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Want Your Very Own Virtual Office Manager for Your Pet Sitting Business?

All Good Things Must Come To An End…

It’s been a good run. At this time, we have stopped offering our virtual office service. After three years of answering calls for pet business owners, we made the decision to focus our energy and resources on the core services and goal of PetSittingOlogy.

Please continue to rely on us for your professional SEO and website needs, our upcoming PSO Membership Training, and our Annual Live Pet Care Conference!

beth my right hand
This is Beth – My right hand gal!

How does the idea of having your very own virtual office manager sound?

Whether you are a sole proprietor handling every aspect of your business yourself, or you manage staff and can use an extra hand, this may be just what you need.

Picture this… Your virtual office manager will answer your phone with a friendly, professional voice – Using your script, your company tone, your pricing structure, your details.

Have your personal office manager immediately handle all your incoming phone calls and incoming email submissions, too.

And the best part is that this takes place in the NJ office where I (Josh Cary) spend my days – this is NOT an outsourced operation.

How It Works

Your business phone line will be answered on the first ring. Plus, within a few minutes of any email lead coming in, your virtual office manager will reply via phone or email on your behalf (depending on the preferred contact method of the potential client).

How would you like to pass off the responsibility of answering your business phone for a while? Or following up with clients to coordinate schedules? Or a host of other tasks?

Whether you’re out all day caring for pets, just don’t feel like selling your service at the moment, or feel you could be more productive focusing on other parts of your business, this is for you.

Get this: For the past few weeks, I’ve been able to work with my pet sitting colleagues and friends, Tori and Megan of Endless Pawsibilities on this new service that I’ve wanted to offer for a while now.

Looking For A Handful More Pet Sitters

Krisite, office manager
This is Kristie – Our first virtual office manager for you!

This service been a solid success so far and I’m now looking for 3-5 more pet sitters to slowly bring on board. I personally work with and train the assistant to make sure all is on track.

It’s working great with Tori and she is thrilled to be able to give up that part of the job and focus on other aspects of her day.

Calls come in, it alerts us which pet sitting business it is and automatically records the call too for quality control.

Once we finish the call and have all the needed info, we immediately note the details on a privately shared Google doc for you to receive in real time.

This is a completely customized service to your specific business wants and needs.

I can currently offer phone service Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm EST.

You can choose to forward calls as needed, or during the entire 9-5 block.

If you wish, beyond 5pm EST, you can still forward your calls to us, have us receive the voice mail messages, and we will return the calls first thing the following morning.

Important Note: Once we have enough pet sitters on board, I can extend the hours to evening and weekend hours.

Success! Watch This Case Study of How 3 Pet Sitters Currently Love What We Do!

Update: We’ve now been offering this service to pet sitters for well over a year (since February 2013) and those on board could not be happier. Take some time to watch how these 3 very different pet sitters achieve amazing results…

There are currently 3 levels of service to choose from:

Keep in mind that, like any business, it will be completely customized to your wants and needs. We can handle everything from the basic to the more advanced (entering info into Leashtime or Power Pet Sitter, emailing your clients, etc).

A: Friendly conversation with message taking.

-Answers on behalf of your company “Thank you for calling Kate’s Pet Sitting. This is Sue, how can I help you?”

-Gets all relevant information (Client name, location, pet info, dates of service, requested service, email address, return phone number, best time to call, how did they find you…)

-You supply form with all necessary info you want us to record.

-Will answer general questions about services offered but will not go into great detail about service recommendations or pricing. Will refer caller back to owner for follow up: “What I’ll do now is get your info over to Kate, the owner of the company, who will be able to answer all your specific questions and help you further. She’ll typically be in touch with you by tomorrow the latest. Sound good?”

B: Everything but setting the meet-n-greet.

Your Virtual Office Manager will do everything on the phone, as listed above, including answering specific questions, recommending the best service, and explain all options in detail. Your pricing structure will be discussed accordingly (unless you specify otherwise).

The goal at this point will be to get the potential client completely sold on your service and excited by the idea of hiring your company as their pet sitter. Full process and next steps will be spelled out. Typically, call will end with potential client deciding on best service option for her needs.

