419: Selling the Gap with Rachelle Steele
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How do you sell your services to potential clients? While many of us believe that our service quality speaks for itself, many clients will have additional questions or needs that we must address. With 30 years of high-end retail experience, Rachelle Steele, owner of Loving Arms Pet Services, shares insights into guiding clients through the purchasing process. Rachelle explains how to ask good questions to better understand how you can serve your client and how using the Platinum Rule can help you meet your clients' needs.
Main topics:
Making space in your day
Let the client define their needs
Follow the Platinum Rule
Growing in confidence
Main takeaway: Asking probing questions allows you to better understand where your services fit in with the client’s needs.
About our guest
I have always had a profound connection with animals, particularly those who are shy, sick, or injured. Driven by my passion for animals, I founded Loving Arms Pet Services (LAPS). As an animal rescuer specializing in caring for animals with special needs, I recognized the significant challenge of finding a trustworthy caregiver to look after them while I took a vacation or had some time away. This realization motivated me to establish my own business, offering pet care services to enable others to take breaks without worrying about their pets' well-being at home. I hold a deep affection for all animals, but I have a special place in my heart for seniors and those with special needs, such as blindness, deafness, or health issues.My approach involves taking the time to truly understand each animal's unique personality, needs, and desires. To achieve this, I actively listen to their communication cues and ensure they receive the utmost care and attention. While pet owners are away, I believe it is crucial to keep them updated regularly, whether through messages, pictures, or short videos, to provide peace of mind. Putting myself in the customer's shoes is a priority for me, as I strive to create a relaxing experience for them during their time away. My expertise in positive-based training methods allows me to determine what motivates each dog and effectively communicate with the family to meet their specific needs and requirements. I understand that dogs communicate and comprehend differently from humans, and my goal is to bridge that gap and facilitate a harmonious relationship between the pets and their families. My experience working in animal rescue for over 25 years has exposed me to a diverse range of dogs with various backgrounds and issues, granting me valuable insights and tools to work effectively with them. Additionally, I actively support foster and adoptive homes, enabling me to provide expert guidance on the best approach for their pups' well-being. I firmly believe that there is no "one size fits all" training or care plan, and my approach is tailored to each individual pet's unique circumstances. I am eager to extend my services to pet owners from all walks of life and to assist in caring for animals throughout all stages and ages of life.
Links:
Platinum Rule: https://amzn.to/3DllXmc
loving-arms-pet-services-llc.business.site
https://nextdoor.com/pages/loving-arms-pet-services-kansas-city-mo/recommend/
https://www.facebook.com/lapsforpets
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet sitter, clients, pet, visits, overnights, dogs, booked, sell, business, whatnot, services, started, feel, price, find, cat, years, mentioned, talking, understand
SPEAKERS
Rachelle S., Collin
Collin 00:01
Welcome to pet sitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calming music for pets YouTube channel. Most of us got into running our pet sitting and dog walk on businesses, because we have a passion for pets, something a lot of us don't have a passion for is actually sales and marketing. And while many times our services sell themselves when they connect with the right client, sometimes they don't. So how can we as people without a background in sales and marketing, how can we become better at that craft and actually sell our services in that moment? Today, we have Rochelle Steele, owner of loving arms Pet Services to talk about the sales process for service based industry. She pulls from her experiences selling high end luxury goods and how that impacts her business that she runs. Now, everything from learning and listening to your client asking amazing questions, and learning how to sell the gap. You'll want your pen and paper for this one. Let's get started.
Rachelle S. 01:05
Yes, I'm Rochelle Steele and I started loving arms at services. Two years ago, we just celebrated our two year anniversary and I say we are because all my clients have kind of family. And I'm really excited to learning a lot. But learning how to finagle and fly by the seat of my pants and make changes on the fly. That was never a strong suit for me. So I am learning quickly trial by fire. And yeah, just been excited to do my passion. I've always had passion for animals and an animal rescue for over 25 years, working with shelter dogs and rescue dogs and I'm a volunteer for Shiva, a new rescue group. I'm a foster coordinator for Sierra she the Union Rescue Association been doing that six years supporting the Midwest right now we have currently 40 foster homes that I'm supporting as well. So I'm busy.
Collin 02:06
Rochelle, you talked about that, that kind of growing and not a strong suit of adapting on the fly? What what how have you tackled that, because that's something that I know we all struggle with is being both stick to itiveness. And also being able to adapt at a moment's notice.
Rachelle S. 02:22
Yeah, I've always been a plan person, I have been at 11 o'clock, this is going to happen, team, this will happen, you know, so on and so forth. And that is not that setting industry. So by working in Windows has really helped me, you know, by 8am, this is what I need to have done by noon, from eight to noon. This is what I need to have done, whether it's personal, or business. And in my scheduling, I am solo. So in my scheduling and limit how many clients I take a day, and how many sittings I do a day or visits I do a day and in my time blocks even so for example, I only will take two different clients with dogs a day. There's just no way that I feel comfortable trying to get three dogs in and out for potty breaks right early in the morning or in the evening before bed. A discontinued overnights beginning of this year. So I decided I'm just going to limit myself to two dogs. And I'm not stressed, I don't miss things, you know, weather. We've had some storms this week. So you know trees down and stuff, but you can plan for everything except for mother nature. So that's what I do. And then I can feel any other visits with cats or longer visits with the dogs. I started 40 minute visits, I used to just do like 20 and 60. I started 40 minute visits when I started phasing out the pet overnights. And a lot of my clients love the 40 minute visits. So I can actually get a lot more. One on one time with the families the dogs get a lot more personal time I'm not driving as much. And I don't have to worry about traffic or this that any other. So I really am liking the 40 minutes and the 60 minutes has been starting to really take off too. So the 20 minutes has mainly been cats, some of my dogs but most of my dogs are now stepping into the 40s
Collin 04:25
Wow. What I hear when you when you say all that, Rochelle, it sounds like you gave yourself space like you've learned to give yourself space. How do you it's hard to adapt and change when you don't have room in your life both like on a calendar and financially and all this stuff. If you have zero space, if you can't, pivoting requires you to turn right just physically if you imagine turning your shoulders if there's no way to move your shoulders. You can't go anywhere and so to hear you're like you know what I did, I just took a step back and I gave myself some breathing room around my day. And that's that's huge.
