so as groomers I think you know, you've got a real opportunity to kind of really help owners with that and yeah, absolutely, that is, that is nextmu's mission is helping with skin cases or helping with, with pets that are strugg with their skin for some reason. A lot of groomers do, you know, they love doing extra learning and CPD and they'll be looking at skin conditions and when you, when you sit within the pet grooming groups you see many photos and questions going in there saying I found this on a dog.

Anyone know what it is or any ideas what this could be or any ideas how we can. We could help it. So hopefully that's where with a bit of knowledge and some education around next view and that that's where you, you guys will come come and fit in. But one of the suppose the questions that I raised this with you when we first half prices sum up and settle so you keep more than money than the area or not price versus recommendations. And a lot of groomers are very aware and are taught when they do their training within the uk like there is a distinct line where anyone outside of the veterinary industry like only a vet can diagnose a, a pet with a, with a particular condition.

So I could see that this could cause A little bit of fear within groomers when they're looking at animal skin and thinking I know what this is or I've got a pretty good idea about what this is and I know I've got a product that could help this. How do we, how do we navigate the worries around diagnosis and recommendation? Yeah, it's a really good question. And it, and you're absolutely right, Bill, that it is something that I. Well, I think you guys are right to think that way.

I don't think there's anything wrong with thinking that way. And actually as a nurse, I can say that nurses, we feel exactly the same way because obviously we work more directly with vets, but actually we're not also we're not allowed to diagnose. So whenever something. And I do a lot of education with nurses about getting them doing more with dermatology, as I say, and I get this question all the time because they too are worried about, well, hold on, when should I diagnose? But obviously there's every condition, every disease, every problem has symptoms as well.

So it's about understanding, well, okay, for example, if you've got a headache, there may be an underlying cause for that headache. You're not going to go and diagnose that headache, but you may take a paracetamol to ease that headache. And with our products, they're non prescription products so you can buy them online.

They're not something that a vet has to put up in the same way that a course of antibiotics would be, for example. And in fact they're a really good option to try and prevent maybe the need for more aggressive medications like antibiotics. There's a really good example of that and a lot of our education is around trying to prevent using or overusing antimicrobials like antibiotics. So yeah, I think as what I would say to nurses and it's the same therefore what I'd say to groomers, these are products that the owners can get hold of anyway, so.

And they may well, you know, use Dr. Google or Dr. GPT or whatever it is now and, and try and figure out what's going on with their dog skin, go online and buy something for it which maybe isn't appropriate. You, I think you already know even before you come and speak to us because of, of doing grooming and understanding dogs and understanding their coats actually probably more than you realize about, you know, what is a good idea and what could help. And I would say the same thing to nurses.

You know, we understand far more, we're still professionals in our own field groomers or vet nurses. And so we still have something to offer. So, absolutely, you're not going to diagnose, but you're seeing a symptom, aren't you, of something that is wrong and you're putting up a product which you're fine to put up, which could help with that symptom, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, you know, and then, as I'm sure you do anyway, then you say, well, and we use this on our advertising, you know, then go and see a vet and find out, you know, what is wrong.

And no different than if you went and got, you know, some cough syrup or something from, from the pharmacy, they'd still then say, well, maybe you should go and see your doctor about that. But, yeah, I don't know. Does that help maybe clarify a bit? Yeah, I think it's all within the. It's all within the wording, isn't it, in the terminology? You're coming, you're coming in from a space of like, trying to help and you've obviously got a product there which you can help them with. So, like you said, you take a pill for a headache, but you wouldn't necessarily diagnose the reason why you've got a headache.

I think that's quite a simple analogy. And actually I like to think, you know, if you, if you were to provide a customer with some next immune products for a particular issue and obviously advise them maybe to go and see the vet and they turned up at the vets with their, with their dog and the next immune product saying, oh, I was, I was told to give this a go. I'd like to think the vets would be like, that's fantastic, because we probably would have sold you the same and give, give the groomer perhaps a bit of credit as well, because we often, we often have like this negative sort of mindset around this, but hopefully they would give the groomer a bit of credit and a bit of like, oh, brilliant, you've, you've recommended the right sort of products for that, for that issue.

They definitely would. And I can tell you from firsthand experience is how I got involved in it. Vets really don't like skin cases very much. They're tricky, they're lifelong and persistent. And so, yeah, a lot of the time, actually, you know, thinking about how we've helped the veterinary industry, even vets themselves are unsure about what to put up, even though, you know, they would be the ones who would diagnose. So they're very probably More than you might think. They're actually very open to clients getting support from other sources.

