319: Sales Psychology of the Affluent Client
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What does it mean to market to affluent clients? Sales psychology is all about knowing and understanding the needs of your clients, and providing appropriate solutions to them. Natasha O’Banion, business coach with Automated CEO, shares how to target affluent clients by having a well planned buying journey and being authentic. Natasha gives tips on identifying your ideal client, what their mentality is, and what it means that affluent clients buy with facts.
Main topics:
Sales psychology
Why go up-market
Time, money, and value
Buying with facts
Luxury experiences
Main takeaway: Targeting affluent clients is not about judging their clothing and outward appearance, it’s about understanding what drives their decision process.
About Our Guest:
Visionary and Integrator (VI) Natasha O’Banion stepped out on blind faith to stop trading time for financial freedom. Then, an Automotive Financial Sales Manager Natasha decided to start over. Without much thought she packed up her life in Washington, DC for the sunny state of Florida.
A true dog lover, Natasha and her two dogs Renzo and Ruby enjoyed five months on the beach before deciding to start a pet care business. Natasha was able to take her sales, HR and white glove customer relations experience to scale, 6 figures in her first 6 months. Several employees and four states later she credits, clear plan on company, people and process. Her process now duplicates worldwide as she continues the mission to help business owners create operations that work on their terms.
Now wife and mother to three beautiful girls, Natasha wholeheartedly believes and exemplifies that your business should work for you and your family. Your vision- the destination, your team- the driver and your systems- direct traffic.
When Natasha isn’t helping her clients, you can find her traveling with her husband and children or spending time at the park with their four fur babies.
Links
Episode 59: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/059-scaling-your-business-with-natasha-obanion
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
client, business, people, pet, dog, literally, buyer, life, offer, price, understanding, sales, trust, social proof, hire, affluent, natasha, talking, person, home
SPEAKERS
Collin, Natasha
Collin 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 brought to you by time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters. What does it mean to market to the affluent client? How do they make purchasing decisions? And what is our role in guiding them through that process? Today, we are super excited to have Natasha Banyan from automated ce o on the show to talk about sales psychology of the affluent client. And Tasha shares what it means to communicate them how to use words appropriately and why it's not always having to be about flash and bang, but really about substance and making decisions based on the right choice for them. Let's get started. Hi, guys.
Natasha 00:55
Yes, I'm Natasha O'Banion. I am a pet business coach and a pet brand owner. I originally started walk with Renzo and Ruby in Washington DC, I was able to scale that business to DC, Maryland, Virginia in Texas, where I then switched over to doing full time product and brand online post COVID, which I've been super excited about. We do athletic apparel, dog obsessed workout gear now, and I also help other pet businesses coach, I coach them through their current businesses how to scale and grow and most importantly, run their business without them. So I got my hands and a little bit of everything. And my background comes from sales, I have 13 years in the automotive industry, where I have studied sales, from the simplest subjects to the most advanced, I spent most of my time looking at people's credit. So I have a little bit of a perspective when it comes to how people spend money, how they use it, how they see it, their relationship with it, I've been able to leverage that information in the pet business, which has allowed me to grow my dog walking business to six figures fairly quickly, and then still post seven figures beyond that. And I'm excited to share this with you guys. I feel like there's a little bit of that insight that really helps the businesses kind of get over the hump or, you know, decide what's that 1% know that I don't know, or what are they doing that I'm not doing? So hopefully this subject can help you guys work through that.
Collin 02:24
Yeah, well, we've been talking about sales and selling and marketing our businesses. That's not something that a lot of us have backgrounds in, right? We love pets, we love the animals, and we kind of find ourselves running a business one day. So when I say the phrase, sales, psychology, what does that mean to you? Yeah, sales psychology
Natasha 02:45
is really just understanding the mental process that a client goes through. So that client buying journey before they say, Yes, you know, what do they what kind of information do they need? What do they process before they actually decide, hey, I'm gonna go with this business, I'm going to, you know, spend money here I see value in this product. So taking understanding that sales psychology, through the client buying experience is really where you can start to market and leverage to the exact person you're trying to talk to.
Collin 03:18
It's about knowing your client and their motives, as well, instead of just showing up as a blank slate, having no idea who you're talking to. And I think, you know, importantly, this happens both in person, but it also happens in the materials and other marketing, things that we're putting out there on our website or social media as well.
Natasha 03:37
Exactly. And so in simple terms, is really just understanding our client's needs, not pain points, but needs, right, we have wants and needs. And if you can look at a client and say, Listen, I'm the person that can provide you the education, the information for you to make a best decision, then we can do business. Do you agree? Do I agree? Perfect. Now we have a relationship. It's actually fairly simple. But I think people who have not understood sales, you know, it can be intimidating, right? The things that we don't know, or we're not familiar with can seem like, well, I don't want to sell someone, something I don't, I don't want to feel like I'm manipulating or this is yucky. But when in fact sales has nothing to do with manipulation has nothing to do with convincing someone. It's literally educating. So if you consider yourself educator, someone who cares and loves and values that consumer, and you know that you're going to be the very best fit for their needs. That's a relationship.
