175: Breaking Up with a Client
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary
Have you had to fire a client? If you’re in this business long enough, you will likely have to do it. Whether it’s because the pet isn’t a good fit or you are tired of dealing with the client. We break down some of the most common reasons it happens, how to navigate the process, and how to deal with the aftermath. Then, Natasha O'Banion answers, "How do I find out the culture of my business?"
Topics on this episode:
Reasons why you should
How to do it
What to avoid
Dealing with the fallout
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: Whatever the reason, be professional and remember that it's YOUR business.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
client, pet, business, dog, sitter, emotions, situation, daycare, contract, confessional, check, liability, fire, pet sitters, aggression, care, people, recognize, service, easy
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan.
00:18
I'm Collin. And this is Pet Sitter Confessional,
Meghan 00:21
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hi, welcome to Episode 175.
Collin 00:32
Hello,
Meghan 00:32
we hope your week is off to an awesome start. And your business is getting busier. I know ours as well. And we are really ramping up for the summer, because it's going to be crazy people are ready to travel going on these long trips, weeks at a time and are looking for pet care providers.
Collin 00:55
Yeah, and actually are getting anxious about making sure that they're booked. So I guess a good side of this is that they're reaching out now as opposed to a day or two before they actually are traveling.
Meghan 01:04
Yeah, so good reminder to keep your calendars up to date your social media posts your newsletters up to date on exactly when you have bookings available and when you're not available anymore, right. We want to thank pet sitters associates for sponsoring this episode, and also our awesome Patreon. We have a new one this week. Savannah is our newest Patreon member.
01:30
Thank you so much, Savannah, we really appreciate it. I
Meghan 01:33
feel like we need like a bell or chime or Woo,
Collin 01:38
I just did the Whoo.
Meghan 01:42
Anyway, if you would like to learn more about how you can support the show financially, and
Collin 01:47
help us to continue to produce this content, do the interviews and the research for these topical interviews. We would really appreciate you checking out petsitter confessional comm forward slash support.
Meghan 01:58
So today's topic is about releasing a client or firing a client
Collin 02:03
breaking up with a client.
Meghan 02:04
Yeah. So if you are in this business long enough, you will likely have to do it. Whether that's because the pet isn't a good fit, or you're just tired of dealing with the client. Getting rid of clients is something that you're going to have to encounter. And it's not always fun. And it's not always easy. But it's just part of the job.
Collin 02:24
Right? So well. So what are some reasons why you would want to or need to fire a client?
Meghan 02:30
Well, the first one that comes up for us is dog aggression. Not not only because we have small kids, our kids are three and five years old. And so we really have to be cognizant, especially with boardings and daycares of if the dog is aggressive at all. We do not take the dog droppings for us are a little more lenient, but still any kind of aggression we watch out for and have said no to clients before because of past aggression, right. And so kind of the impetus for this episode is because we had to fire a client a few months back because of dog aggression,
Collin 03:09
specifically for a dog fight that broke out because of their pet that well in our care.
Meghan 03:14
Yeah, it was kind of a strange situation. Because this happened several months ago with two dogs that we had coming over for regular daycare several times a week. for almost two years, both of the clients, they had never had any other issues with each other, or other dogs. One was an Australian shepherd, and the other one was a Great Dane. And so one day they were outside playing and the Australian Shepherd walked under the Great Danes back legs, and the Dane spun around and bit the Aussie. And it caused a pretty bad gash in his neck. There was no blood or anything, but the Aussie did have to go to the vet gets some stitches, and is just fine now, but we were really shocked by it. They had never exhibited any aggression toward each other.
Collin 04:04
And it was just mostly because of the Danes size. It was a warning bite mostly of Hey, I don't like that. But because of the Danes size, and because of the Aussies, relatively small size in comparatively it was a pretty serious injury and something that we really had to take a step back and go, Okay, this Dane is starting to become not okay around other dogs. And we need to really assess the situation. So we notified both owners that we were going to be putting a pause on both care for a while, and that we were going to reassess within a few days and we were going to be letting them know what was going to be happening.