Office manager will also work towards getting a verbal commitment to take the next steps to set up the meet-n-greet. “So how does all that sound? … OK, great! So, to recap, you’d like to go ahead and book us for mid-day walks beginning next Monday? … Perfect. I’m going to get in touch right now with Kate, the owner, who will be in touch with you shortly to set up that meet-n-greet, OK? … Before we hang up, do you have any more questions for me?”

C: The Whole Kit and Kaboodle

Your Virtual Office Manager will do all of the above including checking your staff (or your) availability and schedule a date and time with client for the meet-n-greet. She can even contact you or your staff to confirm details before finalizing with client.

Your office manager can also send emails, welcome packets, service agreements, etc. using your company email address.

She can even email current clients on your behalf, send out newsletters/announcements/promotions, and can handle current client reschedules or service changes.

Remember, we’re your office manager! Everything is possible.

For example, need to post a new hire ad? Want us to screen the calls? Need a bit of online research handled? Looking for something else?

Done.

Want to Come on Board? Have Questions or Comments?

Interested in coming on board at this early stage? Leave a comment below and we can get the ball rolling.

Thanks!

*Would YOU like us to work on your Website?*

If you are looking to dramatically improve your website results by appearing on the front page of Google (like we have done for hundreds of your professional pet industry colleagues), then review the options here and let's compare notes!

. . .

Josh Cary is a respected and well sought-after speaker and business consultant within the professional pet care industry. Since 2009, having grown his own pet sitting business, Josh provides his industry with the tools, support, and resources to build and maintain a thriving and respected pet business.

With a strong focus on digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and website development, Josh’s one mission is to help you Get Found First through a professional and effective website.

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This Post Has 82 Comments

  1. Great idea, Josh! I’d like to visit with you regarding this! I emailed you earlier.

    1. Robin, I don’t seem to have gotten an email from you 🙁 Can you resend, and I will also reach out to you next week regarding this. Thanks!

    1. Hey Darlene. I will reach out to you via email next week! Thanks for your interest.

    1. Awesome Pam. I will add you to our “interested” list and send you out a note in the coming days. Thanks!

  8. Hi Josh, What a great idea…would love to talk to you more about it….very interested.

    1. Thanks Pamela! We are gathering a list of interested pet sitters and you are on it 🙂 I will be emailing you privately in the coming days.

    1. It’s like you are reading my mind! Seriously. This will be an extension of this service. Wanna chat further via email? 🙂

    1. You got it, Lori! I will definitely be in touch in the coming days to get the ball rolling. Thanks for your interest!

  13. Hi Joshua
    I have been talking to a few companies about this and you just answered my prayers. Give me a call or email me with more info please.

    2. Are you still looking for your prayers to be answered 🙂 ? We are opening some spots up for some new clients this month. Let me know if you want to chat!

    1. Hey Rod and Jill, We have 2 spots that just opened up. I emailed you a while back. Let me know if you want to chat about this! Thanks 🙂

    1. Hey Christina, I just sent you an email with more info. We currently have only 2 more spots open. Talk to you soon! Thanks.

  16. Hi Josh! I am interested in this service, but I currently use my cell phone for business. Would I need a dedicated number for just dog walking?

    1. Great question, Mary Anne. Short answer is NO. What you have will work. What happens is that once you sign up with us, we provide you a local number to you and you simply forward your CURRENT number to the NEW number we give you. That then automatically routes your calls to us. If this is not possible for you to do, you have other simple options to make it work. Please schedule a time to chat with me by blocking off time here: https://petsittingology.acuityscheduling.com Thanks!

  17. Hello! My names is Tiffany, I have a dog walking company in California. I am very very interested in this service and I would love to chat with you about rates and availability. My email

    1. Hi Tiffany, Glad to see you here! First step, please schedule a short convo with me by blocking off time on my calendar here: http://meetme.so/joshuacary Quick, easy, simple. (I’ll also send to your email!) Looking forward.

  20. Hi Josh,
    I actually responded to your email about this some time ago. I may be interested in using your service. I am interested in hearing more and knowing the cost involved. We often get 10 or 15 calls in a day and could use some help answering them.

