154: Contracts
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Summary:
Contracts are essential to setting boundaries and giving your clients peace of mind. We break down why you need a contract, where to get one, and then do a deep dive into the different elements of the contract we’re currently using. Remember, you should develop a contract to meet the specific needs of how you’ve structured your business. Then, Natasha O’Banion answers, “What’s an easy win for automating my business?”
Topics on this episode:
Why have a contract
Major Components
What’s in ours?
Reviewing with a client
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main take away? Having a contract protects you, the owner, and the pets. It also sets appropriate boundaries and doesn’t have to be all that complicated.
Links:
Time to Pet resources and also here
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
client, contract, pet, service, pet sitter, sitter, business, owner, dog, operate, important, care, home, day, states, sign, book, area, require, people
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Megan.
00:18
I'm Collin. And this is pet sitter
Meghan 00:20
confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hello, welcome to Episode 154. Hello, today we're going to be talking about contracts. Not necessarily an exciting topic, but one that is very necessary.
Collin 00:43
We would like to thank our Patreon for making this week show possible every month you support us you give feedback you send in questions, you really do help make this show possible from the ground up. That is our entire goal in doing this is making shows that work for you that give you the resources that you need and help you be plugged into a broader community. So if you want to learn more about what it means to be a Patreon and all the stuff that goes along with that, head on over to petsitter confessional comm forward slash support,
Meghan 01:14
we aren't quite sure what has caused this. But lately, we've been seeing a lot of posts from senators that asked what they can do in certain situations. And when asked if they have a contract, they say they don't. So we wanted to talk today about contracts, we'll be using hours as a discussion point. But this does not mean that it will work for everyone. It's your contract, it's your business. So make sure that it's going to work for you.
Collin 01:41
Yet another caveat here, we are not lawyers, shockingly. So this should not be construed as any sort of legal advice. We're speaking from our experience pet sitting in Texas and in Missouri, where you live will most likely vary. And it all the more necessary to go and seek additional help. Outside of this. The whole point of this discussion is just to talk about why have a contract. And then some things that we like to make sure that we have included in ours.
Meghan 02:11
When we say contract, we mean a document signed by the pet owner agreeing to the terms of the booking and how you as the pet sitter will operate. So we've seen them called service agreements or Terms of Service, basically anything where the pet owner has to recognize how you're going to operate and the consequences of not following them. And we'll dive into some specifics shortly.
Collin 02:32
But it's important to recognize why we need to have one at all. The problem is, is that if you don't have one, you run the risk of having no recourse in the event that something happens while caring for a pet. We can throw out many examples here. But just one of those. This recently saw a story of a pet sitter was boarding a dog in their home and three weeks quickly turned into five months, the owner showed up later accusing them of trying to steal the dog. In this situation, unfortunately, the pet sitter did not have a contract in place, and nobody had signed anything. So she was stuck not being able to do anything with the dog or having any real legal recourse for collecting payment after those five months have passed. Now that example is pretty extreme. But we see posts all the time about owners just not paying or not following pickup and drop off times the contract gives you control. And it's something to point to and say, This is how I operate. And here are the expected behaviors. Basically, a contract sets the expectations for the client. And really importantly, here it protects you from unspoken expectations.
Meghan 03:42
Yeah, having a segment of your contract that states how frequent updates will be sent will prevent a pet parent from being upset. You didn't update them 49 times a day, or whatever their expectation is. And that's because your service agreement says three, you are going to update them three times,
Collin 03:59
right, the contract is really the time to lay it all out on the table to make sure everybody's on the same page before entering into business with somebody else. I'll also add that even if you are on a platform like rover or wag, it's still important to have a contract on file that you have your client sign rover is looking out for themselves as a company. So you need to look out for yourself as the sitter,
Meghan 04:24
but there's also dangers of doing a contract incorrectly. So really, the danger is that you have the client sign something that says you operate one way but in the real world, you operate another and so you have some confusion there. If you have a contract, obviously it's important to not only know what it says, but also to stick to it.
