J.D. Antell's Professional Dog Walking Blog

In my book, The Dog Walker’s Startup Guide I discuss ways to increase marketing through business partnerships. This is a great way to improve your visibility and reach; while also increasing your business’ trust factor by associating with other local well known businesses. Trading clientele between others in the same industry is hardly new, it’s called referrals. One look at the home improvement sector and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Contractors refer work to plumbers, electricians, masons, structural engineers, etc.

A dog walking business is no different. Groomers, pet stores, veterinarians, shelters, and others regularly get inquiries about dog walking and dog sitting services. Your goal is to get on those lists and preferably at the top of them! How do you do this?

Many businesses, like pet stores will allow you to place your name on a bulletin board in their store, and many vets offer this service too, but this simply gets you a little visibility, it lacks the pizazz of being specifically recommended.

Getting the recommendation of your fellow business owners isn’t very hard if you offer them something in return, and show them what you’re worth. Some options include offering your services to your local vets for discounted walks for the sick and/or healing. You may also purchase your dog-related gifts from your locally owned pet food store and reminding them who you are and that you’re in a related business—ask them to consider recommending your services. You might also offer to pass out specific coupons to your clientele from related businesses which could be useful to dog owners. When your clientele bring the coupons in and do some shopping the store owner will realize you’re helping him/her out and will do the same for you.

Working at a shelter is just a good thing morally speaking but it can have huge beneficial effects on your business as well. Why not consider doing what Cheryl Staab, of DogCentric Inc. did and volunteer your services free of charge for a few hours a day at your local shelter in return for being the exclusive dog walking / sitting service they recommend to their dog’s adopters? It seems to be working out very well for Cheryl! You can read more about this story in the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.

There are a lot more ideas than this but I hope you can see that there is a lot of potential for making friends and increasing your business at the same time. Word-of-mouth is alpha in the dog walking service industry!

Many pet sitters will offer dog walking as part of their pet sitting services. However, unlike dog walking, a pet sitter’s focus is not solely on dog-care, but on the care of many different types of animals. This takes the focus away from unique and interesting dog-related activities and adventures that could be planned by someone whose focus is solely on running a dog walking business. Thus taking emphasis away from your single largest demographic, that being dog owners.

Having a pet sitting business requires a much greater time investment and overall responsibility than dog walking and unfortunately for the same or even less money! If you’re like most business owners you want to maximize your income while lowering your overhead. Whether that overhead is time, money, or both. Dog walking fits the bill!

“But I like the idea of working with many different animals, I think it would be fun.”

This is a lifestyle choice. Working with animals is fun and rewarding. I was very into the idea of pet sitting when I started out. I thought the variety of animals, clients, and schedule would be great but it turned out to be very difficult, and I soon found that I was working 7 days a week and couldn’t take a vacation of my own! Pet sitting offers a huge variety of work which is both it’s blessing and it’s curse.

“What would be better: a pet sitting business or dog walking if I eventually want to become a dog trainer?”

Most of the players in the dog training world these days started out in a related dog-care field, many of them having been dog walkers!

“I became a dog walker,” [Cesar Millan] says. “I’d take out 30 dogs, all walking behind me, and people would stop and stare as I’d go through Beverly Hills with rottweilers and pit bulls. I’d take them for four-hour walks and charge $10, and their owners were amazed when I’d bring back calm, contented dogs.” –Telegraph, UK (Mar 2008)

If you eventually want to become a professional dog trainer what better way to learn about dog behavior and gain professional dog handling experience than walking dogs? Dog walking beats pet sitting in this area hands down! The experience you’ll gain handling dogs in public will give you the hands-on knowledge, observation skills, and confidence you’ll need to become a great trainer!

To continue the discussion from last week… Guilt, when understood and properly used in an advertising campaign, can be a highly effective means for driving customer conversions. The “feelings” associated with “guilt” are unpleasant and most people try to relieve them somehow. In our example you will provide the quick and easy means to that end. This becomes the core of your autumn advertising campaign. For those of you who feel that this is somehow manipulation, remember, we did not inject this “guilt” into our audiences’ lives or minds, it was there to begin with. We are simply uncovering, acknowledging, and providing support for this condition. In fact, we are helping folks afflicted with guilt enjoy a fast, easy and affordable recovery. Far easier than the shrink’s couch I dare say!

So, how do we use this knowledge? First we want our advertising to acknowledge the malady (guilt). Then we need to provide the solution (our products and services). Then, we want to show our advertising audience the results they can expect. Finally, a “call to action.”  How might this look?

Winter Winds Keeping You Locked Up Inside?
(acknowledges that it’s beyond their control and implies they are trapped)

Poor Fido…
(but… what about the dog, he doesn’t understand, and so we find the guilt)

Tri-City Dog Walker’s Can Help!
(the solution)

Providing, Safe, Reliable, Professional Dog Walking Services in Just About Any Kind of Weather.
(how it solves their problem)

Call For A Free Information Packet or Visit Us on The Web: Contact Info
(call to action, offering free information will generate more immediate results rather than them pinning it on their fridge or tossing it, and once you have their mailing information or email you can keep in constant contact)*

Fido Will Thank You!
(hints at the relief from guilt and that they WILL actually profit from this transaction**)

So this is a fairly basic, and not particularly creative, example of what I mean. In some advertising mediums you can use images to get your point across. Think about this in terms of before and after shots. The before shot might be a bored or sad dog, the after picture might be a happy dog or “satisfied” person curled up next to a fire with their dog… Pictures are powerful… remember the crying Native American?

More to come next week!

* Note: Never provide your detailed information on your website for “free”. What do I mean by this? I mean you need get something in return. What you want is an email address. So you need to set up an automatic email delivery service on your site so that once they enter their email address your service will send them your “informational packet”. You might even consider having them fill out a BRIEF questionnaire so that you can better understand their needs and create an offer that works for them.

** Note: If you are new to business you may have been brainwashed to think that business is bad. If you have icky feelings about charging people for your services or if you feel that you should always charge less to make up for some feelings of inadequacy you definitely need to address these feelings. The first thing you must understand is that a business is NOT bad. It is good. Most businesses offer a FAIR and EQUITABLE trade for your hard earned cash. Profit is not bad. Profit is the payment for your intangible expertise. Whether you offer a product or service, it doesn’t matter. The profit (the money you charge over and above the hard costs) is payment for the use value of a product, and in the case of a service, your expertise and time. It’s what puts food on the table and allows you to survive. Learn to start embracing the idea that business transactions are never a one way street. Your customer is profiting from the exchange at least as much as you are, and in some cases more!