329: Meeting High Standards with Lauri Partanio
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Finding your niche is a great way to establish yourself as an expert and the “go to” company for that need. It also means dealing with much more particular, and sometimes demanding, clients. Lauri Partanio, owner of Professional Pets Florida LLC, has made it her mission to meet the needs of medically needy and senior pets. Lauri explains the way she’s partnered with pet-friendly companies to grow awareness and be a member of her community. She also shares how she has implemented lockboxes for her clients, and the freedom it brings.
Main topics:
Why find a niche
Partnerships
Lockbox policy
In-Person events
Main takeaway: Listen to feedback and suggestions, but never compromise on your beliefs and policies.
About Our Guest:
Hi! I’m Lauri!
I’m a New York City native relocated to Plant City, FL.
In 2014, I started my animal career as a veterinary receptionist. From there, climbed the professional ladder & went onto become an exotics specialty veterinary assistant, companion animal veterinary assistant, companion animal veterinary technician, and finally Animal Control & Welfare Officer.
My background of veterinary medicine and animal welfare have helped me mold Professional Pets to reflect the core values that I believe every animal should be treated with: safety, dedication, patience, and compassion.
At Professional Pets, we specialize in anxious, special needs, medically needy, and senior pets; but open our arms to all friends whether furry, feathered, scaly, or slimy!
We have an American Bully named Zoey as well as an American Staffordshire Terrier named Luna Tuna in addition to two Boxers, Rico & Lilo.
Links
https://www.professionalpets.net
https://www.facebook.com/ProfessionalPetsNet/
https://www.instagram.com/professionalpetsnet/
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
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Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, pet, people, animals, service, events, niche, business, lockbox, professional, special needs, dog, care, company, area, community, key, veterinary, staff, process
SPEAKERS
Collin, Lauri P.
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
Collin Funkhouser 00:17
brought to you by time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters. finding your niche is a great way to establish yourself as the go to expert and company for that particular need. It also means that you have to deal with much more particular and sometimes demanding clientele. Today, we're joined by Laurie patania, owner of professional pets Florida to discuss how she navigates the waters of niching down while meeting the needs of demanding clients. She also shares how she's grown her business through partnering with pet friendly companies, and how she makes the most out of events. Let's get started. Hi, Colin.
Lauri P. 00:52
So my name is Laurie. I own professional pets, Florida LLC. I am a veteran in the veterinary medical community. So I started as kennel technician, receptionist, Assistant, specialty technician, animal control all the way to professional care business owner. So I've kind of climbed up the professional ladder in that aspect. And being the owner of professional pets Florida has by far been my favorite step of the process.
Collin Funkhouser 01:24
So why did you make that step? So you're coming from this kennel tech background and all this other involvement? Why did you decide that starting this business was what you wanted to do next.
Lauri P. 01:33
So I definitely had an aha moment when I was working in veterinary medicine, as most that techs do that you either need to make a move to become the doctor or you need to do something completely different because most of us don't make a forever career out of being a veterinary technician. And that's only because it doesn't pay very well. So that's why I had my aha moment. And I said, Okay, well, I'm definitely not going to go to school and be the doctor. So I need to do something completely different. So from there, I decided to birth professional pets from where I knew that I wanted pet care for my own animals, but it didn't exist in my area yet. And that was hiring vet techs that assistance, veterinary professionals in this world to do those basic services like overnights and dog walking and things like that. So I
Collin Funkhouser 02:30
guess that's kind of the tie in with your your logo as well, because you have a cat and dog, you've got Florida, and then you've got the veterinary symbol there in the corner.
Lauri P. 02:39
Yes, so that was definitely the driving. That's the driving point. And the branding around professional pets Florida is that we are professionals, we are in Florida and that veterinary Caduceus is there because we all have some kind of veterinary medical background. And that's what our clients are getting is that that veterinary experience. So our logo was really important to be able to portray that message to our clients that we're not just the kid next door that wants to walk your dog for fun, we are professionals in this space with the knowledge that they need.
Collin Funkhouser 03:15
So given your background on the medical side of things, what do you think you bring into your business? And how does that influence the I guess, maybe the kind of clients that you take on or focus on.
Lauri P. 03:28
So when we were, you know, kind of birthing this idea and wanting to do something different, we knew that we had to have that that wow factor, that thing that was different about us. And my passion is senior animals, I love medically needy animals, I love Special Needs animals. So most of our clients, hell are people that have those kinds of pets that are looking for that specialized pet care, that, you know, they're typing into Google that type pet sitter, or they're typing into Google, you know, veterinary professional around me that can babysit my dog, or certain things of that nature. So that's kind of the space that we entered into, just because it started with my passion for those kinds of animals that a lot of different pet care companies either don't want to take care of don't want the liability of or they don't know how to.
Collin Funkhouser 04:20
So what's that look like for you, when you get a new inquiry for a special needs animal or a senior animal? How do you work through that process to make sure you have all the information that you need? Because I know how I in most companies kind of typically approach kind of standard animals in their care kind of in the middle of that bell curve of health and age, but your way over to one side. So what how how does that make your onboarding and communication process different?