Rachelle S. 04:58
It is and we're there You know, I've been lucky that I haven't had any pets that I've had to take to the vet while they're humans were gone. But that was something to that I used to do. And I don't ever want to be in a situation where I've got an emergency situation. And that domino effects the rest of my day. And I panic the rest of the day, or, you know, heaven forbid, I tell a client, hey, so fluffy, the cat is panting. And I know that that's a really bad thing for cats. I've had other clients that say, so can you call your emergency contact and have them come take the cat to the vet, that's not a professional. That's, you know, and so I don't want to have to make the choice of not giving this that proper care that it needs, or the rest of my animals the rest of the day, the care that they need. So I make sure that I have a two hour buffer in the morning, between my morning and lunchtime visits, and then a two hour buffer and my afternoon between afternoon and evening visit. So I'm prepared for anything that may come from napping, a big tree in the middle of the street, cat needs to the bed, like an up dog food, too, because the owners decided to change food two days before they left him, you know, whatever.
Collin 06:08
Well, that's, you know, a lot of us approach our schedule by how much can we optimize? With getting the most in? Right and going, Okay, I have 10 hours a day where I want to be available to do visits, how many visits can I get in that day? But as you said, that's all assuming it goes right? And goes well, and that you're mentally ready for that, or you're physically ready for that, or the dogs are going to allow you to to kind of work, it's going, how do we stay resilient as a business? And I personally to its maintaining those, no, I, this is my limit. This is where I'm going to exist, because otherwise, I'm going to be running ragged.
Rachelle S. 06:52
Exactly. And by limiting myself on how many clients and putting those numbers in there, then if I do have the emergency existing client, that's, hey, blah, blah, blah, came up. Can you watch fluffy tonight? Yeah, I can't, you know, and because I know I've got the time, I don't need to look at the schedule, I don't need to worry about how that's going to impact anything. It might shift somebody's visits, 20 minutes or so. But that's not going to be a big deal. So in case of emergency that somebody needs me quickly, like that, I always have that ability, or as we experienced in December, people couldn't get home, you know, and so now I'm extending my visits with clients. I had room in there, because I wasn't already at my limit. I was running about 75%.
Collin 07:36
Now, that's great. You know, we again, we look to optimize oh, what's 100% of my day look like? How do I get to 100%? Full and realizing? No, like, I can't I don't want to because then I can't take on those last minutes. So I can't do these extensions, or I can't do these things like it really, we think 100% is best, but that's actually the most limiting to us in the business and how stressful? Yeah. You mentioned that you phase out overnights and that definitely piqued my interest, because overnight is something that a lot of people feel like they have to do, right. It's what I need to do. What was that process? Like? And I'm mostly interested, were you able to convert overnight clients into the petsitting visits throughout the day?
Rachelle S. 08:21
Yeah, great question. I, I started to think and every I needed to do overnights, everybody knows, once overnight, and I when I found you guys, so I was when I say blessed, I was ignorant, and blessed to be ignorant. When I started my pet sitting business. I had two friends that do pet setting didn't poke their brains a lot and ask them a lot of questions. I just went okay, this is the ideal business for me. This is what I want to do. This is my long term goal. I want to have time for myself, you know, that kind of thing. And so I didn't pick their brains and I didn't look to see what's the normal, what's the average what's low, you know, whatever. And so I built up my business plan. And then when I started looking and seeing what other people charge I saw overnights were kind of a thing and as clients started reaching out to me and asked about overnights Okay, so I did um, I quickly realized I do not do well, I don't sleep well away from home, and then I'm on you know 24/7 Basically I'm with my weight visits and then my sleeping and you know houses make weird noises and it just I It was exhausting to me. And so I'm I raised my price and I raise my price again. And then I I raised my price again and to include I sold basically as a package that the overnight plus the one midday dropped in was X amount of dollars. If they had a cat and they didn't need a midday drop in they still paid the same price. That was just Extra bonus money for me make it easy. So it wasn't differential or if they added a dog later, if anything might happen, um, this was my flat overnight price. And I still kept getting back and I'm like, what? Where is the ceiling for this? I didn't find the ceiling. And so then I'm like, Okay, I have to, I have to do something else because I need to not do overnight. And so that's when I ended the 40 minute visit, and started selling 340 minute visits a day. So first thing in the morning, lunchtime, or evening. And some of my clients were like, well, you know, the dogs aren't really that excited first thing in the morning. They're kind of lazy. Could you do a 60 for lunch? Instead of a 40? For breakfast? Just do 20 for breakfast and 60 for lunch and 40 for dinner? And I'm sure I can do that. Yeah. And so just kind of evolved. And as I was turning out the clients that wanted overnights, but I was already booked for an overnight. I'm sorry, there's only one of me, somebody already booked me. But here's what I can do instead. You know, let's try this. It's just a weekend. Let's try it and see what happens. I've luckily already built up a trust and rapport with them. And they were like, Okay, well, let's try it and see what happens. And so I lost one overnight client and all my overnights are now converted to petsitting clients that we just tried it for a weekend. And they did great, it comes out cheaper than what my overnights are. And you know, overly explaining on my visits and overly taking pictures and sending video sometimes, of how great they're doing. And they are not affected at all, by the fact that I wasn't there. Now, that may mean I'm getting up at 5am to go do around at 6am or whatnot. But I would rather do that sleeping in my own bed. Then to deal with, you know, the overnights wherever. The other disadvantage I had from overnights is I may book an overnight, let's say today, or two months from now, I don't know what visits are going to be booking for those two months from now. So it ended up being a total rout nightmare as well. So I just saw more headaches than it was worth.