Collin 04:44
Yes, so an example of this that we again see pop up all the time. Somebody's contract says the payment is due before the service starts, but in operation in the real world. The sitter charges them afterwards. So knowing when things are due and when things aren't. There's all This danger of copying text from another contract that you find, and the legal language doesn't fit where you're operating. As we said, at the top of the show, every business is different. So your contract will vary on what services you provide, and how you're structured your company and all that stuff?
Meghan 05:16
Well, yes. And it's important to know that a contract will grow and change as your company evolves over the years. So if you ever look at a can of spray paint and see all the warnings, you know, do not drill with a drill press or throw into a fireplace. I guarantee that those were not there. When it first came out. Someone did those things, and then probably sued the company think
Collin 05:39
about that somebody actually tried to drill a drill press into a spray can spray paint. And then when it exploded, they're like, well, it didn't tell me this. So the company later had to change that.
Meghan 05:49
Yeah. Or the lady recently who put Gorilla Glue in her hair. Right? It didn't the glue didn't say don't put in your hair. So obviously, she thought that that was okay. Anyway, so our contracts will develop over time as we add and remove services. And that's just natural. They're also changes, we find new things that annoy us, or we have new ways of operating, or maybe your insurance changes, and you have to change how you handle keys or shared set scenarios, or whatever the case may be. But you should be able to defend each item in your contract and know exactly why it's there.
Collin 06:27
A contract is personal, it speaks to how you want to operate and run your business. It is effectively the very first line of defense in setting boundaries between you and your client. Now, before we dive into the parts of our full contract, the this concept of getting a contract can seem a little bit overwhelming of like, Oh my gosh, where can I even get one. And so you can check out the links to the show notes. And we're going to include some of the resources where you can see free copies and downloads and places to start. So our very first contract actually came from the Student Services Department at Texas Tech when we were going to graduate school. They had free legal counsel, which was normally used for things like renter's disputes. But we showed up, explained our business, what we needed, how we wanted to operate. And they put together an awesome contract for us. And we actually ended up using it for the first six years of business. So if you're in college or in graduate school, and you're just starting out, check out that student services department and work with them, they're a wonderful resource to have.
Meghan 07:37
Obviously, though, if you're not in school, you can hire a lawyer and pay them to draft a contract for you, you'll obviously pay a bunch of money for it, but you will know that it is fully customized to you and it fits your specific area of operation. Just know that you may have to explain to them exactly what you do and what you're looking for, because they probably have not come across this before in their career. But you can also work with local business groups that Chamber of Commerce or other support networks in your area. And sometimes they'll have connections to free legal advice and help as well.
Collin 08:10
Obviously, reach out to other pet sitters in your area and see what they use. Now, if they paid a lawyer 1000s of dollars to make something specific for them, they might not be as open to sharing that exactly word for word with you. But they can at least help walk you through content to have language that you should include and see where you need help and where what you can add to your existing one.
Meghan 08:34
But there are free basic versions out there. We know time to pet has one. They do sponsor us, but they have free resources like that. And you may also buy a bundle of legal documents from a business coach as well. There's a lot out there.
Collin 08:47
Yeah, there are a lot of ways to get one. So start basic and add to it. That way, it won't be as overwhelming. Many senators may already have a contract. And if that's you,
Meghan 08:58
great, yes, hopefully the rest of this episode will help you go through it again with a fine tooth comb, and make sure that everything is correct. And hopefully we'll This episode will give you some ideas if you want to change things or not.
Collin 09:11
So what's in our contract. Remember, again, this is not the be all end all of anything. This is just what we have and what we've been using and adapting over time.
Meghan 09:22
There are four important parts to our contract, the veterinary release form, the social media form, the payment and credit card authorization, and then our service agreement. So with the veterinarian release form, it's really designed so that you can take the pet to the owners vet without having to pay out of pocket for the expenses. That's very important because it's their pet they should pay and you don't want to have to take on that expense and it also states what you are allowed to authorize payment for and the limits of care in case the owner can't be reached. This does not hold you responsible for any loss or injury and it may also include what to do in case of the end of life care, which is always a very important conversation to have with each owner that you have. It also makes sure that the client has a credit card on file at the vet before they leave. And before you leave if you have to take their pet to the vet,
Collin 10:15
and what's really the key reason for this entire form is that in some states, and in some cases, paying for the service of care for a pet can be construed in the legal defense as admitting fault for whatever happened. And so it's oftentimes harder to get reimbursed for those, depending on what kind of insurance you have and where you live in the United States. Again, that's why it's so important to really run this by a lawyer and a legal team as well.
