437: The New Era of Tech-Savvy Pet Care with Beth Pasek
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Are you embracing technology or are you frustrated by the rapid changes in the industry and pet care? 😀😫Whether we like it or not, more and more clients are bringing high tech devices into their homes to care for their pets.
From smart feeders, to more advanced litter robots, our role as pet care providers is becoming a lot of tech support. Beth Pasek, owner of Finicky Cat Sitting and Behavior, joins the show to share how to make technology part of your business, and how we still provide immense value to clients, regardless of the devices they bring in. She shares how to use technology to deepen the relationships we have with our clients and to provide even higher quality care to their pets.
Main topics:
Rapid changes
Embracing technology
Deepening relationships
Fear Free visits and technology
Main takeaway: Use technology as a tool to deepen your personal relationships with your clients.
About our guest
Beth Pasek is the owner of Finicky Cat Sitting and Behavior, LLC in Ohio, USA.
In 2020, the organization celebrated 10 years in the pet care industry as a multiyear award-winning pet sitting and animal behavior company for both cats and dogs. She has worked with several rescues as a volunteer cat behavior consultant for special needs diabetic cats in transition and provided a foster home for kittens and critical care cats. She is a supporting member of both the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants-Cat Division and the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. Her ongoing course work includes certification through Karen Pryor’s Train Your Cat and she is author of "Understanding Cat Behavior, A Comprehensive Guide to Compassionate Training and Communication" published by Rockbridge Press. Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books A Million.
Links:
Previously on: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/132
https://finicky.us/blog/f/is-artificial-intelligenceai-right-for-my-cat
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrb1J129zUXnioxAOKDEPkA
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095633257186
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
cat, clients, pet, robot, litter, people, technology, pet sitters, change, phone call, beth, working, cat sitter, care, sit, visit, profile, relationship, owner, thinking
SPEAKERS
Beth, Collin
Collin Funkhouser 00:02
Hello, and welcome to petsitter. confessional. Today we're brought to you by tiger to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel. Are you embracing technology in your business? As the years progress, our clients are looking for easier and more technologically advanced ways of solving problems that they encounter with their pets? Are we as professional pet sitters up for the challenge to not just use them, but embrace them, and still shine our value onto the visit by using the technology to make our lives easier, but worth them? Today, we're having a conversation with Beth Pasic, owner of finicky cat sitting and behavior about the rapid change in technology in the pet care space, how we can adapt and use them, and how we can still educate our clients through every possible twist and turn. Let's get started.
Beth Pasek 00:56
When you look at all the way the industry is moving and going, I mean, it's changing so fast. Whether it's whether it's the cat setting end of it, or just pet sitting and dog walking in general, it's just moving really fast.
Collin Funkhouser 01:13
When you say that specific specifically, what are you thinking of?
Beth Pasek 01:18
I'm thinking of the technology that's out there, that, you know, we're looking at, you know, the artificial intelligence, especially more so probably with the cats. Because we now have the the auto feeders that have the cameras in there that let do with the apps that hook up to the phones, we've got the litter robot, the app that hooks up to the clients phones, you know, where we've gone from, you know, when I started in the industry, you know, leaving the handwritten notes, and the client had no idea what you did when you were there, to having cameras in the house. watching your every move to now they have oh, now I know, when the food was delivered. And I know when the litter box got emptied. It wasn't Yeah. It's you know, I just had a text message back and forth with one of my newer one of my older clients, they just got to litter robots. And they're, you know, asking me, do you know how to change the drawer on the bottom of the litter robot? I just saw your face. What do you mean the chain?
Collin Funkhouser 02:42
No. I know having to explain that and train people on changing that. Because they don't think about that. They say oh, it magically disappears. Where's it disappear to? Right?
Beth Pasek 02:53
What do all the codes mean? What do the lights mean? What does it mean? When you know the client is telling you? Oh, the litter box is telling me there's an error message. And you have to disassemble it and clean? No, these are all these are all things that are happening. In our world. Even one of the notifications I got through fear free, is they are coming out with a device to train the dog. To literally train your dog. Wow. I just my feeling on that was like okay, well, that's fine and dandy. But you know, I've done some dog training in the past and owners have always said the dog listens to you better than they listened to me. Well, is the dog listen to the artificial intelligence robot better than the owner? Yeah, because there's a certain when you're training, whether it's a dog or a cat, you're you're looking to build that relationship with the with the animal. And now that dog is going to be building that relationship with the artificial intelligence. Yeah. And that
Collin Funkhouser 04:24
goes back to I think a fundamental question. I mean, that's Do you think with these advances in technology, is it is it actually providing a higher level of care and quality of life for the pets or is it just different and more convenient for the owners?
Beth Pasek 04:38
Um, I think it's a little of both. It's it's a convenience for for the owner, but it is providing a better quality of life for the pet. Because there's more consistency. And there's more of a price opt for the owner to do something. Hmm. Yeah, that that prompt to say, hey, change the litter box.