12:13
Well, yeah, it makes it a lot more predictable for you to know, okay, I know during my drive time from my house, right to just about everywhere else that I'm going. And then when you mentioned that, as part of this, this process like you, it sounds like you really went like because you're trying to address the client's concerns. And that's where we as business owners have to continue to focus on why does the client want this was probably because they feel like their pets going to be feeling abandoned and sad and lonely and depressed. And so you coming along and going, Man, I'm going to write that I'm not going to lie, right? I'm not going to but I'm going to really focus on these things and really stress and show all the playtime photos and show just what we can do in my visit that that really goes to showing the client Oh, wow, okay, but that's okay, I see that like that. Now there's a visual representation of the feelings, the emotions and all this stuff so they can see the value that they're getting from that.
Rachelle S. 13:14
Right, because I think a lot of times the overnights are for the client more than 100%. But then, you know if that's a concern, I asked him to put up cameras, in whatever if that's a big concern for you, but the dogs don't care. Right.
Collin 13:35
So, you said, you're just celebrating your your two year anniversary? What were you doing before you started doing dog walks, and that's it.
Rachelle S. 13:45
I did about 30 years of retail. So retail sales, retail management, high end sales. And man if retail isn't, you know, trial by fire in customer service, and nothing else it is. And it luckily my my industry is that I was in and what I was selling were high end, they were higher priced items that people could 100% Find people that were cheaper to do the items and to do the services and to get the product. So for anyone who's a Facebook friend of mine, they'll see me posting almost daily posts found someone cheaper pictures of something that it's like, what were they possibly thinking when they did that in and it was yes, you can always find someone cheaper. But it normally costs more money and cheaper isn't better. You don't get the value, the trust the end result necessarily that you're looking for. So I think that's really benefited me coming into running my own business. So being on the higher end of the average in my area. If people will well, my former pet senator or I found other pets on or whatever that charge less in whatever that less is. Yes. Yeah. Great and are probably great too. What are you looking for from your pets that are what are you wanting your pet sitter to offer you and do for your dogs, cats home, whatnot. And sometimes it's just really I just want you to come in and throw some food down on the floor and skip the litter box. If it's overflowing. Okay, great. Anybody can do that. That's why your neighbor kid can do that for you, you know, for $10 for the weekend. So if that's what you want, that's great. Can I tell you what I offer? And then I talked about bringing in the mail checking in rotating blinds and lights and bringing in and out the trash barrels? You know, actually looking at what's in the litter box? And does it look normal? Um, does fluffy, have some money do fluffy hasn't paid for three days? That's a problem, you know, things like that. And then, you know, yes, the lovely part of going out and watching the dogs poo. And is it normal? Is it look consistent? Is it the right color, anything like that your neighbor kids aren't going to do that. And if I walk in, and I noticed something out of place, or the power outage or anything like that, that's all stuff that I'm ready and prepared and have time on my schedule to handle because I do limit how many clients I take a day, or in case of emergencies. So that's what I offer. And that's why I'm 10 $15 More $5 More whatever than what your neighbor kid is, or your previous that are. At the end of each visit, I'll send you pictures, I'll send you notes of what happened, what I saw exactly what time we got our pills, and everything. And then you'll always have access to me if I'm awake and you reach out, I will respond to you. And if you have any concerns or whatnot. So that's the difference between our pricing. Did you want to go ahead and book? Or did you want to continue your search, and I close, and it is a sales process. But we have to find out what the customer values. If the customer value something that you can't offer, then you can move them along? If the customer hadn't thought about the kids throwing a party in the backyard with a pool? Maybe if we plant that seed say Well,
Collin 17:15
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Susan 17:20
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Collin 17:37
If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting timed pet.com/confessional. That that really powerful question. And I guarantee you 90% of us don't ask that question. What are you looking for from your pet sitter? What are you? What are you looking for? What do you need, and having them use their own words to tell you exactly what they want? Because then in our mind, it helps us go. I mean, when I've asked that question, I within the first 13 seconds, I can usually go yeah, this is person or Nope, this is not the person for me, based off of what they're describing. And then you can still go ahead and say, Okay, I this is what I hear you're looking for, this is how I would go about doing that, or this is what I offer. And then that way, they're fully informed and you're fully informed. And you're actually having a conversation about what their needs are. As opposed to hey, I need a pet sitter. Oh, I'm a pet sitter go like, there. It's much more in depth about that.
Rachelle S. 18:46
Absolutely. And you can find out Are they realistic and what they're looking for in a pet sitter, you know, so for when I did overnights and somebody when asked, What do you need for your pet sitter? And they start telling me and I'm like, Okay, you are looking for somebody to be there 23 hours a day. Yeah, that's not me. You know? So getting them to define what they're looking for. And sometimes they don't know. And then I'll also ask, have they ever used a pet sitter? And they say, Yes. And who was that a company? Was it your friend, neighbor or family member? Why are you not using them anymore? Get them to spill the beans on why they're not using this person anymore? It could be that that person became unreliable, that person moved that person for the last six months has not responded to any of their texts. Are they telling themselves that they got fired for some reason? And the editor didn't have the nerve to explain why. So then you can start digging for red flags and in finding out you know, but when they tell you what they didn't like about their own set center and what they did like about their own pet sitter, then you know exactly what you need to do. You can alleviate their pain sargans You can alleviate their stresses, tell them this is how I'm different. This is how you won't have to worry about that. And here's what else I'm going to do. And the what else is what sells the gap in your price.