    Thanks,
    Tom Sawyer
    Aunt Darlene’s Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Service, LLC

  21. Your service sounds exactly like what I need! Please send some information via email. Thanks

    1. Hey Todd, we got your booking request, so the ball is rolling! Thanks for your interest and I look forward and speaking with you next week.

  23. HI Josh, Totally interested. Need more info.

    Megan Shepardson
    South Sound Hounds
    Tacoma, WA

    1. Awesome! Best approach is to schedule a brief time to chat on my calendar – https://petsittingology.com/cal – on the call, I learn all about your business and needs, you learn all about what I can provide and everyone’s happy! Talk to you soon. Thanks!

  24. Hi Joshua, I would like to find out more about this service. Do you have a package of preliminary information that you could send me?

    1. Hi there Erin – I’d be happy to give you insight into the service. I do not have any sort of info packet. It’s more about gathering your needs and best case scenario that we can serve you with. Can you grab a slot on my calendar and we can go from there? https://petsittingology.com/cal -Thanks!

    1. Hi Lois – At the moment, I do not offer evenings and weekends. It is offered Monday – Friday 9 – 5p. When we expand, I will let you know!

  27. Hi Josh
    I have an appointment with you to discuss the office manager concept but I don’t think you received my information. How can I get a hold of you? Miriam

  29. Hi Josh, Do you provide this service on short as needed basis? I’m going on a cruise in Feb and won’t be available to my clients by phone, I’m considering having one of my sitters manage things, but would like to look at what you offer as an option. If I can have a reliable service to make bookings and “be me” while I’m away, maybe I can take that overseas trip that is long overdue. Let me know when it would be a good time to chat about options.

  30. So very interested in this assistance. I snagged January 9th on your calendar and am hoping I can hold out for that long! Thank you so much. – Kristen Smith

    1. We’d love the same! We got your scheduled request and look forward to chatting that day and time. Thanks, Laura.

  32. Hey Josh

    Just wondering if you might want to extend this offer to outside the USA eventually (ie Australia) ?

    1. Hey Vanessa – Great to hear from you! I would consider expanding the service anywhere. We do currently serve Canada and pet sitters there, so the only “issue” would be getting the time differences sorted out. What did you have in mind?

    1. Hi Rebecca, Thanks for your question. We have a variety of tiers, as you can see, and each pet sitter’s needs are different. However, our beginning package starts at $300/mo. If you’d like to set up a time to speak and go over your specifics in detail, please set up a time on my calendar: https://petsittingology.com/cal – Thanks!

      1. Hello curious if prices adjust for number of calls per month let’s say one company is doing one call a week another is doing 30 🙂

        Just curious as some of us are slowly growing lol

        1. Hey Vinny! Good question. Typically it’s a set fee per month for virtually unlimited calls (we do include 200 calls per month with base plan so we do not overload the gals). Starting plan for message taking service (doesn’t include setting up meet n greet or scheduling/following up) starts at $300/mo. We get the ball rolling with you on a 45 minute chat so we can learn all about your business set up and needs. Thanks for asking. See you on FB!

  35. Hi Joshua! I’m in need of a service that could cover for my full-time office manager when she’s out of town. Is this a service you can provide?

    1. Hi Colleen – Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, we have discovered that serving on an “as needed” basis like that does not work well for either party. For one, arriving at a suitable fee structure is quite difficult (opposed to our flat monthly service fee). I really wish we could, so if your needs change, please do get back in touch with me so we can help. Sound good?

  36. Hi Josh
    Where do I get more information about signing up for this service?
    Thanks
    Cathy

  37. Hi Joshua, I have a mobile dog grooming business. It gets frustrating at
    times when I’m in the middle of a dog groom and I get a call. Potential
    client calls are very important to me. I’ve learned in the past that if
    I don’t take the call live, I will lose about half of my potential new
    clients. On that note, I feel that your service can be a real asset to
    my business success. Can your service book appointments for me? I desire
    to groom two dogs a day, Monday through Friday. A 10am and a 2pm.
    within a 15 mile radius of zip code 33615. Thank you for your assistance
    in advance. Michelle.

    1. Great to hear from you, Michelle! Yes, we can take the call from “Hello” all the way through booking and scheduling, and follow ups. I just sent you an email with next steps. Thanks.

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