Collin Funkhouser 05:13
That's a really great reminder. Like I'm thinking of just like even in our human lives like we have a smart thermostat. And it reminds me to change the furnace filter every three months when usually I would have gone like, I don't know, eight
Beth Pasek 05:27
you would have gone until it was like, What What's What's that funny smell in the house? Yeah, so you know, there to a certain extent it you know, it provides they provide prompts. To a certain extent the robot makes our lives more convenient and easier. But you know, from that regard, it is. I wrote a blog about it. Does my cat need artificial intelligence? Yeah. Do I need a i, the one of the examples, you know, even in that blog was, the owner was in Europe, they hooked up the automatic feeder, the calves kept unplugging the automatic feeder, they were getting a notification that the theater was, you know, died, basically, because they never put the batteries on the bottom of it to back it up. And I kind of use that as my springboard to say, Hey, this is why you need a pet sitter. This is why you need a cat sitter. And also, HELLO, CAT sitters. We need to be more familiar with these devices. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We need to be more familiar with the devices themselves. So there's goes another layer of training on top of for your for an employee or a staff member? Yeah. So does it make it more convenient for owners? Yeah, when they're set up, right, and they're working right. And, you know, how many times do we see that? That? You know, we get in somewhere? And it's like, of course, the scoopfree litter box isn't working? How do I fix it? Yeah. What are those solutions that when the litter robot really does break down? Now what are you prepared as the professional to bring in an actual spare litterbox? Being You know, that the Plan A didn't work? Do you have that plan B, to take care of the client,
Collin Funkhouser 08:00
that that gets put on us, that's the onus is on us now to know not just know, okay, that they have a litter Genie or little robot. But what all the intricacies of it are, you mentioned all the codes, all the warnings, the maintenance, the repairs, and when Plan A fails, we have to know Okay, now we need to step in. Now we need to do this. And it does put a lot on our plate because all of a sudden, very overwhelming of great, I'm not just a business owner, I'm not just professional cat sitter and pet sitter. I'm a I'm a technologist now, right? I'm an ICT, I'm the IT department for for this person's home. But that's what we that we do that right? Yeah,
Beth Pasek 08:40
yeah, we do that. And that's where, you know, it can be frustrating from our end, that the owners getting all these signals and these updates and whatever about these devices. And we're not. So we may not realize something's wrong, unless the owner sends us that text message. Or that email, it says, fix the robot. And they, you know, and it comes across very harsh to us. And it's like, I didn't know it wasn't working.
Collin Funkhouser 09:19
Yeah. Is that something that you would have ever thought you would ever ask the client to give you those notifications, you know, sign into the account or something? Yeah.
Beth Pasek 09:27
Sometimes sometimes. I think, if I'm not mistaken, those accounts can only carry two people on it. So it might be a husband, wife or a boyfriend girlfriend on the account. And but they can go in and change it and update it and switch it around. You know, but like I said, I mean, you know, some people will do it. Some people won't. And you still need to be prepared. That Okay, y'all There's four different versions of the litter robot.
Collin Funkhouser 10:08
Fighting some instruction manuals right now Beth are making me anxious Hold on.
Beth Pasek 10:16
You know what? I got a text message from my client. And I literally told her eyes. She's like, she asked me if I knew how to pull that car out and change the thing. That and I'm like, Well, yeah, I know how to do that. This has been do me a favor, because you have the latest version of the litter robot. Leave me the manual on the corner. Yeah, simple enough. So I walked in this morning, and she's got the little litter robot. Multiple with all the flashing lights mean, and all that stuff actually taken out and taped up on the wall by the litter robots? Oh, that's nice. I'm standing there looking going. Okay, these are the different because look, litter, litter robot number four, the light lashes. Sometimes they're slightly different than the previous version. And anyway, artificial intelligence
Collin Funkhouser 11:18
is it's giving them all sorts of signals, as whenever it's running low with litter, when it's got too much litter, it gives you some sense of how much you know, they're defecating and urinating. And there's a loss and all this data and information that's out there that that the client has access to, that we may ask for have access to. But I think fundamentally, it's us asking, Okay, with this, like, do I change what I do? Right? Does that change how I do the service? Or what information do I need to know now to conduct a good and it's not just good, but like, exceptional visit with this
Beth Pasek 11:51
cat? Right? Right. And in this case, this this particular household has for cats, to litter robots,
Collin Funkhouser 12:01
just take up the ratcheting of just the amount of information we have to be equipped with. And I think that's where this does get feeling a bit overwhelming. And that's where some pushback happens of people going, just give me the you know, a basic pan, you know, just give me a Stifter or just give me this, I don't want to worry about that I hate these things. And that is a balance to know, what are you willing to dive into. But understanding like, this is the trend of things going this direction. So we need to, to adapt as we can.