Collin 20:10
Okay, so you said a phrase there sell the gap? What What are you talking about? What's that,
Rachelle S. 20:15
most of the time when people shop for things, whether it's a service or a product, they have $1 amount in mind, whether it's because of the previous experience, or because of budget, or what they think, is realistic. So for example, just using numbers, if they think $20, a visit is a reasonable price for a pet sitter. And you're priced at $25, you can sell the $5 gap a lot easier than you can sell why your $25 a visit or $75. Today, if they were only planning on $60 a day, and or even worse, $40 a day for you know dogs or whatnot, and your $75, you've almost doubled the price of what they had in their mind. And that can be scary, it can be hard if you're not a salesperson to overcome, doubling their budget. So if we can just sell the gap, instead of worrying about selling the $75, if we can sell the $45, that's a lot easier. And we all those professional pet centers can explain the value of the $35 or the $5 or whatnot, just by asking them the questions. And oh, I can do that. And this is what else I will do. And going above and beyond under promise and over deliver. And I've had some of my clients that were very not expecting to pay my prices, but they were in a pinch and I was available. So okay. And they're loyal clients now. And they refer people to me and everything, because I way over delivered what they were expecting from, quote unquote, pets that it starts with
Collin 21:57
that that conversation though, because then you know, it is part of that sales process. Because it is sales like that's where we are in sales, we run a business, we have to sell our services at some point. And that's just having a conversation. At this point. We're not trying to pin people down or lock them into anything or we're not, we're just letting asking them. A conversation that we get a lot of times is have you used a pet sitter before? And they'll say, Yes, I have. Okay, can you tell me about that experience that? Or you can just say, can you tell me about that? You don't have to say, if you feel like, Oh, why aren't you using any more? If that's too confrontational for you, you just say, Oh, tell me about what happened to what did they do for you, and get some idea of what they were doing? Because then what this gives you this equips you with language, to start selling that gap ever sell. Somebody happens to us people go, I never knew when people were coming over. And I was constantly having to talk to them about whether they had been there or not. And so when they say okay, and I go, Oh, okay, well, in our system, you always get alerted when we arrive. And you always get photos and a written report. At the end of each visit, we're in constant communication. And you can even see a GPS data point of that we've been at your house, when we were over there, that you're selling your you're trying to go okay, that $5 extra that I am of what they were before, this is what's filling that this race of mine is what's going to sell that on that. And now they may still go, oh, that's out of my personal budget, but I see the value there. And that's fine. But at least you're you're turning it back and you're going, here's where my value comes in as a business.
Rachelle S. 23:21
Right, and we can't help but if they cannot afford anything more, that's fine. But also we have to not take that personal. We can't think that they're turning us down, or they don't like us or whatever. They're turning down $1 amount, but it doesn't mean anything is reflection on you. So I think that's part of you know, what I see in pet sitters. And animal caregivers, for example, is the emotional part and they take offense, and they take personally and we can't it's not personal, you did nothing wrong. You just have different prices, you know, I would never spend $100,000 on a car. It has nothing to do with the car. I just wouldn't do it. Even if I could I wouldn't. Now, you know that that is nothing against the person selling cars. I just wouldn't do it, you know and couldn't do it. But there's also something too if people don't have a good sales, strong sales background, or are fumbling on like how to tell clients no or how to get them on board with whatever we want them to do. You know, whether it's looking through our software instead of texting us or whatever, um, the platinum rule talks about the four different types of people. And we've probably heard it in a lot of different contexts. But Tony Alessandra is an awesome character, I guess. I don't know what he would say. He the way he presents it is awesome and easy to follow. And he talks about the four different people types of people. And if you can figure out quickly what this person is, then you can adapt yourself to them, match them. And it minimizes conflict. It maximizes the experience. And it just helps everyone communicate better even. And of course, it helps us sell better. But if you've got someone who he would call a director, who was very short to the point, I don't have time for a lot of chitchat, let's get let's get to. So how much do you charge. And they speak very quickly, they move very quickly. They don't want a lot of chitchat. And when you start talking, and telling stories, and so on, and so forth, you're going to lose that client, even though he could have spent the money. They have to match their style, you know. So I think that's the Platinum Rule, do unto others as they would have done to themselves as compared to the golden rule. Do unto others as we would have done to ourselves.
Collin 25:54
Yeah, matching them. That's important, because we get those questions. A lot of times I get that I take those phone calls. Yeah, what do you charge? And it's very easy for me to go, Oh, he didn't even ask me how awesome I was. And they don't even want to know why I'm the best. And well, you're I'm going to tell you here and we like and we go into this mode of like, well, let me tell you if like there's got to be a big lead up to the value to the to the price drop, I get caught. I catch myself in this all the time. It's like, well, before I tell you about the price, we do XYZ, this is what we do. This is how long I've been doing it. This is why we love it. This is about I'm 15 minutes into my spiel and I'm like, hello, hello. Is there is no out of there gone. Right? When when if I would have just said we are $25? Or yeah, that'll be $47. They would go Okay, great. How do I book like, that's deaf.
Rachelle S. 26:42
And then some people too, because they're nervous or scared, or lack of confidence or whatever will be like, well, this guy's just price shopping. If you were just price shopping, he could have done that online, then you know, and so don't take offense to whatever they may just be on the limited timeframe. They've already been through several websites that lectures fest they call How much is this? Are you available? Yes or no? Okay, let's go. But don't lose the client. Because we didn't understand that that's just the type of person they are.
Collin 27:13
Man, that's, that's really tough. Because that means that when we pick up that phone call, or when we look at that text, we're on right, we're not just having our way through that response, we have to be doing a lot of active listening and processing of what's happening on that other end of that line.