And obviously, like you say, they're gonna, they're gonna appreciate it if those other sources have a, have an idea of what they're talking about and are recommending good things. So if, if, absolutely. If they're coming in from the groomers and they've been given a really appropriate shampoo for what looks like a problem skin condition, they, that's, they're, they're going to react very warmly to that because they're going to be thinking, well, this is good. You know, this client's getting good support and they're being good, given good advice rather than say coming in and perhaps they've been using a shampoo that's actually really inappropriate, is going to dry them out, make it.

Make it worse. And then they're, they're more likely to say then, well, I think you should probably avoid going to the groomer or something like that. Yeah. And maybe start building some more bridges, which would be quite nice, wouldn't it? So I think we covered. Yeah, and I think, you know, that we've covered off that diagnosis versus recommendation. I like that analogy about a headache. So hopefully people can remember that when they come across this sort of fear within themselves or this worry that they have. So you've obviously, before we met, you had done some research around the pet grooming industry and you tried to speak to them how, what's, what's made you interested in coming into the, to the grooming industry?

Well, I think that we, you know, for us with the products, we feel like there's something really to offer, if I can be candid. You know, at times we get frustrated with the veterinary industry. I mean, I'm from it, so I feel like I can say that, that, you know, you, you do come up against, like I say, they don't necessarily like dermatology and sometimes they could, they could do more to help these cases. I'd love to tell you that every practice has a nurse in it doing a dermatology clinic like I do, but unfortunately it's not the case.

And that could be because either a nurse isn't willing to do it or the practice isn't willing to invest in giving the nurse the time to do it. So for us, we're effectively looking, like you're asking, at the top, we're looking to help pets with their skin problems. And so we'll find any avenue that will give us an opportunity to do that. And we do, as I say. We do do some direct owner stuff, but that's, that's, you know, it's an intimidatingly large industry for us to try and get that message out there.

So I think any professionals that we can look at who can be giving good advice is great for us, and that's mainly been through the veteran industry. But, yeah, yeah, I can't remember what the first reason for us coming across it was, but, but I think, yeah, the grooming industries, it. I think you guys, like I say, you know, your stuff is seeing these all day, every day and I just think it's a great opportunity for us to, you know, to work with you in terms of helping you give that good advice and, and perhaps just recommending a product that could make a real difference to how comfortable that pet is.

Yeah, cool. And what kind of, you know, I think this is quite new to the industry, having a, a big, like, international company or a big corporate company coming in and, you know, offering trade and offering other sorts of stuff. So it can be a little bit like, oh, my God, you know, we're, I like it because I feel as though you're, you're taking the industry as the professionals that they are and you're saying that people work with you. So what kind of support will you be providing the, the pet groomers that are stocking your products?

Well, I mean, firstly, just to go back. Yeah. To something you were saying at the beginning there. One thing I'll say, you know, about nextmune is we're very. We are a global company. We're, you know, we have a reach right around the world. However, that we. Each industry works quite. Sorry, each country works quite separately for whatever the needs are of this individual country. So actually when you. I'm saying that because when, when you're dealing with us, we're quite, we're quite a small base here in the UK.

There's about 30 of us. So we're not going to be this big, intimidating pharmaceutical company, which is why we're happy, you know, to offer trade accounts and that sort of thing with you guys, because we're, yeah, we recognize, we just, we want to try and make a difference and. Yeah, and, and, and we feel like you guys are a great way to do that. So. But at the same time. Yeah, absolutely. I think what you say stands up completely. We are ultimately a company and I can tell you for a fact that the rest of NextMune that we've spoken to about what we're doing with you guys has.

They've been very interested in it. So as a global organization, they're very interested in because we're the first to do it here in the UK and they're very interested to see, you know, okay, how's that work? This is something we could roll out around the rest of the world because it. Yeah, but for all the reasons that I've, I've already told you, I think how we can support it really. I mean, we'll kind of do it however, however you want. So, you know, if you're listening to this, this podcast and you're, there's something that you think can help, then, you know, I'd encourage you to let Bill know and we will try and do, you know, whatever we can to support.

