What Do Want To Learn in 2010? - Suggest Topics for Our 2010 Monthly Calls

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I’m starting to prepare for 2010 and on my to-do list is setting up the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence monthly call topics. I want to know what you need to learn so that you can grow your pet sitting business to fantastic new heights next year.

I do have some ideas - here is what I have together so far:

December - Vicky Collins “The Deduction Diva” and CPA - Know Your Pet Sitting Tax Deductions

January - Building Yuor Marketing Plan for 2010 Using the Marketing Pie

February - How to Organize and Market Your Own Pet Event or Open House

March - How to Setup A Pet Sitting Business Blog

April - Working with A Virtual Staff

May - How to Promote Customer Interaction Through Your Blog and Ezine

June - How to Become A Corporate Provider of Pet Sitting Services To Local Businesses

July - Pet Sitting Customer, Contractor, and Employee Contracts

August - Managing Your Pet Sitting Staff

September - Encouraging Clients to Review Your Business Online

October - How to Use a Blog Tour To Promote Your Business

November - Ways to Increase Revenues in 2011

December - Pet Sitting Software Packages

What do you think? Are these topics of interest to you? Are there other skills that you need to master to really push you ahead?

Please let me know by leaving a comment - I’d love to hear what you need to succeed!

Social Media Tips for Pet Sitters

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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.

Fundamentals of Fantastic Customer Service

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When owning your own business it’s important to know how to provide exceptional customer service. Without it, you may end up with unhappy customers, and that can cause you to lose business to other pet sitting competitors.

Fantastic customer service creates repeat business and customers who can’t stop themselves from talking to all their friends and family about you.

Next month I am interviewing Rob Nager of Decadent Dog - PSI Pet Sitter of the Year to learn his customer service secrets. To join us on August 11th on the call register now at http://www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com/RobCustomerService.htm

Rob has delivered seminars on customer service at the PSI annual conference and at their regional events. If you haven’t had a chance to hear how he wows his customers - don’t miss this opportunity to hear him without leaving home!

Knowing the fundamentals of customer service is the secret to a thriving business. Owning my own business has taught me that there are five major things that you can do to keep your customers coming back again and again!

• Be knowledgeable about the service you provide.
The more you know about your service, the more prepared you will be when providing it to your customers. Do your research and make sure you know everything there is to know about your business. Without that knowledge you could find your potential customers going elsewhere. You want them to feel informed about what you are offering and not have any confusion of what your services may include.
• Always listen
It’s so important to listen to what your customers are telling you. It always seems easier for me to take notes. The more I remember about them the better they will feel, and want to come back again.
• Show your smile
You can’t always be serious when dealing with people. By smiling, you are showing your customers you are happy they chose you over another company. Being yourself and feeling comfortable helps build a better relationship with your clients. By you smiling, you are showing confidence, and that will cause them to feel more comfortable around you as well!
• Do more then you have to
Just because your job title may be “Dog Walker” for instance, does not mean you can’t also brush the dog after its walk. This will show that you actually love what you do, and want to do more than is expected of you. No matter what your job title may be, going above and beyond will show your customers how dedicated you really are, and they will want to use your service again.
• Make it memorable
Give clients as wonderful and memorable an experience as you possibly can. The more memorable experience they have, the better chance you have of them recommending you to someone else. If they remember you, they will talk about you to others. . If clients talk about you to their friends, then that is the best advertisement you can ask for.

Remember, always be confident about what you are offering. Owning your own business is hard work, but knowing how to keep your customers coming back is the source to keeping your business alive. Show them you have the expertise, pay attention to them, be happy and smile, give them more then they asked for, and try to make their experience memorable. If you can do these five things, then you will have a successful pet sitting business!

Again don’t forget to register for my call with Rob and get your questions answered (it’s free) - http://www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com/RobCustomerService.htm

If you have any special tips for wowing your customers - share with us by leaving a comment!

Tell Me What You Want To Hear on Future Free Teleseminar Calls

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Talk Back Tuesday I hope you had a chance to download the recording and transcript of my recent free call with Rob Nager of Decadent Dog. As part of the Pet Sitting Success Circle I plan to hold many future free teleseminar calls where I will be interviewing pet business experts and successful pet sitters.

I would like to find out what topics are of most interest to you and will help you be successful with your business. Please help me to meet your needs by filling out a very short online survey for me (just 3 questions).

When you complete and submit the survey I will send you as a bonus gift a recording of my call with Joseph Giannini, owner of the very successful pet sitting/ day care/ and grooming business Urban Outsitters in Chicago.

In the interview Joseph shares:

His biggest obstacle to growing his pet business
How he has marketed his business to attract 6000 clients
The most profitable segment of his business
Tips he would give to new pet sitters

To fill out the quick survey and claim your gift visit:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s. aspx?sm=nK_2bp7R_ 2bCLipj7lEjkIFmtg_3d_3d

fill out your answers and submit the survey.

You will not receive you bonus gift immediately but I will be sending it to the email that you specify on the survey with 2 days of you completing the survey.

I look forward to hearing how I can best serve your needs!

How to Win In Pet Sitting Without Losing Your Mind

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How do you grow a successful business without burning out, feeling overwhelmed, and losing your life balance? Join me tomorrow night - 7pm CT Tuesday 14th April on our monthly Pet Business Success Circle call when I interview Stepahanie Frank author of the Automatic Millonaire.

Stephanie is a Peak Performance Coach who teaches how to live with more passion, more power, more purpose and more profit. On the call we will discuss how you can win in business without losing your mind :

How to yank yourself out of fear and overwhelm in 3 easy steps
The ONE secret all successful people know – you’ll never learn in school
The “must-have” building blocks required for leadership success
The five-minute secret to help you make the right decisions - every time
How to immediately slash your working hours in half and get twice as much done
Manage your team without the stress using this simple delegation system

Stephanie is a lifelong entrepreneur and an international speaker that teaches people how to be more productive, effective and happier in their lives. She is best known (and passionate about) being able to reduce complex success-blocking challenges to step-by-step systems while teaching people immediately implementable tactics to catapult their success to the next level.

To join us on the call with Stephanie make sure that you sign up for you $7 trial of the Pet Business Success circle before 6pm CT tomorrow (Tues 14th) and I will email you the call in details.

If you misssed the call or just can’t make it to the call live - all members will receive access to a mp3 recording of the call and a full written transcript. Members also receive access to the recordings and transcripts of all our monthly calls since April 2008. See a list of our previous calls here.

Don’t miss this opportunity to ask Stephanie your business success questions and let her break down the walls that are keeping you from what you desire. If you have questions but can’t join us live please email them to me at daniellechonody@gmail.com before the call and I’ll make sure that Stephanie answers them for you.

You can learn more about Stephanie at her website http://www.stephaniefrank.com

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