Rachelle S. 27:34
Exactly. And asking the right questions, especially if it's in text to kind of figure out how, what kind of style are they? And you know, what, what is the best way to get through to them and make them feel like you understand them, they can do business with you, they can trust you. If they are a director or a thinker, and you are a socializer or relator, there's going to be some conflict unless you can quickly adapt and identify that they don't want all the fluff. One of my favorite quotes in it because I'm a thinker, but I'm very chameleon like so I can go in between all four very ugly, but my main thing is I'm a thinker. I asked her what time it was not how the watch was built. That's that sometimes if you tell me how the watch was built, I'm gone. I know, I didn't ask that.
Collin 28:30
And for in the kind of people that a lot of us are very passionate about this, right? This is and we Yes, we're all running a business. We're all very passionate, and we want to tell people about that we we many times feel like my passion will sell this, or if I can just convince them with this or let me tell them that one more thing, instead of matching what they're giving us. And then trusting the rest to happen. It might not and that's okay, but going okay. I mean, so now I really have to I'm laughing at myself so much for Shell because i What are your prices? I have to I have to take a breath and just go yeah, just tell them like just tell them just just tell them just just that's what they want. I started $25 What is it that unique? Yeah. And that that question is you mentioned asking good questions. What are some questions that you don't think people ask enough or should be doing more of
Rachelle S. 29:23
through this process? I think like you said, What are you looking for in a better? That's important to find out? And in when we're dealing with dogs? When was the last time somebody walked in without you home? I think that's pretty important, especially coming out of COVID You know, I started in 21 so I didn't have the pre COVID visits to experience that being in rescue and everything you know, I kind of understand what we're walking into anyway. Um, you did? Do you already have dates in mind? And sometimes people if they are calling you and I see this in a group sometimes too, that the client doesn't have dates in mind, but they're calling and wanting to know questions, and they want to set up a meet and greet and that kind of thing. And a lot of the posters and label if you don't have dates, and I don't want to go through all of this, because you may not use them. But if they're a thinker, like me, I want to make sure and find somebody that I can afford that I can trust. And then I can budget for my pet sitter, I will personally do a different vacation, maybe may do a shorter vacation, she was a cheaper hotel or whatnot to pay for the pet sitter that's watching my home and watching my cat. So we have to understand, you know, why? Oh, you're not looking, you're thinking maybe next year, you're gonna travel? Why are you looking for pets that are now they're gonna tell you why. You know? And then you're like, okay, cool. Now, you know whether or not you want to take it that's up to you whether or not you want to send them along the way, or whatnot. But that could be a really good client, a really good referral, as well, that they can refer friends and family, and it can turn into a great long term client. Um, what? Um, you know, what did you like? Just like, you know, what? Since you have used a pet sitter before, but you maybe it's been a while? Um, what would you have changed about your previous pet sitter? And how they did things and communicated or whatnot? Yeah, just finding out what did they what do they want? And we all know we can probably deliver that. But one of my clients comes to mind she's a little over the top on something. And very not over the top on other things. And so looking at her and asking what's most important to you? One of her cats is very was very shy and standoffish and Grill in his such as you walk by the other ones very friendly. My very first visit, I was talking about the friendly one, barely mentioned, the not so friendly one. And she messaged me back what's going on with seven, you know, and she, that's what she focused on. There was no interaction with Kevin because I didn't want to get fit. So I didn't mention too much. But that immediately came to, okay, I need to equally speak about both paths. And you know, Kevin, Judge me from a distance as I put the food down, and Kevin supervised me doing the litter boxes. And do you see Kevin's ears in his picture peeking around the corner. Because that was a big deal to her. So kind of see and maybe what they don't, and hearing what they don't necessarily say, by the questions that they asked, and then making sure that we jump all over that and put their mind at ease is a big deal, too. But I think we just need to be really good at asking what do they want? What do they expect? And then do that. And then some? Yeah, you know, go above and beyond
Collin 32:57
and not being afraid to ask those follow up questions. You know, cuz it Yeah, we get those we get those calls to those inquiries. I'm just looking for a pet sir. No dates in mind. My first assumption is always admitted. They're just price shopping. Right? Oh, they're just they must not be doing that. But if you to ask them. For us, most of the time, it's somebody who's going. I've never done this before I ended up better. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm the I need help. I need a helper to come along. And it's like, okay, like you, I got you like, we're in this together? Like what, let me walk you through how we can do let me educate you about some of your options that may not even involve us, but like, let's go. And I think you're right, taking that time. Just go. Oh, wow, it looks like you're gonna have dates. Is there a reason you're looking for now, because I know how I am, too. I need to know the dates. You know, I need to make sure all the ducks in a row, I's dotted T's crossed before I even get to the point. I'm not even a book a plane ticket until I've got this other stuff taking care of you. Are you kidding me? And we need to remember there are people out there that are like that, that are looking that need to make sure everything's together and not just discount them entirely. Definitely ask them why you're looking out and they could respond. I'm just trying to see what my options are. I don't really know who I'm going to use or what, okay, that's a whole different response, then I need to get this nailed down before I can book my plane tickets. That's a very we but we have to listen for that. We can't just hear what we want to hear.
Rachelle S. 34:21
Right. And most people whether they're clients or pet sitters do not think of this as a sales job. So that's an advantage on our end, that they will spill the beans if you just ask them because we're not they're not walking onto a car lot. You know, they're not holding on to their purse or their wallet for dear life because they're afraid we're gonna rip them off. And people love to talk about themselves and their pet. So if we just ask them some simple questions, they will spill the beans and give us everything that we need to know. And then we can take it and run with it and help them and even if it ends up they don't look They'll remember you. And then when somebody else in their family or Facebook or next door is looking for somebody, they will refer you. This process
35:08
for Shell is all about this potential client that we've been talking about. Another aspect is the customer service of once there was there in the company and experiencing everything. How do you approach customer service with your clients.