Meghan 04:43
Yeah, and we talked to our insurance and they reimburse the owner for the Aussies vet bills. And we talked to the Great Danes owner and it was really just too much of a liability. Our insurance would not cover us again, if the Dane was over in our care, and bit enough Their dog. And so we lost a really great client. The Dane, like I said, has been coming over for daycare multiple times a week for almost two years. And we really valued that client. And they were great to us. We were great to them. And they were really respectful of our business and valued it. But we just couldn't provide daycare for them anymore. It was too much of a liability. And it was really tough for us, it was very emotional for a while for both of us, this was really the first time that we had experienced the dog fight in our care. And thankfully, it didn't end worse, it definitely could have ended worse, but it ended just fine. They were two great clients who both understood the situation, it just kind of really sucked,
Collin 05:45
right? Again, these were clients that we would have gone to the moon and back to keep on any any normal or other circumstances, they were absolutely wonderful. They loved us, as Megan said, really respected our business. Eventually, we had to land on two things, we had to land on the fact that our insurance was basically saying, This dog is not allowed to be in your care anymore, it won't be covered the next time because it's already happened once kind of a one strike rule,
Meghan 06:13
or at least for daycare, for
Collin 06:14
daycare, right boarding we could do, we could not do daycare boarding but we could go over and we could do drop ins, we could do walks. The other thing that we were able to point to was that in our contract that the Danes owner signed is that we have language in there that states that if there is any sort of form of aggression towards us, or other dogs in our care, that it is reason for immediate release from us, and that we will still try to provide droppings or you know, another service for them to make it work. But that it would be, you know, immediate relief from that. And we were able to send them that language and say, Hey, this is what you signed, we'd be happy to do drop ins and walks for them. That didn't work out. In this case, they weren't really interested in that they really wanted their dogs in daycare. But that wasn't something that we were able to provide. And so this whole thing was, as Megan said, the impetus for this entire episode, and we've had to sit on it for a little bit because it still brings up painful memories and emote and strong emotions, of having to process all of that. And it ultimately was a great reminder for why we have so much detail in our contracts and why they're so long because ultimately they're there to protect us and give us this kind of foundation for when we need it.
Meghan 07:32
Hopefully, you never have to experience the situation that we went through. But there are other situations in which you may have to fire a client and one of them. The big one is if they violate your contract, as you just mentioned, calling the contract is there for a reason, as you just said, You are a business, you are not a charity, if someone isn't paying you or if you are constantly having to chase down money, get rid of that client, they are not worth the stress, they're not worth your time. If they're not willing to pay you. You don't need to be providing service to them. There is the financial side to this if they're not abiding by your contract. But there's also the boundary side if they are not following your office hours if they are not respecting your barriers you have in place in your contract. Are they respecting your drop off and pickup times? are they following your booking policy, we've done an entire episode on what to consider for your contract in and Terms of Service and Episode 154. But one reason to have it be as detailed as possible is to protect you and to have something to fall back on when a client starts to take advantage of you.
Collin 08:39
This is especially important for many of us who may have trouble initially standing up for ourselves in these situations where we may have trouble finding the words or the proper language to use to tell a client that there's a problem going on. When we have things already written out that they have signed and dated. It allows us to just copy and paste that text and send it to them and say this is what was in the contract. This is what was agreed to. It's not happening according to what we agreed upon. So therefore, we're no longer able to continue service that takes a lot of the thought and the emotion out of it. on our end it makes it easier to happen.
Meghan 09:17
Another big reason to fire a client is if the pet is not as advertised. And as soon as I said that I am sure you had a client in mind. Pet moms and dads love to say that their pet is the best and most well behaved dog or cat on the entire planet. And sometimes that's not the case. Obviously, a meet and greet is essential to get to know the pet and the client whether it's virtual if you can make that happen or in person. You have to at least see the pet to know if it's going to be a good fit or not. And some pets can follow you at meet and greets and be different when their owners are away if they are too much of a demand. Or a chaotic cat, let that client go, it's not worth it,
Collin 10:04
we recommend having another sitter or service that you can refer them to, especially if it's just outside of the scope of comfort of care that you're willing or able to provide. Obviously, we don't need to be offloading terrible clients to other sitters in our area. But if it's something that is not quite a good fit for you, if they need a little bit more behavioral correction, or they need more training or something specific that you weren't able to give, that's not as advertised from the initial contact, you are have a list of people that you can refer them out to that way, you can still make sure that they're being taken care of,
Meghan 10:40
yeah, you have to know your limits and what you're willing to take on. If you view a troublesome pet as a liability, and you're not ready for it, you'll end up paying for it one way or another. And this could also be if the pet changes during your care for them. So if they start to develop bad habits, or behavioral concerns that start to go beyond the scope of what you're able to give. So if you don't specialize in puppies, but you decide to take on a puppy, and they are way more than you can handle, you now know that and so you can go to a puppy specialist in your area, or another sitter who's willing to handle that.
