314: Overcoming Public Perceptions
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Summary
Have you ever felt like the pet services industry isn’t taken seriously or seen as professional? Public perception often casts pet sitters as not professional, un-trustworthy, or doing a job anyone can do. How do we overcome these as an industry? We break down five actions it takes to change public perception and raise expectations across the board; all learned from a recent ride in a tow truck.
Main topics
Collin’s trip with a tow truck!
Lessons from the company owner
What it means for pet care
Ask a Biz Coach
Main takeaway: To tackle the many misunderstandings the public has about the pet services industry, we all have a role to play!
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet sitter, client, business, industry, people, pet, brian, towing, details, tow truck, services, pet sitters, company, pay, staff, talk, cab, dog, natasha, car
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:10
Hello, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hi there. Welcome to Episode 314. And we are going to talk today about overcoming public perceptions. Hello. Thank you to our sponsors, pet sitters associates and our Patreon members. And if you are wondering what in the world is a Patreon? That's not a word people typically use. It is someone who supports us financially by giving us a few dollars every month to continue doing the podcast and putting on a retreat like we just had a couple of weeks ago.
Collin 00:50
Yeah, we need to talk about the retreat that we just put on. We had eight pet sitters from across the country gathered in Independence, Missouri, which is just outside of Kansas City for a weekend focused on asking questions about our roles as business owners and our personal lives, how well we think we are doing with them. And then my favorite part was actually all of the group work that we got to do of collaborating and helping one another solve and overcome problems and issues and really sharing resources and experiences as other topics came up.
Meghan 01:20
Yeah, we did some yoga, we ate some good food, had some camaraderie, it was great.
Collin 01:25
So we hope to be able to put this on again soon. So stay tuned. Today's topic is about overcoming public perceptions. And importantly, here, it's about negative public perceptions. The petsitting industry has a lot of misunderstandings that go on in the general public, most people simply just don't know what we do or have very low expectations of us given their past experiences with pet sitting. So what does it take to change public perceptions of an industry like that. So this past week, I had reason to be in a tow truck. And tow truck cabs usually aren't very nice places to be. So I was really surprised whenever I was sitting in this cab, delighted by how clean it was how there was chilled water bottles, how there were multiple phone chargers, depending on if I had an iPhone or an Android, and there was room for my bags. And what was really shocking is that this wasn't happening in some place that like a big city. This wasn't a members only kind of towing service. This was happening in our middle of nowhere Missouri local tow company that really just started five years ago by 30. Something but my hour and a half drive with the driver who actually turned out to be the owner was an absolutely fascinating deep dive into a company doing everything they possibly can to raise the bar and change public perceptions of an industry that is beleaguered by bad press,
Meghan 02:51
which is kind of similar to our industry. It really is
Collin 02:54
because just there's so many misunderstanding. So Brian walked me through everything that he sees wrong with the towing industry, and really importantly, what he is doing about it. He obviously spoke about challenging economic headwinds in the future inflation and fuel prices. But he talked a lot about why pricing is so key to what he does. And when I told him what we do what Megan and I do in our company, and what we charged, he literally blurted out, are you serious? There's no way you'd get me to do that for that price. That's more than a premium service. Think of all that liability,
Meghan 03:28
which is something that obviously he has to deal with day in and day out of towing these big vehicles. And,
Collin 03:35
yeah, it was interesting that he thought our business had a lot of liability when he's standing out on the side of the road at all hours of the day in all weather conditions, towing 1000s pounds of car and dealing with people's lives in his passenger seat. So what throughout this conversation, there were five things that kept coming up about what it takes to run a business in an industry often maligned and looked down upon. And I am continually when I reflected on this conversation, I'm still shocked about the amount of overlap between the towing industry and the pet services and what we're trying to overcome, especially when it comes to again, how people view us. I think that's a common complaint that we have of nobody respects me, nobody sees me as a professional, nobody sees what I do as hard.
Meghan 04:23
Well, and that leads into the first point of details matter. So when you think of a tow truck company or a tow truck, man or woman, what do you usually think of? If you watch any kind of TV or film or just think about how they're portrayed, they're usually pretty dirty. They're grumpy, they, you know, have their when they're bending over with tying the car to the tow truck, they've got their butt crack showing, like it's not a good upstanding and professional look, and they're no offense to any tow operators out there who don't fit those. It's just that society has has come to a weird conclusion about our assumptions for that industry.