Rachelle S. 35:28
So in I use time to pet and in my private note section that I can see on each visit, I have my notes of trash day or whatever. Not pet things that are necessary to be watchful of. But then also, if there's anything in particular, like always make sure that you mentioned rocks, even though she always hides them to the bed, you know, anything that's going to make sure that the client understands that I'm doing everything that I need to do. And listening to your podcast. So you know, you talk about taking pictures of the food, taking pictures of the litter box and everything. And I try and make it a little bit more fun. Have you know, the cat in the picture with the food going? I know that the food bowl is only three quarters full. Ricky, I just sent you it's not empty, you know? So putting, putting fun with it so that they understand. Oh, yes. Okay, that is actually Ricky, as soon as he eats for morsels out of the bowl. He's like, okay, yeah, the food bowl is empty, come feed me. You know, and so that makes them understand that you are knowing their pets, that you're not just throwing food down, you're talking about their personality and, and getting to know them and love on them. I'm explaining I saw this going on in the neighborhoods, somebody was having a wild party in the neighborhood, and it keeping them in the loop of what's going on, you know, the weather sometimes. And then if you talk about the weather and the storms, and then two days later, you're talking about somebody's got diarrhea, they're like, oh, yeah, the storms you were talking about the other day, and you're like, oh, bingo. Okay, cool. That was that piece together. Um, and then, you know, if I noticed something, if I noticed some dishes in the sink, that that's not common for them, I'll do the dishes or something, just out of the ordinary, I might leave that. For the first visit, I always leave a thank you note, a handwritten thank you note mentioned, if that's names, if they are client that uses me every week, or, you know, several times a month, I may not leave a note every time but I'll leave something out of the blue unexpected in sending the thank you notes, randomly in the software, sending birthday notes, you know, in cards, if I noticed something in the home that it was a client's birthday or anniversary, I can make a note of that. And then I can bring it up next year, just different things that they would not think of, from the pet sitter. But also, I think that one of the big things is the functionality that my clients know, in what time I'm going to be there, even though I work in Windows, and they they can trust that I'm going to do as I say, I'm going to clean up things that maybe they didn't ask me to clean up or wouldn't expect me to clean up because I mean, it was there, let's just do it. Um, you know, and it goes with that integrity, do the right thing, even though no one is watching. And making sure you know that we just the clients are trusting us with their home. There happens to be pets in our home. And they're trusting us with their pets lives and everything too. But they could have boarded the pets. They could have had the pet state of family members, you know, there's clients that could have had family members can visit but they didn't want to impose. They are paying you and trusting you to watch their most valuable possessions, their home and their pet. You know, if the house burns down, they're gonna grab their pets. But, um, that's the two most important things, you know, and they're trusting us. And honestly, if your visits are only $25, that's a pretty inexpensive fee to pay to supervise and watch over everything, you know, so I think a lot of the pet sitters AC just don't understand or don't things themselves the value than what we do have enough to justify whatever price it is that you're comfortable with. So they don't raise their prices or they don't charge enough or they feel sheepish talking about their prices. And I think we just need to have a little bit more confidence in what we do. We offer amazing customer service we do amazing things we could be saving our pets life instead That's what they pay for. They, they're paying for the peace of mind to have somebody there to do all of those things. And if they would have not booked you, and they would have booked a neighbor, kid and their animal would have passed away, they will likely be kicking themselves in a bet that they didn't pay the gap, you know, pay the extra money, or the professional would have been able to handle that situation that are differently.
Collin 40:25
Many of us look for ways to go, how do I add value? How do I add value? How do I make this service more than what other people are doing? And you started off by saying, Well, I use this note, to write down details that I don't want to forget. Or maybe I don't know what I'm going to do with them right now. But they're going here. So I can use them later. And that's, that truly is the kind of stuff that blows clients away. When they it's gonna sound crazy, especially when they tell you to do stuff. And then you do it. Many times people are home, what how did they do that sometimes that's all it takes for people to realize, oh, wow, this person was Listening, paying attention and stored this information somewhere. So they could do something with it. Because they are so used to saying, always check the back door, always check the back door and nobody checking the back door. And then you're like, Yeah, I checked the back door made sure it was locked. And they're like, pull up. Right. And so the value comes in is is the details and executing on the details, right. And we're really focusing on this stuff.
Rachelle S. 41:27
And noticing, noticing those things. So if the client like say, who has the neighborhood party going on, because the chiefs on the Superbowl or whatnot, I may mention looks like the neighbors are having a great party. So I went ahead and close the blinds, even though we don't normally close the blinds. That's gonna go a long way. But that's what I would do in my home. So why wouldn't I do it? And the client told me, and I turned on some extra lights, and you know, whatever. When I take trash out, like I take the bins out, for example, I mean, notice that the trash in the house needs to be taken out. So I take the trash out, and I've gotten notes from the client, oh, my gosh, you didn't have to take the trash out of the kitchen. Yeah, kind of, because it was there, you know, and in my head, it was not a big deal. But in a client said it was, um, you know, so just little things, if you see that it needs to be done. And you can do it, do it. If you're not sure. You don't want to offend somebody, or whatnot. But in the visit notes, I noticed this and I wanted to do this, but I didn't want to overstep, you know, do you mind? If I when I do my evening visit if I go ahead and do this? And an alleged cancels like I absolutely do not expect you to do that. But if you want to do that would be great. Or no, please don't. And you're like, okay, cool. Well, I didn't, you know, but then you notice something, and you mentioned that you notice something and they're like, Oh, they're not just throwing suits down on the floor and is running out, you know, so just those are the little things. And I always make sure to thank my clients for their visits, you know, for their business. And that I appreciate them that if they didn't trust me to do it, I wouldn't be in business. So making sure that they feel valued and appreciated as well.
