Leaving on a Jet Plane To Australia - Tonight!

Filed Under Pet Sitting Business Tips | 1 Comment

This week I’ve been packing for our vacation to Austalia to visit my folks in Adelaide. We leave tonight for the long 14 hour plus flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. This will be my step daughter Lindseys first trip to Australia and she requested that we visit the Great Barrier Reef. So we will be visiting Cairns and Port Douglas before we head on to Adelaide. We will also be making my first trip to Kangaroo Island off the southern Australian coast where we hope to see seals lounging on the beaches, fairy penguins, and of course lots of kangaroos and cuddly koalas (don’t know what prompted me to call them cuddly - they look plenty cuddly but from experience they have sharp claws and don’t make a great teddy bear substitute.

To see all of our photos check out my Facebook page. I’ll be posting them when we have internet access. If you are not already one of my Facebook friends please friend me this week (just search for Danielle Chonody - there is only one of us) so that you can join us in enjoying the sights of the land down-under.

On the long plane trip I plan to get started writing my new Home Study course for pet sitters - The Pet Sitting Success System. This course will be the first of it’s kind and will lead you through the process of systemizing the marketing, hiring, and operations functions of your pet sitting business to allow you to run your business with ease, quickly attract clients, take more vacations, all while your company provides superior pet care services. Sound good? It will be 2010 before I release the course - but I promise it will be worth the wait!

This vacation is all possible because I have built a fantastic team of pet sitting staff that are meeting my clients needs while I am away. One of my sitters is managing all of my bookings, client calls, and sitter scheduling. I really couldn’t run my business without them!

It wasn’t easy at first to trust others with my pet sitting clients – in fact it was a big struggle. I know it’s a struggle for many of you too because I get so many questions from other sitters and it has been a major topic of discussion in my mastermind groups. So much so that I started a special competition on my blog where I am encouraging you to ask me the questions that you need to know about staff hiring and management.

Please join in by leaving your questions as comments and you have the chance to win some great prizes like one on one coaching sessions and free membership into my coaching and mastermind groups.

http://workingwithpets.com/pet-sitting-business-tips/what-are-your-questions-about-hiring-and-managing-staff/

I hope everyone has a fanstastic couple of weeks - it will probably be pretty quiet here at my blog, but I’ll try to drop in now and again to leave you some pictures from our trip.

I will also be publishing my ezine Pet Business Power tips while I am away with 2 of my favorite past articles. To get more news and get these articles make sure that you subscribe to Pet Business Power Tips at :

http://www.petbusinesspowertips.com

Best Wishes!

Danielle

What are Your Questions About Hiring and Managing Staff?

Filed Under Pet Sitting Business Tips | 9 Comments

Talk Back Tuesday Tonight on my two Pet Sitting Success Circle mastermind calls we had lots of questions and discussions about hiring and managing staff. We weren’t just talking sitters and walkers but also book keepers, and assistants to handle paperwork and office tasks.

I know that many of you must have similar questions so I wanted to open up a Talk Back Tuesday to collect your questions.

Please post any questions that you have about hiring and managing staff for your pet sitting business as comments on this post and I commit to getting you the answers and information that you need to move forward. I don’t want you to be stuck because you don’t know how to keep moving toward you goals!

My responses will be a mixture of my own experiences and I will also consult with other sitters that I work with to also get you their advice. I will be posting the responses as articles or posts here at Working with Pets so everyone can share in the responses.

I will be giving prizes to the best questions posted by September 19th 2009. Prizes will include free 20 minute one-on-one coaching sessions and several free memberships to my mastermind and coaching group the Pet Sitting Success Circle. I will put the top few questions to the vote by creating a survey - so you as readers can pick the questions that you want to win.

Don’t be shy - there are no silly questions! If you have a question - I know that there are many other sitters who also want an answer.

Let the questions begin!

Danielle

The Benefits of Creating Pet Sitting Business Systems

Filed Under Pet Business Success Circle, Pet Sitting Business Tips | 1 Comment

Owning a business is exciting, but over time it can start to feel overwhelming. This is why it is essential to create a good business system so you do not have to work so hard.
Business Coach Terry Dean once said “The difference between a job and a business is that a job requires you to do all the work. A Business is where you have put a system in place so others can do the work for you.”