Beth Pasek 12:32
Yeah, and to to adapt as we can and you know, understand where the client's head is at for these devices. You know, it's, you know, part of it is, is still maintaining that personal relationship with the human equation in our business. That, you know, that we go through that whole onboarding process. And oftentimes, it's, it's, it's, we get to the meet and greet. And that might be the only time that they ever see us face to face. Is that the meet and great. And now all of a sudden, the only other time they we communicate is because some device at the house isn't working. Right. Right. And, and all of a sudden, you know, grasping that, that, that it's the device isn't working, right. That they're complaining about. And it's not necessarily the pet care. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 13:47
And not taking not taking that personally, right. And just going there's something there's something broken, they know you're there. They're asking you to help fix it and going okay, I'll, I'll do what I can. And not just immediately as seeing, you know, a little robot going, Ah, I can't stand this. I don't like this, I want to move away because it does come with some advantages to going well now. I can check the little robot makes sure it's working. But now I don't have to spend all that time scooping litter so what can I do and with enrichment or other things with the cats that I would have had to devote back to them and the litter. It also comes with I don't know if you if you run into this Beth, when you're talking about the benefits of your of your services, because I know when we do a benefit that we talk about is you know, daily litter scooping every time we come over, we'll make sure that your litter box is spic and span and make sure it gets fully replaced. And you know, we talk about that. And sometimes people come in and they go, Well, I've got a little robot, so don't worry about that. Do you feel like that diminishes the value of the service or can we pivot to something else to offer the clients?
Beth Pasek 14:48
You can pivot to offer the client. The fact that Oh, that's wonderful. You have a litter robot. How frequently do you need to change the tray You know, how often do you need to pull the bag under the tray? And you know, you know how to do that? It is, that's the pivot to, to, how often does your little robot break down? You know what, yo, have you ever do you ever need to troubleshoot for your litter robot, what's the most common breakdown you have with your litter robot. If the litter robot is working perfectly fine, then you know, hey, that's, that's makes my A, that makes my job a little bit easier. And that means, okay, that that means that I also get to spend more time with your cat, either playing, petting, or just hanging out with them. You know, because some cats are like that it's there. You know, they'll they just, they don't want to be pet, they don't want to play, but they just want to know you're there. They want to know that there's a presence there. And sooner or later, they will solicit attention. But it may not be that visit and maybe another visit. So
Collin Funkhouser 16:16
I think what that does, and I'm glad you you talked about that Beth of going, okay, you've got a little robot. Well, now it's my time to show you what I know about little robots. And we're going to talk about how it can help you with your little, little robot. And then we can talk through some problem solving. And what that does is it takes that that makes them realize, oh, right, okay, this person doesn't know what they're talking about. Well look at this professional in front of me and all these questions that I didn't think to ask or understand or tell you about. And it really just, it's still it's another way to just ratchet that reputation up just a little bit more, when you're talking to them.
Beth Pasek 16:52
Exactly. It's it's showing that you're not afraid of the the advances in the technology. It's showing that you do have experience with these devices that you have that knowledge base to recognize. Maybe this thing isn't working the way it should that they're not going to come home to a litter robot that is empty of cat litter. It's all in the trash because the petsitter figured, oh, well, you know I? Well, I hit the cycle button, and then dumped everything. I don't know if any of your pet sitters have been through that where there's something they see something's wrong and then they hit that cycle button and the whole thing completely will empty into the tray. Yeah. Well, now what now what do I do? I've now now I have to am I going to scoop the bag? With the litter scoop? Yeah, am I gonna pull the whole bag and put in me you look around in there? They didn't the client doesn't have any extra litter visible anywhere? Yeah, well, now the cat. The whole host of questions comes up. And yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 18:25
I'm thinking there's so many analogies to like when fountains what cat water fountains, right, that's another one where this is a whole other thing where we'd say one of the benefits that you get from us is you get constant fresh, you know, we'll always refresh the water for your cat. And clients would say, Oh, well, don't worry about that. I've got a water fountain. And then and then we say, well, you know how when it was last time you replace the filter? Because listeners know, but nope. No clients ever replace the filter the water?
Beth Pasek 18:54
Or it's not even so much that they never replaced the filter. When's the last time you actually took the pump apart and cleaned it? Yeah. Yeah, take the cover off, pull the magnetic thing out, go in there and actually clean that part. Because that's what's circulating all
Collin Funkhouser 19:19
the water may be clean, quote, unquote, but the parts are all gross. It's what we're doing is it's a reminder that as these technologies come on, they provide an immense amount of benefit to us and the clients and their pets. But they also provide a lot of new opportunities for things to go wrong for us to continue to help out and solve those for the clients when they when they come up.
Beth Pasek 19:45
Exactly. And you're you're solving them for the clients and in the process of solving that for the clients. You're elevating the care for the pets.
Collin Funkhouser 19:58
Have you heard of time to pet care? sand from raining cats and dogs has this to say becoming
20:02
a time to pet clients has been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time, cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested in. And most importantly, to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more and not a small thing. Time to pet is responsive to my requests for new features, and modifications to existing one.
Collin Funkhouser 20:27
If you're looking for new PET scanning 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. Lip previously had you on back in gosh, it was almost three years ago. At this point. It's hard to believe it was that long. But so for those new listeners, Episode 132, and I'll have links to everything that we're talking about in the show notes. But for our new listeners, listeners, it's been been or they haven't gotten to 132 yet, could you please introduce yourself and talk about all that you do? Sure.