Meghan 10:45
The next form is the social media forum, it states that you can share photos of their pet on social media, you obviously don't have to have this form in if you don't have social media, or if you just choose not to post pictures of pets for privacy reasons or whatever else. But some owners may choose not to sign this because they don't want others knowing that they're out of their own house, or they don't want you sharing photos of inside their home. So it, it's really up to you whether you choose to include this form or not. And if you make the owner sign it,
Collin 11:17
the third component that we find really important to having a contract is language around payment and credit card authorization. This is what gives you permission to actually charge their credit card for the services that they're paying for. Now, obviously, if you decide to use invoices only, you won't need this. And this is also a good time to start using the language to discuss late fees and last minute fees and other things that go on in case payment isn't received on time. And then there's the actual service agreement, the language that's included that that is what actually states the dates of service, the price agreed upon, and any other conditions that are going to go along with that. And some of those we're going to discuss here in just a minute.
Meghan 12:01
We also have these following sections in our contract. And these are really the nuts and bolts of the contract itself. The first one is Meet and Greet, we require that the meet and greet be completed at least 48 hours before service. And then you also need to think about Will you require you to get the key at the meet and greet. We also have it in there that if there are guests in the Pet Home, whether it's their friends or family that we require the meet and greet to be rescheduled. This is because pets not normally in the home present not only a liability, but they also don't allow the sitter to get to know the pet, they're going to be caring for one on one.
Collin 12:36
We also have a section about medication, stating that the client must supply the medications with detailed instructions and demo those during the meet and greet if possible.
Meghan 12:47
The next section is house keys. This is important. A lot of sitters require lock boxes, but a lot of them require just individual house keys. So this is where the client gives us permission to enter the home. And they must provide us with at least one key because sometimes electronic door codes fail. We all like them because they're convenient. But at the end of the day, the key is the physical key is the best way to gain access to the house. Right. We also have in there whether the sitter keeps them or returns them and if there is a fee. And then for liability reasons, we don't allow the client to leave the key under a doormat or hidden somewhere, just because that is not the safest place. We either keep the key or it's in a lockbox,
Collin 13:29
kind of in line with house keys. Our next section is about security systems, we require that the clients disclose whether they have won or not. And whether it will be armed or not. They must provide the security code and the sitter's you know we are not going to be held responsible for any sort of malfunction growing in popularity, where the client is able to control the alarm system remotely, usually from their phone in an app, we do not allow this because it can delay service can delay entry and having to contact the client to gain access to the home really jams up the system and gets the schedule of sits kind of messed up in a day.
Meghan 14:07
Yeah, you want to make sure that you are being as efficient as possible. And if you're having to text the client before you actually get into the house, you're actually kind of wasting your time and the client's time as well because they're supposed to be on vacation or doing whatever they're supposed to be doing. Right. We also talked about communication in our contract. So in case of emergencies, we must be able to reach the client by text or email, we give our phone number that the updates will be coming from and we won't accept any complaints that are received after 48 hours of completion of services. There are a lot of sitters out there and this has happened to us a time before where the owner will say you know a week later will contact us and say you know did you notice any gunk in the eye because my Phyto had might have an allergic reaction to something and you know, we'll say No, we didn't notice anything. There were pictures to prove that there was no gunk in the eye and it was
Collin 15:00
Five days ago when I picked him up, we also mentioned things about business hours. So we say our phone number and email that where we can be reached. And then really importantly, here times that where we will respond to clients, setting office hours for ourselves and setting expectations so that somebody does not contact us at 10 o'clock at night and immediately expect us to be able to respond. And we also mentioned in this portion that we don't guarantee specific time slots. Instead, we operate based off of time windows, when we're doing drop ins and walks,
Meghan 15:31
we have a part in the contract for pickups. Now this is if you are providing boarding or daycare, or I guess pet taxi as well. If you aren't doing those, you may not want to include this. So our boarding rate is based on a rolling 24 hours of care with a six hour grace period without charging an additional half day's rate. This is obviously going to vary considerably based on what you charge and how you operate. This is just the port that we have in there about pickups. The next section is the minimum visit requirement. This can get a little touchy between owners and sitters, because the owners usually have one idea in their head. And the sitters have a completely different idea. We require dogs visited at least twice per day and cats once per day. I know there's a lot of cat owners who will go two days between visits, and a lot. We've even had one time a dog several years back who just wanted one visit per day. Yeah, the dog could hold it 24 hours. And that is no longer we do not operate under that anymore.