Collin 11:17
Also throw into this portion of the pet is not as advertised, I'd also like to think of it as the the CIT is not as advertised. So it's kind of like this little bit of mission creep, where originally you were booked, like as an example, you were originally booked to care for the dog. But each time that you go over there, the client also has this cat that they didn't tell you about or some fish that they need cared for, or they asked you to do the lawn, all of which without paying you extra or initially letting you know or be part of the care that you're going to be going over there to do.
Meghan 11:49
The third reason to fire a client is if they are rude to you or your staff. And obviously, that's zero tolerance there.
Collin 11:56
Right?
Meghan 11:57
Don't subject yourself to that, and especially your staff do not subject them to that. Some clients just don't see what they do as rude. They don't realize they're being off color, or inconsiderate. And that's unfortunate. But you have to let them go, if you can't handle it, whether they are being late when they book, if they contact you super last minute, or they demand too much of your attention. You don't need that in your life. And you don't need that client in your life, either. People who also talk down to you or belittle you just because you were the dog walker, or your you know, the help, they can go find someone else, right? You want people who value your service and know the quality that you give them.
Collin 12:44
Well and right in line with that is the fourth reason to fire a client is that if they are not respecting your boundaries, whether personal or with your business,
Meghan 12:53
oh, yes, we've all had those clients who text you at 11pm at night or 2am. And they're expecting an answer right away. And they keep texting you over and over again, because they want an answer. We've also had those clients who don't message when they're on the way to drop off their dog or pick up their dogs and just show up at your house.
Collin 13:13
Surprise. We will usually give these kind of clients a pass one maybe two times. But if it starts to develop into a chronic issue, bye bye, it is time to let them go for sure.
Meghan 13:26
And with that very needy clients. So ones who are always texting you or calling and asking how their pet is doing. You know, we totally understand nervous pet parents. We don't leave Coby very often I think we've in our 10 years that we've had him we've left him three
Collin 13:44
times. Yeah, probably. Yeah, it goes with us wherever we go. And that's obviously changing as he's getting older. But right now, we understand nervous pet parents, especially for the first time or two. And we will give that a pass, we understand that that's going to happen.
Meghan 13:59
But we do let them know at the meet and greet, we will send updates, we will send pictures throughout the day.
Collin 14:06
And that they don't need to check in constantly that we will send regular updates.
Meghan 14:12
Yeah, if they continue to bombard us through the next service and the next service, we have to decide to let them go.
Collin 14:22
It's just way too much stress for us and ultimately shows that they're not trusting us or believe us when we say that we're going to do something.
Meghan 14:30
Yeah, this business, a lot of our business and I'm sure a lot of your business is on client referrals and word of mouth. And so if friends talk to friends, they know the awesome work that you do. They know that they are going to get pictures of their dog throughout the city. And so if the second or third time that you take care of their pet, they're still not okay with the level of care that you're providing. Then just let them go. Right. I know Awesome reason to hire a client? Well, if they make ridiculous demands or taking advantage of you, again, the boundaries there, it's super important to, for you to set those in your business. And for you to have clients that respect to them. If somebody asks you, will you swing by and get my Starbucks coffee,
Collin 15:18
I saw that on a Facebook page. So somebody posted that, that their client asked them and didn't say like, Oh, you know, go get one for yourself, and I'll pay for it. It was just like, Oh, I know, you have to walk by a Starbucks to come to me pick up my drink order. And my jaw hit the floor, I just didn't understand this lack of understanding of that person's time, it just showed that they completely devalued them in the service that they were going to be providing.
Meghan 15:42
Yeah, or will you pick up my dry cleaning, and usually people aren't paying you for your time or your service. And you can go ahead and say, Okay, I will do if you're comfortable with it, I will do that for you, it will be an extra $15 charge or $20 charge or whatever it is,
Collin 15:58
yeah, this these may, these kind of requests may be a great way to earn extra money or to add extra value to your clients. But to do them for free and without charge is really at the end of the day, taking advantage of you and your time.
