The much anticipated series…How To Make Money Online with Your Dog Business is officially open!

Woof Woof!

We are going to take you through a simple step by step process of making your first $1000 online.  If you don’t have a website yet - no worries.  This is really simple stuff.  You won’t have much of a learning curve at all.

The most important piece of this lesson is to just do it.  Once the money starts coming in you will be free to tweak and learn and refine.  For now, it is all about getting started online fast.

The very first step is to find something you want to sell. I know that might seem obvious, but the internet is full of websites people built to make money with that have absolutely no monetization strategy at all.

First, pick a product you want to sell.

It can be some information product like a “how to groom your dog” book or video (it doesn’t have to be your own creation! It can be a video or book you have created or something you intend to create in the near future or someone else’s product - we’ll talk about that soon); or it can be some physical item, like a dog toy,  dog food or a dog bed.

All that matters is that you choose a product people want to buy.

No rocket science here!

Do not be afraid of choosing the wrong product. This is all about getting started fast.  It is more important to start making money than it is to pick the perfect product or create the perfect video.  Besides, there just isn’t a thing as perfection.

Getting it done.  Making the decision is the most important step here.

So, pick something you know something about, something you use, something you purchased that you can recommend to someone else.  Which means, a product you actually like and can feel good about endorsing.

That is all for step one.  Decide what you want to sell.  Tomorrow, we will discuss step #2, you’ve picked a product, now what?

IF YOU WANT TO EASILY AND EFFORTLESSLY PUT VIDEO ON YOUR WEBSITE -This is the camera I currently use to quickly and effortlessly take video and upload it to my blog.

IT IS SO SIMPLE…YOU POINT, PUSH THE RECORD BUTTON TO START AND STOP, PLUG THE ENTIRE CAMERA INTO YOUR COMPUTER’S USB PORT AND YOU HAVE A VIDEO!

THERE IS EVEN A BUTTON THAT ASKS IF YOU WANT TO SEND YOUR NEW VIDEO TO YouTube. Say yes, and you can immediately go to YouTube and grab a link to your video and put it on your blog post just like I have done dozens of times on this blog.

The perfect holiday marketing strategy for profits and exceptional pet care!

This is the time of year that pets are given as gifts, and pet parents spoil their little furry friends with gifts, toys, treats and luxuries.

As a pet care business owner, it is easy to see the opportunity for gift items…if you dig a little deaper you can tap into a way to not only support pet owners but acquire new clients in the process.

In addition to the usualy Holiday discounts and pet accessory sales what you do to market your business during the holiday season differentiates your business-establishing you as the pet care leader in your community?

I’ve listed a few of my favorite Unity Dog holiday marketing strategies below (for more great ideas visit our services page):

• Design an elder visit package

The elder visit package is a customized service that involves you or a staff member along with a well balanced, mild mannored dog visiting the ederly in their homes, at nursing homes or retirement communities.

The program can be tailored to be sold to individual families or retirement communities.  What family wouldn’t love to be able to send their mother, father or grandparent a gift of a visit and an adorable dog?

The visit lifts spirits and improves the state of mind of the recipient - truly an invaluable gift.

• Create a new puppy potty training program

What a blessing it would be if the new puppy mommy and daddy were planning to bring home for the holidays already had a head start on potty training.  Think of the stress reduction for the new puppy owner.  Your program could incorporate in home or in your store potty training sessions.

If you accept puppies in your store who have not completed their puppy shots - you must provide a safe place to work with the puppy away from other dogs in your care.

The program does not have to guarantee potty training by the Holidays.  A jump start on potty training along with continued support after the family brings the new puppy into their home is a valuable gift.

• Obedience before Christmas program

In a similar vein as the puppy potty training program, you can offer a basic obedience program for the new dog or puppy that can be performed with or without the initial participation of the new pet owners.

In this way, you not only help the puppy get a head start on obedience, regardless if the new pet owners are willing to make time to attend an obedience class, but you also almost assuradly guarantee that the parents will attend a future obedience class.

If the pet care owner knows the puppy already understands basic obedience, they may be more inclined to attend an obedience class to learn the commands for themselves.   Either way, you have given the new puppy a much stronger chance of staying in the new families home.

All three of these unity dog marketing strategies are designed for optimal benefit.  Revenue generation, acquisition of new clients, client retention and client skills development.

All required elements of a successful pet care business and successful pet care ownership.

Warm Holiday Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

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.

How have you benefited the cause of Pet Adoption today?

As a pet care business owner it is your responsibility to take action for pet care adoption every day.  Your interaction within the pet care community gives you the power to impact pet adoptions in a powerful way.