Collin 04:34
I think if you've ever been in that position, where you're doing a meet and greet, or you're talking to somebody on the phone, or somebody was requesting your services, and if you ever had that thought of, well, what made them choose me, or what was it about me that made them go with what kind of pushed them over that hump? This is what that's getting at is understanding what kind of made them go no, that person is the one that I trust. And so as a business, it really is fundamental to how we operate because if we have no idea Why people are choosing us and what we're doing right, we kind of miss out on a lot of the power that we have as a business.
Natasha 05:07
Absolutely. And that goes all the way back to those value ads. You want to look at your business as a whole and decide like, what kind of client do I want to work with? You know, what do I want to offer to the client? What kind of experience you want to want to take them through? How do I want to be seen as the standout option between the crowd, and so when you know what your wants are to deliver to the client, you can then start talking to your people. And so I know in the pet industry, we always talk about, you know, in the service space side, we talk about covering the city versus covering the suburbs versus covering the royal. And we think it's this this whole different life, you know, sometimes it is in small ways, but at the end of the day, it's do you provide a service that actually need that I see value in that I can justify that I can backup and support and continue to use this on a recurring basis for my family. And so going deeper with that you want to identify for me, I knew exactly who I wanted to talk to, I wanted to talk to a mini version of myself, a person who was working in a corporate industry that worked very long hours, who considered myself work hard, play hard, who wanted to still have all the freebies I could possibly collect, but had no idea how I was going to take care of them by myself. But I wanted them to have this like very plush luxury, like roll out the red carpet experience. You know, I had always worked with Mercedes, Lexus, Bentley, those brands in the past. And I've also worked with Honda, Mazda, Toyota those brands as well. So I clearly saw the difference between that like, whoa, wow, they really do things differently on this side. And so I said, why can't we give that to the pet business? Why can't we roll out that red carpet, and still be able to make a profit supply the client's needs, but then stand out from the crowd. And so when I started looking at my avatar, I said, Wow, I really want to start targeting city going people that tend to not have family in the area, who tend to, you know, work long hours, who tend to try to live somewhat of a social life on a regular basis. And those were typical at our time was the millennial based buyer. I had a lot of clients that worked in Congress, who were staffers, you know, they fell in that category, I had a lot of clients who also had children. And they were like, I just can't do it all. And so where we came in is we say, Listen, I don't even want you to consider yourself to do at all anymore, I want you to hire us to join as partners, and we're going to take care of that. Similar to when I hire my nanny service. Or when I hire a cleaning service or someone that cut my grass. I just can't do it all. So what is it that you provide that it's going to make my life easier? I have this pet I don't know what I'm doing. So what can you provide? To me, that makes me a better consumer. And I think that's where a lot of us missed the mark is that a lot of our clients are like, first time pet owners, a lot of them are right, especially post COVID. You know, the shelters were cleared out, a lot of our clients are just not educated as we are, we have 1000s of opportunities that we serve as dogs every single day that we know a little bit more than they do. But they look to us to educate them to then guide them down the direction that we've set forth for them. You know, when we lose opportunities to sell our clients products on a meeting, great. That's a huge opportunity, where people are like, oh, I want to grow my business, I want to make more money. Well, if you have a client that found you that's inviting you to their home on a meet and greet, why are you then not offering them product to grow your business because these are products are going to need anyway. They're going to need a leash, they're going to need a harness, you're going to need a dog bowl, these are all things that have small effort for you to grab and get and sell to your clients.