Collin 05:04
Yeah. And Brian is trying to change all that. So he spent the first two years of his business traveling and talking with other tow companies in the area and working on everything he could do to be better, because he's, he's overcoming decades and decades of bad PR about the towing industry and the kinds of people who provide that kind of service. So he, when he talked with the companies he really focused on, what could he do better? Where could he find gains, and one detail really stuck out to me. So he's actually gone through and written out scripts for him and his staff. So the first thing they say to you when you're stranded on the side of the road, and this is what he said to me, he said, Hi, I'm Brian, I hope you're okay. For your safety in mind, I'll help gather your things from your car and get you settled in the cab of the truck, feel free to change the temperature and help yourself to the water, this won't take long at all. Boom, that was it. He he has his staff memorize scripts like that, for all sorts of situations, I was put at ease and I knew both what to do and what to expect. Another detail that he really stressed and went on and on about was the kind of tow straps that he uses. Because it turns out that the industry standard, the quote unquote, industry standard can actually warp and further damage the vehicle in some situations of towing. So he went out and found these eight point harness systems that won't damage the car, no matter what happens. Did clients ask him for this? Were they clamoring for this kind of toe strap?
Meghan 06:32
No. Because most people have no idea what it is
Collin 06:35
no. And importantly, they shouldn't have to know they're turning to him as a professional to trust him to take care of their car as the expert in the field. Yeah, and they only care about this kind of thing when their car is warped, and they're angry. And this stems from his company value of treating clients property, like it's his own. He's thought through the details and processes in his business and made them the very best they can possibly be. And he's always adding more. So what about pet care? What does this mean for pet care industry to stress the details?
Meghan 07:07
Well, I think it's pretty easy to see. Because just as he is concerned about the details for the person and putting them at ease, that's what we do with pet care. So we really pay attention to the details at every visit that we do and even beforehand, but you know, if we feed wet cat food, we wash out the container at every visit before we put it in the trash. So it doesn't stink. You know, we ask at the meet and greet Where's the water shut off? Where's the breaker box? What who is your local emergency contact, that's not yourself. You know, during the visit, we notice if a pet is limping, or if things are out of place, or if a door is left unlocked or window left unlocked. We this business is about the details, the details of the homes that we're caring for the details of the pets. If you're a dog walker, and you're walking dogs, you notice details out and about so that you know in case the dog you're walking is reactive, you can divert their attention, this business is all it's all about the detail. It is
Collin 08:05
and what's really cool is whenever you ask one of those questions to get some more detail, and the client goes, Oh, I never thought about that. Or oh, no one's ever asked me that. I think one of my favorite questions to ask when they're asking us to go do walks is is there a particular place you'd like to take them or place to avoid in the neighborhood, that's a detail that most clients know instinctually, based on their experience with walks, they don't expect other people to think through that level of detail or to get to that level of instruction for their care. They, they don't know what to ask them, because they don't know what to expect it so we can come in with the details all ironed out or know how to fill them in and help them along in that process.
Meghan 08:44
Well, and as far as him using the toe strap that not many people think about but it's a high quality one, you have to think well people will come to you, you are the expert and pet care. So if you see something that they're doing, that may not be correct, if they don't have a proper fitting harness, or if they aren't sure about what dog food to actually feed their dog, you can come in and help guide them and support them. Or if you've collaborated with other pet businesses to you can point them the pet owners in the right direction of where to go for help.
Collin 09:14
Well in his scripts to he recognized that a lot of people who get into the industry, there's a perception that they're not people people, right that they are kind of gruff, and they're kind of off putting and they're not very conversationalist. So to help overcome that and shine better light on his staff. He gave them things to say he helped them out in that process of hey, if you're in this situation, here are some talking points, this situation this talking point, is that a lot of work for his staff to remember and do and train and be tested on. Absolutely, but it's worth it at the end of the day because his staff members are looked highly upon by everybody who encounters them because he thought through the process of going these people need to be able to feel comfortable with them and have a conversation. The second
Meghan 09:55
point that you came away with was make it personal when you are trying to Oh overhaul the perceptions of an industry, that means that we need to be invested in the work and draw from our experiences to personalize what we do, because you are trying to change people's mind up from what they have known to something new. And that can be hard to do. But when you are needing to raise the bar in the industry, when you're needing to make it better, that is something that's necessary during
Collin 10:23
our conversation. And again, I had an hour and a half to talk with Brian about all this stuff. But he often use the words I or me mine, especially when describing the kind of service he wants to run. See, he's very focused on how he'd like to be treated, or his wife or his kids or his grandparents. He actually said, look, I've got 20 minutes or maybe three hours in the car with somebody, they need to feel comfortable and at ease with me or my drivers, I would never want to be locked in a car with someone who creeped me out. I think we can all agree on that. So he said, Okay, if I don't want to be locked in a car with somebody that creeps me out, what would I change? What would I do to make that better that starts with the scripts that starts with their uniform that starts with the cleanliness of the car, it starts with all of these things that we can start putting into practice because it comes from a personal belief of how we'd want to treat others. Making a personal also means that Brian brings his personality, his tastes and his morals into his business. And He does this by being the champion of others. He partners in works only with other businesses that he loves and uses personally, he promotes and he lifts them up actively on social media. And anytime he has a chance to talk them up with a customer or somebody else collaborative and connected businesses thrive in sharing the benefits from others. As everybody grows
Meghan 11:42
on, this is something that we talk about with pet care all the time. collaborate with other pet sitters. With your vet that you use for your own personal dog, make it make your own pet sitting business, something that you would want to use maybe you know, we talked about this sometimes how we can't actually afford our own services. But still use the personal touches that you would want to use. Don't Don't Don't nickel and dime people think about how would your grandma want to be treated by a pet sitter? Or how
Collin 12:12
would you want your grandma if you were hiring a pet sitter for your grandma, what would you want for her to take away from that experience? How would you want that person to treat her or whoever is in your business or in your life that you love and adore, treat them well, and then make your business fit that mold.