Collin 16:32
Yeah, and again, as you said, like this can be a really touchy subject. And as pet sitters, we need to understand what we are going to be morally and ethically okay with in the care that we provide for the animals that people reach out to us. And knowing where that line is drawn. And having it clearly lined out in the contract in your terms of service so that people know how you operate.
Meghan 16:57
In the contract, we also outline the clients making reservations. So they are on a first come first served basis. And to book clients have to go through our online portal, if you have one. Say what exactly the steps are for a client to book here. So it can be as easy as possible for them to find it and know it and to do it. And if you don't have an online portal, just make sure they know how to book you. And also last minute booking fees are important here as well. So if your client needs to book within a certain amount of time, otherwise, there's a last minute fee, highlight that in this section. Immediately after the making reservation section is our confirmation of Services section. And this states that services are not confirmed, finally, until the client receives notice from us. And this is really trying to prevent someone from emailing us about needing dog care at the last minute and then leaving town or on their way out of town letting us know and then being angry that we couldn't do this day,
Collin 17:55
we also have outlined the methods of payment that we are in are not willing to accept. And again, this will be different for everybody, depending on how you want to process things and how you want to receive payment. So we give them exactly what we will accept. It also states here that we don't keep any credit card information on file that's all processed through our payment processing software. Again, this is just as state a little bit more about how we bring in privacy and what kind of information we do and do not keep on hand and on file. With us personally. We also mentioned here that and you need to decide how you're going to handle this as well, whether clients can book additional services if they have an unpaid balance on the sheets.
Meghan 18:37
This is particularly important for sitters who don't require full payment before the start of the service. It seems like lately, pet abandonment has been a big topic. And so we have a section in here that we are not responsible for clients wanting to rehome their pets. We are not a rescue group. We're a business. So we do not take on any of that liability or responsibility. And if the client abandons their pet in our care, we have a policy for that in place, and the client is responsible for pain service for any service and any other expenses incurred.
Collin 19:11
So that is absolutely something to think about and consider for your area. A lot of states have pet abandonment laws that give timeframes for when ever certain actions can be taken. So it's really important to make sure you check with your local laws and regulations about when you can do certain things, and what timeframe and requirements have to be met before it's considered true abandonment. Sometimes it can be confusing whether to continue service or not, especially if you haven't heard from your client in a long time. We've had many sets like this where the client almost disappears off the radar while they're on vacation, and they don't answer their phone. They don't respond to the updates. And we only have a last communication of when they thought that they were going to be returning home. And so because of that we have some language in our contract. That's called the I'm home. Section. And this is basically just asking and saying, Hey client, when you get home, you need to let us know that you've arrived back. Otherwise, we are going to assume that we are still on the call, because we don't want to have pets that go without care for extended period of time. So we are going to come back over like a normal visit. And if you are still there, that is an additional charge for that extra service.
Meghan 20:26
Right. So then the next section is late returns. And this outlines our procedure for when a client has to extend their trip, and that we will do our best to accommodate them into our schedule. But that likely last minute fees will apply. And it kind of restates that the client cannot assume we're actually doing the extra visits until we have responded and confirmed that we are
Collin 20:49
cancellations are something that always come up and will always be an issue. So we have outlined in our contract about what those cancellation policies are. And if services are cancelled after we've arrived, the client is still charged the full amount, think about when a client can cancel and what percentage of money they can get back or not. We know many people who do absolutely no refunds at all ever, they just keep credit on their account. And we've also seen a lot of people with very complicated cancellation policies based on what service it is, whether it's a holiday or not, whether it's a day that ends and why. So our advice here is to obviously do what works best for you. But try to make it as simple and streamlined as possible. Again, when we're talking about our contracts, we have to know and understand what they are and why they're in place. And we're going to have to remember these and hold people accountable as things come up.
