Clients

How To Effectively And Efficiently Network Your Pet Sitting Business – And Have Fun Doing It!

Network for your pet business

A Note from Joshua Cary: Here is another solid article written by our friend, Laura Capra (of Keep Me Company Pet Sitting). It’s on the topic of networking, and it’s a continued conversation from our recent video training session with Derek Coburn.

Make sure to also watch that session on Youtube here.

With that, take some time to really understand and implement this new way of approaching your networking efforts. We look forward to keeping the dialogue going in the comments.

You know that psychology word game where a person says a particular word and you have to say whatever first comes to your mind after you hear it?  What word do you think of when you hear “networking”?

  • Fear
  • Intimidating
  • Pointless
  • Boring
  • Strangers
  • Group

That’s what a lot of people say.  Derek Coburn even wrote a book entitled “Networking Is Not Working” because in the old school sense, it’s not.

For most people it is a waste of time, it’s cold calling, you might as well put 50+ of your business cards in the trash because you are going to get the same amount of business if you were to pass 50 cards out at a networking event.

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How To Land Your Ideal Client Every Time (or at least 90% of the time)

your ideal client as a cupcake

Preface by Joshua Cary:

No matter what you find yourself doing in life, it will most likely be met with one of these three emotions:

  1. You get really excited and look forward to it.
  2. You have neutral feelings about the event or activity and understand it’s something that simply must get done.
  3. You cringe at the thought of it and can not wait for it to be over.

This could be anything in life from doing the dishes, packing for vacation, joining your spouse for a work event, or walking your new client’s pooch.

Let’s face it: Not all pet sitting clients are created equally.

Some we take on with a smile and would do so for zero dollars. While others we wish we didn’t take on for all the money in the world.

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Will Your Pet Sitting Clients Understand That You Are Taking Time Off To Attend A Conference For Pet Sitters?

pet sitting angry client
Do your clients get angry if and when you take time off?
So, you’re a hard-working professional pet sitter working 24/7, 365.

You’ve known for quite some time that a break (dare I call it a ‘vacation’?) would be amazing, but it’s far from possible, right?

You want to get away for even a short time, enjoy that much needed break, learn a thing or two, network with other professional pet sitters, and finally meet face to face those who you’ve known online for years.

(Not to mention, relaxing by a pool, soaking up some sun, and sipping on your favorite cocktail…)

But there is just one issue…

Your clients are going to be so mad at you for attending the PetSittingOlogy Live Event and Conference in Vegas, right?

Of course not. In fact, many attendees last year were in your exact shoes and they have actually seen their business GROW.

Are you worried that your clients are going to be mad at you if you come to the conference?

Are you worried that they will replace you with another pet sitter?  Do you feel guilty?  Responsible?

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Hiring Staff for Your Pet Sitting Business? Why Background Checks Are a Must. [Video]

Law Books
If you hire pet sitters for your team, background checks are a must. See why and how it all works.

When you reach a certain point in your pet sitting business, you may find that bringing on pet sitters to join your team is a logical next move.

With that wonderful decision comes plenty of more wonderful responsibilities – all resting on your shoulders as business owner.

The very last thing you need happening is hiring the wrong person.

Aside from wasting your valuable time that you can’t afford to lose in the first place, hiring the wrong pet sitter for your team can get you in all sorts of legal battles.

This is one small reason it’s vital you do your due diligence at the start by legally performing a background check on all of your applicants.

You’ll sleep soundly at night, and your clients (and potential clients) will love you for it.

Thankfully we have Jason Waggoner on our side.

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How to Create the Perfect About Us Page to Gain More Happy Clients [Audio Broadcast]

about us photo
Discover exactly why your About Us page is one of the most important pages on your website.

You already know how important your entire website is in regards to your overall marketing efforts, right?

You also know I spend plenty of time teaching you about blog posts, articles, landing in Google, optimizing your web pages and more.

