“How much for a doodle?” That is the entire message. No name, no size, no coat condition, no hint whether the dog has ever met a clipper. It lands at 7:40pm while you are still hosing out the tub. You know the honest answer is “somewhere between $85 and $160, depending.” You also know that answer books nothing. Here is how to reply so it does.
The message every groomer gets
Dana runs a two-table grooming shop next to a vet clinic. She is booked three weeks out, which sounds great until you look at her phone. Forty-one unread messages across Instagram, Facebook, text, and email. Most of them are some version of the doodle question. She answers the ones she can, usually with a price range, and then the conversation stalls. The customer says thanks. Dana never hears from them again.
One Saturday she counted. Nineteen price questions that week. Four bookings. Fifteen people who wanted a groom badly enough to ask, and then drifted off. At an average ticket of $110, that is roughly $1,600 of work that asked to be done and was not.
The problem was not her prices. Her prices were fair for the area. The problem was that she treated a pricing question as a question, answered it accurately, and stopped. A pricing question is not a request for information. It is the opening move of a booking, and it needs to be answered like one.
Why “it depends” loses the booking
Every groomer’s instinct is to protect themselves from underquoting. A matted standard doodle that has not been brushed since spring is a two-hour job. A well-kept mini is forty minutes. So you say “it depends” and ask for a photo, and you are technically right.
But look at it from the owner’s side. They have asked three groomers the same question. Two said “it depends.” One said “$95 to $130 for a doodle, I have Thursday at 10 if that works.” Guess who got the dog.
People asking for prices are not trying to trap you. They are trying to figure out if you are in their range and whether booking with you will be easy. Answer both in one message and the price question turns into a booking. The first reply customers actually want almost always contains a next step, not just a number.
A price range with a slot attached beats an exact price with nothing attached, every time.
The five-step reply for any pricing question
Use this order every time. It takes about ninety seconds to write and works for texts, emails, and the reply box on your request page.
- Give a real range and name what moves it. “Full groom for a doodle runs $95 to $140. Size and coat condition are what move it. A brushed-out mini sits at the low end, a large dog with matting sits at the top.” You have now answered the question honestly and taught them how to guess their own number.
- Ask one question, not five. Pick the single fact that changes the price most. For doodles that is usually weight or a quick photo. “Roughly how much does she weigh, or can you send a photo?” One question gets answered. Five questions get ignored.
- Offer a slot in the same message. Do not wait for the answer to step two. “I have Thursday at 10am or Saturday at 1pm open this week.” Now they are picking a time instead of deciding whether to keep talking to you.
- Tell them what happens next. “Once you pick a time I’ll send a confirmation with the address and drop-off instructions.” This removes the fear of the unknown that makes people hesitate with a new groomer.
- Log it and set a follow-up. If they do not reply within a day, send one short nudge with the same two slots. If they still do not reply, park it and move on. You are not chasing. You are making it easy.
Put together, the message reads like this: “Hi Jess, full groom for a doodle runs $95 to $140 depending on size and coat. Can you tell me roughly how much Biscuit weighs? I have Thursday at 10am or Saturday at 1pm this week. Once you pick one I’ll send the address and drop-off details.” That is four sentences. It answers, asks, offers, and reassures.
Three replies, side by side
Here are the same three common questions with a weak reply and a booking reply. Notice the booking reply is never much longer.
| Customer asks | Weak reply | Booking reply |
|---|---|---|
| “How much for a doodle?” | “Depends on size and coat. Send a pic?” | “$95 to $140 depending on size. Roughly how big? I have Thursday 10am or Saturday 1pm.” |
| “Do you do cats?” | “Yes.” | “Yes, cat grooms are $75 to $95. Is yours long or short haired? Tuesday mornings are quietest for cats, want the 9am?” |
| “What’s your nail trim price?” | “$15.” | “$15, walk-in friendly. We’re open till 5 today, or I can hold 3:30pm for you so there’s no wait.” |
The weak replies are all correct. They just end the conversation. The booking replies keep it going and hand the customer something to say yes to.
Get the size and coat before they ask the price
The best fix is to stop getting the bare question in the first place. If your quote request form asks for breed, approximate weight, coat condition, and preferred day, the customer does the screening for you before you ever type a word.
This is where a hosted request page earns its keep. Dana set one up with Book My Leads, defined her services (full groom, bath and tidy, nail trim, cat groom) with a starting price on each, and put the link in her Instagram bio and on her Google Business Profile. Now most price questions arrive as structured requests with the dog’s size and the owner’s preferred day already filled in. Her reply is step three and step four only. Ninety seconds became thirty.
She also stopped losing requests. Every one comes into the same Requests list on her phone with a push notification, instead of scattering across four apps. She taps Respond Now between dogs, and the customer gets an email from her business name with her own address as the reply-to. When they confirm, she books it and the appointment lands on her calendar. The lead moves from New to Scheduled on its own.
When they say it’s too much
Some people will hear $140 and go quiet. That is not a no. It is a price you did not explain. Reply with what the number includes: the de-matting, the ear cleaning, the nail grind, the fact that a matted coat takes twice as long and is hard on the dog. Then offer the cheaper option honestly. “If you can brush her out this week, she’ll likely land at $105 instead.”
You are not discounting. You are giving them a way to hit the lower end of the range you already quoted. Most people take it, and they arrive with a brushed dog, which is better for everyone. If they still balk, there are a handful of ways to turn a flat no into a maybe without cutting your rate.
Keep the table full without living on your phone
Groomers have a particular problem: you cannot answer messages with a dog on the table and shears in your hand. So every reply waits until a break, and by then there are twelve of them. The framework above gets each reply down to under a minute. The request page gets the number of replies down by doing the screening for you. Book My Leads holds the ones you have not touched yet in one list so nothing hides in an Instagram thread from four days ago.
Dana’s count six weeks later: twenty-two price questions, eleven bookings. Same prices, same shop, same two tables. The only thing that changed was the reply.
Try it on your next quote request
Set up a grooming request page with your services and starting prices in about five minutes, then answer the next doodle question from your phone between dogs with a slot already attached.