Collin 08:55
Yeah, like you said, it's about meeting their needs and understanding what those are. And as you early on lose sight of the difference between pain points versus needs in their lives. They have things they have problems that they're trying to solve, and how do we do that? And for this discussion, we're talking about, you know, especially for the affluent clients, that's a big topic of discussion of who should I sell to maybe I should just only sell to rich people should only provide services to these affluent people. But there's a little bit of pushback on that when people go well, doesn't that does that limit my business and the scope of people who I can care for? Because there aren't that many people out there with that level of income in their life. So how do we walk that fine line between or maybe it isn't a fine line of serving this more niche clientele and not having a as a wide base of clients? Yeah, so the thing
Natasha 09:42
about the afloat the aslo, it only means that the medium household is a six figure income. Typically it's a six figure $2 million income that is what they define as a fluent. The thing is, it has nothing to do with limiting your resources. It all has to do with me niching down to who can actually afford us, no matter what side of the world you are on suburbs, royal city, we all know that we're looking for a client that has discretionary income. It's nothing to do with Oh, where they're rich, okay, they can pay where money? No, there's so many rich people that I personally know who have retirement, who have trust funds, but they're also living on a very limited resources. So it doesn't necessarily mean that they have the money that they can afford you. But we are looking for a person with discretionary income, who we know that they can afford to have any animal having a pet is a luxury, I was raised very poor. So I do know both sides of the tracks where a client may not have the resources to provide you a consistent business as a recurring client, we're on this side, they do have the medium income, they do have the needs and wants, and they're going to provide an offer and want a service. That's literally what it comes down to someone who can afford a service and someone who can't so much discretionary income and someone who does it. When I didn't have discretionary income. I did it all myself. When I did have discretionary income, I hired partners. And like, it has to be that simple for us. Because I know that a lot of us are like, oh, I want to be able to service them. And I want to be able to offer them a discount so they can afford me and I know that they really want to use me but they can't afford it. Well, we don't really know what's going on in their pocketbook. We don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. Because I can tell you right now looking at 1000s of credit reports. I'm like people have money if they want to. They can afford and buy whatever they want. It's just where they see value. And that's where we get the opportunity to really explain why letting your dog out for midday is so important. Why having a pet sitter come to your home while you're on vacation at least three times a day is so important. We have to actually provide that information for them.
Collin 11:55
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Susan 11:59
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Collin 12:17
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Collin Funkhouser 12:31
Right? Well, I know sometimes it can be hard to understand and know what kind of information to give people who are more affluent as you said, you know, you didn't grow up affluent, I did not go up affluent. So it's sometimes hard to get to the mindset of what their needs are. Because I don't know that world. It's so foreign to me. So how do we start understanding what those are? And how do we best start putting that into practice in our businesses?
Natasha 12:55
Yeah, for purchase a foreign buyer really buys with facts, you know, they're not really emotional when it comes to their money. They're like, where's the value? Where's the facts? Where's the information? How are you going to make my life easier? Are you really going to take this off my plate? Or am I going to have to babysit you and coach you and ask you a whole bunch of questions. And it's a very type a type of buyer. It's like they like things like it's done. It's handled already on top of it. Don't sweat it. You don't have to worry about it. My my company's got you there like yes, yes. They get chills. Like they literally were like, yes, you guys are my people. This is exactly what I'm talking about. That's exactly why I pay you guys. Because you guys handle me you handle it, you handle my dog, you handle my home, I have complete trust, complete faith. And I don't care how much it costs. Because you guys are handling it, I think you're worth it. I value what you guys provide to me, you have apps, you have consistency, you have the information, you have staff, your professional, you have easy, non cumbersome processes, it's clear, it's to the point, I have tried to make money in my back. I'm trying to do this over here and this over here. And you guys just come in and it's done. That's how they buy. It's about a boom, bada bang relationship. And the more that you're asking a client, well, what are you saying? And how do you feel and what what do you need? What what do you want me to do? They're like, they start losing trust and confidence because they don't feel like you're the authority and this and they have to feel that you are in fact the authority. And when they do, they might you know slap your hand a few times when people say, Oh, I'm getting so much pushback pushback. It's only because we're testing the waters a little bit. Everyone's going to test the water a little bit and as soon as you let them know now, I got this. You know, when you come into my doctor's office and you tell me I'm an ailment I tell you what you need you trust me. When you come into my office as a lawyer and you have a case and you want me to settle it for you. You trust me When you hire a pet sitter and a dog walker, and you need me to come take care of your animal, you trust me, right? So we have to make sure that we're showing the client are worthy of that authority or making it very easy to recognize that
Collin 15:12
yeah, because it's not about trying to dress differently, drive a different car, make ourselves look like we are affluent. That's not what buys that trust. It's that information. It's that peace of mind. And it's really the, like you said, like their buying decisions are very much a time versus money kind of decision, they can quickly make that go, Oh, I see that there's the value. Let's do this. You've got this and, and not feeling like we have to put on airs, about fitting in or doing anything you can pull up in the rowdiest rat car, but come out and be the knowledgeable, have all those processes take care of their problems that they didn't even know they had or needed solved. And they're gonna go with you because of that of what you are bringing. Oh, yeah. And like,