Beth Pasek 20:59
I'm def Pasic. I'm the owner of finicky cat sitting and behavior. I'm also elite, fear free certified as of the beginning of this year. And I'm also the author of understand that way, understanding cat behavior book that's available on Amazon. And it's maintained in that probably the upper 10 positions or so on Amazon is a best seller in Cat Training.
Collin Funkhouser 21:32
So in the previous episode, I know we dove into a lot about a lot about the cat behavior and a lot about the book and that writing process. So I really recommend people go back and listen to that and get that book because it's an amazing resource. For for for cat behavior. And because a lot of us don't have as much exposure to cats, because as you know, as we've talked about before, cats were always and they have been for a while kind of an also and of oh, I have a dog. I also have this cat that's in my home and there'll be over here and they're fine. Don't worry about that. And I can't I've stood since we've last spoken Beth, I've we've had three clients who had a secret cat that they didn't actually disclose to us that was like living in a basement or like living in a room. And we did the meet and greet we asked, Are there any other pets in your home? And they said, no, no, no, no, everything's fine. And then I walked by a door and I heard a rustling behind the store. And I was like, what? I opened the door and there was a cat. And it's litter box had a little robot, it had an auto feeder, it had a fountain and we went, ah, they have a cat that they did just last. So you know, it's still in 2023 I think these things are happening.
Beth Pasek 22:47
But when in the end, that's the that's the other thing to think about. They have all the cat has all these modern conveniences three days into a visit, what if the theater hadn't been working? Right?
Collin Funkhouser 23:02
Yeah, it these are the things that clients a lot clients don't think about? And it's okay. It's because they don't, you know, with the feeder gets jammed, it's not a big deal to them, because they just, you know, they they're in there every day. Right? Right before they go to work. They take care of it, and it's fine. But like, if that's not part of a daily routine, they really, the thing is, is that taking care of the feeder is part of their daily routine, they just don't think it is they don't realize that it actually is. And so when they travel, it's not it's not top priority. It's not it's not something that they think is important, but they forget Oh yeah, every third day, I do have to go in and Jimmy it a little bit and kind of you know, shake it to get it to work. But because it's not written in peace, you know, it's not as a parent or as a blatant thing in their life, it kind of flows under the radar.
Beth Pasek 23:50
Exactly, exactly. For that,
Collin Funkhouser 23:53
you know, when you when you're bringing on new clients, I did want to know more about your onboarding process because that's a part a part where it's I feel like our onboarding processes are as much of a science as they are an art as we bring people into our company. So could you Could you walk us through how what that process looks like for you.
Beth Pasek 24:16
Um, that process for me really looks like making sure that the client uses technology which I know for a lot of pet sitters, this is going to sound very off putting I'm going to phrase it that way. But I don't take a phone call from a new client until they have gone through the reservation, reservation software. So you They new clients literally can click Sign Up, do their part, do their pet profiles and everything. After that's all completed, then they will get a welcome letter from me, which is auto generated. And that welcome letter tells them then to go back into their profile, and go ahead and request the meet and greet within a certain time window. Once that happens, then I can make my phone call to them. And say, Hey, I have your I have your information, we talked through a little bit of the pet profile, and I'm just calling to confirm that our meet and greet on such and such a date and time. Then I go to the meet and greet, I print out a sheet that has their prep profile on that. On so that way, as we're walking through, I can either be prompted for my notes, to ask extra questions that need to be filled out. Or as we're walking through that, that meet and greet, you know that there's always something that comes up during the meet and greet that didn't get put into the profile, I can note that down on the profile. And then when I get back home to the office, I can update the finer details, the finer points of that pet profile. Then before the very first visit set of visits, I make a second phone call to them. And just confirm. Has anything changed? You're three days away from your trip? Has anything changed? How do you know? Since with cats, cat enter the business, we get a lot of cats that are on medications and things like that. And a lot of times they will go to the veterinarian prior to departure dates. And medication dosages can change and all those kinds of things. Most people will just leave a handwritten note. By making that phone call ahead of time, that new client gets the the the chance to say, oh, fluffy was to the VAT. And we're no longer taking surrending Yeah, but now he's getting Gabapentin. And it, you know, as opposed to it coming to me as a note, and I'm thinking I'm gonna have to go in and locate the cat, find the cat, do all these things. To give the customer No, you actually have to kill the cat versus look at the pattern, you can sprinkle it on the food and it's no big deal. So it helps. The client also gets the impression that we're paying attention. That we're there, we're paying attention and we're there to be their partner in care. And to say, oh, fluffy is now started. Prednisone pills. How were you doing that? Yo, what is your process? What is the the pet parents process for killing the cat? You know? And is it difficult? Is the cat agreeable to it has something changed? And that all happens within you know that two to three week window between when we get that meet and greet or that first profile comes in to the very first visit?
