440: The Last-Minute Rush: Balancing Business and Boundaries in Pet Sitting
Brought to you by: Pet Sitters Associates. Use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
Ever wondered how to handle those last-minute pet care requests? We delve into the complexities of accommodating such bookings in the pet care industry, focusing on the implications for scheduling, employee satisfaction, and maintaining client relationships. We also explore the nuanced topic of job sharing, discussing its advantages and challenges, and its impact on client trust and business operations. This episode offers insights on setting boundaries, implementing fees, and tailoring policies to strike a balance between meeting business needs and responding to client demands.
Main topics:
Last-minute bookings
Scheduling impacts
Employee satisfaction
Job sharing
Client relationships
Main takeaway: Carefully consider the implications on scheduling, employee satisfaction, and maintaining strong client relationships, while also ensuring that business policies and practices are adaptable yet clearly defined to manage client expectations effectively.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, last minute, requests, pet, cancellation policy, business, visits, pet sitters, work, existing clients, company, neighbor, messaging, schedule, holidays, sharing, job, insurance, fit, services
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin Funkhouser
Meghan 00:00
Oh hello, welcome to pet sitter confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Thank you to pet sitters associates for sponsoring today's episode, and also our Patreon members who support us with a few dollars of their hard earned money every month. If you would like to help the show now over 400 episodes, you can do so at Pet Sitter confessional.com/support. We are nearing the end of the year. So it is that time where the last minute Louise in the last minute Louise's come out. Whether you've been booked up for months, or it's crickets for your business, during the holidays, everyone seems to flock to their phones to schedule their last minute pet care. And it really doesn't matter whether it's a major holiday of the year or not. These last minute requests, at least in our business seem to be popping up more and more frequently. And so in the Facebook groups, there's been a lot of discussion on should you take last minute requests? How do other pet sitters handle this. And so we wanted to give our take a little bit today and then also talk about job sharing. When a client contacts you for a last minute request, whether it's through phone or email or your software, you really need to be thinking about what are the implications of this? Do you need to move around a bunch of other visits to accommodate this one? Or how much of a headache is this going to be some sitter's don't don't take anything within 24 hours, because particularly if it's a new client, they say we need time for the meet and greet, we need a couple of weeks to make sure this is going to be a good fit and make sure we can schedule everything while we have availability. So it's wise to think about the implications of this. If you say yes, what does that mean? And if you say no, what does that mean? As well, you need to make sure that your messaging lines up with what you are willing to do. You know, if you promote consistency in your hiring ad, well, maybe your employees may not be happy with that, you know, with a constantly changing schedule, they don't know what's happening from day to day. If your employees rely on that consistency, they know that they're going to work from 10 to two, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but you're taking on these last minute requests of having to push them their schedule out more, or maybe not giving them as many because we're having cancellations. You know, you need to be thinking about these things with your messaging. Also think about do you tell your clients as you're always available and happy to take on all of their requests, then you do need to do that you need to stick to your word and and have that integrity of when I say this, I'm going to come through for you with the potential headache of last minute requests comes maybe installing a last minute fee? How much is that going to be? Is it going to be a set percent? Or is it going to be a flat rate? Will you give a percentage of that rate to your employees for the trouble of taking on something at the last minute, with the
Collin Funkhouser 02:39
full understanding that just because you offer or you include a last minute booking fee isn't really going to necessarily dissuade people who are desperate enough to use you. And honestly, some people just don't care, all they want to hear is can you take me on yes or no. So that's for you to decide if you are actively trying to use your last minute fee as a way to dissuade people from doing that? Well consider if it's even worth the headache at all. And if that extra $5, or $10 is truly going to be worth it. Because again, some people just see that as a way to get access to you and they are willing to pay that even though they're really not going to stick around with you much longer than once your services are done with them. It may be better just to institute a an X time policy of any bookings within this time from when somebody needs me, I'm not able to take them on whether you have room in your schedule or not. That allows you to have peace of mind knowing here's my policy, this is what I do for my business and allows you to have more control over your calendar, and will be better at training potential clients or even existing clients that you're not always available. Because if a client contacts you and you squeeze them in and you charge them a last minute cancellation fee that teaches them that okay, well, I just have to pay a little extra and I can get in and that's totally fine. What really starts to teach people is when have you flat out? Tell them? No, that is way more powerful of No, I cannot take you on instead of well, I can take you on but it's a $5 fee. Yeah, it's something you have to gauge with your business on what exactly you're trying to get across with implementing a last minute fee or not.