Lauri P. 04:46
So just as if you were a professional business owner, that had maybe like a nanny and company or a nanny service that only hired RN or LPN or CNA These are somebody with a specific medical background, those people are going to ask the right questions when it comes to care, because that's what they have the experience in. So our meet and greets our consultations, everything is longer typically than a regular we do puppies, we do kittens, we do regular healthy animals as well. So definitely not counting them out. But those appointments take longer, because we have to go through all of their medications, we have to keep them in a tighter routine than we would in our healthy happy younger dogs and cats and exotics and things of that nature. So it's definitely a longer process. It's a process that takes more patience, but it has proven to be more fruitful and valuable. And the clients value that that extra step and that extra time and the patience that we have with their senior animals that they otherwise would not be able to go away and leave them because they can't find anybody to care for them.
Collin Funkhouser 05:59
I think that's really important to remember, as you're talking about this process is that you you are getting people who are looking for a very, a very particular set of skills in their in their pet care team. And so but what is it like working with those clients, because I know some may view this process as or not be willing to go through working with these clients, because they may be considered demanding, or, or kind of more micromanaging of the process,
Lauri P. 06:28
you're completely correct about everything that you just said. So they are more micromanaging, they are more nervous, they're more needy than your regular client that has a healthy animal. So if you think about it, in anybody else's shoes, if we were those people, we would also do the same thing. Because these, these animals do have special needs, or they are medically needy, and they need that extra attention. And because something like professional pets doesn't really exist everywhere yet. They don't either. They don't know that it exists, or they don't know that it exists until they need it. So they're going to take those extra precautions, they're going to value communication more. And that's kind of where we tie in our use of software and reports and photos and updates and things like that, especially when it comes to medication management, or we have a few animals that are physically disabled. And having that peace of mind is the most valuable asset that we can offer to those clients. And that's what they value the most that their their animal with these needs is taken care of properly. So I always say that I would rather have a client that cares too much than not enough,
Collin Funkhouser 07:37
because they're going to they're going to be responsive. When you have questions, they're going to make sure you have all the details. Because I think a lot of us have had that experience where you ask a client, you say how much do they get fed, and the client kind of goes, I don't know about this much. And that's all they you know, there's no detail or anything, and you're kind of left guessing. So I can imagine how refreshing refreshing refreshing it would be to have somebody that's like, has everything lined out for that. But on the flip side, as you said, like they're they're really nervous. They're, they're needy, what's How do you take somebody who comes in at such a heightened level of anxiety and fear and bring them down and kind of start starting letting them catch on to the peace of mind that you can bring.
Lauri P. 08:21
So I our slogan is setting the standard and professional pet care. And that is nine times out of 10 because the client has set the bar so high for us. And that's a great thing. And that's a great pressure to live up to because we need to be able to provide for this client. With that being said, most of these clients have either never left their animal. So they're new to pet care, they're new to disabled animals, they're new to medically needy animals, or they just, they just have so much anxiety where they just they just can't do anything else. And you know, being able to to meet with them and having them being very transparent about our business and about our staffs, backgrounds and experiences is what puts them puts them at ease. So we continue our education every month so that the client knows that we're staying up to date on what's what's happening in veterinary medicine, not that we got a vet assistant certification 15 years ago, I've never done anything with it again. And now we're claiming to be you know, veterinary professionals. Now we, we keep up with that education so that we're able to, to stay those veterinary professionals and keep those titles and we're able to be transparent about those things if you know any of the clients want proof of certification or continuing education or training and things like that that's always available to them. All of our pricing is online and I'm very transparent about everything.
Collin Funkhouser 09:55
that transparency is really really big about I'm sure about the abilities The backgrounds or certifications of how best you're able to serve this particular client. Because again, they have a very if they're if they're if it's that niche of a need, the client is looking to go, Can you are you able to fit this need and being able to show them in line all that out and clearly communicate kind of where the boundaries are to that experience, I'm sure is really reassuring to them. And it's interesting that you mentioned that you, you like setting the standard, and part of that is reaching for the bar that the client sets for you. I think we've all kind of experienced this, especially if you reflect back on when we first started started our businesses, whether it was a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago. I know for Negan and I what we consider a complex pet visit, you know, drop in visit today is way different than what a complex was 10 years ago. So you can kind of in that, why did that happen? Well, I kept happening, because we kept finding clients that had more and more needs, they had more and more things that they were looking for from us. And we kept reaching for that and reaching for that. And that's one of the ways that you grow is by sometimes taking on those challenging clients or taking on some of these things, obviously, knowing that we still need to be within our boundaries. So we don't get way in over our head. But we do need to continue to reach to where that next client is demanding we go to so that we can look back and go, oh, all that other stuff that I was worried about. That's that's kind of old hat. By
Lauri P. 11:27
the way, we've already surpassed that tenfold.
Collin Funkhouser 11:33
Now, you've mentioned a couple times, Laurie that you've mentioned, we and team and background, how soon after you started this did you start bringing on a team and your staff members.
Lauri P. 11:48
So full transparency, when I had first started professional peds I started and 2019. So we're relatively new to the space in terms of age of our company, but I had started by myself, and just doing the whole thing, same kind of business model, you know, marketing to our special needs and medically needy because I was working in in animal welfare and veterinary medicine at that time. But I just got so busy. And I got to the point where I was having to say no to money, and I was having to say no to clients. And that was just the worst feeling in the world to me to want to be able to care for somebody's animal, but not having the physical time to do so. So I can only sleep in one place at one time, right? I can only do so many visits in a, you know, morning, midday and evening timeframe. So I said, you know, I would like to keep working the full time job that I had at the time. So how do I make more income, get these bookings covered, and then also be able to grow because I knew that I didn't want it to it just to end with me because there was nothing in this space, specializing in what we do in my area. So I knew that we had to do it. And I knew that we had to grow. So I decided to, to hire help.