Natasha 15:59
it has nothing to do with materialistic things. You know, there's a there's a group of people who want to, you know, buy the homes and the cars to match their lifestyle. And they they can, but it's that materialistic outlook is only from a poor person's mind that says, Oh, they must be rich, because they have a big house. No, that actually was I mean, a lot. Oh, it must be rich. Because they drive a Mercedes, I drive a Mercedes. That doesn't won't mean a whole lot, right? It has nothing to do with materialistic things at all. It has all to do with having a company come into my intertwines. And I can really say that I trust this company. When people say I offer peace of mind and trust, right? We see that on every pet sort of website. What does that even mean? Because when I go to your website, and I'm trying to book you, I have to go through like 10 backlinks even get a phone call, and I can't even get through. That's not really trust. Because when I need you, you're probably not going to be there. When I'm looking for follow up information on a post visit report. And you're giving me very basic information. How can I trust you? You're wondering why your clients are calling you all the time or asking you a lot of questions is because we did not provide that putting in front of it. We did not put the proof before the exit. So when you write a post visit report, you put all the details there, lay it all out. Everything you asked me to do. It's all here every single time. I see a lot of times we're like, oh, I service my client every single day. They already know what I do nothing. No, no, no, no, no nananana they don't always know what you do. And that's gonna be the one day that that backfires. So making sure whatever you outline your processes, you're providing it the same exact time consistent client experience. I literally just hired a TV guy the other day to mount my TV. And he had amazing reviews like 100 amazing reviews. But somehow when he got to me and the guy before me, he like completely dropped the ball. He was so non responsive, like unprofessional, I think his car like overheat. And he gave me very minimal information on how he was going to solve the situation. And I was like, Whoa, the way you're handling me is not where I want to put my money. You could have simply said, hey, my car overheated. I'm not going to make the time on now. But listen, I'm going to try to push you back to the evening time when don't want to get this off. Get this all settled? How does that work for you? Hey, listen, I'm not gonna be able to make it today. Some unforeseen circumstances happen. But you know what, I'll give you a few dollars off and be there for tomorrow to save your time. How does that sound? Right, making sure we're following up not making our personal issues, the client issues. I see this a lot in our Facebook groups in the pet industry. Well, the client is unrealistic. They're too high maintenance, you know, their demands are too crazy. Oh, I love those clients. I'm like, Oh, you fired that client, perfect. Send them over to me, baby, send them my way, because they're my people. Because I know those quote unquote demands and high maintenance is really just a lack of a process. It's just us not looking at that as an opportunity and saying, Oh, they had this question. Let me put that in my business. So that's never a question again. But what we just write people off and say, Oh, they're just too much. They're too much. Well, they may find their perfect fit. And that might just be yes.
Collin 19:08
I think that may be how we view ourselves as well of Am I just a dog walker? Am I just a pet sitter? Or am I bringing solutions to people? Am I solving problems in their lives? What how does that does that sets ourselves up for how we also match our prices and how we view how we serve others. And when we serve others? Well, if we just see ourselves at this little corner of this thing, and I do this thing and they ask this thing it doesn't? It doesn't match up and I don't want to do that. How do you view yourself in your business? are you solving people's problems? Are you bringing Are you actively bringing solutions to people before they need it? No, I love to bring when people come new to the to the area that first meet and greet telling them hey, you're gonna get a link, you're gonna get three or four links that over to you with all of the pet resources that we know and have written about for you to start integrating into the pet community here. We're super excited to have you on board. People love that little touch of going, Oh, well, you're gonna send me a blog about groomers and a dog about trainers and a dog about bets and a dog about a blog about dog parks and all the things that I can do with my dog here. You have now solved those solutions before they even got to asking them that. That's where we start talking about, like, what are we bringing and how we're viewing ourselves when we're interacting with these clients?
Natasha 20:23
Oh, yeah. I mean, the client wants that those peace of mind. That's really what it comes down to, you know, when you always have to look at other industries, when I'm interviewing schools for my child and I come in orientation. Okay, so what is what isn't orientation? What am I going to get here? Is this just a waste of my time? Well look at a meet and greet similar to that. This is your opportunity to actually highlight your business to show your client all the things that you guys offer, don't just say, Oh, you're looking for a pet state. Okay, cool. And then just drop it up headset when you offer something. Other things, you offer weddings, you offer flipping the litter box, you offer, you know, happy hour visits, you offer morning nightmares, you offer boarding, you know, those are missed opportunities to quote unquote, sell a client, but you're just satisfying a need, where they're like, Wow, I didn't even know you offered all that. I hear it a lot with my pet clients are like, Oh, my clients always told me didn't even know I offered that. I'm like what? I'm like, Well, that just means that we probably can create a quick guy packet, right? Like when you buy a car, and you have this quick guy that says these are all the quick sheets, on everything you're ever going to need here. Why can't you create something as simple as that where the clients like, wow, every time I need something, I can just go to this quick guide first, and answer these questions before trying to make a whole appointment to get a servicing. Okay, that's why those little trinkets are out here in different industries where we can copy and mock them to put into our business.