Meghan 16:11
Now there is a line here of you know, going above and beyond for the client. And we do talk about that a lot, right?
Collin 16:17
But it's when it's chronic. And whenever they don't recognize that it's actually being they're putting you at a disadvantage for the for that request, or they don't see how that request isn't related to the pet care that you're providing. It's whenever they just assume you will do this, because you're on your way or they again, it's it's when it's when these requests start turning from this initial light hearted or from a genuine like, oh, could you please do this for me? And when it goes from that to be turning into an expectation of you, that's whenever this becomes starts to become toxic, and becomes dangerous towards your boundaries? That's what we're talking about. It's a fine line, right? It's, it's totally up to you to where that line is for you and what you're comfortable with. Exactly. But you do have to take an emotional list, emotional lists, assessment of these kinds of requests, and go, Is this okay for me to be doing? And does this allow me to serve them the best way possible, and my other clients, if you're wasting your time, getting coffee for everybody, you're not going to have as much time to do as many visits in your day.
Meghan 17:27
Obviously, there's an infinite number of situations in which you could, would or should fire a client. It's always up to you, it's your business. But if you do release a client, it's important to think through how you would do it. But first, as pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members, pet sitters associates is here to help for over 20 years they have provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. If you work in the pet care industry. And you do, you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom and running your business. Learn why pet sitters associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today. At pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when joining by clicking membership petsitter confessional and use the discount code confessional at checkout to get $10 off today, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pitsford llc.com.
Collin 18:22
So you've decided that you need to fire a client or release a client or break up with a client for whatever reason how to do it, how should you do it? Well, there are some things that you should do. And there are some things that you should not do. So things that you should do, you should determine when the right time to fire them is. Obviously it's not when you're angry, that they're late to pick up again or not in the heat of the moment. Basically, you should make sure that you are calm that you have thought through everything and again are approaching this with out emotion. If they violate your contract, send them a short, simple message telling them the part that they violated shorter, the better. You can even screenshot the contract and highlight the portion. In every single situation stick to the fact
Meghan 19:12
it's really easy to try and sugarcoat it or bring in your own emotions. We were doing that for a little bit with that dog bite incident.
Collin 19:19
I really struggled with that that was really hard for me again, I was trying to make sure everyone was happy that it was appeasing everybody that it was going to be the best possible solution and that I was you know fighting back tears while coming through with all this information. Well because it was a long term client that we had had for a few years. They were you know, we saw them multiple times a week they got gifts for our children and they gave gifts to us. It we had to but I had to step away from it and go these people. Yes, we are friendly with them but they are not our friends at the end of the day. They are our clients and by the letter of the law, this is in the contract. This is the situation that happened and this is what therefore must happen. But that was not easy. It does take time.
Meghan 20:06
Yeah, you can use simple language like it's not a good fit. And obviously, this depends on the situation, every situation is going to be different. And that phrase may not fit. But it may not be a good fit. But use neutral language, don't try to blame an either side, don't try to take the blame for yourself. Don't try to blame, obviously, the client, but have something in writing either text or email explaining the situation and offer either an in person or telephone opportunity to talk about it if needed. If you don't feel safe, I mean, your your safety is priority. So if you are not comfortable meeting this client, in person, because you are afraid of what they may do, when you interact with them, then a phone call or a text or an email, maybe a better option.
Collin 20:56
Yeah, is having something in writing the text or email is really important here, especially if it's going to be legally hairy or legally concerning for either party, at least letting them know that it's dated, and that this is exactly the language that you use. So again, trying to protect yourself. And in those situations where you're worried about their reaction, doing it not in person is the best way. And really the only way to do
Meghan 21:19
yeah, and when we released the client, earlier this year, they understood why we had to do it. And initially, when he came to pick up his dog, the day of the incident, we had explained to him the situation. And so moving on from there, we didn't need a phone call, we just sent a text saying explaining the situation and why we could not care for that dog any longer.
Collin 21:39
So some things that you should not do is don't send a long message go in depth, or feel like you have to defend yourself, this can be really easy is you said feel like you have to apologize or feel like that you have to come across this and give these you know, extremely long, lengthy drawn out messages is at the end of the day, the shorter here, the better because you can get to the point faster, and it's less to read through. And it's less ultimately wishy washy. We feel like the longer these messages Go on, we start to use less neutral language, we start to start beating around the bush because we're trying to make it less hurtful for them because we don't want to hurt their feelings.