Collin Funkhouser 13:12
And I think we all reach that point where we have to decide, do I What do I do with my business? Do I do I stay solo? Do I make my solo business? What exactly what I want it to be? And that comes with needing to say no to more people, but it's a decision that all people have traveled down versus the Okay, now it's time for me to bring on some help. And I really need to look at what that looks like. And so you you specifically bring on vet assistants and vet techs, how do you find them and reach out to them about becoming a part of your your company. So it's
Lauri P. 13:49
very difficult, I'll tell you that. It's difficult to this day, it's not easy, because in today's society, one I'm trying to find people that want to work, which is difficult and of itself. And then two, I'm looking for a very niche market of people. So I'm looking for people that have had either that current or former veterinary experience in the medical field that are looking to make a transition away from medicine, still taking that bringing that veterinary experience to the table, but they're looking to do something else. Because if somebody works 40 hours in a vet clinic, they're not going to work for me because they're not going to have any time. So trying to find that very niche market of people liking them and then having them pass a background check has been a labor of love. But once I did find those people, we were able to grow and I was able to you know, shift my funnel of of applicants down to to be able to, to find to find those certain people. We use, you know, job recruiting sites and so Some media and things like that to find these people, but really perfecting the interview process and perfecting the elimination process has has been what has kept us with long term staff that are really dedicated to the job. And so the animals
Collin Funkhouser 15:16
know that is a consistent problem that I hear from a lot of people is the rapid amount of turnover, right? This this industry can seem pretty transitory to a lot of people, especially, especially if you're finding somebody in transition through careers, like it can be enticing to bring them on, but also can be concerning of, well, maybe they're going to do something else or go on from there. For you, what do you you mentioned that that those questions in that interview process, what are things that you like to look for that go, okay, this person is somebody I want to invest in, because they're wanting to invest into what I'm doing.
Lauri P. 15:52
So it sounds kind of corny, and kind of cliche, but I look for people that have similar values to what I have, because if I had 15 of me, I would be a happy camper. So what I look for is I look for people that are have a strong work ethic, and they have the drive to work, they're compassionate, they want to help animals and that they want to help this certain field of animal, there are people pleasers, they are, they are looking for something new. And they're never I, I say never satisfied. But they're, they're not content with just doing this forever. And they want to grow themselves as people both mentally and professionally. So that's why we do the continuing education, all of my staff are thrilled to do it. They are just like sponges, and they want to grow themselves as people and they realize that the opportunity that's in front of them, is allowing them to do as such, and they understand that they're just not dog walkers and pet sitters, that there's so much more than that, to me and to our clients and to everybody else,
Collin Funkhouser 17:03
you've really found an interesting position to being in it's a reminder to like as we niche down it, which is exactly what you've done with your business of niching down to this particular set of the market, with a special needs, the seniors, the medications, all of that. It also requires, again, this particular set of of skills and backgrounds and experiences that not just you have to have. But anybody who comes on into your company. And so definitely see how you're working, both of these things are going I'm finding my niche for my clients, which means I also need to find my niche for my staff members for the people that I bring on and are working under me and and making sure those match up well, is a constant struggle that we have to make sure that the the experience and the education of our team members matches the surfaces and the expectations that our clients are bringing into
Lauri P. 17:54
us. Absolutely, because we can keep up with our clients and we can set that bar and we can set the standard in professional pet care. And then we would have no clientele we would have no recurring services, we would just be a one stop shop. And that's
Collin Funkhouser 18:09
not the case. Have you heard of time to pet Susan, the pet gal has this to say
Susan 18:15
time to pet has helped us grow exponentially. We believe the platform's features make us by far more professional than other companies who use conventional dashboards. They are the software gurus constantly developing and improving the platform based on user feedback. This decision was a good one.
Collin Funkhouser 18:32
If you were looking for new petsitting software, give time to pet a try listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional. I can imagine that. It given the the niche that you're working in, what's it like networking and building relationships with veterinary clinics and emergency vets like that in
Lauri P. 18:56
your area. So we I am a big proponent on community and of networking and kind of keeping it all in the family because those people that are in our area that are seeking that kind of specialized care for their animals, they're going to the specialty veterinarian, they're seeking out you know, the board certified that over the normal better. And those kinds of people are our ideal clients. So in our in our space, we are a vacation based company. We are not a recurring dog walking kind of company because those animals with medical needs and special needs and might be physically disabled don't need to be exercised every day from All love ended up kind of thing. So building those relationships with other small businesses, whether that's the realtor was there, that's the animal shelter and the veterinarian. It doesn't even have to be in the medical space.
Collin Funkhouser 20:18
I can imagine you said your clients are going to the specialty vet. And I think that that just hones in and we worry and we fuss a lot about, where are my clients going? What other places are they going, what are their interests, all this stuff and being able to and that's, that's one reason why niching down makes the process so much simpler, when we try and build the avatar for our client has been, we know exactly the kind of services that we want to offer, it's really easy to, to walk right into the building where they are going to be going, instead of doing a scattershot approach of like, I don't know, maybe they'll like this store, or I don't know, maybe they'll like this going, No, this is the one place that they go, and going from there.