I know some of the things that you and I have talked about, Bill, are education. We do a lot of education with vets and nurses. So these are, these are guys that are professionals that understand the anatomy and the physiology of pets and their skin, but yet still understanding the latest thinking on, on skin disease and what products are right for it, that education's still useful for them and it would absolutely be useful for you as well. That's not to say it's. You're thinking, oh no, I'm going to now be wall to wall diagrams of, you know, the various layers of the epidermis and the dermis.

And no, it's not like that at all. It's actually very, very broad strokes, almost kind of quite obvious stuff really in terms of what you're seeing and therefore what would be a good product to help with that particular thing. You know, this where the skin's red, whether it's scaly, you know, to give you some specific examples. So I think education for one thing, also just a great range of different things that you can offer for all sorts of different skin problems and different, different types of products as well.

Like we've got shampoos, we've got foams, we've got wipes. So you know, you've got a, you could have an arsenal there of things that you can say, well actually, okay, you're, it's a poor problem that you're coming in, into doing the groom. I could see that the, the pores are really unhappy when you're trimming them down. So then maybe a wipe is good for that, that sort of thing. So I think predominantly it's education of what ones, what those products would be useful. But then, you know, we can also, we could produce literature and leaflets and whatever support materials that you'd want for clients as well.

So yeah, I don't know, whatever, whatever is helpful. I love, I know the industry loves a bit of cpd. They, they are, they are avid consumers of education and they loved going to semin seminars. They love online learning. They love learn where you like learning all about the skin conditions and the, the, you know, that they want to have the answers to what they see every day in front of them. So I think if we, if we are able to go down the road of continual professional development and education with yourselves, that would be, that would be fantastic.

We can pick up on after this and have a look at. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean and we've been really struck and impressed I'd say just from having begun to you know, look at the grooming industry. Just how that, that mentality like you say that, that you groomers have that, this desire to learn. I've worked in practice. I know a couple of nurses that I worked with that went into to doing some, some work as a groomer but that was, you know, it was quite sort of niche in terms of, of one nurse going and doing that.

And so I have a POS anyway. But yeah, I think coming across the industry as a whole, I think like you say, really impressive the, the desire to grow and understand more. So if, if someone's interested in learning more about the products and getting a, an account, let's go through how, how they go about getting the account. It is relatively straightforward. So is there a website that they can go to to check out the products and what you have on offer?

Yes, there is. The website is under development into a changing. It'll be a little bit more UK based. You can go to www.nextmoon.com and select the UK parts of that site and you'll only see products that are available or you should only see products that are available here in the UK and you can read about them and what they do. We've also like I say got literature. I mean I would encourage you to, to get in touch with us because we have just to give you a bit of a like kind of how we work.

We have what we call territory managers so people in all different areas of the country. We've got nine now that are all spread out so there'll be one with it within easy reach of you and they would be happy to support you by email, phone or a visit, you know, whatever is your preference.

Yeah, that would be the easiest thing to do I think is reach out to us which I guess they can do for you Bill. And then we can get them in touch. I know you've got a, you've got a chart, haven't you, of who's the best territory manager for where. And then as a result then we can, we can come and tell you about the products or we can just direct you to somewhere where you can have a look at them as well. So and what I would say about the territory managers is don't be shy.

I've no, I know a couple of groomers now that have organized meetings with them.

Explained to yourselves that pet groomers don't have an abundance of time during the day. You know, they're very busy so they can't just be like cold called or dropped in. They do need to sort of make appointment. But don't be shy when it comes to territory managers that, you know, we've used Steven ourselves down, down in Kent and Emma's had Stephen in quite a few times to come and talk to herself and our, our staff about the products and how to what, you know, how to recommend them and what the products are there for.

And your territory managers are there to solve any problems but also give you help and advice. And on a side note, if someone's got a, an apprentice, something that we did, when you have a dog wearing apprentice you need to do some off, off the job learning. So we organized these lunch and learns for the territory managers to come in and, and that was like a double win. Tick, tick, you know. But yeah, the apprentice got some off the job learning and then we got some learning about works as well.

So there's lots of things that these territory managers can do. So don't be shy. No, don't be shy. And I can tell you firsthand, like they're all as a vet nurse and not, you know, pure salesperson. They are not, you know, they're not really pushy. They're not really, they are there to support and you mentioned about time. It's the same in the veterinary industry. So they really do understand that time is pressing and so even if you only want to talk to them for 10 minutes, they'll come and you know, speak to you for 10 minutes.

