I used to think it was natural to take this one particular step until I started coaching pet care business clients.

In my corporate sales days, not doing this one thing gave the competition a green light to walk in and literally steal your best customers. It is the same reason pet care businesses loose clients.

Although one of the benefits of running a small business is the ability to stay close to your client - It is an odd phenomena most small business owners do not incorporate a client retention strategy that includes basic customer feedback.

Client retention is the single most important piece of your marketing strategy. It is also the area we see the least amount of effort and investment of time and resources in established pet care businesses.

Start ups are all too aware of the value of each and every client. Predictably, client retention strategies decrease dramatically along growth lines. It is a risk of growth that far too many businesses fall prey to needlessly.

It is easy to see why it happens. Without a marketing strategy in place it is easy to miss even the most critical business activities. That is why we encourage businesses from day one to work with a marketing plan.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate - just enough strategy to keep you focused. Once your business gets past a certain number of clients - you will appreciate already having a system in place.

As your business grows and you get busy filling your day with issues concerning winning new business and day to day operations you won’t have to learn this lesson the hard way.

The secret to success in any business is a combination of obtaining new clients and selling existing clients more services more often. Selling higher priced services and products is an topic for another article but it is one of the differentiators between running a successful business and wildly successful business.

Inherent in that formula and a critical profitability factor is reducing client churn.

We all know the cost of winning a new client is significantly higher than retaining existing clients. It is easy to understand, especially in a pet care business where you have direct contact with your customer on a regular basis how you might think you are performing your retention strategies.

Servicing your client is an integral part of retention but it is one piece of the puzzle. Just because you see a client weekly doesn’t mean you understand that clients existing needs or are meeting expectations.

I knew a lot of corporate sales people who thought that visiting a client meant client retention. I called these type of activities “howdy calls”. There was no real value for the client or the sales rep. As a matter of fact, it was a waste of valuable time, both for the client contact and the rep.

There must be a reason for a corporate sales rep to visit a client otherwise, you are devaluing the relationship. The same is true for a small business/client relationship.

Always bring value to every contact you make with your client. Relationship building is not about getting to be best friends with your client - it is about serving his or her needs. The relationship develops after and as an outcome of your attention to needs.

You service needs first by asking questions and understanding the clients current circumstances - which may have changed since your last visit last week.

Life circumstances change your clients need for your services. The easiest way to find out if your clients needs have changed is to regularly check in with them. Inquire about their life, ask how satisfied they are with your service and if there is anything you or your staff were not doing that the client wished you would.

Even the simplest conversations can be opportunities for you to serve your client if you stay aware. For example, if your client mentions she is dating someone new. You might ask if he is a dog lover; how the pet and the new boyfriend get along.

You may find an opportunity to offer grooming services if the new guy has fur issues; or offer obedience training if precious is annoying the new beau.

You will also find out critical things like job changes, schedule changes at work, more travel, less travel…all things that can affect your clients needs for your services.

Don’t wait for your client to call you and tell you about the new job. Be proactive, offer solutions.

Don’t forget to continually ask for feedback on your current services. No client feedback or complaints is not a sign that everything is puppy heaven for you.

Most dissatisfied clients will leave you without ever complaining. The calls you do get with questions or concerns are a warning sign that your service levels are not meeting that clients’ expectations.

Don’t assume you have resolved a problem because you feel like you have satisfactorily answered the clients questions. Most of the time, you may feel like you addressed the problem and the client hangs up, still concerned and less likely to call you back again.

The door is open for the competition. They don’t even have to knock on your clients door, you have put the client in “shopping” mode. Your client is now looking for someone who will better understand and serve their needs. Maybe a startup - things were so much better when you first opened your business.

Now it seems like you are too busy to care.

Show your clients you care as much today as you did the day you first met them. Remember the value you bring is only as good as how well you are meeting the clients current needs. If we know anything, change is happening in everyone’s life - faster than ever.

Change is nothing to fear. As a matter of profitability, it is to be welcomed. It provides the pet care business owner with new and often easy ways to sell existing clients more products and services, more often.

It is only welcome however, if your clients are in love with your existing products and service. Make sure they love what you do now, (never assume) and when you find needs changing, you will be positioned to provide solutions.

It is never too late to implement a feedback strategy. If you are afraid to ask your clients about their satisfaction with your service - you are at risk of not only loosing your client but your entire business.

If your business has focused too much on winning new business and you know your service levels have dropped - take action and develop a strategy to use that failure to your advantage.

Have a “growing pains” sale or a customer appreciation event.

You might send out a notice to all of your clients offering 1/2 off of day care for one weekend this summer. You may want to admit to your clients that in a sincere effort to help as many clients as possible with their “fill in the blank” (dog sitting, doggy day care) needs, you took on new clients faster than you could hire and train great staff.

In appreciation for them you invite them to an open house to meet the newly hired staff and get doggy biscuits and puppy play time.

Do whatever it takes to re-establish your commitment to the service levels you promised when you originally signed the new client. Keep a positive spin on the marketing and you will once again gain the trust and loyalty of your clients.

Check in with your clients to be sure. Do random calls after pet sitting or doggy day care to be sure the service met your clients expectations.

Interesting thing about quality service - you actually free up more time. It seems like a paradox that taking more time to perform a task could actually free up time. But it is really quite simple…the better value you provide, even if it takes more time, the higher your client retention.

When your retention is high you aren’t forced to constantly scramble for new clients. Existing clients are far more valuable than a new client. Concentrate on impeccable quality and service and your existing client value increases - that is, you sell more stuff at significantly lower costs, ie., higher profits.

And your clients hang around a lot longer! They refer new business. They give you testimonials.

Doing the right thing is always best for business.

Warm Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

When starting a new dog business or launching a new service from your existing business - success and cash flow are determined by the amount of buzz you are able to create.

Creating a marketing buzz is a simple strategy almost every pet care professional fails to utilize. All it means to create a buzz is to get your launch out into the public through multiple marketing venues. When a prospect or an existing client (who is now a prospect for your new service) hears about what you are doing from you - they may not even notice it. When they hear it a second time on the radio they actually pay attention. If they hear it from a third source - maybe a friend or overhearing a conversation of strangers at Starbucks or Petco - now you’ve got their interest piqued.

The buzz is most effective when you have multiple marketing avenues to get your information out to the public and when some of those avenues lead to conversation in social settings. If you are having trouble visualizing how you might pull this off - I will give you a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

How about going to your most popular local morning radio show and offer to give the announcers a month of your services for free in exchange for a few kind words on air. You might be in the studio doing your drop off or pick up and get a little free air time. Go overboard with doggy gifts and pampering.

In conjunction you sponsor a doggy bath at the local Humane Society - all proceeds going to the shelter and hand out your flyers. Or how about a prettiest pooch contest. Get the local newspaper involved, see if they will donate a photographer or ask if you can get them to sponsor a page in their paper for your contest. and in exchange make a donation to the local Humane Society.

Use the usual channels - other local pet care professionals, your clients, online marketing, market to new families in the neighborhood, offer to donate services to anyone who adopts a dog from the local shelter during the month of your launch, put flyers wherever you can around town.

That should be enough to get the juices flowing. Please feel free to email me or better yet, comment on this post if you have some creative ideas to share. Remember, the best way to get what you want is to help someone else get it first. Don’t be afraid to share - there is no limit to the amount of prosperity in the world or even in your community.

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