What If Your Pet Sitting Clients Don’t Pay?

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

No matter if you are just starting out, or are a pro with your pet sitting business, you will always have one or two clients who pay you late or not at all. Here are ten ways you can deal with late paying clients.

1. Contact – Call the clients as soon as the payment is late. Do not let weeks go by without letting them know how much they owe, or how they can pay you.

2. Remind them – People have busy lives, and sometimes they forget. Give them a friendly call, or post card to remind them again.

3. Invoice – Sending an invoice will not only help you keep records, but will also let them know how much they owe you, and how to get the payment to you.

4. Email – Emails are a nice and friendly way to let them know you are still here, and you still need to be paid for your service.

5. Be clear – When you set up the appointment to watch a pet, be sure to let your clients know how you prefer to be paid, and when you will expect the payment.

6. Stay professional - Show compassion, but be firm. Clarify to them that you value their business, but you need to receive payment for the service you provided as defined in the contract.

7. Late fees – If a long time has gone by and payment still has not been made, be sure to add a late fee. Most places add twenty five dollars, but the amount is up to you. Also make a note to not work for these clients again, because they are more hassle then you need. Be sure to black list them and tell other pet sitters to steer clear of these clients as well.

8. Lawyer – Hopefully you will not have to take this step, but since you have a business, it’s important to get paid for the work you do. If you have a lawyer tell him/her the issue, and most places will write you a free letter for you to send to these clients stating legal action will be made if payment is not paid in full by a certain date. Legal action does not have to be made for your lawyer to do this for you. It’s more of a scare tactic so the clients know you are serious.

9. Payment plan – If all else fails, give them a payment plan so they can make payments each week. This will help them and you, because at least you will be getting paid something.

10. Claims – As a last resort you can turn the case over to collections, and go to small claims court. This may end up costing you court fees and time away from other potential clients. However it will show you are a serious business owner, and prove you will not work without payment no matter what the amount may be.

Dealing with clients who just won’t pay is not fun by any means. If you stay calm and professional, most clients will let you know their situation, and give you a time line as to when they will be able to pay. Be understanding and keep in touch with them often. Send them emails, phone calls and letters to remind them in a pleasant way. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to be paid right away, and avoid the unnecessary torture.

Do You Send Clients a Newsletter or Ezine?

Filed Under Pet Sitting Business Tips | 1 Comment

Last week I posted 10 reasons why pets sitters need to grow a list of prospective clients so that we can keep in touch, grow a relationship, and build credibilty.

I use a program called Aweber.com to place a sign up box for my online newsletter or ezine on my pet sitting website. I offer visitors to my site two free gifts as an incentive to fill out their name and email in the sign up box - a pre-travel checklist and a local pet services guide. (You can see my sign up box on the right side bar of http://www.protectingmax.com)

Once people fill out the box their name and contact email are added to a subscriber list inside my Aweber.com account. Every other week I go into my account and write my newsletter and then Aweber sends it out to everyone on my subcriber list.

The Aweber system is one example of an autoresponder program. An autoresponder collects lists of names and then allows you to send emails to this list whenever you choose to. The program also allows you to send out automatic welcome emails as soon as visitors fill out the sign up box (this is how I deliver my 2 free gifts) and also allows you to set up and deliver a series of email messages to subscribers at pre-determined intervals - such as a 5 day e-course.

There are many other autoresponder systems that you can use such as Constant Contact, GetResponse, and those contained in shopping cart systems such as Wahmcart and 1Shoppingcart - but Aweber is the most widely used.

You can send out your ezine or newsletter either in a plain text format or in HTML format. The HTML format lets you use graphics and a background template. You can get a customized template designed with your logo by a graphic designer or web specialist.

Let me know what questions you have about setting up your own ezine by leaving a comment.

Are you currently delivering an ezine or newsletter to your clients or prospective clients? I’d love to hear about how you deliver it and what types of content you use - eg articles, coupons, competitions, pet of the month etc. Share by leaving a comment!

Social Media Tips for Pet Sitters

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

Last week I interviewed Joan Fernandez from PetBusinessVA.com and learnt a lot of fresh new tips for using Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to promote a pet sitting business.

It’s funny because I think I originally connected with Joan on Twitter and we have kept in touch on Facebook.

It’s amazing how much social media is growing! Facebook now has 300 million users - and the fastest growing segment on Facebook is women aged 55-65. So it’s not just for the teens anymore. More than 1.5 million pieces of information including web links, news stories, videos, photos, blog posts, and notes, are shared on Facebook every day. You can find some other great social media tidbits in this video on Joans blog :

http://www.petbusinessva.com/social-media-revolution/

Some big advantages of using social media marketing include:

1. It’s FREE

2. You can use it to network with peers

3. You can use it to build relationships

4. You can connect with people that you otherwise wouldn’t

Social media can also help you to build closer relationships with existing clients, build credibility, and increase your website traffic.