Collin 43:17
Right, right, focusing again, focusing on them, right that at the end of the day, they have a problem, they have a need that needs to be solved. And, and this sounds like a lot like it really does, oh my gosh, like all these details, it can be overwhelming as somebody's going into a visit. But again, what's important to note here is going you know, if we have our day structured, we've got a little bit more space in it. So that I've got a little bit more bandwidth that I can dedicate to each individual visit, maybe they're just a little bit longer. Man, think of what I can do with that. Think of think of the possibilities of what that kind of visit would look like. And that's that's really where a lot of this power starts to come in is when we look at holistically going, Man if I want to be able to do this, this kind of detail this kind of level here. What does my day have to look like where's my week have to look like and really piecing that together so that we are providing the service that we actually want to be providing and not just going on whims in crazy tangents with all sorts of clients.
Rachelle S. 44:10
Exactly. And if, if we've got a pet sitter, that's let's say, charging $20 versus a pet sitter that's charging $25, the $25 Pet Sitter can do for less pet visits a day, then the $20 pet sitter. So then that just freed up an hour or two hours of their day to be able to go to the bathroom for lunch. You know, notice the different things that can elevate your experience in a bit also gives you that breathing room that maybe some of our pet sitters need
Collin 44:50
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Rachelle S. 46:11
So going back to the I have two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, you know that I can do what I need for want if nothing happens. So I can go to the gym, I could go lay out at the pool, I can take a nap. And I can take my own dog to the park and you know, wander in and do some training with her. And then is employee of the year I got when your membership for monthly massages. So a I have that video to get them locally massage. Um, you know, and that was important to me. I'm taking care of myself. And, you know, I look for ways and I block off days and block off Windows. Sometimes I can always block off a day, but I can sure block off that nobody could book me next Thursday afternoon. I have nothing going on Thursday afternoon. But because I'm this Wednesday to next Thursday, I'm fully booked. And then from Friday to the next Wednesday and fully booked, I couldn't have a day off. I'm blocking that window for me that day. And any visits can be morning or they can be evening, I'm just not doing anything that afternoon in so making sure to look at you don't get too many days of no time for you. And to be able to stop and just take a breath and relax.
Collin 47:37
I know people struggle with the I can't take whole days away, I can't take a whole week away, I can't have a weekend and just going we're not it's just going like afternoon, right? Like an hour, right? It's two hours, maybe in the course of a busy busy time busy season, carving something out, helps at the 20 minutes, just to go. I'm just going to nothing right now I'm just not gonna focus on anything, I just need to sit and breathe deep breaths for 15 to 20 minutes. Like that's that kind of power. Because that that that's a muscle that you start going okay, I carved out 20 minutes and nothing happened, I can carve out 30 minutes. Like, it just helps you along that
Rachelle S. 48:16
process. Exactly. And if you're always saying yes to everybody else, and because you're afraid to say no to them. And you're always saying no to yourself, it'll come back and get you, you know that whether it's your health, you know, we were talking about sleep before really, we started this. Your body can go without food and water for so long, that your body will shut down and you will go to sleep. If you're not sleeping. You cannot go without sleep in and you know, good healthy sleep. So if, if that's an area of focus that somebody needs to be working on, and if you're not sleeping well, that affects the rest of your life, your health and everything else. So we have to make ourselves a priority. If we don't, you're not going to be around to be able to help all the clients that you weren't able to say no to. So if you start practicing telling them no now, and know that the client isn't going to be upset, they're not going to be offended. They're not going to fire you. And if they do, they're probably not the client you want anyway. Most of our clients if you're just like, hey, I'm already booked that day, you know, here's what I can do are already booked for that timeframe. Give Luffy a big hug and kiss and I will see you next time. If you've done the above and beyond service, they'll come back they'll figure out this trip, but they'll come back for the next trip and guess what you just trained them. They better book earlier, because you're really good and you fill up, but it's the claims responsibility. It's their pet. It's their responsibility to figure out what their boarding or pet sitters needs. We can't feel like I've got to take that on it. because, you know, who else are they going to find? I hate to break it to you, but you're not the only one in the world, they will find somebody. You know, that's, that's a big ego trip really, you know, they will find somebody, and they're not going to be upset and offended by it, they're gonna go okay, and then move on. And they've been forgotten about it, where a lot of our pet sitters will then sit there for three hours going, Oh, my gosh, what am I supposed to do? And I've tried to finagle the schedule and everything. And the clients already moved on. Yeah, they they're like 10 steps ahead. Long forgotten. So if they think that's a big thing for our own health and well being is you got to overcome with God and move on, be confident in your decision and move on. Don't Don't sweat it.
Collin 50:45
but confidence is key. Right? Both in it that okay, I did my best. I and knowing like, I can't do any more for this. And that's it. But that's the end of my responsibility as an individual and as a business owner of okay, that's, that's where it i and it's hard to end it there. It's hard to not have an n also or Well, okay. Okay. It just just just go no, that's, that's all I can do. And knowing that that's enough.
Rachelle S. 51:15
It takes practice, you know, and if you have a significant other, if there's children in the home, if you don't have any other humans living in homes, tell your pets No, once in a while, you know, get in the habit practice telling somebody No, no, in it, even if it's the lady at the grocery store, do you want to receipt? No. If you're not used to saying no, I have to say no. And it becomes easier, it becomes more comfortable. And we don't know what their reaction is that that's on them. All we can be responsible for is ourselves. So it, we know that there's a lot of stress, a lot of our people get burned out. And a lot of it, I feel like is because we don't know how to say no, we don't feel comfortable saying no. And we want to help everyone. But we need to help ourselves first. So that's where when I left 30 years of retail, that was my goal. I want to help the animals, but I want to have more time for me. I if I turn in a vacation, I want this time off for vacation six months in advance. I don't want to be told no. And I want to take this time, I shouldn't have a question of why I need to take this time I want to take this time. I've earned this time. You know, and so I just took five days for my for myself, and I was closed Thursday through Monday. And I put the banner up. And you know, I had a few clients reach out and they said, I know you're on vacation. But I wanted to remember and send you this while I was remembering. So please don't answer me till Tuesday. I trained my clients well. So
Collin 53:00
you mentioned you know, you'd left retail for 30 years. I know you've managed people over that time, and but you've decided to stay solo. Maybe those two are connected? Maybe they're not why? Why are you? You have chosen to remain to stay solo and to run the business by yourself. Why is that?