Collin Funkhouser 28:47
Well, I know you know as far as going back there to the beginning of you it sounds like again, you you let people complete all of the information before you make that phone call. And is Was there a reason you decided to allow them to the profiles as opposed to just like a shortened inquiry form and more back and forth? versus having them
Beth Pasek 29:09
complete everything upfront? Yes. First of all, I'm being in the position back in the position of a solo sitter to sit and spend, you know, 1530 minutes on the phone, walking through typing in doing all this like a receptionist would over the phone. This puts the client in the position of completing the profile because I don't I don't have time to do to do this, you know, with with every new potential client, this also if they're going in and completing that profile in the precise Petcare system, I can I have in there, the zip codes that I work in. So if somebody wants to do an inquiry and they're outside my service area, the little window pops up and says you're outside the service area. I don't, I know I don't have to deal with that phone call, I don't have to deal with their disappointment, or whatever, that the system is automatically doing this for me. And then the other half of that is that if the client isn't tech, tech savvy enough to be able to complete their profile, they're probably not going to be my client avatar that I'm looking to take care of. And that's a that's a good way to say.
Collin Funkhouser 31:13
It is tough. And I know that we go back and forth with that a lot to Beth of going, well, I want to serve XYZ, you know, clientele. But if they are unable to use our software, I have to make so many exceptions to them, I have to break a lot of our policies, I have to break a lot of our procedures to service them. And at the end of the day, I I can't I can't operate like that. And that's it is a tough call that many of us, many people face when they implement something and they go, Oh, that actually means a subset of people who would have used my services before, are now no longer. They're not they're unable to do so. And instead
Beth Pasek 31:57
of me having to make that phone call to them and say, I'm I'm sorry, I don't think I'm going to be your pet sitter. It's automatically happening. Yeah, because there are
Collin Funkhouser 32:08
some days where I Yeah, going after that a little a little quick intake form for us of like, okay, because right now we have a click intake form with like, you know, six or seven questions that comes to us. We look at it, we review it, we decide whether we're going to move them on or not. Most of the time, like, I feel like there are days where most of my phone calls are calling people back and saying I'm sorry, I don't service. And that's never a good feeling. Honestly, I try and equip them with referrals and things like that. But it can be very demoralizing when most of my phone calls are telling people I we can't we can't help
Beth Pasek 32:46
you no, I'm sorry, I don't sir. I don't serve though the east side of Cleveland. And in that respect, if they putting in their zip code into precise Petcare, that little window is gonna pop up. And it's just gonna say, I'm sorry, you're outside. You know, it's a very nice, you know, quote, but I'm sorry, you're outside our service area. Yeah. You know.
Collin Funkhouser 33:19
That way, that's, that's a, that's a thing that's off of your mind, right? You're not having to sit there and go, Oh, gosh, I gotta find time to schedule schedule a phone call, I gotta tell somebody, no, I gotta hear them be kind of upset. And I gotta, you know, it's a big thing. And I'm frustrated by it. All.
Beth Pasek 33:34
I have to do and I know you're here in the Cleveland market. I know a lot of the pet sitting companies that are around. And, you know, do I know somebody that I could refer them to do to or whatever. And then here I am. Okay, so the east side of Cleveland. I really don't know anybody out there. But you know what, I can look on Google and pet sitters International. Yeah. But so can the client, right? And I can say hey, go to pet sitters International. But this in yo retrospect, when Ha when leash time crash I've had to switch over in an emergency that emergency situation with them if switching over to precise Petcare and just seeing the but it was able to do for a small petsitting company. I was like, okay, better. Better. It's better. Is it the best? Probably not, but it's better. Yeah. And it was that Oh, I can put in my service area. Holy cow, game changer. If that's okay, and you would think, um, you know, or somebody who's a cat sitter or a cat sitting company, you know, how many phone calls do you actually get. But when you actually do the Google search, canceling people, Google or cat sitter, they don't google for pet sitter, they Google for pet sitter. And, well,
Collin Funkhouser 35:27
SEO works. It's another example of how this technology changes how we operate our business of now going, Oh, here's an opportunity that I can have with this with this self selecting service area. Oh, what what are the what could I do now? How do I how do I envision my onboarding process looking like now with this new piece of technology that can put in here, and kind of re envisioning what that process looks like?
Beth Pasek 35:55
And that's where I think for a lot of cat sitters and pet sitters. We do this new technology thing. But sometimes I don't think we utilize it as as much as we could. There's more opportunity there. To streamline things for the onboarding process to streamline things for the reservation process to streamline things for the confirmations back to streamline all of that. You know, that was one of the things that when I started using, even when I started using lunchtime, I, my clients were always allowed to update their own profiles, my clients were always allowed to do their own reservations. You know, now with precise Petcare, you know, I can put into precise Petcare, I'm fully booked to this week. So I don't have to, you know, it's they're going to go into they're going to try and make a last minute reservation. Now something comes up and says, I'm booked, now something comes up and says, nothing's available, or this, all the or this time slot is booked, but they'll say, oh, I can do this one. So instead of me making those phone calls back and forth, to resolve that issue, the software is now helping me is resolving it for me. Yeah, you
Collin Funkhouser 37:36
don't have that back and forth with the client. You're not having to sit there on the phone, I'm going Nope, I can't do two Nope, I can't do 230 Nope, I can't do 245. No, you can just have it that, that I'm gonna say this word, it's not really appropriate. But like almost this conflict resolution is taking place, all in the background, and you're completely oblivious to it.