Lauri P. 20:57
And I definitely think that, you know, it can be scary to niche down. And it definitely made me nervous when I first decided like, Hey, this is this is the space that I want to be in. Because, you know, a ton of people have dogs, a ton of people have cats, but not everybody has a special needs animal. Not everybody has a medically needy animal, and not everybody is going to be searching out this kind of service. So you're kind of thrown into that, ooh, am I gonna lose clients over this? Am I gonna lose money over this because I'm niching down to one specific specialty, but networking with those other kinds of businesses that might not even be animal related. Like I said, like a realtor. We do services in the client's home, they buy people's homes, they sell people's homes, they, they're helpful to us, because we need a house to work in. You know, it's actually proven to be quite a great referral source for us working with other other industries that aren't even pet related, sometimes
Collin Funkhouser 22:00
won't. And I know I think very recently, too, you've developed a relationship and a partnership with a Vacation Planner. And I'm very interested about this aspect. So walk us through what that was like how to come about and how it functions.
Lauri P. 22:16
So we decided to partner with Jennifer bro, JB travel pros, which is a franchise of dream vacations. And she is just a phenomenal person. I mean, she inspires me greatly every day in the work that she does. And she is actually a very big advocate of special needs humans. So she has special needs children, and she, she does niche cruise planning, she does cruise planning for everybody just as we do pet care for everybody. But she is actually certified and an advocate of special needs cruise planning. So she is able to book travel for people that have special needs, or their children have special needs. And we kind of put our brains together and we're like I do this really specific thing, you do this really specific thing. What if we offered professional pets as a pet care package, because she offers a concierge style travel service where She arranges everything from point A to point Z of transportation to the airport, she does now everything and she tells the client Alright, here's your travel package, you're gonna leave it this time, you're gonna leave it this time and your professional pets pack member is going to be here to take care of fluffy. And it's brought her a ton of business because she is able to offer that specialty concierge service to her clients. And we're able to work with them to be able to provide services to our target market and our target market is vacation based. So these are people that are going on vacation and this this, it's just been a beautiful partnership all together.
Collin Funkhouser 23:56
I cannot tell you how much I love hearing you explain and walk through all of that. Because how many of us would love to have somebody you know, make it we love partnerships we love being able to be doing and helping more people and the fact that you can walk in and work with the travel agent, especially with this concierge travel booking. This just sounds absolutely phenomenal. Just go oh and because what they're going to do what she wants, she's gonna say, Oh, do you have a pet? And they're gonna go say yes. And she'd be great. I'm going to make sure that's included with this and they don't even have to worry about it. People who booked their people who booked that kind of service when everything taken care of from A to Z and don't want to have to think about it or worry about it. And we all go well I'd love to have that kind of client right so, so does she does she I guess when when she has those bookings come up she's uh, she reached out to you to set up that relationship or kind of how to walk What's that workflow like?
Lauri P. 24:54
Yeah, so So that's that's kind of how it works. You know, her clients become our clients so that in The future if they do need services outside of that one vacation booking, they can book with us again. And it's repeat business so that we've grown a relationship. We've started the relationship together in this partnership. But we've also grown outside of this so that you know, if they don't need the 10 day trip to Hawaii, from JB travel pros, they just need, you know, those the short weekend trip in Florida that doesn't need to travel agent, but they still need us, we've already built that relationship. And we've already on boarded them, and they're already established with us.
Collin Funkhouser 25:33
Yeah, really making that whole process seem so seamless. And this fits right in with, the more we've been in this industry, the more I view it as a very magical kind of service that we can provide to our clients of, they don't have to worry about a single thing. They don't have to, you know, this peace of mind that we give them, they leave their home, we come take care of their pets, they arrive back after however long they're gone. And everything's exactly perfect in the way it was when they left, that should be such a seamless process. And it should be very magical to them. And this is just a whole nother layer of it with letting including everything else along in their process.
Lauri P. 26:10
Absolutely. And you know, the kind of people that are seeking out services in their own home rather than boarding, they don't want to have to pick up their dog and bring it to a boarding facility and worry about when they're going to pick it up again. And yeah, all of these things. It's just, it's all there. It's all done. And they don't even have to have their pet leave their home.
Collin Funkhouser 26:31
So for people who are listening to this, and this is sounds interesting to them, what kind of advice would you give us for how to start approaching travel agents in our area and talking about this kind of service that we can offer to their clients.