Meghan 22:20
So what you're saying is be blunt.
Collin 22:22
Yeah, yeah, you have to be blunt, which for somebody like me, is really hard. I like beating around the bush, it sounds just nicer, sometimes. But in these situations, you can't do that. You really have to be blunt, and you have to be straight to the point.
Meghan 22:37
And don't don't get emotional. It's it's super hard when it's a client you love but you just you can't you're a business owner and business comes first. There again, you said earlier, they're not your friends. As much as we think of them as friends, we love their pets, but don't get pulled into haggling over keeping them on if they big one. Yeah, if they say, Well, I would still like you to provide the service on this day, or I really need help on this day, I'm in a bind, I'm going to jam, you've got to make a clean cut and move on.
Collin 23:13
Just like any sort of relationship that you've been in, the cleaner the cut, the better here. And this kind of almost happened to us whenever we had to release the client earlier last year was that they started requesting Okay, well on on Wednesdays where our house cleaner comes over. So we really need them out of the house that they could you do Wednesdays? And we have to say, No, no, we will have other dogs in the house. And that's just not okay anymore. We can't do that. Now if you'd like us to come over and do a walk while the cleaners there. We will do that. They didn't want that though. But they kind of asked Okay, well, I know you can't keep us, but could you still keep us? And it's like, No, we can't do that we have to stick to our guns.
Meghan 23:55
Yeah, not getting emotional is really hard. Because usually, when we reach this step of firing a client, we are either super mad or sad. And we have to do it. So before you send anything to them. Even if you're on a phone call with them. Take a moment to breathe and talk to someone else about it. Seek good counsel from others. You don't want to react in a way that you'll regret later. And keep all documentation of conversations. If it's through text or email, save them as screenshots or have them in your petsitting software portal. In case the client gets angry and wants to take you to court. Hopefully this never happens to any of us. But it may
Collin 24:37
yeah and even document phone calls the day and the time that they happened, what was covered and what the end of or the resolution of the phone call was like that. Well, you'll have something to refer back to in case there are questions over when something did or didn't happen. Again, it sounds a little paranoid to feel like we are always having to cover our butts. But
Meghan 24:57
we are business you have liabilities
Collin 24:59
And this is a liability and when people's emotions are high, sometimes words can be said that aren't exactly the best on both sides. And so it's just important to make sure that you remember what happened and are able to prove that so
Meghan 25:13
breakup with the client in a way that benefits them. So a good way to end things amicably is to show the client that the breakup is in their best interest. Once you've let them know that they're not a good fit, tell them they will be much happier with x service provider who is better suited for their specific needs or preferences or their dog's personality. Again, if you took on a puppy, that was way too much, refer them to somebody else who may be a puppy specialist.
Collin 25:42
This is yet another good reason for why we should be building a broad community and connections with other sitters and other service providers in your area. So that when these special cases come up, and you take on a client, and it's really not the best fit, it's truly not. You can say, Oh, you know, this is not this not working right now. However, you can go over to Johnny's daycare, and they specialize in exactly your needs right now. And, you know, again, that way you are ending on a positive note.
Meghan 26:11
Now, depending on the different situation that you're in, you may tackle it a different way. So if they don't respect your time, you can say thank you for being a client. And we do appreciate your business. However, we noticed that you cancelled your last couple of appointments with less than 24 hours notice cancellations, and no shows really put a strain on our business. And we have a policy of a limit of to no shows before we no longer accept you as a client, therefore, we are no longer able to serve you. Or if you've just had enough of the client, you can say, I really appreciate the opportunity to work with you and Fido. I've given this a lot of thought. And I've come to recognize over the past few weeks that we are not the best fit. This isn't an easy thing to say. But it's important that you have the best pet care provider possible, who will be able to be on the same page with you and Fido. And your expectations. I'd be happy to connect with you to someone in my network. Again, it doesn't have to be long, stick to the facts, take the emotion out of it,
Collin 27:17
and then be done with it as far as setting it off. But the then the really important step here that I don't think many people talk about is dealing with the aftermath after you hit send.
Meghan 27:29
Or after you've had the phone call with the person right
Collin 27:31
is now dealing with those emotions.