Beth Pasek 37:56
And that is what, when that is all when that that happens in the background. Now, when you make your weekly phone calls to clients who are leaving in three to five days, you're making those phone calls, you're not calling to me to, to, to do a conflict resolution on their booking, you're calling to say how's Fido doing? How's fluffy doing? And so that whole conversation now becomes one of relationship building. Versus, oh, my god, I gotta fix all this stuff. Now that it's all because if the only time, that's the advantage of letting, to me, yeah, me, that's the advantage of having my clients having access to the software to do what they need to do. I mean, we go to a doctor's office, and what's the doctor's office? Do? they hand you a clipboard with a bunch of papers on it? And you every time you filling this, this thing out? And it's, it's actually, in many ways, I think it's the feedback that I have gotten from new clients is is there, they find it very professional, that they can, you know, they're going in and they make they make those updates. You know, if they're Trump going in and trying to make those updates, and then they're messing up the profile, which I think a lot of, a lot of people are afraid of. Yeah, um, you know, that does happen on occasion. I won't lie. It does happen on occasion. But, I mean, it's actually if they do it from the very beginning of your onboarding process. They're not going to make a lot of mistakes going forward. They're already familiar with that. It's not like you're having to teach them how to use it. They're teaching themselves.
Collin Funkhouser 40:18
A lot of pet owners don't know how to react when their beloved pet is facing a bout of anxiety, noise sensitivity or depression. However, various studies have shown that animals react very positively when calming music is played for them. As a trusted Pet Sitter have your clients check out the peaceful pet music calm music for pets YouTube channel where they can give their pet the best chance of relaxing while they're away. From peaceful melodies to soothing nature sounds this YouTube channel is the go to spot when your clients pet is anxious and you don't know where to turn. Complete with beautiful and vibrant animations, their videos will become your home for the tools needed to keep the client's pet in a state of peacefulness. Be sure to subscribe to peaceful pet music, calm music for pets on YouTube and hit that bell, so you never miss a moment of peace. And that's critical, right? That that's that also self selects out to a different kind of kind of client avatar. And it makes it such that when you do have those touch points with them when you are on the phone with them. Like you mentioned earlier, that's relationship because if all we ever do is call them when there's a problem or message them whenever there's an issue or an emergency that I don't want people just I don't want to know, oh, my phone's ringing, it's this one person, they only call me when bad things when please, things are burning down. Right? That's, that's never good. So instead to have this cheery, like, hey, confirming note, we're gonna be here at this time that you that you selected, very importantly, you selected and we're looking forward to it, anything changed. Just imagine, take a moment everyone to take really think about how that changes the relationship with with you, and how your clients would perceive you. If, if that's how you're having that touchpoint with them.
Beth Pasek 42:08
Exactly. And then you know, it is utilizing the pre scripted responses in your software. So when you're, when you're sending the confirmation out, I have my my, My confirmation goes out with a very cute oh, you're you're leaving on such and such a date. And, you know, be sure you know, be sure to do to do this, this and this. And, you know, you get the feel away plugins, you know, and all those little reminders. And you know, if you're an IT yo and tell whatever, Pat by name, by name, we'll see them on, you know, whatever the, you know, for this round of visits. And if you really liked this, this confirmation, make sure that you tape it up on your bulletin board. So I mean, it's just kind of a quirky dumb thing. But it's, you know, there's times where, you know, it's like, I'll walk into a client's house and they'll be like, um, the radio is playing, or the iPad is playing, or the TV is playing, and it's playing relaxed, my cat. And I'm like, I walk in, I'm like, oh, okay, they actually read the confirmation. But I mean, that it makes it, it's again, it's still, it's still part of the relationship building process. Yeah. And that's what also will bring clients. That's what keeps your clients loyal.
Collin Funkhouser 43:59
What it gets, it's using that, that, that the technology to its fullest, right? Because you have that that template that you're sending out in your email, are you automatically pulling the pet name client name from your software and throwing it into the template to send out to them? Yes.
44:17
Yeah. Okay. That's very nice. Very nice.
Collin Funkhouser 44:23
We struggle a lot of times of going, Oh, I can't have technology, my business because it's going to be impersonal. It's not going to be a personal connection. And if I got a letter like that with the name of my pet with recommendations for before they leave directed, dressed to me, three days before I left, like how, how much more personal Do you want to get like it's and still still have time in your day to do things like that's a that's a wonderful touch to provide. And it's using that to that stuff to its fullest to make sure that you you're you are having these really great buildings blocks have your relationship.
Beth Pasek 45:00
Right. And and it's it, you know, it's it's the technology is automatically doing it. But it's also it's still, I still feel like it's part of me. Because this is if I didn't have the technology, this is what I would do. And I just happen to have the technology that makes it happen. So don't think we're not covering any of these questions.
Collin Funkhouser 45:35
We're not fast. But this is all goes. Really, this is because I think what a lot of I don't know, like that touching on the technology with the client and the technology in the, in our businesses, because you started off the very first thing that you mentioned was things have changed so fast, and deeply make huge changes in advances. And what we what the danger comes in is we start when we resist, and we say, well, that's not what I want, or that doesn't fit me instead of going, how would I use that? And having that curiosity enough to just step forward and go, what, what could I do? What possibilities does that open up for my business? That it it actually stuns us and our ability to connect with more people and build even better relationships than we could have done 10 years ago, even with all the phone calls.