But like you say, if you want, want them to do some educational stuff, we can do that and we'll bring some lunch as well. You know, we, and it's free, it's free, you know, we don't charge for that. So that's what I mean about being really different within the industry. You're going to bring them lunch and sit down with them. Yeah. I mean what's what's not to like? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. No, so there is such a thing as a free lunch. There is. What's, so if someone's like, if someone's really wanting to, to go into, get a, and, and stock your products, what's the next steps?

How do they set up a, a trade account with yourselves? And what, what does a trade account mean? I suppose that some people might be going, well, what is a trade account? Yeah, I, I suppose, yeah, it could be quite, it's quite an intimidating idea, isn't it really? I think in a nutshell, Bill, really it just means that we've kind of got you on record. I mean we can, generally speaking, how will, we're, we're looking to set up a shop with close to getting a shop set up so you can just buy online.

So you'll have a login, go onto the shop and you'll be able to purchase them at the price that is specific to dog groomers, which obviously then helps you to be able to sell those products on and make a margin on them. In terms of, right now that isn't available. But we can still get you set up, we'll have you on record and then once we've got the shop we can get that set up. And if you want to purchase products off us in the meantime, you absolutely can do that and you know, we'll do that kind of however, however is easiest for depending on the volume of stuff that you're buying really.

But we'll try and make it as easy as possible but don't be intimidated by it. It's a form effectively. So you get in touch with us, we'll get a fill out form so you've got your details and then, and then you know, from there we can, we can sell directly to you now on the form. I've completed the form myself at the moment. I think I, I, I had completed it by hand so I filled it in by hand and printed it. I printed it, then filled it in by hand, get it right and then scanned it in and emailed it back.

Does that, is that how you want it or is there other ways that you can do the form? Yeah, I mean, however is, however is easiest. You know, if there's a problem with it then just let us know. I mean if you, for example, if you want to just fill it in, take a picture of it and send us the picture back because you do everything on your phone, which I know a lot, a lot of people do nowadays, then that's absolutely fine, you know you can, you can do that as well.

If you don't have a printer at home, then, you know, let us know and we could maybe send you the form as a, as a word doc or something like that. You can fill in. So. Yeah, yeah, there's ways and means. Don't let, don't let that put you off. Cool. And on the form it talks about being given credit and I've had a few, a couple of people sort of say, oh, I'm a bit worried about my, my credit rating, my credit history and whether I can actually get credit.

Is that, is that going to. Yeah, we're not. Oh no, we're not going to do any, we don't do any credit checks or anything like that. Yeah, that's just a, it's kind of a due, due diligence type thing, I suppose. But yeah, no, we're not. I mean for the most part, I think what you're going to be doing is, is actually quite similar to if you're buying the products on, on online anyway, you know, you're going to be paying for the products and then the products are going to be delivered to you.

Now down, down the line, it might well be that if you, if, if you're ordering a bit more. And this is why we have trade accounts, we do a lot of things by invoice and it may be that that's something that you want to talk to us about doing and in which case we've got the possibility of doing that. So I. E. We send you the products, we send you an invoice and then you pay for them by invoice. But I think for the, for the most part, and certainly from our conversations with you, Bill, I think most people would probably prefer to keep it simple and just, just kind of pay as you go, as it were.

And yeah, that's. It kind of however, is easiest now they're gonna. What I really liked about it when I first met, Met yourselves is that you, you're. We're going for a trade account but then you're also offering trade prices, so preferential rates on your products to sell pet groomers. So an example of this may be a product that you might buy on Amazon for sort of £14. We could actually buy it from next room for six, six pounds something and then have a markup. So I really like the fact that you're respecting our industry and saying that, you know, you can buy our products at trade price and then upsell them to your, to your customers with a markup.

Do you Give like a recommended retail price. I've had a couple of questions from people asking about that because I think again, this is quite new to the industry. Yeah. Like how much money do I add to this?

Ah, that's a really good question. And you know, we used to, I remember Bill, in the past our price list did used to have a recommended retail price on. But again without. Because I'm from the industry and I love vets and never want to talk about this down. But the markup in vets is generally quite high because there's a lot of overheads involved with that business, as you can imagine, large premises, large number of staffs. So, you know, they often get criticized for being quite expensive. There is actually a reason they don't generally make a lot of money.

