Unity dog strategies are always focused on strengthening your dog care business and the pet owner simultaneously.  This strategy adds a community component as well.

Client education is an extremely important component of business stability and should be an ongoing project for your business. Whether you hold monthly or quarterly educational classes or provide ongoing education through a regular newsletter…just do it.

Part of that educational training should be dedicated to the safety and care of pets in the community.  Your clients aren’t likely to be the target demographic to talk about abuse, neglect or risky behavior but they may witness it if you can raise awareness.

Even though our clients are the most dedicated pet care owners, they don’t always know some of their actions that may put their animals at risk.  Educate your clients about the potential for abuse when advertising to give away puppies or dogs for free.

Our well intentioned clients may be putting animals at risk if they advertise free dog or puppy to good home in the local classifieds or with a sign in their yard.

The risk is quite high that a less than caring and loving person will take the dog and neglect them.  An even worse fate if an unethical breeder (puppy mill) or dog fighting enthusiast gets ahold of the animal.

By keeping your clients informed and always increasing their pet care knowledge you are creating a healthier community for animals. The more your clients know about pet care, and about your expertise, the less likely they will be to take a shot on the new, inexperienced kid on the block or opt to allow their neighbors to be their defacto pet sitter.

Healthy pets and wise clients make profitable business.

Little Olive to those who love her.

We picked up our rescue puppy today and if someone doesn’t adopt her soon - I am going to need a bigger bed!

(find more videos at YouTube under my screen name UnityDog)

She is sweet, very smart, good with dogs, even better with people, great with children. We have had an amazing day getting to know this little bundle of soft fur. She loves to be in my lap, can hold her own with Lucy and had 5 kids around to play with, 3 of them under 3 years old and she was wonderful.

She needs someone who has time to work with her. With all the smarts comes potential that needs to be realized. She is also a high energy pup - needs to play and run. Take a look at the videos we shot of her today and contact me via email with a phone and best time to contact with any questions. She has one more round of shots, due in two weeks. fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE FULL SIZE

There is nothing worse than paying an employee to Loose Business for you!

As crazy as this sounds it happens all the time, I would have to assume without the business owners knowledge. I guarantee at least 90% of my readers employee someone whose performance, behavior, personality, attitude or hygiene is costing them business.

The responsibility lies squarly on the shoulders of leadership. Management must know how its employees are impacting business for practical reasons like evaluations, training, pay raises, bonuses, benchmarking and of course termination.

The surest way to prevent employing someone who is a risk to offend your client base is to perform “on the job” type interviews. Once you get down to your short list of potential new staff - use their services yourself as if you were a client.

If you are hiring a new dog walker or groomer - take your own beloved pet to the potential new hire. Would you pay for her services? Do you feel like your pet is safe with this potential new employee. How comfortable was the dog? Notice if you felt at ease or anxious. Of course evaluate the actual job performance. How detailed was she? Did she check in with you to get feedback on the job as she was working with your dog?

Let some of your most trusted and even some of your toughest clients do the same. How do they rate your potential new employee?

I am writing this article after spending several hundred dollars at one of my favorite spa’s - and walking away completely disillusioned. If I were the kind of customer, like most of your customers, who walks away without complaining - you may never see me again and you would never even know why you lost my business.

If you don’t have a system in place to notice my spending has significantly dropped off you might not even know you’ve lost me as a customer because I might pop in now and again for an occasional quick product or service.

If you had a follow up system in place to elicit my feedback on the service of this new employee you very well might have heard back that I was horrified that the nail technician had dirt under her nails.

As it stands now, five days after my spa service, I am thinking of all the reasons I never want to go back to that spa…and the spa owner has no idea and probably never will.

Start pre-hiring practices as I described above and put systems in place to connect with your clients after their service and at regular intervals. Always monitor your clients monthly spend and track for patterns so that you know immediately if there are irregular spending habits.

These irregularities should be a trigger to contact your client and check for the causes. It may not be a problem with your services or staff. You may find that your clients’ needs have changed and you discover new opportunities to service your clients. Ways the customer might never have imagined and therefor, never looked to you for her pet care needs,

Monitoring your staff has extra benefits to the organization. When you manage under performing employees it shows the entire staff you value quality work. Leaving a poor employee to enjoy the same pay and benefits as your best employees de-values the great employees.

Manage your new hires as if you were the toughest client this employee would face. If you don’t, you may be paying your new staff to drive away business!

Have you attributed any business loss this summer to gas prices?

The truth about prosperity is that there are those who prosper during recession and those who fail in times of plenty. The mindset and creativity of the leader who refuses to accept the status quo….who finds opportunity where the majority sees problems is what creates true freedom.

True financial freedom is not dependent on the economy, circumstance, politics or even gas prices!

So how can you use the rising gas prices to improve your service to your clients? It is safe to be aware of the responses of the masses and choose an opposite strategy.

What are the most common responses of pet sitters and mobile pet care professionals to rising gas prices? Most pet sitting companies increase prices and justify it by increased fuel costs. Sounds logical right? Every industry does it.