Meghan 21:43
Another important part that you will need to include is holidays, what holidays you consider to be holidays, how much extra or not that you're going to charge them on holidays. And then if there's any differences between a holiday and a non holiday, late fees or cancellation policy, whatever is included here, the next two parts kind of go together. So the first is vaccinations and then contagious illnesses for both pets and humans. So for vaccinations, we have the client upload their vaccination record into our portal. And it may be the same for you that your online portal or online software, whatever you use has that option as well. We have in there, what vaccinations we require, and what happens to the services if the client lapses on keeping them up to date. And then as far as contagious illnesses, we give a list of what we consider to be contagious illnesses for the dog and for the client. And it states that the client is responsible for notifying us so we just had a we had to move a meet and greet recently because the owner had a sinus infection. And we were not willing to meet with them. Even if we were masked up. We weren't willing to meet with them, because that could be bringing germs into our home and infecting us or other clients as well.
Collin 22:59
Right? Yeah, so here we're trying to prevent things like flu outbreaks, Parvo, other transmissible disease. And as Megan just said, with COVID, this was really heightened for humans, as well. So we also have information here about the precautions that we take and the responsibility again of the owner to notify us if they're sick, or they're not feeling well. And you could expand this language to include any other kind of illnesses like the flu, that you would like, you also
Meghan 23:26
need to outline your emergency care protocols. So what will happen to the pet? If there's an emergency with you? Or if there's an emergency with the pet? Where will you go? Where will you take them? What do you do if you have an emergency and you need the pet to go somewhere else? Do you have a backup sitter, things like that,
Collin 23:47
since we do find ourselves transporting pets from time to time we have language in our contract that has the client give us specific permission to transport their pet. And for exactly what reasons we are allowed to do it. So you know, they can say you are allowed to take our pet to the vet or to the dog park. But you aren't allowed to take our pet to for a joyride, or just because you want to. We also
Meghan 24:12
mentioned the collars and harnesses and leashes that we require. In order to provide service. If you have a specific harness that the client must have in order for you to walk their dog, you would mention that here. It also states that we will not use a retractable leash. And if that they don't have one, then we will provide our own leash to walk their dog.
Collin 24:34
The next part of our contract talks about what happens if a client has a dog door or if they leave their dog in the backyard full time. So this would be our outdoor animals and enclosures component. This basically states that we're not responsible for events that occur if the pet is having unassisted access to the outdoors, things like if it escapes, becomes lost or injured or succumbs to heat exhaustion or those kind of things. If they left in an outside area or in an insufficient enclosure. This is also trying to protect us if the dog were to dig under a fence over to get out and bite somebody, again if they have this unrestricted access to the outdoors. And this gives us the ability to refuse yard play or just refuse service. If we believe that those activities if we believe that it poses a threat to the pet or to ourselves,
Meghan 25:27
neither Collin nor I have a green thumb. So we have a part about plant care, we do our best to follow the owner's instructions for the plants. But it's ultimately not our fault. If they're wilted when they get home, we will obviously water and care for them the best that we can. But as a side note and growing area of care needs is plant specific people leave their homes and need their rare and special plants cared for. So if you do have a green thumb, you might want to think about adding this to your services.
Collin 25:56
Sometimes the unthinkable happens while you're caring for somebody's pet, while in their home, a tree may fall on their house, the hot water heater may explode the coil of a oven may decide to completely melt down while it's being used. And so we had that one, we have had that one. So we have it in our contract that anything along those lines that happens while we are supposed to be caring for the pet in the home, that we are not held responsible for that, we will contact them ASAP and coordinate getting repaired and go through all of that process. So basically, this is the damage to personal property. Now in the instance that if a dog was supposed to be in the kennel, but we failed to latch it properly, or completely forgot to put it back in the kennel, and the dog chews through a wall, that would be our fault. And this section kind of leads into the discussion that we have in our contract about inclement weather and emergency contact. So in the inclement weather, this outlines how we handle extreme heat or cold for walks, whether we shorten them or whether we do other activities. This also gives us the ability to temporarily halt services in the event of tornadoes or other extreme weather events. Now, if we have to cancel or delay services due to weather, we don't charge people for that, because that is that is on us. And we will provide that service eventually. And a really common thing for us that we've encountered a lot over the years are pets that are specifically scared of thunderstorms. So in the inclement weather part, we have the owner tell us explicitly if the pet requires special care during thunderstorms, like a thunder jacket, medication, whatever they do normally, so that we can accommodate and we can plan for that, while they're in our care.