Beth Pasek 46:32
Think years ago, when when you know some of this technology came out, you know, I was very much I probably could go through my you could probably go through my canvas designs and look for it. But at some point in my business, I'm not a tech company. I'm in I'm in the people and pet business. And technology is my tool, as opposed to being another app service or whatever. No, I'm not a tech company. I like my tech has just to my tech has to complement relationship building.
Collin Funkhouser 47:17
I mean, I we have that realization too when we talk about like, oh yeah, we do. We do pet care, right, we do counseling visits, we'll do daily talk walks will take care of your fish tank. Also behind all of that is a wall of technology. There's so much tech, like when we when we hire people, and we bring them on board. I there's so much involved. It's like there's this app, there's this there's this resource, there's this and then even with clients, it's like okay, using the software using the like, it's it is amazing to realize how much of technology that we utilize. And and while we're not a tech company, I love how you said it's our tool to complement the relationships like that. When we focus it in that way, it becomes really powerful in how we connect with people and provide that care. Here's what I'd like to end with. Beth is when we talk about the use of our technology in our companies, how we can build that relationship with the pet parents how we can run a company that we'd want to at the end of the day, we're still going to be in a visit doing pet care. I would like to know from you about what are ways that we as sitters coming into homes, how can we make those visits more fear free, more comfortable and relaxing and bond with the cats that were taking care of him because as you mentioned, it's the technology helps, it's a tool, but I I still have a relationship I still have an animal a pet that I have to care for. So help help us understand how we can go about making that visit
Beth Pasek 48:50
the best possible with them to make the visit the best possible possible as I talk, I can't talk to make that visit the best possible especially when you're walking into a household of cats is to remember to walk in softly don't walk in talking on your cell phone. You know most of us are going to be we walk around and we're talking on the cell phones most likely on a speaker speakerphone and or we've got the air pods in and we don't realize when we're on on a cell phone that oftentimes we are actually talking louder than we normally would. So don't walk into the house you know yammering away on the on the cell phone. You don't walk in like you own the place. Cats are territorial. So you walk in Soft recognize this this is their home. Okay? Don't do it. I did it today I made a mistake today. And you know, I walked in and wasn't on my phone got upstairs, Ginger was meow and happy and everything and rolling around on the carpet all happy to see me. And I did the wrong thing I reached I stood over her, don't do it. Don't stand over, over over a cat. Again, you know, they're both predator and prey. You stepped up standing over the cat looming over the cat just like you wouldn't in same thing with dog you looming over the dog. They don't like it. It triggers fear. You know, give them give them the room that they need. And especially with the cat, you know, that you'll be sure, even if you know the cat and have visited a couple of times is, you know, put your finger up and ask for two there their nose and ask for that. Because that that's consent. Do I have your consent to pet you. And if you do, the cat's gonna give you a big ol cheek rub. And if not, the cat will walk away. And if the cat walks away, don't go reaching for the cat because that you're you're now triggering the fear response. You know, start out that visit on the right paw and with the cats and come in soft. Don't stand over them. If you can help it, I know sometimes they're going to be toy twirling between your legs. But that's not the same thing as looming over them. And, you know, get their consent to be petted. Not every cat is going you know, there's those cats, you're gonna reach down and you're gonna be like, they're gonna be like, No, Swat. And you didn't ask consent. Ask the consent start, you'll be saying with dogs, but your your, your hand down and out where they can sniff it? Well, with CASAS put that finger forward and wait. And if they want to pet, they will give you consent to be touched.
Collin Funkhouser 52:39
It's a fantastic I'm glad you made the connection to the dog part because that's something that's almost an I'm gonna say instinctual. And us I know it's not just a learned behavior. But like that's we all reach our hand down and see what that dog is going to do. We see how they're going to react or see what's going on. With cats, I think 95% of us just walk walk up and start pulling away at them. And we don't get that and then all of a sudden, that relationships is that's off to a bad start, right? We've we've got the fear levels are up, and we've got to try and recover from Yeah,
53:13
and if you need to do anything further beyond with the cat, such as medications or whatever, you've already set the stage for that to be a little more difficult than maybe it did, then maybe it needed to be.
Beth Pasek 53:28
So if you come in and you come in soft and quiet, and give that Pat the chance to give you consent that they trust you because they're coming from that pray location, and there's a stranger in my house. So, you know, give them that room, give them that time to make that decision.
Collin Funkhouser 53:53
How do we appropriately recover from that and reset the stage? You know, if we come in, we do loom over them or we do reach out and they've dark? Is there a way for us to or how do we go about fixing that relationship and resetting that back to you know, a better position with them.