Lauri P. 26:45
So I believe that it's the same with any kind of networking relationship that you're going you're interested in or trying to approach. pitch them your idea, because we've all got brilliant ideas, pitch them your idea, and let them know and how it benefits them. Because, you know, they're gonna be more inclined to help you and want to network with you if it's a mutually beneficial relationship. So when Jennifer and I talked about it, we kind of had this aha moment together at the same time. But if it was my idea for us, and I was like, you know, I'm really looking for a travel agent, this is what I want to do, I would tell her that, because she offers this boutique concierge style service, we provide a luxury niche service, by offering the convenience of already having your pet care booked, it makes her more money in the long run. And it adds credibility to her business. Because she everybody has animals and everybody needs to do something with that animal when they go on vacation, they're not going to take it on the cruise. So that immediately becomes our, our target market right there. But it, it equally adds value to her business. And we've both seen that,
Collin Funkhouser 28:03
I think that is exactly key is going what is the value that this brings to them. And and we have to focus on that, because they are looking for things to make their clients experience better. They want to be more inclusive, they want to be more concierge in every possible way. And the end to have thought through every aspect of this journey with their client. And we were coming along to them going, Hey, here's a problem. I don't know if you've ever encountered it. But this will help solve all XYZ for your clients and make them more likely to book this because they know that their pets are cared for. Right, you can present it and however you want to. But that's why these kinds of relationships work really, really well. And thinking outside the box of not just not just pet care. You know, one of the things that we've been working on when our new service area is there's a coffee shop and it's kind of dog themed, and they kind of say their pet friendly ish. But we've been supplying them with a basket of tennis balls and poop bag holders. And just that a basket there. And the I was in there the other day and the lady came out and she said, I can't tell you how much we love having this here. Because everybody who comes in just goes there. They're blown away by how pet friendly we are. Because you are bringing some of these items here. And I was like really like they're just they're like super cheap. Like they're not whatever. But she was like, Oh man, people people come in here all the time. And it really has me thinking about how can we make people's pet experience better everywhere throughout their life, from the coffee shop, to the travel agency to everything in between really thinking what value can we bring? How can we elevate the experience of their own clients above and beyond ours?
Lauri P. 29:45
So I will tell you to piggyback off of your awesome idea. So we actually partnered with a pizza shop in our target service area. And I'm sure everybody knows that's listening the kind of epidemic But we're dealing with right now with the shelters being full, and euthanasia rates and foster fails and things like that. And we kind of sat down and we said, you know, what can we do to help that? And we all volunteer, and, you know, we do what we can to help physically in the space. And I said, Okay, well, what can what can our business do to help some of these animals that are getting euthanized every day, and we had this idea to print out flyers of animals that needed to get adopted from the local shelter or the county shelter, and put them on pizza boxes. So that when, Oh, I love that. So we put them on pizza boxes. So all of these pizza boxes were delivered to our target service market. And they helped all these animals get adopted from these high kill shelters, in turn, benefiting the pizza shop to say, you know, we're a pet friendly business, you know, a pet friendly business, we'd love dogs, bring your dog to our patio, and help get these animals adopted, while also doing a really great thing. So even those unlikely relationships that you would think that would never have anything to do with each other. But you know, we did pizza for pets, and that was really cool. So there's a lot of relationships that can be born, you know,
Collin Funkhouser 31:23
yeah. And whether they are overtly pet friendly or not. It may be, you know, a staff member there is really passionate about pets, or the owner just absolutely loves their animals. And that's just a conversation and to think about these ideas and go, Hey, here's where my passion lies. Does this align with your passion? Okay, let's do something with that. And that elevates everybody and helps the community. I'm taking so many notes right now you have no idea. Got it. It was just really, it's really because we I think this is a bigger part of becoming an acting as a business and really importantly, a community member, as helping community is helping our community selflessly going, this is something that we want to do this is initiative we can do and other people can get behind. And it just helps everybody. Absolutely. I did want to circle back and just touch on if you don't mind, your, your, your team members that you have, um, you've decided to go down and use independent contractors, what was that decision like for you? And how do you make that work for your business?
Lauri P. 32:32
So I, of course, like most of us played with the idea of having employees or having contractors, and I definitely will say that a lot of pet care companies use employees. And that's common, and there are their benefits, its benefits to them. But with my specific niche of staff members, they value not having a strict schedule or a set schedule and being able to work when they want to have the freedom to do their job independently. And that's what they value. And that has really helped with retention. So that's why we've we've decided to go that route of contractors that might change in the future, depending on you know, who we have at the time. But right now for us, this is what's working and all of them really enjoy working for professional pets in this capacity.
Collin Funkhouser 33:30
Sure. And do you feel like that has to do with some of the services that you offer as well because of the I think you mentioned it of like the the specialty of services, you're also doing the overnights and you're doing all this specialty care and kind of how they set up their own lives as as team members of professional pets. Yeah, I
Lauri P. 33:49
definitely think so. Um, so our overnights is definitely something that myself and our clients value a lot. It's our most popular service aside from our Poppins. And I wouldn't be able to offer overnights if I had employees,
Collin Funkhouser 34:06
as far as scheduling wise, though, is that is that a headache to you as far as trying to coordinate everything and making sure people are available at certain times? Or how do you approach them with offering your Poppins or your overnights?
Lauri P. 34:20
So I am definitely a child of technology. I am. I am I have faith and Google Calendar. I have faith in our pet care software. And I run my life through Google Calendar. So we utilize all the technology resources that we have available to us to make things seamless and it's actually quite easy. So once we perfected the process of you know using scheduling software and client portals and things of that nature, it made things a lot easier, rather than having to you know put everything in manually and call this person in Texas person. You We use group chat software. So we're all able to communicate pretty seamlessly. So it's been, it's been a lot of trial and error. But once we, once we figured it out, we figured it out. And now everybody, it doesn't feel like their brain is going to explode.