Consider even the most routine activities of your day and find a way to infuse powerful adoption awareness strategies.  If you run a doggy day care, you have an influx of potential adopters, foster parents or adoption evangelists in your clients.

How can you encourage your clients to be involved in pet adoption?  The first step is to help your clients be the best prepared pet care owners they can be.  The more empowered they are to care for and manage their own pets, the more likely they are to keep their own pets and adopt in the future.

This is the foundational strategy of Dog Business Daily.

Once they are confident pet care owners, they can be motivated to adopt multiple pets or foster animals who would otherwise be euthanized.  Encourage your clients to get involved in the pet over population movement.

Educate your clients on the importance of pet sterilization and partner with your local humane society, shelters and veterinarians to hold clinics on pet sterilization activism.

Do constant searches for news you can share with your clients about pet sterilization.  You never know who might be inspired to create a solution for pet euthanization.

Billionaire, Dr. Gary Michelson has challenged the scientific community to create a simple, painless, speedy single step sterilization technique.  He is offering $25 - $75 Million Dollars to fund the research and development of such a technique.

It is possible the solution may come from one of your clients and you could be the catalyst inspiring the solution.

Want to get into one of the lucrative Dog Businesses?

One of the easiest ways to break into the pet care business is to start a dog pet sitting business. Dog businesses are big business - and without financial resources you can’t directly compete with the established dog businesses in your market.

Ease of entry, low financial investment, makes small, owner/operator dog businesses like dog walking businesses and dog sitting business ideal.

Before you consider dog walking, pet sitting or any other dog care business there are a few things you need to do. I do not recommend that just anyone get into the dog care business. It takes the right temperament and energy.

In addition, you will absolutely without a doubt, need good transportation and a back up plan if something happens to you or your vehicle. People put the safety and care of their animals in your hands and it is not to be taken lightly.

If you aren’t sure if you are cut out for a dog pet sitting business or other dog care business, take a few minutes to visit my friend and business coach, Steve Little, at The Perfect Biz Finder. You will get a ton of invaluable, free information on how to select the perfect business - guaranteed to bring you abundance and joy because it is a genetic match to you!

If you already know that dogs are your passion and it is your purpose to be in dog care business but lack the funds…start small. Starting a Dog Pet Sitting Business or dog walking pet sitting business is relatively easy.

We have plenty of resources on this site to help ensure your success. Keep us posted and please comment with any challenges or questions. We are here to help you help dogs.

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!

October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month.

What are you doing in your dog care business to help promote you local shelter? I’d love to hear from you. Especially if you are partnering with the shelter or your community to promote National Adopt A Shelter Dog Month.

It’s not too late if you aren’t already involved. I’ve listed a few ideas below - you can contact your local shelter for more ideas.

Bring a puppy to work day. If you are a pet sitter, dog walker, pooper scooper, or other business without a storefront you can encourage your local pet care community to bring puppies in for their clients to see and possibly adopt.

If you run a day care, kennel or training facility with consumer traffic - bring a couple Shelter Dogs into your business for adoption.

Work with a local retailer like Sam’s or a small private owned business and bring a couple Shelter Dogs in for their clients to see and possibly adopt. This way you expose people who might not otherwise have an awareness of National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month.

Get the word out in as many places an ways as you can. Of course you should always keep your customer and prospect base aware. It is easy if you are already sending them a monthly newsletter.

If you aren’t - it is a business marketing must. Email as well as hard copy newsletters are responsible for more new business and higher client retention than any other single marketing strategy.

Don’t fear the content creation or the distribution of a newsletter. It doesn’t have to be complicated and it will, absolutely guaranteed, save you time in the long term. A consistently sent out newsletter with valuable content will win you new clients and retain existing clients for less time and money than I suspect you are spending on far less successful marketing strategies.

If you still don’t see the value or can’t imagine taking the time and energy needed to create a newsletter -please read my letter about the newsletter generator and consider the value for your small business again. It is the one thing you can do to not only stabilize your businesses income but also keep your clients and prospects involved and engaged.

This is not just about the stability of your business. It translates into the quality of care your prospects and clients give to their animals. Their continued connection to a quality pet care provider helps ensure their ability to maintain and care for their pets.

This is business critical and pet care critical.

I am hearing it everywhere I turn - gas prices are killing our pet sitting business….day care has slowed down by as much as 50%…I have had to cancel 1/2 of my scheduled obedience training classes.

If you too are feeling the pinch I would like to hear from you. What are your greatest struggles and needs?

If you have figured out ways to grow market share - congratulations! If you are of the prosperity mindset - please leave comments below with your best strategies.