Meghan 27:34
Yeah, so again, it depends on the situation. But know that you will either feel a relieved if this was a difficult client or one that was taking advantage of you or be heartbroken like we were, especially if you love to this client. And this, this really was us. Either way, though, sit with those feelings, recognize them, process them. And then after you have done those things after a while, let them go talk to others, if you are needing help in that process.
Collin 28:05
Yeah, that can't not that cannot be understated to any degree here is that when we have these emotions, and we're processing them again, whether we're happy with related or whether we're absolutely heartbroken, whatever those are, make sure that you're sharing that with somebody bring somebody else into that inner circle so that you can process these. So you can be vocalizing these emotions and talking about these feelings. The more we internalize these and keep them locked up inside, the more they are to start to turn toxic one way or the other. And sometimes the more we can start to feel like they are much bigger than they actually are especially heartbroken with when we're talking about that with somebody, we're able to have somebody empathizing with us recognizing that those emotions are fine, that they're healthy, that they are a process that we are supposed to work through. That allows us to both a speed up that and feel like we are seen and recognized and heard through that, so that we're not alone. And we can be getting these out there to be in helping us process them in a much, much healthier way.
Meghan 29:06
Yeah, I think it took us probably a solid two months before we were ready to move on from releasing our grading client. We genuinely didn't want to let them go. But we recognize that the liability was too great. We felt our hand was forced into doing something that our hearts didn't want to.
Collin 29:26
So we were angry about that. Right. We were angry and frustrated. I think in the day going, Oh, this is not what we wanted. This is not how we wanted to end this relationship. This is this nothing about this is what we wanted. We were a lot more angry than we were sad. But we were still sad. It took us a while to just, you know, be able to talk about this between the two of us without be getting overly emotional.
Meghan 29:46
Yeah, but we just had to look at the facts of the case, what our contract said, obviously what our insurance was going to pay for. We just couldn't take that liability anymore. And what I've turned to the service said, so if the firing of a client is particularly hostel, be prepared for a negative review and feedback on social media. Yeah, it happens a lot. If somebody is unhappy with your service, they are much more likely to leave a one star review than a happy client leaves a five star review?
Collin 30:16
Well, yeah, and just because we are dealing with our own emotions in a healthier manner, doesn't mean that the client will be doing the same way, they will probably not be sitting there thinking, Oh, should I send this or should I not send this, most people will act emotionally and send something or leave a negative review because of it. But that's out of our control. And we talked a lot about that in dealing with customer reviews back on episode 83.
Meghan 30:41
Yeah, so just be aware that that may come about, it's not something that you need to stress about, it's not something that you need to worry about. But if it comes about, you know, to deal with it, just like we've been talking about, not emotionally, not with a long response, not defending yourself,
Collin 30:56
the key here is to not take them personally, and to respond in a professional manner, doing our best to leave out emotion, which, again, is hard. It's not easy when we say that, like it's really easy. We recognize it's not.
Meghan 31:09
Yeah, I think the biggest takeaway here though, is that it's unlikely that you will regret firing a client, but you'll likely regret not doing it. You don't need the stress in your life of a client that you don't want to deal with. You want your ideal client, whoever that is, if it's a millennial, golden doodle owner, or if it's a if it's a retired, Great Dane owner, whatever your ideal client is, those are people that you want to attract, and you want to get rid of everybody that doesn't align with your business goals and your mission statement.
Collin 31:48
Yeah, absolutely. That is true. Sometimes we may have a big pool of clients, but we start to recognize who our ideal clients are, or our ideal clients change. And so in order to gain more of those, we do have to kind of clear the client books of those that aren't our ideal clients, so that we can bring on more of who we do want. So
Meghan 32:08
because again, you are not for everybody, you do not want all the dogs in your town, I promise you,
Collin 32:14
right, we don't. But again, that gets back to whatever reason that you decide it is time to let somebody go, there are things to do and things to avoid in doing that. And ultimately, to be professional, and to be respectful of them. Because that is going to speak volumes of who you are as a business owner and where your ethics and where your morality are.
Meghan 32:38
We'd love to know if you've fired a client, if you've broken up with the client and how you did it and what their response was. On the other end, you can let us know at petsitter confessional on Facebook and Instagram, we have a Facebook groups that are confessionals that you can post in any time. And you can leave us a voicemail as well. 636-364-8260
32:58
I'll get that one day, I promise.