Collin Funkhouser 35:19
I'm sure again, with the level of communication as far as expectations and clarity of calendars and that kind of thing. So that really helps clarify the waters quite quite a bit. As things come up,
Lauri P. 35:29
oh, gosh, it's just it has changed my life for the better I, you know, I'm not glued to the phone all of the time, I can actually manage my staff rather than, you know, being being so all over the place all over the time and having to worry about this and that, and it really has been a huge weight off of my shoulders, and you know, all of the staff because they're the one that has to deal with the craziness,
Collin Funkhouser 35:55
we look for ways to set up processes that don't just work for us, but they work for our clients, and they work for our staff, if we have them. And making sure that those well communicated between everybody is really what helps it actually work. It's not just merely important to have the software or have the calendar or have the group chat, you have to talk about how it works, right? And how to use it.
Lauri P. 36:18
Right, you need that flow. Otherwise, you're just paying for programs for reason. You need to make sure everything is working cozy cohesively, you know, well, how
Collin Funkhouser 36:27
do you how do you review that process? How do you when you bring on something new or when you look at your current processes? How do you how do you with a critical eye look at whether they are actually working or not.
Lauri P. 36:38
So I definitely am a person of analysis and it takes me a little while to make sure that this is what we're going to do. And this is what we're gonna go with because not only does it affect me, in the business aspect of things from the financial end and stuff of that nature, it also affects the staff, and it affects every single one of my clients. So we in the space that we are, we do have kind of our because our target market is senior animals, sometimes most times our clients are seniors themselves with older pets. So trying to incorporate new software or new communication techniques or new this and new that it was a labor of love just to get them on the platform in the first place. Now I'm gonna go change and everything. And you know, I need to make sure that this is the right move. So you know, we, whenever we're thinking about incorporating something new, where we're going over it, we're having team meetings about it where, you know, making phone calls with these with these companies to make sure that this is the best move for us, but also the best move for our clients.
Collin Funkhouser 37:53
The in person naps 2023 Conference will be held March 3 through the fifth in New Orleans, Louisiana, Megan and I will be speaking that Saturday about the life of a pet sitter. The National Association of Professional pet sitters is the only national nonprofit professional pet setting association dedicated to raising and abiding by industry standards. It's run by its members or its members. And as a volunteer driven Association this year's conference refreshed rethink revive will be an amazing opportunity to come together with like minded pet professional pet sitters from across the country to learn and grow with one another visit pet sitters.org For more information on one of the policies I know that you have in place are locked boxes, How soon did you start implementing those in your business?
Lauri P. 38:41
Oh God not soon enough. So you know, of course, like everything else, it's all trial and error. We had to try all of these things, we had to make the mistakes to be like oh, this needs to change and and definitely one of those things was was our operation lockbox. And I knew that some people or some other pet care companies they had used the lockbox system and I was like We don't need that it's fine. And you know, I we started making human mistakes. Either we lost a key or the key broken the door handle or the garage door code died, in addition to the door battery code dying and everything had to go wrong for us to say, Okay, we need to implement some kind of system that says that two keys are to remain on premises at all times. And the thought behind that was that one key always stays in the box. So in the event of natural disaster, the the battery to the garage dies, the battery to the front door dies, the floor is lava, whatever the case may be, we have one key in the lockbox on premises at all times. So that animal is never left without care for something that we did and you Try, it took me running out of space on the wardens key ring, but I had with 150 client key is to say, Okay, we need to do something else. And that like sheer panic of where's the client he is, or having a lockbox in our office have all these client keys and having to have my staff drive and pick up keys. And you know, if somebody couldn't make a booking because somebody had a flat tire trying to coordinate passing keys back and forth, it was just an absolute nightmare after a while, but we needed those experiences to say, Hey, we got to do something. So that's why we have operational lockbox,
Collin Funkhouser 40:38
you don't know what you don't know what you don't know. And it takes these learning processes of going, Oh, maybe we could do something different. And we, Maggie and I were doing the exact same thing of going okay, well, we're going to start we started with the lockbox kind of in a central location and having people go to and from that. But as now as we have expanded into a completely separate area, and we are getting clients from all over and a wider range. And we're having multiple staff now passing and handing off keys, it just became too for us like this. There's too much of a liability now, to make this work successfully. And so we need to do something different. And lockboxes really do help get around that. So when you communicated this to your clients, did you get any kind of pushback or any people? Okay, so what was that though?
Lauri P. 41:31
So, you know, we all have different kinds of clients, we have our ideal golden clients, we have some bronze clients. And you know, we have some that were just like, completely at first, to the idea of a lockbox, I only lost two clients, out of the hundreds that we have over our lockbox policy, but it wasn't something that I was willing to not put into effect, because not everybody was comfortable with it. And I feel that whatever policies, whatever procedures that you put in place, not everybody is going to agree with you. But if you think that this is right for your business, because of XY and Z, you should do it and you should stay with it. And you should back your own policies, because this is what you believe in the first place. And this is this is why you're doing this to begin with. So the only, like I said, I only had two clients that were completely adverse to it. And they didn't want to put a lockbox on their front door. Because they had thought that it would convey the message to the rest of the world that either their home was for sale or that they weren't. So taking that feedback from clients. I said, Okay, well, actually, you're not wrong. So what about you pick the location for your lockbox where you feel comfortable? And of course, you know, we had this aha moment after we had already lost the clients. But that made other people feel a little more comfortable, because some of our clients did share that same, that same way of thinking. And I said, Oh, okay, well, I didn't even think of that. And we can learn a ton from our clients. Because we're not the ones providing care for our own pets, we're probably providing care for other pets. So listening to their suggestions, but not compromising on our own policies, was how we made this work. And we, you know, some we we obviously, went back and forth with the idea of do we rent them to the clients? Do we sell them to the clients do we let them provide their own, so we don't rent them, but we do sell them to the clients and they're beautiful lock boxes, or master lock, and they're engraved with our logo. So shout out to small business again, in our area, we got connected with a company called modern men memories, who does laser engraving and it was an awesome company and a beautiful relationship that we found and now he does all of our lock boxes so they can purchase their own lock box or they can provide their own if they don't want one of ours. So that kind of has gotten more of our clients that might have been on the edge on board by not being locked into force to you know purchase one of ours
Collin Funkhouser 44:19
listening to suggestions but not compromising on the policies and going okay we need a lockbox What are ways you you you client will get a lockbox from us from somewhere else. Get a lockbox like you're not trying to pigeonhole them to one area but going lockbox is required. So do you have do you have them leave the lockbox out 24/7 365 Or do they only set it out whenever they're going to be traveling for vacation?