Meghan 27:43
Along with the inclement weather aspect is the emergency contact. So we must have on file at least one local emergency contact that we can get in touch with if anything were to happen. And I know this is a lot here, there are a lot of aspects to our contract, and maybe your contract as well. Hopefully some of these so far have been helpful. I know this is again, this isn't the most exciting topic we've ever covered. But this is really crucial to protecting you, and the pets and the owner as well.
Collin 28:12
One thing about our insurance is that it doesn't allow us to job share at all. So we have a we have language in our contract that states that if a client wants to have their friend or their neighbor, tag team pet care with us, we won't do it. And if we find that it is going on while we're doing that we can cancel service. We also ask that the client notify us who will be in the home or around the home while they're away. So this is typically things like repair companies, cleaners, yard crews, we just want to have a good idea of who is going to be around the home. So what liabilities are there should we be checking the gate if the yard crews coming in and going to be checking the back door if the cleaners are coming and going, those kind of things. And so think about that about what kind of liabilities you're going to be exposed to as you're coming and going and people's homes.
Meghan 29:03
One part we never thought we would need but unfortunately have had to use recently is the injury to or by a client's pet part. A pet may begin to show signs of aggression. No matter how long you've cared for the pet dogs will be dogs and cats will be cats, and they may get into a fight with another dog in our care or another cat in our care. If that's the case, we halt services immediately and they the owner may be responsible for medical bills. We're not against clients having security cameras, I mean we have them but we do want to make sure that our privacy is respected as well. So we have a cameras and audio equipment section in the contract. However, if the cameras and audio equipment are found in the bathroom or in the bedroom where we're going to be staying, we have the right to refuse service. And we also have a statement in there regarding footage of us being posted and shared online. So again, that is going to be completely
Collin 29:57
up to your comfort level. What you are okay with, we are in houses all the time that have cameras covering every square foot of them. And most of the time, it's okay, the things that we're trying to protect, again are here in areas that privacy is expected, like a bedroom where we may be sleeping during an overnight or in a bathroom. And on privacy, we have language that outlines how we handle the clients information that they give to us like their name, their address their phone number, we specifically state that we don't sell it, we don't publish it, we don't trade it. We don't do any of that with it. As a matter of fact, we also discuss how the fact that we don't store that information that that is all handled through our third party booking and payment processing software. So if you are storing client information in your phone's contact list and not in the third party system, you may have to think about how you would protect that data if it were to be stolen from you if someone hacked into your computer or into your phone, and your clients data was exposed somewhere else.
Meghan 31:08
And finally, we have a termination part in there. Either the client or the sitter can end services at any time without cause they the client has to email us saying they want to stop. And this is mostly for reoccurring services like daily dog walks or daily daycares. But if the client has violated the terms of this contract in any way, we do not have to continue providing service. And then of course, at the end, we have the arbitration and governing law, which is basically the legal jargon. And it really says that the client and sitter will do everything possible to resolve the dispute informally before taking it to court.
Collin 31:48
And shockingly, we have clients that read all of that word for word before they sign it.
Meghan 31:55
Well, but there aren't that many, though the majority of people and I'm sure if you've had a contract for any length of time, they will just go ahead and sign it and not really read it.
Collin 32:02
And so on that, I would really recommend that you have an annual update to signing the contract. It's not just a one and done had just having a reoccurring, hey, it's January 1, here's the contract, read it and sign it. Again, whether they do or not, there are things that we as business owners can do to make sure that we get it in front of them as much and as frequently as possible, just to remind them.