Meghan 33:02
Natasha opionion is back for another answer to the question. How do I figure out the culture of my business?
Natasha 33:09
Oh, the culture. So it's, it's actually pretty easy to figure out the culture because you did not get it. I think in the beginning of my business, it was myself, right. That's how most of us start. I didn't really I had a game plan. But I didn't really know where it was going to go as far as my team. So I never heard from friends and family. And they were my first like round the math. And they were in to see if he's in business. And they were like, why don't we do it like this? Why don't we edit this? Why don't we add this? And I was like, Okay, I love it. We should do? Okay. I think my team actually think my team actually, at the end of the day, I think they design the culture as far as some of the things that we do to streamline things, but some practical practical tips. So I like doing a word chat. I love having an agreement with my team. I have an automated as we're at 10am we do a check in and it says Hey, how you guys feeling? Did you read your notes? check everything. Let me know if any questions now but before start our day, and so there's no need for like a full time minister. There's no need for a check in because they infer questions and they're good to go. Then we do not immediate check in again at 2pm. And I say hey guys 2pm check in. Do you have any is going to make your time windows? So for us dog walkers, pet
34:43
sitters, are
Natasha 34:44
we going to make the time window and they say I'm looking good? Everything is great. Thanks or no, I'm actually running behind. I'm not going to make it can you guys help me out? And so because we talk as a group chat, and that's something that one of my walkers asked me to do. So again, they create the Little bit, they said, Hey, can we put a group chat and to kind of see what other walkers are doing? I want to kind of see what reports they're making. I want to kind of see like some tips and tricks that, you know, are helping make their day easier. And I said, I couldn't agree with you more. Because one thing that like corporate America has is they have buddies or you can reach back and be like, Hey, give me a tip, or how do you how are you getting this project done faster, right. But we don't have that. And so work chat is really good. Because I love my gifts, I like to come in on video. And I like to record and I like to goofy with them. And so they still get that in person to feel without, without it actually really happening. And so they feel supported, they can ask questions they can check in. And so they kind of know our flow. And I feel like an overall culture for us is like, it's really like family. So putting in those small little pieces of like, Listen, if you're out here, you're not out here in the streets, right by yourself. We're with you up in the crop in the group chat, talk to us, let us know what's going on. And so that's how we find that we keep our team for long term because they know that you know, whatever they need, they can talk to us. It's an open conversation. And we're all here to support. And it's never me against them. Like they know if a client says something I'm like, let me get the full details. Let me see what the Walker has to say first, and then let me get back to you. So I think that's really important with culture, because my walkers know that I'll go to bat for them first, right. And just as a personal tip, it's very easy to get a new client, but it's not as easy to get a high quality walker or pet sitter. So get the facts. I know a lot of us jump into like, Oh my god, the the client emailed and said the sitter did something. And I'm like, okay, they probably didn't do anything, or it's probably something simple. But taking that non attack mode, you know, keeping that clear ahead to say, cool, let me go with my process. Thank you for the details. Let me talk to my sister, and I'll get back to you. Talk to them get their details. So they know like, Oh my god, she's always attacking me. She's always, you know, thinking I'm doing something wrong. She doesn't share the reports with me. She doesn't share client feedback with me. I hear all that kind of stuff. Again, the client says something nice, screenshot it, send it to the locker. If you got a good email, screenshot it, give it to the Walker, let them know that they are part of the process. They don't work for me. They work with me. And they know they're the best part of what we do. And I couldn't even live the life that I live if they were not supportive.
Meghan 37:39
Natasha owns her awesome dog walking business, but she's also a pet business coach. And if you would like her to coach you through your pet business and help it to grow and scale, you can go to her website, start scale sale, calm and use the code PSC 20 for 15% off her coaching. We want to thank our awesome patrons especially Savannah, thank you so much for joining us again. And pets, pet sitters associates for sponsoring this episode. We are so appreciative of you taking your most valuable asset your time and listening to us today. We hope that these are helpful to you. And if they are please go to Apple podcasts and write us a review and that helps other people to know that this is something they should be listening to to
Collin 38:20
that we really do appreciate. That's the best way to help people. Find out more about the podcast or just share out your favorite episode whenever you want to.
Meghan 38:29
Thank you guys. Thank you