What if your pet sitting businesses can set themselves apart from the competition by actually doing exactly the opposite? What if you could massively grow your business during a so called recession?

Here is one of our tips that can do absolutely nothing but improve your service and customer loyalty…review your logistics.

If you have sitters who are traveling more than a few mile radius - hire more regionally located sitters. Contact some of your best clients in your remote areas and ask if they can help by recommending a potential candidate.

You might be surprised that your client may be willing and anxious to work for you part time. Many of your clients are closet pet sitter wannabe’s. (Of course you must be as diligent as always when hiring these temporary or part time employees).

Once you get your team in place - market the poop out of the fact that you are not raising prices. Actually, to give your clients a break during these busy summer months - with gas prices raising…you are going to lower prices.

Offer discounted service….buy 3 get 1. Refer a friend and get a free pet sitting. Now is the time to grab market share. Your competition won’t know what hit them. This so called recession could see your business double.

What if you are a doggy day care, groomer, dog trainer - or any other pet care business where you clients come to you?

hmmm, what shall we do….

• partnering with some of the largest employers in your community and setting up temporary service areas? How many new clients do you think you might get from that business because you are on location? Do you think you might set up a long term remote program if you get enough response?

• setup drop off points at key areas in town where you have determined are most desirable for your client base. Basically, you are splitting the cost of the gas increases with your clients. Market the poop out of this too!

• offer several clients in key areas free services to “host” your services - make it a marketing event to draw new clients.

These remote location strategies are ideal for massive increases in profits and market share. Brainstorm with your staff for a while and you will start getting excited. Think about all of the new services you could offer and introduce in a non-traditional setting. You could introduce agility training, fitness programs, a weight management program. Hold a retriever training clinic; a doggy wash open to the public. What if one of your remote locations were a state park or area where you could offer hiking….hey these all sound a lot like totally new services you could add to your business.

Think like a auto dealer tent sale on kibble. You are offering the same product but going out to the public. Your clients benefit because you are closer to them. You are making them aware of additional services and ways to enjoy time with their dogs.

You benefit because you are the only dog care business creating innovative solutions for your clients. The pr, brand exposure and high energy events generate huge momentum for your every day business.

These are just a couple ideas really just designed to get you to buy into the belief that gas prices, recession, economy….nothing outside of your creativity and imagination controls your business success. Take any apparent negative and ask yourself how you might think of the situation differently.

Before you know it - you won’t see problems any more…just opportunities. Its not cliche’ if it works!

Register for your newsletter at the above right to receive innovative marketing strategies and to receive updates about our upcoming book release: “Recession Proof Your Dog Business”

PS, Always confirm and update your insurance coverage for any new services you provide; including offering off site service.

Now more than ever Dog Care Business Owners are scrambling for ways to preserve profits. This topic is near and dear to my heart because it is too often a dog business owner chooses to cut corners to preserve the bottom line.

This strategy is so counterproductive I can not even begin to tell you the long term damage it has on your business and the owner’s reputation. Many pet care business owners don’t have measurements in place to put tangible numbers on their losses but would be stunned if they did.

One of the top dog sitters in my home town started out giving stellar service and seemed to truly care for the animals in their care. Gradually though as the pet sitting business grew, the home care provided dwindled drastically.

Instead of the 30 minutes of devoted loving care that was the standard service in the beginning the visits often consisted of 5 minutes - opening the door and leaving whether or not the dog went outside.

The client and the dog took a distant back seat to the goal of increasing the number of services per day - without hiring sufficient staff to maintain service levels. The service levels that were promised and the “sales pitch” when we first met were a distant memory within about 18 months.

If you have been with me for any length of time you no doubt know how I feel about “sales”. If not, please take a moment and read through the archive articles in the sales section of this blog. I called this a sales pitch because it was not a true demonstration of the services this company provided. This is a bit tongue in cheek because It was an accurate description of the service at the time the service was contracted but no longer holds true.

I suspect the proprietor has no idea what her reputation is in the community. The business is still doing well but the difference between what it is doing now and what it could be is astronomical. It is rare that a week goes by that someone from the community does not remark on their dissatisfaction with the service at this doggy day care.

It is a shame - because it was totally unnecessary. There are so many ways to preserve and grow profits without raising prices or cutting service levels.

And, when prices and service levels need to be changed - there is a professional way of doing it with complete integrity.

That is a topic for another article. Today we want to look at shrinkage!

Employee and vendor theft exists in at least 80% of all businesses - I suspect it is actually 100%. Between poor systems, inattention, carelessness and greed at your back door employee and vendor theft can very well add up to more losses than any price increase you’ll ever see.

If you suspect a particular vendor try inspecting the empties once in a while for additional theft or check the boxes for signs of tampering. Once you are fairly sure there is delivery theft going on - try setting up a test with your supplier. Have them ship the containers sort of booby trapped so you know for sure that they have been opened.

Have good processes in place for receiving your orders to minimize employees and vendors from walking out the back door with your profits.

Be careful not to make your work environment an uncomfortable place to work. Put systems in place and monitor your numbers. You won’t have to lead with a heavy hand to figure out who might be helping themselves to your products.