Meghan 32:26
So what do you do with a client who won't sign it or has an issue with something that is in your contract?
Collin 32:34
I think it really depends on exactly what they have an issue with. If they have concerns over things like the photo release form, and they don't want to sign that, I think that would be okay to not have them sign that aspect of it. But if they're not okay, with things like late pickup fees, or drop off fees, or those kind of operating procedures in your business,
Meghan 32:56
then there are plenty of other dog walkers or pet sitters in your city,
Collin 33:00
right? That is somebody that you don't really want to work with. Remember, you have these things in your contract for a reason. It's because you believe in them. It's because they give you peace of mind, they help your business operate in a better, more efficient manner, and something that has less stress on you. So if people don't agree to those things, it means that they're not agreeing to make your life less stressful.
Meghan 33:23
Because also, you don't want to be changing your contract for every amenable client that has an issue. Again, you said your contract is what it is. And if they don't like it, there are plenty of other people pet care professionals they can go to
Collin 33:38
right now if you don't currently have a contract in place, and you're not using one but you want to implement one, it may feel a little bit of a hurdle. Or it may be a little scary to then have your existing clients sign one, if you haven't had one in the past,
Meghan 33:54
just let them know that moving forward, every one of your clients is going to have to sign it, maybe even make some social media posts or send out an email newsletter, that contracts are going to need to be signed going forward.
Collin 34:07
Just make it part of the next booking process for you. If they have an existing client the next time they reach out to you to book a walk to book a pet sit, say okay, that's awesome. As part of this, here's a new contract to have signed, and then we can move forward with the booking integrated into processes that you already have in place. So you're not having to email everybody individually or get in contact with them in order to have them sign it
Meghan 34:31
well. And from the clients perspective as well. It may feel a little scary or legal ease of like, you know, I don't know what this means. But just make it so that it's just for everyone's safety and security and for liability reasons, make the client feel safer knowing that you have procedures and policies in place to protect them because that's going to make them want to sign it even more.
Collin 34:59
That's really The key there is focusing on the security on the protection on their safety and for their pet safety as well. It's all about peace of mind. And this is one other component that we can put into place for that this shows that you're planning the shows that you're thinking about these different scenarios, and that you're really setting your business up for success and to succeed and to stick around for year after year to take care of their pet.
Meghan 35:23
And if you have any questions on anything we've covered today, or you think there are things that should be added, or you disagree with what we've said, please let us know we welcome any feedback, you can either give us a call at 636-364-8260. Or you can go to Facebook or Instagram, we are at pet sitter confessional. And like we said in the beginning, the details of this contract will look incredibly different for every business. But the fact is that having a contract is crucial. It protects you, the sitter, it protects the dogs or the pets that you're caring for and it protects the owner as well. Like we said in the beginning, you should have it looked over by an attorney
Collin 36:02
because we are not an attorney at a law firm at all
Meghan 36:06
at all. But you want to make sure that all the T's are crossed, all the i's are dotted, that you know exactly what's in there, why it's in there. Because you are likely going to have to defend it especially if somebody comes and is not happy with your service and wants to potentially sue you for whatever.
Collin 36:23
Right. This week's Ask a pet business coach segment with Natasha, Albanian is all about easy wins in automation. Totally. So
Natasha 36:30
first of all, let's talk about why I love automation. Let me just take it there. I genuinely love automation. I don't want people to think about like robots at the grocery store or the CVS checkout line, right? Okay, that is automation here. But we're not like taking anyone's job. We're just enhancing this situation. Okay. So automation is so amazing. Because literally while you are sleeping, and you guys have heard me say this so many times while you are sleeping, your business is still continuing to grow. It doesn't require always your voice or your presence, or you being there. So remember, when you get sick or something happened, or you can't be there, or I just had a baby, right? Who cares? My business is still going, nothing is stopping. Okay, now we have all these employees who rely on us, we have all these families who rely on us, it is our job to make sure our business is going off without a hitch. And automation literally literally provides that. To answer your question and direct the first thing you need is system software. So your CRM system or your EOS system, whatever you do to manage your full operation digitally, digitally, is what you need immediately because if you can get contracts signed and papers filled out and forms done and credit card submitted and schedules booked, and your whole system from A to Z while you're sleeping, you're golden, literally golden.