Collin 21:52
It's so funny that you say that because I actually I just did a meet and greet yesterday with a lady who had a whole team to come and care for her house. And she's like, you're taking care of the dog, and I'm gonna have somebody come in water, the plants, I'm gonna have somebody come in and do the trash, I'm gonna somebody's checking the mail. And I had that exact same thought of like, why I do all of that I am missing, something got dropped here, in this process
Natasha 22:14
of people think they need a whole team like a whole squad and the effluent buyer has no problem hiring that squad. Because we get a quality of life. That's just, it's, it's priceless. You cannot put a price on being able to hang out with your children all day long, and not have to be like, Oh, I have to mow the grass. You cannot put a price on being like, you know what, I really want to take the kids to the bowl, but I forgot like the houses have been clean and literally two weeks and like, we have no clean underwear, right? You know, it's that it's that value that you're like, I'd rather be going on a hike, I'd rather be hanging out with my dog, I see so much more value in my life than just money. You're it's cost $100 Sure, please, because at $100 is gonna give me two hours back of my life. Oh, that's a fair trade. So that's where they see that value exchange. And but I always liked that, that I liked the quickstart guide guys, everyone used implement one literally today, because that's gonna minimize a lot of your questions with clients, a lot of the back and forth and a lot of the admin so it's like a double whammy.
Collin 23:25
Yeah. And again, showing up, here's all the solutions I bring to you. And here's information Hi, good to know you. Right? And then they like you said, they're gonna go to that for reference when they need something in the future. And they can hand that off to people whenever that comes out. It gets it's a tangible object. That's a reminder that of who you are and what you're doing in the problems that you're solving for them. And I think part of this too is you mentioned a couple times about pricing and time and week as you said this before, but I do think it's really important to notice again with prices and in sales psychology of the affluent is understanding we can't impose our perceptions of our value on that person who's buying from us. I see a lot of people who go oh, I can't send that invoice it's too much well, I need to I need to reduce this in some way. We are imposing that or the inverse of going well like you already said look at that person's car look at their house I'm gonna I'm going to add 15% to this invoice because they can do that. It's not about that it's about being competent in the services you provide in the buying the people that that matches when they find that value in you.
Natasha 24:28
Oh yeah. I mean as long as you have your own process, it doesn't matter what the client is doing saying acting you know giving you facial expressions back to their into you. Doesn't matter what they're doing. Stick to your process. This is our price. This is what this is going to cause this What's that's going to cause if you have two dogs, this is the price if you want me to come on a holiday, this is the price. If you would like me to see the job or fee this this is the price if you'd like to take out the mail. This is the price. I think we get into the clients of mine and we started seeing Oh, it's just adding up too much. I just can walk outside and just quickly water the grass. That's not going to be anything. I could just do that while I'm there. Well, you know, there's actual whole new person actually has that job and they charge $40 to do that. So you can do, the client will always look at you like, wow, they're undervaluing themselves. It's something we hear all the time where we hear, like, businesses say that the client was like, wow, that's a that's, oh, great. Yes, I'm, yeah, that's all it costs. Or they're like, Wow, you should charge more for that, I would definitely pay double for that. Well, the client saw the value, but we didn't see the value. And really, it comes from just experience. And I think in the workplace, for the most part or experience as a buyer, because I look at my whole life when I buy, how do I travel? How do I purchase a home? What kind of car do I look for? How do I, you know, choose neighbors? Everything has to where do I choose schools, everything has an input to where I see value in each service, each node, each movement as a consumer. And so I think from the very beginning, we need to start utilizing social proof more, when a client can actually go to your Google website and see that you're highly liked. And you're highly recommended, or you're repurposing that content on your social media. And influent buyer will say, Wow, this is someone who is consistent, they've come they've produced consistent results, and I want to move forward. In the pet industry, especially service based side client has most likely already decided that they wanted to move forward with you before they even called you. There's not a lot of sales, so called sales, right with the pet industry, which was so nice. Because I was like, wow, I can really just make a well informed website. I can create social proof, I can repurpose that social proof, I can make sure my SEO is pinging always back to me. And when I do those things properly, the client for the most part has already decided to move forward. Now I can use automation to close the deal. I don't even have to physically be there. But coming back to sales psychology, when we're thinking in our mind that we buy by talking to someone on the phone and we buy by, you know someone laughing and smiling and giving me a bear hug. That's not how a fluent people buy. They don't, they are so busy. They literally decompress at like 11pm at night, remind you people who have money work further money, they do investments, they run a team, you guys know how it is, when you're running a team, it's a full time job. They finally get to unwind again 1011 o'clock at night, and they're like, Oh, dang, I forgot to book the better. Okay, let me do that really quick. They get to go online, and they get to book and the moment you said confirmed, you're all set. They're like, yes. But when you guys have those time to pet requests first why I want to vet the client first and I want to talk to them first and get a feel for them before I can move forward. Well, what are you looking for a smile and a peach Pizza Pizza? What what did you want to know? Where's the keys? What kind of dog do you have? Have you ever been someone before? How are they what do people you can simply ask these questions in your pre qualifying process and allow the client to move forward versus being like, well, I personally would never buy a pet sitter, unless I actually, you know, broke bread with them. i A lot of us again, I come from poor life. A lot of us feel that way like Nananana. No, I need to sit down with you. I need to break bread first. I need all my aunt's to vet you. And then we can move forward. I mean, that's literally what it feels like when we do it that way. But when we change the mentality to an affluent buyer, they're like how fast and quick can this happen? This is why the rovers and the WAGs are thriving, because they understand that buyer says the small guy are like, Whoa, I would never do that. How did help. How do they do that? Well, there's a whole community out here that just wants it done. Just get it done. Where we think that a lot of these tips are like oh, what is a special tax? This is a special touch I have to you know be they want it they should know my cell phone number they have to text me back. It's a special touch of foreign buyers like uh, if this is your process, and I'll just follow it but if I could just book then I'm just gonna book What do you want me to do? We create the client, we show them how they should treat us.