Beth Pasek 54:12
In those cases, it would be you know, go about do what you need to do the food the water, they're gonna let a robot see where they if they turn it off and went under the bed, leave them there. But then go ahead and set up their environment. You know, set them up with music, set them up with if the owners haven't done it. I've taken to carrying a feel of a plugin and I'll plug it in, in the living room or whatever. And just set that environmental stage and then go ahead and leave Sit down on the sofa and see if maybe they will come back out for you. Some sitters will go ahead and sit, sit down, like on the bedroom floor. And if the cat darted away from you at that, beginning at that, because you made the mistake, they're probably not going to come out. But, you know, if you give them give them the room, they may still, you know, oh, they're playing music kind of thing, or your other option to recover from that would potentially to be use a wand toy and see if they will come out to play, or to use the laser pointer to see if they will come out to play and maybe, you know, that initial contact they were they were frightened. But you know, where is that fear, anxiety and stress level? You know, Are they under the bed, his Snapchat? Or are they just under the bed waiting for you to leave. If they're under the bed waiting for you to leave, you might get away with counting them out with play, and treats. So softer music, and just remembering that that
56:18
you know, some people, some of us have slower movements. And some people have those very fast, jerky movements. If it's just a personality thing, that's just who they are. And if you happen to be one of those people who is working with a cat, where you've inadvertently didn't mean to frighten the cat and raise their stress level, consider thinking, Okay, I need to take a deep breath, slow it down.
Beth Pasek 56:47
And, you know, just just give the cat time. Which most, most pet sitters have a hard time doing that, because all of a sudden, they feel like I'm sitting here doing nothing. And well actually, you're sitting there doing something very important. You're letting the cat know, they're safe. And they can trust you to relax. As as we often say, with the dogs, your anxiety level goes down that leash
57:26
your anxiety level about the cat. They can feel it. They can sense it. They can detect it. We all know that.
Beth Pasek 57:38
So if we can just okay, I'm gonna sit down, relax. Yeah, yeah, I wanted that 15 minute break today. Just just chill. You know, if fluffy, decides to poke their nose around the corner, maybe has a few extra kitty kitty treats, to toss their direction. You know, there's, there's a number of things you can try. It all depends on the cat. What that fear, anxiety and stress level is,
Collin Funkhouser 58:07
at the end of the day, that's it's focusing on them. Right, it's reading them and, and knowing that we have there are appropriate and appropriate things that we can do in that moment. And, and, and being okay with at the end, you know, going, maybe I do this, maybe the most appropriate thing I can do is sit here quietly for the next 15 minutes. And it's going to be aggravating, it's good work. It can be frustrating to us because we have so much to do. And I got off. And I'm angry that I messed up and I've got to do this thing. But knowing not only is it good for us to take up 15 minutes in our day and just breathe, right? That's very nice, but also for that cat. And that that's, that's the best thing that we can do at that moment. Exactly
Beth Pasek 58:47
is is that you're communicating to the cat that you're not you're not the threat that the cat thinks you are. Beth, I
Collin Funkhouser 58:56
really want to thank you for joining us on the show today and diving into the topic of tech and pet care and using it appropriately. And also helping being a guiding force in pet parents and knowing that that's a responsibility that we get to take on. But at the end of the day, knowing that the Pats are our purpose and our reason being there and the technologies should be there to highlight the care and foster those relationships that says I yeah, I've absolutely loved our conversation Beth. And for those who want to get connected with you pick your brain and other stuff or get your book How best can they do that?
59:35
They can reach out to me at beth@finnicky.us that's my that's my email or they can of course always hit the website there's a little chat bot there now that they can let me know they can find me on Facebook at Liz passuk They want to connect with me personally on Facebook
Beth Pasek 1:00:00
And if they're really curious, they can always check out the very boring channel, finicky cat channel of YouTube. Where I'm actually trying not very well to do some videos and for both parents and over in the podcast or on YouTube for cat sitter corner,
Collin Funkhouser 1:00:26
it's a lot of good resources there. And I'll have links to those in our show notes so people can get connected right to you with your website on YouTube. And your and your book is well understanding cat behavior available on Amazon, and they can read more about it on your website, too. So, Beth, I'm so glad we got to connect today and dive into all this stuff and just kind of pick away at it. So it's been a lot of fun. I'm definitely gonna need to have you back on a lot sooner than three years. Because I got a lot more questions I need to ask you.
1:01:03
Well, I apologize that I kind of took over that took over the interview here.
Collin Funkhouser 1:01:11
I am here for it every step of the way, believe me, I know it was it was very much needed to discuss I can tell you've been you've been thinking about that stuff and kind of how it impacts your business and how, you know, the kind of not the corner that we're being backed into. But the kind of the opportunities that are there for us to take advantage of.
Beth Pasek 1:01:31
I could tell some of some of your reaction some of your reactions to what I was saying you were kind of like, oh, I never thought about it that way. Yeah, yeah. And you know, as and especially for those of us that are solo centers, use your tech but keep it friendly, keep it connected. How do
Collin Funkhouser 1:01:53
you see yourself using technology to better care for your clients and serve their pets in the years to come? Everything from educating on the proper utilization of those technologies as litter litter genies, water fountains and automatic feeders are who knows what else is coming down the line to implementing them in your own business as a way to heighten the level and quality of care that you can give? That takes creativity and intentionality. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel, and 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.