Some of the greatest fortunes in the world are accrued during a recession - do not become of the doom and gloom mindset.  Not only is there opportunity for massive growth - the opportunity to grow while benefiting others is upon us.

There is only one way to true prosperity - and that is to take the path that carries others along with you.  Help others achieve that which you desire for yourself and you will both prosper.  Think of ways to contribute to the animals and their families in your communities.

When you are in service of a cause greater than yourself, ideas…inspired ideas begin to come to you.  Ideas are what are needed during times of lack and so called recession.

If you struggle with this it is probably because your focus, your mind is still on the problems.  Change your thoughts!  Move your attention from the bills to the vision of the business you desire.

The only way to solve a problem is by thinking about the solution.  Focusing on the problem only allows problems to grow.

I am anxious to hear from you.  Let me know how you got your creative juices flowing and ways you were able to grow your business while being a blessing to families and pets in your community.

To mark the official launch of my search for the world’s greatest dog trainer - I am doing something really big.

I am giving away a marketing strategy that is sure to change the entire dynamic of your pet care business. It is an idea so innovative it has the potential to launch a business into the mass media spotlight.

Normally, I wouldn’t give away a marketing strategy like this unless it was to a coaching client. Ideas like the one I am going to be sharing with you (I’ll tell you how you can get the information a little later) are business revolutionizing.

You would normally have to sign up for one of my personal coaching programs. You see, while I always strive to provide high level, valuable marketing advise at no charge every day on the blog and in my newsletters - I have to hold back some of the ideas for my coaching clients.

Maybe not for the reasons you think though.

Some of the ideas, like the one I am going to “bribe” you with to help kickoff the World’s Greatest Dog Trainer Search, are cooked up in my little brain - no one else is doing them. They sure as heck aren’t in your everyday mainstream dog care business.

When working with innovative and creative ideas - the universe likes speed.

It is almost always crucial to be first to market in your territory with the idea. The strategies with the most long term potential work best if a limited number of pet care businesses are utilizing the strategy.

We talk about being first to market often. It is the difference between being the definitive leader in your community and a “me too” shop. Getting a head start means you are the one the community leadership recognizes, media contacts and the industry gets to know.

This is going to sound strange coming from a marketer who pounds quality into your heads, but speed to market is more important than quality of product or service.

If you don’t believe me - let me just give you two names: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Gates inferior product has dominated an industry for one major reason…it was first.

As Jobs toiled away, perfecting his operating system - Gates launched. With all of the delays and bugs we have come to expect from Windows…and he has barely had to look over his shoulder since.

Scarcity and speed are two of the most critical factors to marketing success….and for those reasons, I do not publicly give away ideas like the one I am going to share with a select few of you who participate in my search for the World’s Greatest Dog Trainer.

How do you know you will want to use the idea once you see it? You don’t.

You have no idea if you will even grasp how enormous the impact of this idea could have on your business. You might see it and think it would be too hard. Maybe you don’t have the resources…since this is search for the World’s Greatest Dog Trainer, the strategy is for….tadum….Dog Trainers.

You might decide that you don’t even offer dog training services so this isn’t for you. You might be a trainer and decide maybe you aren’t good enough to pull it off. There are dozens of excuses, I mean reasons, why someone might not take initiative when they hear a new, innovative, earth shattering, ground breaking idea.

I am so humble!

Seriously, it is not going to be for everyone. And that is a good thing! Why would you want a strategy that just anyone is willing and able to do. It is for those rare individuals who do what others are not willing to do…the ones who work an extra hour, or fight just a little longer who triumph.

The fact is this strategy can be used by just about any one. There is a way in which anyone who runs a pet care business could incorporate this strategy. It is all a matter of who is willing to see the vision and take the necessary action.

For those of you who do - it will literally transform your business. For those of you who aren’t willing to take the action - there is really no harm because I am not asking for you to pay anything.

It is really quite simple - anyone who is a subscriber to my free newsletter (if you aren’t already - just give me your name and e-mail address using the “Newsletter” box at the top right of your window) and who comments below with a nomination for The World’s Greatest Dog Trainer will receive the strategy.

Simple.

Tell me who you are nominating - you can nominate yourself…and why. The better the nomination information the more likely the trainer will get consideration from us.

*Use the same e-mail address in your blog comment that you used to register for the free newsletter so that we can confirm your subscription. To avoid any threat of being called a spammer we absolutely need your “official” permission to e-mail you - hence, you must be a newsletter subscriber for us to send you an e-mail.

Nothing to it. If you don’t like the strategy - don’t use it. If you do like it - remember me when Matt Lauer asks you how you did it!

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