Vet practices. There's a reason why things could be quite high. They tend as a result to make their profit on product and so they mark up product quite a lot. So it's a very long winded way of me telling you that we took the recommended retail price off because basically it was, it was irrelevant. No one adhered to it. But yeah, if that's something that people would like and you think would be useful, we could absolutely give you that. I mean the alternative is have a look on Amazon maybe about how much the products are.

Because the products are available on Amazon, we're selling them to you at a price that means that you could actually match that and in which. And still make a, you know, a profit on that product.

And whereas obviously, as you know, we live in the world of Amazon, the vets can't, they can't really compete with that price because you, yeah, the price is so close to how much the products actually cost these days that, yeah, that it can be a bit tricky but that would be a good option is have a look, just do a little bit of research online, see how much that product is online and then kind of pitch it around then bearing in mind as well, obviously it's convenient for that person when they're in your clinic and they're getting your advice.

I think that's of value. And so I think you'll find a lot of the time that owners will. Would be willing to pay you more than they would buy something online. A little bit like when you go to the shop you just sort of recognize, oh, this is in front of me right now, I'm happy to pay a pound or two extra and I don't have to wait for it to be delivered. I see. And you know, you can, you're you're seeing the dog out, you're talking to the owner, you're telling them what you've discovered, you've.

You're explaining to them the potential issue, saying you, you might want to go and see a vet, but in the meantime, maybe have a look at this wipe and use this white once a day and it will help to calm the skin down and remove some information or stop the itch. And it's X amount of money. Yes. Potentially it's cheaper online, but like you said, the owner then has to go home. Remember what you said, remember where to find it, remember what the product was and then pay for it and then pay for delivery and get it delivered.

Or they can just take it from you there and then. So take it there. Yeah, absolutely. And they. Sorry to cut in there, Bill. They might now, generally speaking, they then might, as you know, because it's exactly what you would do. Right. And you've been in, let's say you've been in a shop and you've bought for yourself a shampoo or a creative face cream and then you've gotten on with that product. Well, and I guarantee they will get on with our products. Well, because they, they do really work.

So then they might, they potentially then will look online and go and buy it again. Or depending on, you know, your price point and how much they value your advice, I think for you guys, the price would probably be such that they would, they would consider just coming back and buying from you again and then you get that repeat sales. That's right. And there's nothing better than sitting someone down in your waiting room saying that Fluffy's got a particular issue. I really recommend this wipe and because I've had education from the company itself, from next mean, I can show you right here how to use that wipe.

And this is what you need to carry on doing once you get Fluffy home and for the next sort of however days, however long it needs to all your. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And the chances are, you know, they're going to be seeing, because of the nature of grooming, they're going to be seeing you regularly, whereas they don't want to see the vet regularly. Like, if the vets recommended a wipe, and I know this, you know, from, from having seen them, if they're going to come back, then the chances are it's because there's still a problem there.

When I was running my derm clinic, that was always one of the toughest things, is that they wouldn't come back because presumably I've given them something that's worked and then so they don't come back when everything's fine. But actually it would be really useful for them to do that because then you see, okay, what's working, you know, what's. Whereas you have an added benefit as groomers that they're going to keep coming back to you anyway to get the, to get the coat trimmed. And so in which case you have even more opportunity through, you know, the foot in the door type approach for, for them to, to buy that product from you again.

And also I was just thinking about this and thinking about marketing and, and you know, potentially socials and websites and stuff. Again, as groomers, we've got the time and the ability to take photos of particular issues over a length of time. We have systems in place where we can log those photos as well if we've got. Got particular booking systems. So actually you can build like a case study of, of what's going on with that, with that particular pet and follow the journey and, and see whether, you know, and hopefully see the, the improvement that's being made with that pet.

There's nothing more satisfactory, satisfying than that, surely? Oh, absolutely. That's really interesting. Yeah. Like I said, I wouldn't until you say that would have known that you have that facility. I mean, in a vet practice they, that they use. I mean, I've been out in the industry for now about seven years, but we would do that. I would do that a lot, take pictures of, but both actually the skin itself and also stuff that I was finding on the microscope because you see so many cases that then when a case comes back in, it's really useful to be able to.

Owners see the pet every day so they lose that sense of context, strangely. So we would always do it to do like a dermatology questionnaire and, and it would have like, how itchy is your pet from a scale of 1 to 5 and which is obviously a nonsense really because someone's idea of five might be someone else's idea of two. But the reason that was in there and it worked is because if you had them back again in three months and they were like, oh no, he's still really itchy.