Lauri P. 44:45
So because we are vacation based we they can they can leave it out if they want to leave it out but we only require that they they put it out when they are going on vacation. With that being said we do some last minute some emergency I'm stuck in traffic, Lucky has to eat dinner kinds of things. But those clients that usually need last minute services, they already have the lockbox out.
Collin Funkhouser 45:11
Yeah, cuz I'm sitting here thinking about how people may push back on Well, I'm not traveling all the time. So I don't want this out there, they may think it looks unsightly or things like that. So do you reach out to people a couple of days before they travel and go, hey, don't forget to put out the lockbox or what kind of communication goes there.
Lauri P. 45:29
So most of our clients know, but on the flip side of things, not everybody has keyed door locks. So so so there are clients that live in apartment complexes or condos where they physically don't have a key for their door. Okay, so they obviously can't use a lockbox. And then our only route of entering the home would be, you know, the front door or the garage code. So we do have like a liability waiver that they would sign if they decide to opt out of Operation lockbox,
Collin Funkhouser 46:02
and I love your the language that you use in operation lockbox on your website, it is very positive is very forward thinking it is very pro client experience. You don't spend hardly any, you spend no time being like Yeah, remember how awful it was in the past? And one of the things that I would try to present this to clients is go well, how do I tell them that this is an advantage? Because I don't want to tell them, Hey, did you ever think that we could lose your key because we could have but now we can't anyway, glad. But I love how you present this as like, these are all the positives that this is bringing to you. And kind of just like moving way past how you used to operate without saying that just always looking forward, always looking to the better and always looking to how it benefits them in the end.
Lauri P. 46:50
Because it's because if you think about it, I mean, it's for them. It's not it's not it's also for us from a liability perspective. But it's mainly for them to make sure the that in the event of flash flood, fire, natural disaster, what lost key maybe whatever happens, their pet is not left without care. And it's that's that's what it is at the end of the day. And the clients that realize that and they value their you know, their pets lives and their their well being they don't have a problem with it, because they know that it's for them.
Collin Funkhouser 47:25
You also do a lot of in person events in your community. I know this is something that many centers struggle with to make the most out of. So how do you choose which events you go to? And how do you how do you make the most out of being present.
Lauri P. 47:41
So with any service based in it, any service based field, it's difficult to do vendor events, because I'm not a vendor, and I'm not selling anything. So I could sell Frisbees, I could sell dog treats, I could I could sell something, but we don't, we never do. So we're just there to meet the community to tell everybody about our services, and just to build relationships. And if we get a new client out of it, that's awesome. But we're there just to let people know who we are and to build more on our brand. So when we do these vendor events, we definitely are geared more towards dog friendly events. So not dog events in of themselves. But events where you can bring your dog to like an open air market thing. So we have information out we have cup cups, we have treats, we have every everything dog friendly that we can possibly have in the event that they bring their furry friend, but even if they don't we can tell them about our services and how awesome we are. And, and things of that nature. We do events on our own, where we host events, and we host these outdoor markets and vendor events and things like that. That's a whole other rabbit hole to get to fall down into. But I just really love connecting with my community and being able to be their go to guy. So I think that's where the vendor events and the markets and things like that kind of stems from is that I want to have that genuine connection with my community. Yeah, I
Collin Funkhouser 49:17
know many people struggle with that of going well how many clients that I actually get from this event? Oh, I'm not gonna get anything from this. And you're totally reframing this and going it's not about getting this client from that I'm not tracking that's not my metric my metric is that I strengthen my brand of my company. And that is so huge because but with the with the with the strengthening of the brand comes brand recognition comes trust comes comes up people who know and idealize you as the only one they think of when they think of Petcare. Why? Because they see you everywhere. You're at all these events and it just becomes part of you do become so integrated and into the community because you're taking part in it and that actually at the end of the day is is invaluable when you win Come to think about it, because I think if you sit down and think, what are the companies that fall into different categories in my town, you'll only pick up like one AC repair and one tow truck company and one grocery store. Why? Because they take up the large mindshare of your perception of what it means to be that company. And that's exactly what these events can do for people when they think of pet care.
Lauri P. 50:24
And I definitely think that, you know, being present and of itself is invaluable, because even if people don't need your services at that time, so you know, we have our form submission, and we have all that stuff. But your information here, drop your business card, and all that general, you know, marketing stuff. But if I look at how many clients from that kind of avenue that filled out, or information form, or dropped their business card, and my bowl, how many of them actually booked is a very small number, but the people that I've met, that might not have even had their dog that day, or we're just passing through because they're visiting town, or they know somebody who knows somebody, because they have that conversation with them, just to tell them who we are. And what we're about is, it's built so many good relationships with our clients and turned those just passer bys into proper clients.