Meghan 12:28
And so you can make it personal by getting to know the clients that you are serving, how you can better meet their needs. If they have important meetings or anniversaries coming up, put those on your calendar, you know if their pet recently died, put that in your calendar for next year. So you can call them and check on them and see how they're doing. You know, reach out on that day, you can send birthday cards to the pets, you know make your clients feel special, make them feel loved. Yes, we are a business. And we've talked about this before have at the end of the day numbers are the numbers and you need to do what's best for your business and the clients are going to do what's best for them. But we can do things to make it more personal and make them feel special
Collin 13:05
and have that connection where they were increasing that know like and trust factor in that trust factor that really happens. And we're really increasing as we have more and more touch points that are high quality and very personal.
Meghan 13:17
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Collin 13:53
My third takeaway from my talk with Brian is that professionalism costs. Breaking expectations allows us to wow and surprise clients. Do you need a certification to be a tow truck company? No. Did Brian think that was appropriate? No. He pays for all of his staff to undergo not just industry specific training, but also has all of them certified in basic mechanics and first aid. You also noticed that all of the tow trucks in the area were short cab. Now what I learned here is that's totally fine if you're towing a car with one or two people in it. But what about a family, he decided he never wanted to be unable to take care of a family. So all of his trucks are extended cabs with additional storage. I also learned that tow trucks cost a lot like a lot, a lot like mortgage a lot here. So the cost was important and necessary to him because he was able to meet his company values and mission with those trucks. Remember those special tow straps they cost a lot. He also regularly detail As the cab of all of his trucks and pays for professional cleaning or replacement of his staff uniforms, a core value of his company is providing a high quality of life for his employees with time off and benefits. In his words, no other company is doing these things because they cost money. And those companies aren't charging enough to do them. We can do them because I charge what I need. And I know it's better for my clients and staff. We've learned Megan and I that our companies can do amazing things, not just for us, but for our clients, for our staff if we have them and for our community. The ability to do those, however, starts with charging enough and having enough money to spend on better and better things. So when it comes to pet care, it's all about having the nice things, having quality tools like leashes, a fanny pack, getting quality education and certifications, having a quality of a high quality, online presence with good quality photos and graphics and branding. Don't just slap things up there and expect them to work. paying money for things to make your business stand out, actually gives you an opportunity to fill in the gaps and do things that no other company can. And we're only able to do that if we charge appropriate prices.
Meghan 16:19
Brian, the tow truck driver also talked about being a brand ambassador. So if you are in an industry that has been maligned and needs a complete makeover, whose job is that? Is it one tow truck drivers job to fix the entire industry? Or is it one pet sitters job to fix the entire industry? The towing industry doesn't really have a good rap with repair shops or insurance agents, or as we talked about, really the public in general. So working on the details and paying for professional quality, aren't enough if no one knows about it, you know, Brian talked about he doesn't do the marketing, quote unquote, because he knows his business is his business is almost exclusively spread by word of mouth, which is pretty similar to the petsitting. Industry, hey, but instead, he focuses on being an bat and ambassador in the community and the broader business world, as the business founder and the owner of your company, and no one else can build your brand like you can we've talked about this before in previous episodes of what makes your company different than any other dog walker down the street is you, you bring your own unique take to it. And no one else knows the why like you do or does the little intricate things that you do that make it different. No one can communicate those intricacies of the inner workings of your business and how you conduct visits and how you can do dog walks like you can. So who are you telling about your business? Brian talked about that he dedicates five hours every week to just chat with insurance agents and repair shops and car lots. He's not pitching his services, necessarily. But he's building that relationship. And that's something that we also talk about is going into the vet's offices and groomers and not just throwing them business cards and doughnuts, but actually starting a relationship and buying their products and taking your dog there to get groomed or buying the treats at the pet store. Or even you know, if you're buying a house, the realtor, not necessarily just pitching yourself, hey, I'm a dog walker, put my business cards and your new client envelopes, or client folders. But being an ambassador for your business means that you're fully representing your business and sharing why it's so special to those around you and not just sales pitching them. It's really developing that relationship.