You're like, okay, well if, you know, out of one to five and they said three. I said, well, do you know, you actually said four last time. So you. That's a kind of it. Then the owners would be like, oh, okay, so maybe he is improving. It's like, yeah. And it is just, you know, this is the long Haul. I think if you as. As groomers could have those pictures to show the owners, it would help them to understand how something's got better or, or potentially, you know, if we're looking at it more negatively if it's gotten worse and they're ignoring it and you're like I mentioned before you like you've.

There's that thing on the leg and actually if I've taken the pictures again, that is a bit worse. I think you should go to the vet. You could then even give them those pictures and for the vet, honestly that is gold dust because they can see, they can see the progression of the, of the skin condition when when I. Invited you over to our salon to have a bit more of an idea of what a day in the life of a pet groomer and, and what we go through as.

And when you do come over, I'll listen. I will show you the gallery of horrors on our. On our. On the phone at the. Oh wow. I sometimes pick up the phone. It's a, it's a standalone mobile phone that we use to take photos and text and message customers. I pick up the phone and I look in the gallery of, of the photos that the, the groomers have taken and I literally. You couldn't look at it before lunchtime because really auras that, that, that we see and it does lead to actually on a, on a serious point, it does actually lead to a bit of compassion fatigue because because of the amount of like maybe neglect or the horrors that, you know, pets are are coming in with the, the gallery.

I'll show you it when you come over the gallery. Yeah yeah. Pretty horrifying the stuff that yeah, I bet you find on pets. So. Yeah. Yeah, I bet Photography is a useful tool within the industry and I think you could definitely start looking at case studies and stuff like that if you wanted to. So signing up for a trade account. We'll put the email address in the, in the blurb of the. Of the podcast and stuff. Simple form to fill in. You want a couple of references.

What that. I think sometimes that can. Can throw some people when it comes to filling in the form. Yeah. So I suppose actually there was something I should have said earlier and you. A couple of questions ago. You mentioned something I thought I should say we are because as you mentioned, we're giving. We're offering groom as a very low price actually the, the lowest price that anyone can buy the products for. And it's quite unusual for us to do that if I'm honest. But it's because we recognize that you are as, as dog groomers, you're in a position to be able to sell it, but you need to be able to make a profit on it.

And so, yeah, that, that really is, it's effectively vetting that you are who you say you are. It's making sure that you are a dog groomer, that you are, you know, running a dog grooming service. And therefore we can, we've got that account with you. You now have the right, I suppose a little bit like if you're going to, was it Costco or you know, where you buy. If you, if you're, if you're working in a kitchen somewhere and you can get products at a cheaper price than you can, you only have to be as a vet.

The fact that that's the reason that you're doing it in order to have that card. It's a little bit like that really. Bill? Yeah. Yeah. So put in a supplier that you use. You know, I think we use Christie's Battles. You know, it could be a shampoo supplier that you use or a sharpener maybe that they use just to, just to give you a bit of reference to say who, who you are. You are who you are. Yeah, cool. You are. Agreement. Yeah, absolutely. And one thing I was concerned about, you know, dealing with a company like Nextbeam was that you might put minimum orders on there and that you might, we might be expected as business to, to order like 3, 400 pounds worth of stock to, to access the, the, the products.

But do you have a minimum order amount? No, no, we don't. No, we're happy to let you buy as a little or as much as you like. Really. We. Yeah, which I guess is, is unusual, but we have the capabilities to, to sell you things in singles. So our products, generally speaking, are sold into veterinary wholesalers and so there'll be sort of six bottles in a, in an outer, as it were. But we do have the, the capabilities to be able to send certainly singles. We don't sell directly to pet owners really at all.

And so it's unusual for us to do that, which is why, as I mentioned, we're going to set up a facility online for you to be able to do that more easily in the, the not too distant future. But yeah, we can. You can buy as little as. As much as like, it's because I suppose really, to be honest, we, that you'll, you'll get on with those products and, and your, the owners coming in with their pets will get on with those products. And then you'll, you'll then want to buy them again and in time you can buy more.

If you do buy more, we're obviously happy to extend further deals for you. You know, for example, if you buy, you know, 10, then we maybe give you a couple free or something like that. You can speak to your territory manager about that so you, you have the opportunity to save even further if you purchase larger numbers. But initially when you're trying the products out, if you just a couple, then that's absolutely fine. Yeah, buy, buy some in and try them out. I think, you know, most pet groomers have pets of their own.