A Business will generate income whether you are working or not! Having a business system is how so many franchises have taken over numerous markets. Research shows that businesses with a good solid Business system in place out perform their competition!

Creating a business system may sound hard, however it’s not really that complicated. Here are some easy steps you can take:

Start by writing everything down. If the first thing you do is write a blog about your business, then jot that down. Go to the next thing you do and continue the process till you have every detail written down.

Once you have written everything down, break each of these tasks into single steps. If you wrote a blog, add all the steps you take to do that blog, and so on. Put everything on a step by step basis.

Create a video that describes how you want things done. This can help by giving a visual aid in case something may be difficult to understand in writing.

Try it out on your friends. See if they can understand everything you want performed. You may even be able to hire one of them as your first employee.

The Advantages of having a solid business system is greater than you can imagine. You can have more time to focus on other things, you’ll have consistency with how you want things done, plus you have a solid foundation for opening up another business in a different town or state. Owning a pet sitting business does not have to be mean you do all the work. If you put together a good business system, that can be you’re stepping stone to expand and add more employees.

Creating a business system for your business is a wonderful way to provide guidelines, so others can do exactly what you do. Some great benefits are that, systems will stay around long after employees leave. They provide reliable ways of doing things. You do not have to manage things everyday, which in turn means less stress. A good business system provides a foundation for controlled growth. It can also give business owners more freedom, and can help make more money as well. Over all, you can get things done better and faster.

Join me on our September Pet Sitting Success Circle call to learn from leading systems coach Beth Schneider, owner of Process Prodigy. Register now for Powerful Pet Sitting Systems Call.

In the session with Beth, you will discover how to take your existing business, your existing team, the marketing you are already doing and everything else you’ve got at your disposal… and squeeze 2-3 times the results from them by following her simple, yet amazing, Step-By-Step System.

Ever wonder why success comes so easily for some and is such an uphill battle for others? Those who are making it know the secret. . . having great marketing simply isn’t enough. Yes, you read that right. Marketing is not enough.

Just like you need both a mother and a father to make a baby, you need BOTH savvy marketing and a great operations plan to “make” a successful business; one that brings in the money, lifestyle and freedom you want.

- Want to scream because you are paying good money to a team that messed up . . . again.
- Are overwhelmed because you are juggling hundred of details in your head that you just can’t keep straight.
   - Are worried you’ll forget about an important client.
- Are frustrated because you are missing out on money-making opportunities simply because you don’t have the time to get to them.
Then you want to join me and my friend, Beth Schneider of Process Prodigy for this eye opening call. She is going to show you how to find the money, free time and prestige currently hiding in your business so all you have to do is show up and do the fun stuff.

The one thing you don’t even know you’re doing that is killing your marketing efforts and wasting all that time, money and energy.

How switching your thinking from “WHAT” to “HOW” can prevent things from falling through the cracks so you can watch your bank account fill up.

How you can set your team up to automatically “get it” so they accomplish more than you ever thought possible and say things like, “don’t worry, it’s handled” – and have the surety that it IS!

Her proven 3-step formula that will show you how to get everything out of your head so you can get the business running without you.

Are you ready to build a business where you can just show up and be the star? Then get ready to discover the tricks to building a business that works for you . . . rather than you working for it.

Then register for the call now and join us September 22nd. You can register right here:

If you have registered for any of our past calls you will automatically receive the call in details - you don’t need to re-register.

Look forward to growing with you on this exciting call! Please leave any questions that you have about business systems in the comments.

Circle of Service - The Key to Pet Sitting Client Retention

Filed Under Pet Business Success Circle, Pet Sitting Business Tips | 2 Comments

On our monthly Pet Sitting Success Circle expert call I interviewed Rob Nager, owner of Decadent Dogs and PSI Pet Sitter of the Year 2008. Rob shared with us his secrets to creating fantastic customer service in his pet sitting business.

Outstanding customer service is vital for your company to retain customers and build your business. One of the key concepts that we discussed on the call is the Circle of Service. You can see a diagram of the circle below. The circle illustrates that treating your customers well leads to them trusting you more spending more on your services, and coming back to use your services again and again.

What the circle doesn’t mention is that happy customers also tell friends and family about your service which leads to more clients and more income!

One of the other nuggets that Rob gave us on the call was how to use RATER to to ensure you meet customer expectations.