But how often do we speak about the importance of your About Us page? (Listen to the complete audio broadcast on this page.)

Did you realize that your About Us page is in fact one of the most important pages on your entire website?

Why is that? It’s one of the few places your website users can connect with and learn about YOU!

(You know, the person they will hire.)

This word is worth repeating: Connection. As with most anything we do in life, we are drawn to the people most like ourselves.

Whether it’s in a business partnership, friendship, or romantic relationship, we seek others similar to ourselves.

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Would You Honor The Same Rate As The Prior Pet Sitter?

tshirt rack

Price shoppers. We all deal with them on a more regular basis than we’d prefer.

They come in all shapes and sizes, and they all approach the subject differently.

Sometimes their price shopping tendencies show up early in the chat (which is great for us so we waste as little time as possible), while other times you’ll spend 30 minutes on the phone detailing every aspect of what you do and how you do it still only to met with resistance to your very reasonable rate.

My pet sitting business received the below service request recently and I think it’s a good one to discuss.

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How to Attract New Clients and Fans Directly to Your Pet Sitting Business

broken bridge

Do you know the true definition of the word “fan”?

And more amazingly, did you know that a ‘fan’ is an abbreviation of the word ‘fanatic’?

So, when you are a fan of something, it suggests you are a fanatic of that thing.

As you know, the definition of a fan is: an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer. (Thanks, Dictionary.com!)

Thinking about your own pet sitting business and client base, you probably have some true fans of your business, right?

You know those clients that sing your praises, love everything you do and how you do it, and can not live without you.

How wonderful would it be to have even more fanatics of your service?

It’s possible to follow a proven path to increase the chances of gaining many more fans of your business.

And it’s these fans that will keep you in business, keep you sane, and actually help grow your business with you.

This Video Clip Helps Get The Ball Rolling.

At the 2013 PetSittingOlogy Conference, we were lucky enough to have keynote speaker, Maribeth Kuzmeski kick off the event with her presentation, “And The Clients Went Wild! Strategies from the Playbooks of Successful Companies for Winning New Business.”

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Is GPS Tracking a Smart Idea for Pet Sitters to Use?

GPS trackingAs you know, pet owners have many options when choosing a pet sitter in their area to serve them.

Our job then becomes to create a professional first impression through our website and hope that they make contact.

From there, you will have to continue to dialogue and differentiate yourself to become the clear and only choice.

Some pet sitters like to offer GPS tracking to their mix to give the pet parents an extra sense of security and control.

However, at times the concept is not all its cracked up to be.

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Client Won’t Accept Their House Keys Back! Now What?

old keysHow many sets of client house keys do you currently have in your possession?

Plenty, I’m sure.

But, what is your [process,system] for returning those keys to the pet owner when the job is complete?

Now think about how your process would change if, for whatever reason, the client did not want to claim their set of keys.

Sound crazy?

Well, I received an email (a plea for help) recently from a frustrated pet sitter who finds herself in this predicament.

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Do Lawn Signs Really Work As A Form of Good Pet Sitter Marketing?

lawn sign photo
Do Lawn Signs work as good pet sitter marketing? One pet sitter says Yes!

One of the things I love most about our pet sitting industry is the varied way pet sitters run, operate and market their businesses.

Success comes in all shapes and sizes.

For example, some pet sitters find great success using Craigslist to hire staff, while others do not.

Some have had clients find them through pet directories, or had a Google Adwords campaign pay off, while others lost money though those forms of advertising.

I was recently speaking with pet sitter Rachel Muhammad, of See Spot Run, LLC, who mentioned that she successfully uses lawn signs to market her pet sitting business.

It makes sense Rachel was influenced by the real estate industry for this method. According to the National Association of Realtors, 48% of homes that are for sale by owner successfully use yard signs to market and promote the sale of their home.

I was intrigued by this form of promotion and wanted to hear more. Here is our Q&A session on the topic:

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