Most can, Most pet groomers will have friends or, or friendly customers that they can sort of recommend the products to and give them a go and get some feedback. But I think that's another very good message there, you know, about not being shy with your territory managers. So don't just order your products through the online shop. If you're going to like, buy bulk or buy a lot, go and speak to that territory manager. Form a relationship with them, get them into the, into the salon. They're really enthusiastic about how you present the products and they're looking at literature and leaflets and posters and presentation.

And like you said, they might be able to open up some further deals for you as well. Don't be shy. Yeah, yeah, don't be shy. Absolutely. And then is there like any delivery costs for these products.

At the moment? No, we're happy to, we're happy to get those out to you. At the price there's. I think there's a small delivery charge. You've caught me out there, Bill. Actually, I have to go and look. But it's, it's not a significant delivery fee. Again, it's like with anything, you can obviously save a bit of money the more you buy. In terms of delivery fee, most of the products that we send out are going to be from a stockroom that we have up north. And yeah, we can get those out relatively inexpensively.

And what sort of, what's this kind of turnaround? If we've got a dog we know that's coming in with a skin condition on third on. Yeah, Monday. What's the sort of turnaround on ordering some stocking? It's actually very quick. Yeah, I mean, the stock room are. Yeah, they're brilliant up there and they can send something out very quickly. So if you ordered something for, for today, for example, it would be with you tomorrow, most likely. So, yeah, I mean, I would always. I'm hesitant to Absolutely guarantee next early delivery.

But I know that these days that's what people. So I think realistically we recognize that we need to try and stay as close to that as possible. But. But I think probably once you're set up and you're buying a product in, that probably wouldn't be necessary. You'd actually be kind of. You'd have a level of stock on your shelf. But yeah, we can. We're pretty quick anyway. Excellent. Excellent. Is there anything else you want to sort of highlight or bring up with the, with the listeners? Your, Your questions are brilliant, Bill, and I think you've, you've more or less covered everything other than just to reiterate the point really, that we're.

Yeah, we're really excited about the opportunity to, to work with groomers and to encourage you that you, you might think, oh, we're kind of like a, you know, a faceless company or something like that, but we absolutely can try and help meet. Meet you where you are in a way that online shops and things and retailers that you buy from wouldn't be able to. So although we might feel like a bigger company, then maybe some of the others you're used to buying from actually will probably feel smaller.

I mean, the very fact that there's a territory manager who will respond to you in your area, you know, it's quite unusual to have that and that's because of the nature of the way that we, we work with vet. So I think it's a really great opportunity for you to, to work with us and. Yeah, to just encourage you to absolutely do that. You know, we're really looking forward and really excited to, to help the. To, to help the grooming industry. Excellent. And like you said, you're not a faceless company.

I mean, straight away you're doing this podcast so, you know, you're not, you're not a face this company. You actually were Groomfest last year. I, I didn't know about that, but Mike told me you're a Groomfest and you're planning to do some of the trade shows this year as well to get to. To spread the word and raise the profile. Absolutely. I think there's an event coming up. I want to see this. I want to say the 13th of April.

Super groom. Oh, super groom. Have you. I was, I thought you're gonna say Groomfest, but Groomfest is. The Southeast one's been. Been cancelled, so. Oh, that's a shame. Yeah. But there is one in Coventry in September if you're looking to go to. Groomfest Yeah, the, it's, the, it's Super Groom, I think, which I, I believe is on 13 April, which is down in the other way southwest. So if any of you listening are down there, then David, our territory manager down there will be there and you'll have the opportunity to purchase products off there and we'll just have a chat with him about, about them as well.

Excellent. I mean this is, this is part one. We're going to do another, another episode and I didn't want to go into great details around the products. First of all, I wanted just to get people to find out who you are and find out about the company and what you offer and how you're going to gonna support the grooming industry. Part two, I think we're going to dive into the products in more detail. I think there's probably five or six products that groomers could get into straight away and start using within their salons and selling to their customers as well.

So we'll get that organized soon. But for now, thank you for your time and look forward to seeing you on the next one. Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks so much Bill, for, for, for having me on and thanks everyone for listening. Yeah, look forward to the next one. Excellent. Take care. I hope you have enjoyed this podcast. Please make sure you give us a like or a review to help people find it. The podcast is sponsored by Low Pay. Head over to www.lowpay.com to find out more about their payment solution.