RATER stands for :

Reliability - Making sure you overpromise and overdeliver on your services

Assurance - Projecting an image that lets clients know that your company is worthy of their trust

Tangibles - Portraying your company so that people know you are the best sitter for them

Empathy - Letting clients know that you understand their bond with their animals

Responsiveness - Returning client calls and resolving issues promptly

Apply these 5 rules to your business to get the circle of service in motion and create raving fans.

On the call Rob also shared :

- 6 keys to communicating an exceptional customer service attitude

- How to ensure you staff are committed to providing fantastic customer service

- Words that you should be using when you communicate with clients

- What you should never say if you want to keep clients happy!

To listen to the full call recording and get a copy of Robs customer service powerpoint presentation used at his PSI workshops sign up to become a member of the Pet Sitting Success Circle today. You’ll also get recordings and written transcripts of all our past calls, 4 bonus special reports, copies of my pet sitting forms, and the One Page Pet Business Plan toolkit. A great deal for only $7 for your first month. Give it a try at no risk today - Find out what Rob loves about the Pet Sitting Success Circle here.

Promoting Your Pet Sitting Business Using Facebook

Filed Under Pet Sitting Business Tips | 9 Comments

As a pet sitter, you may be wondering how you can take advantage of this social network. Facebook is a wonderful way to advertise your business and connect with others who may have the same interest as you. This can help you build a personal relationship with potential clients, or clients you already have. It’s hard not to notice that almost everyone has or knows about Facebook. This is because it has more than 31 million members across the globe, and is growing every day. The great news about this is where there are that many members, there is potential to acquire clients, promote your business, and drive traffic to your site.

Utilizing all that Facebook has to offer can truly boost your pet sitting opportunities. Many people have found Facebook to be an essential addition to their business. You can use it as a professional tool by following these steps.

Create a profile for yourself – this allows you to generate a network of friends, colleagues and clients to be your friends. Use this profile strictly for your personal life.

Create a business page for your pet sitting business – this allows you to generate a network around your business by inviting your colleagues and clients to be fans of your business. You can keep this page strictly for your pet sitting business. This way you can keep your business site always professional.
Here are step by step instructions for setting up your business page:
1. Visit this URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
2. Decide what the best category is for your business. (Spend a couple of minutes on this as you can’t change it later easily. There is a category for pets).
3. Enter your business name and click “Create Page”.
4. Enter a short description of your business and a website address. This is in the “Add Information To This Page” area. You can also upload your logo as a photo/image.
5. Click on your business name in the top left corner (it’s a hyperlink) and then click “publish this page” (until you do this, nobody but you will be able to see your new Facebook business profile).
6. Finally, and this is important, from your new profile page, click “Add to my products”. This way, you become the first “fan” of your business.

Once you’ve become a “fan” of your business, your friends on Facebook (some of which are likely customers) will see a message in their home page. Something like “Danielle Chonody is a fan of WorkingwithPets”. Hopefuly, some of your Facebook friends will befriend your business. Then, their friends will see a message, and so it goes.

Promote your blog – If you have a company blog, you can Import it onto your Facebook page. Your postings will automatically appear in your news feed and all your friends will see it on their pages. Here is a step by step guide:
1. Sign into your Facebook profile or business page
2. On the bottom tool bar, click on applications, then notes
3. On the right hand side you will see note settings. Click on “import a blog”
4. Type the URL of your blog. If you use the RSS feed then only a small portion of your blog will show up. If you want the entire blog to show, you must type in the standard URL.
5. At the bottom of the preview, click on confirm import.

Post new things on your wall each day – They will appear in the news feeds and can keep everyone updated on special offers, services you provide, and general news about you.

Selling merchandise – Hats with your logo or special dog treats for example, can be sold using the marketplace. This is a free service that you can use to promote items from your website or even Ebay.

Develop a Facebook application for your pet sitting business – This is a great opportunity to keep your business growing and get more people interested in the service you provide.

Join groups related to your business and interest – The groups will show up on friends’ pages and can help others notice the causes you support.

Facebook is not going to generate massive traffic to you instantaneously. You will have to work at keeping things updated and find the right people to add. It’s more of an additional communication passage for your business and your clients. If you use it in the right way, it can bring you plenty of additional exposure.

If you have a facebook business page for your pet sitting business let us know in the comments so we can find you and become a fan!

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