Collin 29:31
The National Association of Professional pet sitters naps is the only national nonprofit professional pet sitting association dedicated to raising and abiding by industry standards. NATS provides pet sitters with the tools and resources to own and operate successful pet sitting businesses and the support needed to grow their businesses by promoting professional integrity through the pledge of professional conduct enhancing professional development through its annual conference publications and resources and offering networking offers communities, members are listed in the NAPS referral network which can be assessed by pet parents. And they offer a certification program and continuing education. Naps is run by its members. For its members. It is a volunteer driven Association, visit the NAPS website at Pet sitters.org. For more information regarding NAFTA membership and a complete 2023 conference details.
Collin Funkhouser 30:23
I think, as you're talking, you mentioned that some of the car companies that you had had worked with and it got me thinking, what's that buying process like, I can go on line right now in a custom order a Bentley with a few clicks, to whatever I want, and have it show up wherever I want. And it's just there, I don't have to go and drive and look at it. If I like it, I did, it's gonna work for me, I just five clicks, and I've ordered a Bentley, I did not do that. Let me back out here, no credit card.
Collin 30:51
But I think we have to recognize that those kinds of clients are out there. And if we want to go after them, that means we need to have those systems in place to meet those needs to so they can with ease, click click, click Done. We show up. If we it's all about understanding other buying processes. I think you mentioned looking at other industries, how are they being served there? Now? How can we integrate the into that into our businesses and our operations and serve them the way we want to?
Natasha 31:22
Absolutely. I saw like a study before they said a client who is going to ask you 1,000,001 questions? Well, how much is this? What's the color gonna be? You know, when are you going to do this? When are you going to show up? How am I going to know that kind of nitpicky client is the one that always lowballs you. But the client who says Oh, it's you know, 50k shirt, do you take cash or credit, that's usually the easier smooth sailing client, because they already on a way different mindset to how they spend their money. But someone who doesn't have a lot of money, they hold on to it really tightly. And they literally want to know, if the dog is pooped at the end of the block there. They just, they just want to know everything. And you're like, Well, let me be able to do my job, you got to find other things happening in your life man, sir, you know, that don't revolve around tracking the dog walker. It's just a total different client and the personality and how they act. And identifying that and people or being able to like, give them the information for them to rest assure, like, listen, you're going to pay your invoice on the first of the month, I'm going to come in, and I'm going to take care of this. And it's going to be a happy little marriage. Like we do have to have that like handling of the client a little bit more, where we understand how they buy, we understand their concerns. But then we get to go back in and say, Ah, I got this. I'm the professional. Let me show you how it's actually done here. And they'll be like, Wow, I appreciate this. The biggest compliment I've ever got in my dog walking business is someone literally went through our buying experience. And they say wow, like you're really it. Like you really got your shit together. And I was like, Well, what do you mean, I'm just was like, kinda confused. I was like, What do you mean? They're like, No, like, you're really it like you literally you get it? And I was like, what does that mean? They say you really get it. You know, I've had dog walkers before that had come in and just grab the key from me and we met and it was just it. They're like, what all these little touches and points that you put in here, I can tell that you really get it. And I said actually, I'm just duplicating the way that I know clients buy from being able to look at their credit history. And I'm putting that in your mind and experience now. And I know that the last thing you need is for you to monitor me and for you to have to handhold me. And we're gonna make it work. And they're like, great, I love it. But we show that authority. So sales psychology principles, again, showing that authority offhand, this is how it's done. This time, I'm going to take care of you having that social proof online. Here's my proof. Here's all the clients that have actually done the same thing with you see it, I see it, you look at their feedback, and that proves that I'm some person that needs to be trusted. Part of that social proof is becoming someone who you like, wow, I actually saw the reviews and now that you're in my home, I really get while you're so well liked. I get while you're so well referred because this marriage makes sense. It literally does. And then you can add a price price is always at the end. I'm like literally I think I want to do a social experiment in Texas probably where I am where I'm going to start charging like a significant amount. And just to see the amount of people that's going to sign up for it. It's something that I know so hard full heartedly that price is only the price. Taking a dog out for a 30 minute walk is only a price. Were like that is a $50 minimum starting point to me when I know that my dog is not going to have to hold her bladder, I know that I'm not going to have to leave work. When I'm already in the middle of doing something, I don't have to get in my car, I don't have to use gas, I don't have to, like stress out about Did I make it home or not? That value to me is minimum $50, for 30 minutes to me, I would pay in the upwards of $100. Just because I know the level of business that I'm doing with my clients right now. And for me to have to stop and be like, hold on, guys, I can't take this conference call because I gotta run back home and let the dogs out. And then I'll come back and reconvene that hour that I just lost would have made me so much more money than going home, take the dog out. That's how the effluent by time versus dollar
Collin 35:43
steak just a few minutes, and I want you to tell me tell us and so let's talk about the benefits to our company. I think we've worked around this a little bit. But why would I as a business be interested in going after affluent buyers and clients?