Collin 18:36
Yeah. And it's really being the best possible example of what your business is all about. People should look to you and understand everything they need to know about your business. That's a pretty scary thought. If you think about that, if somebody sees you and communicates with you and works with you, is that a good representation of your business?
Meghan 18:54
Yeah, you really need to protect the image of your company in the community. Obviously, nobody's going to do that better than you do. Whether you're solo or have staff, you know, go to events go and meet other business owners, not just pet businesses, but like he does, you know, insurance agents and realtors and painters and house cleaners. We need to be an ambassador for the pet businesses in our community and obviously, globally. But let's start with our small community, we need to defend the image of the pet sitter. What does that look like? It means being a voice of positivity and a good representation to everyone that you interact with.
Collin 19:33
As you ask that question, whose job is it to start speaking up and standing up for an industry starts with us? We have that responsibility of ourselves. Can we elicit all of the change necessary? No, but we can control what we can control. And that means speaking up when people talk bad or down about what it means to be a pet sitter and sharing what that life is actually like or when
Meghan 19:57
you go to family reunions and they say oh You're just a pet sitter or you're just a dog walker, you can wear that badge of honor and say yes, and I am able to support myself. And if you have a team, you can say I support my team. And we are a thriving business who loves what we do and provides peace of mind to our clients. And so that ties right into the fifth piece, which is selling peace of mind. And that's what Brian talked about, as well. When people bring prior expectations, especially negative ones of the tow truck guy on the side of the road, grumpy, scruffy, you know, we have to move past those experiences by anticipating what the client needs and knowing what they actually want. So we know that we don't want the tow truck driver who's scruffy and kind of looks mean, we want the nice uniformed tow truck driver who has the chilled water in the cab and it smells nice in there and it's clean, and there's room for you to stretch your legs and put your bags down. It's not
Collin 20:58
just a minute, he's though in my conversation with Brian, he said, I need them to know I'm coming. And I'll be there when I tell them I'll be there. People on the side of the road are afraid or shaken up. When I get that call, they need to know everything will be okay. And that is a massive overlap with the pet care industry. We're not just petting dogs, we're not just walking dogs. Brian's not just towing a car, he's helping people. towing a car is all about helping people feel confident in your ability and assured that they are cared for. And he's narrowed in on what his client's biggest pain points are, and made it his mission to mold everything about his company to be excellent when it comes to those. And as, as pet cares, our services provide more to the client than just the tasks of the job.
Meghan 21:51
And so what does that mean? How do we sell peace of mind because we talk about that all the time. But what does that actually mean that peace of mind, it means showing up and doing the job. But then also communicating that you did the job and how you did the job. You know, that's the pictures on the back end of they go Oh, fluffy, it's actually having such a great time. I love seeing them interact together with you. And this is
Collin 22:13
where everything gets put together. Everything, the scripts, the worry about what the source actually is all of the professionalism, the details, the equipment, all of that is put together to actually sell peace of mind to the person contacting you.
Meghan 22:29
Because when somebody is calling a tow truck, and when somebody is calling needing pet care services, they're kind of feeling the same feelings or they may be and that's scared. You know, when you're calling a tow truck and you need you're on the side of the road broken down. Oh my gosh, am I gonna get home? When am I going to get home? How am I going to get there, I need some I need help right now. And on the flip side of that when you're needing a pet sitter, maybe you have an emergency need to go out of town right away, or you just moved to the area, or any of these other kinds of pain points that your clients might have, they might be a little scared or they they might not trust people to enter their home. And so we need to give them that peace of mind. We need to be aware and mindful of the emotions that people have when they need a pet sitter.
Collin 23:12
Our hope is that you won't have to be in a tow truck anytime soon. Our other hope is that you can look at your business with fresh eyes and take personal responsibility for what it reflects of your values, and how it reflects on the broader industry of pet care services. Brian is changing and shaping the way a tow truck driver is viewed.