Collin 37:56
It is it is it's reassuring to write with you mentioned like okay, you're not in the office that day, if something comes up, people can still book get scheduled on the services and have things people rolling while you are maybe putting out fires somewhere else or you're taking a vacation or you're enjoying other things. To have that continue to go in the background. It's really just a mind space saver
Natasha 38:18
I got a lift literally is and I can tell you it really enhances the client experience. Literally before I wanted to deliver my child I have two grand sheepadoodles and they require grooming but I moved to Texas and I really don't know all the groomers in the area yet. So I called the facility and I asked them, one of my neighbors recommended them she says hey, they're a small business, you know, family owned, and I like to support support small and family and so I said great. That sounds like what I want to be with. And I tried to give them a call no answer went to voicemail. Okay, I left a voicemail. I went on their social media platforms, it said call us or send us a DM I said, Okay, cool. They didn't answer the phone. So I'm going to send them a DM just because I'm patient. I send them a DM literally no response on dm, their last posting had been five days ago. So it's a client's confidence. I'm like, Okay, well, the last time they came on here could have been five days ago, but they said to contact them via phone and dm. They are referral from one of my friends. I'm trying to give them a chance. Meanwhile, I'm nine months pregnant dropping a load at any point to Grand sheepadoodles who definitely need to get their grooming every month. So right? Yeah, and I can't keep on I can't book I'm like Jesus Christ. I wish I could just book but like just book right now. Get a confirmation. And now this is one large thing off my to do list. Because my babies deserve their fresh haircut every month. Yeah. And I couldn't do it. And so I told my friends, hey, listen, I really wanted to support that business. But it just wasn't conducive to my lifestyle. I couldn't get broke. I wasn't confirmed. I needed to get this off my to do list. So I had Dealing with someone else this time. And sure enough, I went on someone else website. They said book us now oh speaking my language, I literally booked them. It was probably, you know, three days in advance that I was like doing my whole to do list. So it was probably like 11 o'clock at night that I just checked it off. They said, cool. Yeah, we can take you next week, booked it paid for the service. And I was done. I signed our forms, their waivers their cage free, you know, let the dog stay cage free. If you want to sign that waiver. And I was booked and loaded. When I came to that facility, they had contactless delivery, they pick my dog up at the curb, my dog wanting to me back out looking amazing. That was a client experience that I was like, amen. That's how you do business right there. And we all want to compete, you know, we all want to keep our businesses going. But there's so much internally, that really comes back out to the client, right?
Collin 40:58
Well, I know, many may hear that and go, Oh, but that's not the personal touch that I like, that's not me being involved or being able to engage with my client. But you know, you still have all of the other methods of contacting available, it's just the clients that want booking immediately are going to be able to be booked immediately. The person who's fine calling you the next day, when you open is going to call you the next day whenever you're open, right? Like you're not excluding anybody through this process, you're actually opening more doors and making it more accessible.
Natasha 41:26
Absolutely. Because you still have your phones, you know, you're not turning your phones off, you still have your email provider, you have that going, you know, you still have your DNS and your PM, you still have that going but whatever way you tell your client contact you, you know has to have number one follow through on that. But you're losing business because you're just someone else can go to the next guy, the next guy, and you're not losing personal touch I booked. No client wants to be like, I need a pet care provider who wants to come in my family and be my best feet, I need you to take on my last name. That's what I want. Nobody is hiring I serve as saying they want their pet care provider to take on their last name. So why not give them options to provide an effective service. And it's efficient. That's a mean word isn't sufficient.
Collin 42:21
If you'd like to work with Natasha and hire her on to be your personal pet business coach, head on over to start scale sale calm and when you're ready to work with her use promo code PSC 20 for 15% off. We know this was a long episode. It was a lot of in depth and a lot about our specific contract. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you for sticking with us through this. We hope again that it provides some ideas to add to your contract, whether you have one or not. And we'd love to get any feedback from you.
Meghan 42:48
We also want to thank our patrons for supporting us each week and every month. We really appreciate you guys and hope you will join us next time.
42:57
Thank you