One of the highlights of the call for me were Joans tips on using Twitter to connect with people looking for pet sitters in your local area. Joan uses keywords such as pet sitter and her city name to do twitter searches using Tweetdeck,Twellow, and LocalTweeps.com to find tweets from people in her area of Washington DC who are looking for pet sitter recommendations. A trick I’d never thought of trying before! Joan also introduced us to twitter email alerts using tweetbeep.com using these types of keywords.

At the end of the call Joan also showed us how to save time with social media by using Ping to send updates to you Twitter, Facebook and Linked In profiles. We also discussed cell phone applications that you can use on the go to post pictures of clients pets and new updates.

If you want to hear the entire call and make sure you don’t miss any of Joans valuable tips - the recording and transcript are now available to download to all Pet Sitting Success Circle Members. I have just given this membership a facelift - including a new name - now the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence - plus I have reduced the monthly membership to only $9.95 per month so that it is more accessible to everyone.

To become a member and get access to a library of over 12 months of calls, articles and special reports - sign up now at the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence.

Why You Need A Pet Sitting Blog - Get Free PR!

Filed Under Pet Sitting Business Tips | 1 Comment

I was so excited and grateful this week when Yvonne Ybarra contacted me via email to let me know she planned to write a review on my pet sitting business Protecting Max for her site that highlights local pet businesses and events in Dallas Fort Worth - Dallas Dog Life.

Yvonne found me here at Working with Pets and has been a reader for some time. This is a great example of how a blog can raise the profile of your business and get you found by other online publishers and even offline publishers too!

Yvonne found all the information for her article here and at my pet sitting business blog so I didn’t even have to spend any time answering questions or giving her information. Truly a testiment to the power of blogging!

You can read the full article here http://www.dallasdoglife.com/

Is there a local pet directory website like Dallas Dog Life in your area. Why wait for them to contact you - why don’t you write to them and ask if they would like to review your business? Or you could always offer to write a useful pet article that they can publish on their site.

In the next few weeks I’ll be posting some new articles here to help you get your own blog up - and if you do already have a blog then I’ll also be giving you some ideas about what to post and how to get your readers and clients more engaged.

If you also have a story to tell about how your blog has got you free publicity be sure to let us know by posting a comment!

10 Reasons Pet Sitters Must Grow a List

Filed Under Pet Business Tips, Pet Sitting Business Tips | 3 Comments

Growing an email list is probably an activity that you associate more with internet marketers than pet sitters - am I right? But as a pet sitter that can harness the power of the internet to find new potential clients via their website, engage them, and then build a relationship with them by keeping in regular contact, you will have a big advantage over your competition who is not taking advantage of this opportunity.

If your pet sitting website ranks well in the major search engines or is listed in many online directories I’m sure you are getting many people each day visiting your site. Some of these visitors are looking for pet care services today and some are browsing for information for a future need. It is important that you have a system in place to engage customers ready to use your service today (by clearly listing your contact details or providing an online reservation form) and that you also have a system to capture the contact details of potential clients who are visiting your site but not yet ready to make a buying decision.

When these potential clients are ready to buy from you, you want to make sure that your service is the one at the top of their mind. A very effective way to keep in touch and educate these potential clients about your company is by using an online newsletter (ezine) or a blog.

Of course to be able to keep in contact using an ezine or blog you first have to collect a visitors contact info. The easiest way to do this is by placing an opt-in or sign up form on your website. Many people are hesitant about giving this information so you have to give these visitors a good reason to sign up by offering them information that they perceive to be valuable. You can see an example of a sign up box at my pet sitting site on the right side bar of the site http://www.protectingmax.com.

You’ll notice that I offer visitors two free gifts in exchange for their information - a free pre-travel checklist and a Tarrant county pet services guide which is a list of pet resources in my local area such as groomers, trainers, and pet stores. Once a visitor signs up they will then receive my regular email newsletter delivered to their inbox. Feel free to sign up to see how this process works.

Once you have their permission to send them regular information you can use your email newsletter or blog to :

1. Educate them about the benefits of your service

2. Update them on latest pet news and local pet events

3. Send them surveys to find out more about their pet care needs

4. Get them engaged by running competitions

5. Tell them about your referral programs

6. Send them informative pet care and pet health articles

7. Let them know about new services as they are introduced

8. Send them discount coupons or special offers

9. Involve them by running a pet of the month column so they can show off their pets

10. Build your credibility and become a trusted advisor

I hope you can see how powerful it can be to be to have a system in place that keeps you in contact with potential pet sitting clients!