Rachelle S. 53:21
A lot of reasons. One, I still have 30 years of retail trauma. Dealing with Yeah, managing people can be challenging. I felt like I was a good leader that based on feedback from employees that are still friends and, and employees who would have done anything for me at the drop of a hat. I feel like I was a good leader. But it's exhausting to be a good leader. You know, I had good employee retention, which is another normal indicator of that bit. This is a really weird world we're in and I'm in 2023 in coming out of 2020 A lot of people want to go back to the old normal, a lot of people are figuring out what their new normal is, you know, there's just a lot to deal with. And so right now I want to control me. I have a hard enough time, sometimes controlling everything else. So I can control me. You know, where we talk about I don't necessarily do well adapting to quick and sudden changes. Employees are quick and sudden changes oftentimes, you know, they've got their own life things happen. The car breaks down. What do you do? Well, now what? I can't control that I can't. So I just don't want to deal with all of that. I know what I can control. I know what I can handle. I've trained my clients well. So I do kind of have employees as far as my clients are concerned that I've taught them how I need them to do things. If Do you want me to be available for you? Even, this is what I need you to do. I've had to let clients go, who didn't follow what I needed them to do. And I'm just like, I can't, and, you know, we say fire the, the client, because they are kind of like, employees from time to you know, we need them to communicate with us, too. I can't just show up and all of a sudden coffees on 12 meds that are spread out every four to eight hours since that, no, you can't do that to me. I don't know, you don't work here anymore. After this week, you don't work anymore, you know. And that added stress. So I manage my clients, I train them on how we can have a great partnership and relationship. And that's enough for me right now. You know, I see you guys struggling that have have employees? Like oh, yeah, no, I don't want that.
Collin 56:03
And I appreciate that, Rochelle, because that's such an important aspect of it. If going, yeah, what kind of what kind of business? What kind of life do I actually want? To Ryan? And knowing okay, if I don't want that I don't have to do that. I don't know if it's personal preference. It really is. And so many people feel pressured, feel guilted into doing something and making a business's decision, because they think that's what success looks like. Or they think that's what they're supposed to do. Or everybody's telling them to do if Oh, we'll just do this by just hire. Oh my gosh, that we're just if you expand out just that easy, just as 10,000 steps, every like, it's so much. And if you go, you know what? I don't just want to do that. It's, it's great. It's fine. It's okay. Right? It really is. And But too often we get caught up in this well, that's how I'm supposed to do that. I need to do that. Because that's what XYZ artist telling me to do and realizing, I don't want that for myself. And great. I'm better for that.
Rachelle S. 57:07
Exact Exactly. And I think that's the big key, like you said, you know, what does success look like, you have to define that for yourself. To me successes, I work a lot less now than I did in retail, I have a lot less mental stress now than when they did that makes me more more money now. And I'm happy. That's success to me. You know, we have people in our world that make buku bucks, and they're not happy. And you know, on the outside, everyone looking in would go, Wow, they're so successful. But they're miserable. You know, so and people say, and they will give up a million dollars in just to be happy to have time to themselves to not have a packed schedule. success can be very different to everybody. So I think that's the key is what does success look like to you? And then you build your business around what that is. I know a lot of pet sitters will probably think I'm crazy that I only take up to nine clients a day. And how do I do that? I do that because I have a budget. I don't live above my above my means, um, I charge a fair price. And I get clients that respect that. And then they refer similar clients to me that are of the same mindset. And I can do that in but I had to figure out what that looked like to me what my business was going to do for me in my life.
Collin 58:41
I love that resell. I want to thank you for coming on the show today in sharing helping us learn to sell the gap and also growing confident those decisions and making that business work for us. I know that there's a lot more here you have a lot of experience to pull from and a lot of advice a lot, a lot of knowledge. So how can people get connected with you and follow along
Rachelle S. 59:03
with with your work? Yeah, so the business page is loving arms, Pet Services, LLC. Um, that's a lot to type. So it's also facebook.com backslash laps for pets. So I chose loving arms pet services because it abbreviates to laps as if you were taking laps around the block with the dog or got a lap to sit on for the cat. So facebook.com backslash laps for pets, loving arms, Pet Services kc@gmail.com Those are the best ways to get a hold of me.
Collin 59:38
I've just absolutely loved this conversation and getting to be connected with you again, Rochelle and getting caught up with everything. So thank you for taking time out of your day to talk with us today and I just really appreciate it.
Rachelle S. 59:50
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Collin 59:52
When we look to sell the gap that starts with an A basic understanding that you perceive you understand your services. To have and to be of value to someone, if we don't have that conviction, even selling a $3 difference is incredibly difficult. You have to really see, understand know the value proposition that you are bringing to the table. And it really does change the perspective of how you communicate with a client. When they request a service, and they're expecting to pay $20. And you come back with 27 or $30. Well, you're not selling a $30 service, you're selling a $10 difference. And that is so powerful when you can start packing that $10 With all of the value that you bring, all of a sudden, the $10 becomes an immense value to them, because that $20 is already baked into their mental model for what they're expecting. And that is where we can surprise and delight. Even the most ardent of critics would love to know how you do this in your business and what it looks like when you sell your services. We'd love to hear from you. You can send an email to feedback at Pet Sitter confessional.com. We're everywhere on social media as well. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and peaceful pet music's calm music for pets YouTube channel as well. Then thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
