Pet sitting is a trust based business, there’s no way around it. Your clients are letting you freely and alone into the most valuable thing they own, their home, to watch the things that are most dear to them, their pets. Either one of these in themselves would be a huge leap of faith and until they’ve really gotten to know you, a leap of blind faith.
This trust factor is further complicated by the fact that in many cases you, as the business owner, are doing the initial meet and greets with new clients and then you’re sending sitters, that the client may not have met personally, into homes. This means you need to be able to give that potential new client a feeling of confidence that they are in good hands with you and your people. This trust building starts before you even meet your clients for the first time in the ways you deliver your marketing messages and then kicks into high gear as soon as you have that first conversation with a potential client. That initial conversation, typically by phone, is critical to setting the groundwork for a great relationship. It’s important to form a connection as soon as possible and luckily, pets are the perfect topic to get people talking. A great pet sitter asks questions about the pets. Not just the standard how many pets and what kind are they questions but more personal questions about how they came to have the pets, what their names are and what their personalities are like. This will set a warm tone for the meet and greet to come.
At the meet and greet you’re there to accomplish a goal; get the pet’s care information, meet the pets and determine the pet sitting need. As importantly, though, you’re there to continue to build that level of trust. You of course want to provide information regarding the safety precautions you take as a business such as insurance and employee vetting and training but the conversation needs to go beyond this. Clients need to feel comfortable that their pets will be in the best possible hands and that they’ll be loved and cared for by the sitter like they would themselves. Clients often have some level of guilt that they have to leave their pets in the care of a sitter and they want to feel, not just that the basic care tasks are being done, but that their pets are happy and that you as a sitter enjoy spending time with their pets.
Once you’ve completed the meet and greet and successfully signed the client up you will continue to form that trusting relationships through your regular visit updates. With well written and thoughtful updates and pictures you have the ability to form a long term trust filled relationship with your client that will be a benefit to all!
How to Protect Your Business…From Your Employees
In the last article we talked about non solicit agreements and whether they were effective or worth it. The conclusion was that that are but they shouldn’t be used in isolation. What else can and should you do to protect your business from employees turned bad. I know...
Non Solicit Agreements – Are they worth it?
Do you have a non-solicit agreement with your employees? I do. It’s part of the employment contract that I have every employee sign before they start work. It’s not something I intentionally set out to do. Back when I was hiring my first employee, I purchased...
(Hiring) Tales From The Dark Side
My husband hates to spend money. Which is okay because I’m a little less frugal. The one thing he enjoys though is a biweekly massage. Every other Friday he goes to a massage therapist and comes home relaxed and happy. He recently called to book his next appointment...
Owning Your Own Business Stinks!
As I sit down to put my thoughts on paper it’s all I can do to remember why I started a pet care business in the first place. Most of us are coming off an incredibly busy couple of months. For pet sitters in particular November and December are the months that can...
Behind the Scenes at PPP – Part 2
In part 1 of this two-part article, I took you behind the scenes at my own pet business, Preferred Pet Partners. We focused on processes and what I do to insure everything runs smoothly day to day. Today we’ll be taking another look behind the scenes but with a focus...
Behind the Scenes at PPP – Part 1
I run a successful 6 figure Pet Sitting and Dog Walking business in Omaha, Nebraska. I live in North Carolina. You’re probably wondering how I pull this off without constant travel back and forth between states (which I don’t do). I thought I’d spend some time today...
We are NOT hiring – How to keep employees long term
You’ve found and hired a new employee, good job! Maybe it’s your first one, maybe you’ve hired several this go round. You might have had an easy road of it with tons of responses of really qualified candidates responding to your job posting. Chances are, though, this...
Dos and Don’ts for your business this holiday season
It’s that time of year again. The crazy busy period between October and January when pet sitting businesses collect a large portion of their annual income. Or is it? This year is going to be a little bit different. Many pet sitters had an amazing summer with more...
Are you desperately trying to hire? Look Here!
The pet care industry is booming right now. Nearly everyone is hiring pet care professionals. In fact, nearly everyone in the service industries is hiring, period. There has never been a period in history so optimal for job seekers. This is great for those looking for...
Happy Birthday Preferred Pet Partners!
Hi! June 2021 marks the 4 year anniversary of Preferred Pet Partners. I’m so grateful to my amazing employees and our awesome clients, human and furry! It’s been such a hard year for everyone and I’m thankful every day for the opportunity to help pet parents. To...