Collin Funkhouser 51:23
Yeah, I think the first time that we attended a couple events, and then we had somebody reach out to us, and they said, my mom was at the event and saw your booth and told me to call you, can you tell me about what I was like, okay. You know, like, okay, like the reach doesn't stop here at the event, right. And I think that's so important to remember is that the reach when you go to those kinds of things, goes out into the community, as people take that information, take remember saying your brand colors or your name or your logo, they take that out into the community and the people that they interact with. And so it's not just about we can't be myopic, and we can't be too myopic. and think, Oh, it's just about what happens here. And the number and the amount of inquiries I get in forms filled out at this event. It's like, no, no, it's about much something much larger than that. Oh, my
Lauri P. 52:15
gosh, I have to tell you something really fast. So yesterday, we went out to I went out to breakfast with my staff. And there I had on my professional pets, Florida, like T shirt with a big logo on the back. And it's you know, our logo is like, it's blue and yellow. So it's contrasting colors. And it's kind of like bold, and it's in your face and easily recognizable. But I mean, especially if I'm not in my service area, or if I'm out and about I don't expect people to be like, Oh, my God, Laurie was professional. You know, I don't, I don't expect any of that. So like when it does happen, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, you know, me, you know. And so we I had this woman that we went to breakfast, and I just hold open the door for her. So my back was to her and she was like, ah, do you work for professional pets? And I'm just like, Yeah, I do what's up, and she was just like, my neighbor over on X Drive, told me to call you because I have this Chihuahua. And then we just had like, a 25 minute conversation about her Chihuahua. And you know, she, and she's like, Oh my gosh, I'm so happy I ran into you. And she's like, do you know, Lori, and like, I've never met this person in my entire life. And I was like, Yeah, I know, Lori, and we're doing this special thing. And, you know, she contacted me like an hour later. And you know, both services, but that was just like a very, like, passive interaction that I had just because at that moment, I had my back turned to her because I was opening the door for her. Yeah, but that quiet you know?
Collin Funkhouser 53:46
Yeah. Again, just just a reminder that we are representatives of our business no matter where we go in our communities, and that those kinds of interactions are priceless. All right, that you made that lady's day it was so much so impactful to her exactly right. Where they go you're the one Oh, you're the pet people want Oh my goodness. And you go okay, it's very gratifying to Okay, wow, like the things that I'm doing are working the people that I'm working with or are working the clients that I have are amazing and everything is kind of aligned to those moments and it is really good to take a step back and just recognize how all the effort and all the hard work all the pain and tears and sweat and blood and all this if we're pouring into this it is to take a step back and go wow, it's actually working because we don't see that every day do we?
Lauri P. 54:41
Write and like the you know, when they fill out like the How did you hear about us like, section like we have an open box so they can like write whatever they want to write and when they write something funny like that, like you held open the door for me at the breakfast place. I'm just like, You know what, it's working. We're doing something right we're doing Something guide here.
Collin Funkhouser 55:02
I love that. I love that. Laurie. Laurie, thank you so much for for coming on the show today and for encouraging us to be amazing members of our community, and to help us to overcome fears of niching down as well. And that when that happens, we focus on a particular set of clients, and particular set of staff needs as well. But it is worth it in the end to have these two because we get these kind of interactions that you're talking about. And we do become the go to for these certain kinds of services. I know though, that you do an awful lot. And there's so much more here and people don't have questions for how to make it work. So how can people get connected with you and follow along with everything that that professional pets Florida has going on.
Lauri P. 55:48
We're super active on social media, because we are active in the community. So definitely to like to follow our Facebook page is probably the best way to stay up to date with you know, we do a lot of blogs and partnership announcements and our community events and things like that are all shared on our social media. So that would probably be the best way to reach out. If anybody has any questions regarding business or just wants to set up a zoom or talk to me personally, I'm this is this is our full time job. So I mean, if anybody needs anything, shoot me an email. And I'm definitely happy to help in any way that I can. And I think that connecting with other pet care businesses and learning from each other, rather than viewing them as competition is absolutely vital to success. Hmm,
Collin Funkhouser 56:37
I couldn't agree more Laurie, and I'll have links to your social media and email and website, in the show notes and on the website so people can get connected right there. This has been so much fun. I'm so appreciative. I have a lot of notes and things that I homework that I need to do now. I really appreciate everything, and just can't thank you enough for coming on today.
Lauri P. 56:56
Thank you so much for having me. I'm a big time long term fan.
Collin Funkhouser 57:00
I'd rather have a client who cares too much than cares too little. When Lori said this, it really got me thinking about what kind of passion we need from our clients that are going to make them work well and with us, because importantly, this is a partnership. This is a two way communication and team where we are coming alongside the client to make sure that they are living their best life possible with their pets. It's much easier to redirect and hone in on somebody's energy and focus than it is to try and encourage them and get them excited about trying new things or doing something different with their pet. With our knowledge and expertise. We can take the passion of that pet owner and turn it into something truly remarkable and good for both them and their pet. We want to thank today's sponsor is time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters for making today's show possible. We really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
