Circle of Service – The Key to Pet Sitting Client Retention

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.

Owning a pet business does not guarantee you success, but it is generally not difficult to set up your own pet business adn many who own pet businesses love the hard working lifestyle and the closeness to pets. You will have to compete with those who may be better trained, may have lower cost structures and those who “pretend” to have your skills and experience when they do not. (eg not all those who advertise themselves as groomers are actually Groomers).

There are also key skills that all dog industry professionals should possess. Here are some of the most critical skills and abilities for those hoping to work with dogs professionally: Basic Dog Handling and Training Skills, ability to recognize behavioral signals.

Animals can be somewhat unpredictable when they are under stress or in an unfamiliar environment, like when they visit the veterinary office or the grooming salon, so it is important to be attentive and stay aware of the animal you are handling at all times.