Meghan 23:32
And so we need to change and shape the way a pet sitter is viewed as well. Because think about it, how does society view a pet sitter? Not very highly. So we hope that you can take these five things and improve the image of a pet sitter not only for you and your company, but also for all of us out here listening. Because basically at the end of the day, people in general people think that anybody can be a pet sitter, but not everybody can do it well, and that's the difference. That is what you bring to the table of you provide excellent services, you sell that peace of mind, you make it personal, you pay attention to the details. You are a brand ambassador for the industry. And we thank you for representing us, all of us. Well, thank you. If you have implemented something specific in your business to help the image of a pet sitter, we would love to know you can send us an email at feedback at Pet Sitter confessional.com.
Collin 24:28
On this week's Ask a periscope segment Natasha vegan answers the question How do I balance needing to make money with feeling bad that certain people can't afford me?
Natasha 24:40
I like to hide behind my processes. I think this is the best trick for all introverted people or people who don't want to do money talk or money discussions. literally write out your full process on every all your services cost. All the variations of your service so feeding Extra dogs holiday rates, you know, shared homes, all your extra fees, write it all out. So when a client asks you how much this cost, you can then just for them the link to all your pricing. That's the easiest way to completely avoid the pricing talk, because the client can then circle click and book, whichever they need and move forward. They then no longer have to say, oh, Natasha, it's too expensive. I never even open up the conversation about if it was expensive or too low, I simply just send you the link for you to click book and move forward, the client has to have their own internal conversation, whether they want to have Starbucks coffee, or they want to pay for a pet sitter, where they want to fly to Jamaica, or they want to do a local beach trip because they need to pay for a pet sitter. You never have to worry about budgeting your clients daily income, because they've already done that for themselves. If they want to take the trip, they're going to pay you. If they want to hire you in the mid day, they're going to pay you they're going to rob Peter to pay Paul some way or somehow we just have to make sure it's not us that gets robbed. It's somewhere else like the coffee. I do this myself every single day where my groomer for instance, raise rates because they're getting influx of doodles, and they're just coming out mats all day. So they're finally realizing, Oh, wow, this has gotten really expensive for us, we have to raise rates. I wouldn't say overall, as pet sitter dog walkers, we tend to raise rates by two to $3. It's very minimum, where we actually do a rate influx, it's not like we're saying, Hey, it's $20 additional, it's $50 additional, we're typically in the two to $3 mark. So a client can always bump themselves up to that pay increase versus losing the reliable trusted service they've already come to know and love. So you don't do the backend psychology with them. You tell them what it's going to be you tell them what the prices are, and the client will move their budget around to make it work. That's not your job, it's theirs.
Collin Funkhouser 27:02
Recognizing again, you ultimately have a business to run and operate. And that requires that you have your prices set so that you can run that and that you can be here tomorrow and not suffer from burnout, like you said, not imposing our beliefs or our perceptions of how much is too much or too little on the client. They make that decision. I think that's really, really critical in that I'm not making the buying decision for the client. That's theirs.
Natasha 27:28
Yeah, I would never be invited into the client's dinner talk on their income and their money. Oh, Natasha, you're too expensive. Let me know when you want to move forward. I don't even talk about pricing negotiation or how I should change. My rates are too expensive. I can't afford it. I understand. Let me know if anything changes. And I sure as hell know that something is going to change because people go to other centers and they're like, Wow, well, they didn't do this. Well, they didn't do that the difference, and they always end up coming back. But that's not a burden for you to carry anyway, you do not want to feel burnout in your business. The only way that we start feeling burnout is we're working too much. The reason we're working too much is because we have to pay for our lifestyle. We have to make more money. We're like, oh, well, the money is good. I need it. All the money is good. I need it right now. We want to remove that I need that money. And if you can make sure your prices are matching your services, or then you can hire help. Or you can even just reduce your services. I have literally groomers who are making so much money that they only take a small amount of client base. They're like I'm a premium boutique grimmer. My rates are Premier, the clients who come to me are Premier, so I only take a limited amount of clients to start with. That's also a business model, but they're no longer busy booked and burnt out. We don't want that.
Meghan 28:48
If you would like to join Natasha's monthly membership group, you can do so at automated ceo.com and use the code P SC 20. For 15% off. We appreciate you taking your most valuable asset your time and listening to this today. It is very much appreciated. And we also want to thank our sponsor, pet sitters Associates,
Collin 29:07
and all of our wonderful supporting members and our Patreon group. Yes, thank
Meghan 29:11
you very much and we will talk to you next time. Bye