Natasha 35:59
Yeah, you'd be interested in going after flaunt buyer because they are the buyer with discretionary income. That is where your market is, okay? You want to go after the buyer who can purchase you and use your service on a recurring status, you cannot, as a business hold profit, you cannot stay in business you cannot hire if you do not have recurring predictable revenue coming in every single month. And so if you have a whole client base full of dropping clients who are like, oh, you know, I only can afford you guys every now and then I'm just gonna do a few here few there, you cannot build a business around that model, you simply just can't. So although you want to service every single client or help every single person, you have to decide what buyer am I going to be talking to what territory most importantly, does that buyer live in? Where I can create a sustainable income that actually makes sense for me to stay in business?
Collin Funkhouser 37:01
Yeah. Yeah, it's that predictability. It's not about oh, these people live in nicer homes. So it's cleaner, or they're friendly, or people or it's nothing about that, although there are some things that trend in that way, but not always we've been in that. It is about predictability, it is about resiliency. And our business, especially right now with prices and everything going kind of crazy. Having people on your client books that are that have that discretionary income, that discretionary spending will continue to be able to purchase from you for longer than people who are going month to month. And that's just that's just a fact of personal budgets. Like that's, that's just what that is.
Natasha 37:40
Yeah. And that's literally what it comes down to in business. Sometimes I know, we're like, oh, we need more empathy in business. And we need more understanding. Literally, you have to keep your business running. You can have all the empathy and understanding when you have a very lucrative business, okay, when your business is covering inflation, when it's bypassing recession, then you're like, hey, these other customers that come in who may need a break, I'm able to help them out. Because I have this solid foundation of my own right, I always say this, we cannot pour from an empty vessel. So we don't have a business, it really hurts my heart a lot. Even when people call me and like want to trash I can't afford to hire you. Why not? That's a problem. The fact that you are a business owner, and you cannot afford to invest in your education, that is showing that your margins are too too low, you cannot afford not to invest. Because you have to be sitting on this cushion, to where if anything knocks at your house, you're like, you know what I've already planned for that. I already have that taken care of why because my clients are coming in at a consistent rate. So now I can actually predict rate increases from my staff, I can predict buying new gadgets and toys and you know, new things for my clients to wow them. You don't have that flexibility to do. So when you're working on such a small margin. When the gas prices went up. I talked about it when inflation hit us. I talked about it. When recession came, I talked about it. I've worked through two recessions in my own corporate career. So I know what that looks like. When I worked with Honda. And the recession happened in LA, I was like, Whoa, we literally I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay my mortgage this month. Like we don't even have the same amount of cars being sold. I don't think it's going to happen for us and I was a finance manager. Then when I worked for Mercedes, it was like, what recession? What are you talking about? The buyer has already planned for those type of the conic shifts in the market. So we need to be attracting that person that's going to be able to sustain with us. And then we're able to help a buyer who says you know what, Ash, I really want to be able to use you right now but I'm a little bit tight. Anything you can do to help and that's when I get to jump in and say absolutely. I got your back. I know that you always been an amazing client and right now this may be like a little rough points. Are you but don't worry about it. I got a little bit more where that came from, and I can help you out now.