Once you have a good idea where the theft is coming from - come up with a plan to know for sure and make sure other employees and vendors are aware of the incident so they think twice about what they might be entitled to.

PS. A word about entitlement…it seems that even your most trusted and well paid staff often feel entitled to just a little bit more. It isn’t a bad idea to keep communication lines open and do regular check ins with your best employees to make sure they know how much you value and respect them. It is not just about the money they earn - when employees know how important they are to you and your business a sense of responsibility and leadership kicks in.

You will find giving control and responsibility to your employees will reward you with loyal and creative staff.

Would you be interested in learning a clever marketing strategy you can use month after month that consistently brings in new clients without loosing a single dollar in profit from your existing clients?

How many “incentives” have you used before that can make that claim? Most “event” marketing has the unfortunate side effect of forcing Dog Business Owners to loose margin from their existing clients. Very rarely do you find a strategy that allows you to retain margin on existing clients while at the same time growing your new sales.

Offering a sale of any type is simply a risky profit proposition if not handled properly and one of the most common mistakes we see pet care business owners making.

The strategy we are going to discuss here is guaranteed to grow new business while maintaining existing margins - without any ill will or potential for disgruntled customers.

Pet Care Businesses offer services and products that are absolutely perfect for what I call “event” marketing strategy.

When you think of event marketing most people think of major holiday sales and promotions. The pet care business is extremely busy during holidays, especially pet sitters and doggy day cares. But this is not what we are talking about.

Remember, our “event” marketing strategy grows new business and retains existing margins. Almost all holiday promotions and sales result in discounting services and products to existing customers. Although we do realize it is a prime time for gaining new clients - and we are not discounting this strategy - it is not what we are talking about in this article.

Did I mention that this same strategy can set your entire annual marketing campaign on auto pilot?

Enough suspense already, here it is:

Creative, innovative event marketing to associations, groups, organizations, forums….tribes.

Every major career, industry, business segment and niche has their own holiday, their conventions, trade shows and meetings.

Let’s just talk about holiday event marketing.

For example, the first week of May was Nurse’s Week. To celebrate nurses week you could have created a promotion for pampering the beloved dogs of your communities nurses. How easy would it be to target nurses in your community?

If you are whining that I am giving you an example of something you can’t use again until next year…how about this one: the third week in May is National Police Week. Our communities protectors and crime fighters…what could you do to serve them for a change?

How about partnering with a child care professional (or just dragging along your best friend or best employee) and offer a police officer night out package. Kind of a “more than 2 for 1″ offer - you sit the dog and the kids for less than it would cost them for a baby sitter. Make the dog sitting special - add a fitness/exercise component so officer mommy and daddy come home to a well behaved, tired dog and kid!

Why not? How much good will can you afford? How many new clients do you think you will get from within the police community? How about the referrals - heck, they know everyone in town.

Do you think an officer who hasn’t had a real night out in weeks or maybe months isn’t going to want to give back to the business that gave him/her time alone with their spouse?

It is just one idea - any idea you come up with just needs to be serving your client’s needs first. You will always get back when you give. When you are marketing creatively like this - you won’t have any competition.

This is “event” marketing 101 - I’ve got a lot more ideas but you are going to have to wait to read my book, “How To Recession Proof Your Dog Business” when it comes out in a few weeks.

If you provide dog kennel services a few simple tweaks and you could double your profits from your existing clients and add another 20%-30% in profits from new clients.

• What is the single most important factor to your business success?

• Your unique selling proposition!

What is it that you do that none of your competitors do? Or, what do you do so much better than your competitors you don’t even consider them competition?

If you don’t have an answer to that question - it is time for a quantum shift in your marketing strategy as well as execution of your day to day business. Your Unique Selling Proposition is what allows you to ignore competitors pricing. It allows you to flourish when the competition is struggling to keep the doors open.

If you run a dog kennel service there are several things you can do to immediately differentiate yourself from the competition, command higher prices and retain long term clients.

• Hire a trainer
  • a trainer on staff to work with your kennel clients
    • your clients take a home a dog that is more obedient and well behaved than when they arrived is sure to come to you whenever their travel needs require sitting or kenneling
    • if choosing between in home dog sitting and day care a client is going to choose the provider that keeps their dog happier
      • if the client comes home to a mess and a dog full of pent up energy they instinctively know they dog was not happy or fulfilled while the owner was away
  • a trainer of course is another stand alone source of revenue for your business

• Add a dog runner/walker to staff
  • For the same rationale as the trainer - a tired dog is a more well behaved dog
  • adding a dog runner to staff allows you to add additional services for your dog kennel clients
    • I call my dog running / dog kennel package - Fit Kennel
    • The client is paying for dog kennel services as well as up to 3 - 30 minute running sessions per day

• You get the idea right? Adding additional services to bundle with the dog kennel service that also serve to increase obedience and fitness are not typical and are extremely well received by owners. Sure, there are plenty of pet care businesses that provide multiple services but rarely do they aggressively bundle the service and almost never do you see the connection between fitness, obedience and kennel services.

I’ve got a few more suggestions I will e-mail anyone who posts a comment and requests them.