Collin 40:04
Yeah, yeah, we can do things so we can take advantage of opportunities when they come along to. So whenever that really good opportunity to sponsor an event, or a really good discount on product that you know you're going to use, or the bonuses that you want to give to staff were the gifts that you want to give to clients, you can take advantage of those, well, if you don't have that cushion that margin in your business, you aren't able to and that does impact how you operate how you are perceived as a business as well. Yeah, and I noticed a lot in
Natasha 40:35
the groups were like, Oh, my clients are so amazing, because they always tip me. So I hear like tips is a big value assessment on the ladder of a ideal client, if they tip. Were some cultures, tipping is not even normal. But apparently in Facebook groups and abandoned ship a client tips you will like that's another ladder bump. Okay, so just thinking about being able to tip you Well, if that's how we measure an ideal client, people who have discretionary income are like, wow, I do hire these type of services. I do partner with companies, I understand what you guys go through, I understand what it is to keep the lights on, I want to kick you back another 20% tip on top of what you already charged me, like, give you guys think about the privilege of tipping, it is such a privilege, I've already paid for the full price. But now I can actually give you 20% additional on top of that, wow, that is such a privilege to do so. And I'm saying thank you. But it's not that I don't want to give you that tip is I just don't have it. That's the difference. So we have to be careful how we judge the consumer. Because we're always like, you know, deciding who's a good client or a bad client because of what this group has done. And then we're like, well, they never hit me anyway. So you know, they can go to hell. Like, it just comes down to that sometimes. And it's really just affordability. Yeah, one thing I hear a lot as they're like, you know, I don't want to be too expensive, because I don't want my clients to think I'm too high, and they can no longer afford me. Well, the clients who can afford you will afford you, and they're gonna value what your offer and they're going to be happy to pay for it. And you're going to be way less burned out and tired and exhausted and just enjoy overall life. People ask me all the time, Natasha, like how do I know when I'm feeling successful. And I say to be honest, you're feeling successful, when you can live your own life outside of business, when business is no longer determining how you come and go, when you're like, I'm just doing my own thing. And my business is running in the background. And it's providing a lifestyle for me, that's when you can start feeling successful.
Collin 42:48
Yeah, and again, not imposing our our perceptions of that on the client. And so you know, when I really have enjoyed getting to talk with you about what it means to get kind of in the mindset of the affluent clients, and how we, as pet businesses can start meeting those needs by recognizing that it is a time versus money, it is a value that we bring to them. And not being afraid and not allowing ourselves again, to impose our perceptions of what value is versus isn't and how much of their time is and is not worth and instead having those processes to make it easy for them. But I know that this is a lot to implement, actually implement in businesses and look at our processes and make sure that we are meeting those needs. So if people are interested in learning more about how they can do that in their business and get in touch with you versus for specifics, Natasha, how best can they do that?
Natasha 43:42
Yeah, they can DM me right on my Instagram is how Chauvin Yeah. And I'm always linked with you guys on the Monday episodes. And I'm always happy to kind of help dissect it more I know, it's like, for me, it's literally 20 years of understanding that where I grew up, and how I was raised has nothing to do with how someone else says, Yes, I'm gonna do that. I just saw like, like, just to close this out. But I literally just saw someone and like a braiding group that was like, it takes me six hours of braid my hair, but there's no way I'm gonna pay a technician 200 hours for this. And I said, we'll just take you six hours by yourself. And now your arm is cramped and tired. And they're like, Oh, I know that makes sense. So we're like, How dare you? A few things that we can start implementing today guys is making sure your price is high enough for you to differentiate the difference between a dropping client to a recurring client. So when someone says Do you offer discounts? Yes, we do. We offer discounts when you least book us three times a week. Otherwise our drop in price is this. Then we'll say Oh, that makes sense. Okay, cool. Let me go on a recurring you instantly switch sales psychology on the client, you instantly switch the client experience instantly. Switch your experience, because now you can predict the income from that client. But when you're like, Oh, we're a bit we're not busy. We'll just take you Oh, yeah, you can come in, when in a fluent client smells blood. And they feel that they can just drop in when I really want to. And you keep saying yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. They're like cool. She always says yes. He always says, Yes, I'll just drop in whenever I want. And they will not commit to that client loyalty with you. So you guys didn't get anything out of this episode today. Please make sure you change your pricing from a droppin to recurring. So that client can feel that scarcity. Because it's another principle in sales, psychologist scarcity. If I get this in a bulk, I'm going to benefit versus dropping in whenever I want to, and in return that's going to help us prepare, plan and be able to hire better.
Collin 45:47
I love that, again, Natasha, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate the insights. And I'm looking forward to seeing what people have to say about this. My pleasure and see you guys next time. Affluent clients, by with facts, not emotions, or anything else, they're looking to you to be the expert and to solve their problems in a logical, cohesive manner that makes sense to them, they are going to trust you to give them the relevant information. And they will quickly move on if they ever think that you are lying or being deceitful for them for your own personal gain. It is important that we operate with the utmost integrity for absolutely, everybody. We have a training that we go through with our staff about how we treat every client the exact same. This is important to us that we are honest that we are upfront that we have integrity with everybody who walks through our door. It's not about treating some clients better than others, because we think that they are more wealthy. We treat everybody well, because we want to be treated well. And we operate our businesses with truth with facts, and with the best interests of both the client and their pet at heart. We want to thank our sponsors, time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters for making today's show possible. And thank you so much for listening. We'd love to hear how you have managed to market to more affluent clients, and what that process has looked like for you. Thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