Meghan 04:28
Lots of last minute bookings are coming. But think about if they ever actually turn into regular clients, your software may be able to help you track this. But we have typically found that no, they're the last minute bookings do not turn into repeat clients. They're usually one offs. And that can be really frustrating because you devote a lot of time into the meet and greet maybe it's a very last minute meet and greet that you push some other things out of the way you may be said no to personal commitments, because you wanted this client and at the end of the day they were Just only going to use you one time, because they maybe had a family emergency or just couldn't find anybody else. And so you were the one that said yes. And that's where they went with the
Collin Funkhouser 05:09
whole thing of taking on last minute visits can be really frustrating, especially because when the couple weeks leading up to a major holiday, or really just any time of the year for that matter, because we know that those weeks are going to be filled with a bunch of phone calls, emails, social media inquiries, or submissions through our initial contact form on our website, all asking, if we have availability, those all take up time from our usual plan. And a lot of people actually will just stop answering their phone calls, or will just don't say no, I'm not taking on any new clients, for the holidays, it allows them to have some space that the more predictable allows them to have more consistency in that time and less headache by bringing on those new clients. Other visitors may go, You know what I want all the business that I can get, I want the potential to convert that person later down the line for more services, I want them on my email list, I want them in my software or on my contact list so that I can reach out to them and try and upsell them on other things down the line. This year,
Meghan 06:15
we tried a new tactic of setting a deadline for our clients saying you have until this date to book your pet care services. And I feel like it fell completely flat. because not a lot of people did it. I think actually only one person abided by that. So that that is definitely an aspect of our business, that is still a work in progress. But it's a definitely,
Collin Funkhouser 06:35
I think something that we're gonna continue to pursue and probably push and message a lot heavier in years to come. And it's something to consider of my existing clients. Because we always want to serve our existing clients first and letting them know if you don't get your submission in by x date, I can't guarantee anything. And that's another reason why many people say no new clients for holidays, they'll accept new clients all the rest of the year, but going into holidays, no new clients, because there again, like I said, there's a lot of work, and they're taking up spots for existing clients who may actually need you. They just haven't booked you yet. An interesting
Meghan 07:11
perspective is with the last minute requests in general, not just over the holidays, but you have to remember that we are a service based business, obviously, we are here to serve the clients, if your message to clients is that they can go away for the weekend, and they can take that trip and they can stay longer at work knowing that they have peace of mind that their pets are taken care of, then you may have to be okay with last minute requests. It's all about the messaging here, whatever you put out, is going to come back to you. So if you say I am here for you all the time, no matter what, then clients are probably going to expect you to always be there for them no matter what. All the time. Well, yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 07:50
not all clients plan months and months in advance. They wanted to be able to take last minute trips, go to the last minute dinners with friends or last minute day trips away, or are they going to say yes to an extended meeting at work, because they know that you're going to be there. So exactly right. Depending on how you're messaging, who you're there for, and how you've structured that you're going to be serving them, they're going to use that. And at some point we we can't really, we can't really complain about the last minute visits if they are genuine and need and it's helping this person live the life that they want to be living.
Meghan 08:23
But it all goes back to your mission and vision and values. So as long as that lines up with what your messaging, what you're putting out there, then you can be confident in your decisions of Yes, last minute requests or no. For our business. We've always taken the approach of if we can fit them in. We do. You know, we had one time we had a court reporter who wanted to be a client. But ultimately it figured out that it was was not a good fit for them. We did the meet and greet but at the end of the day, she needed last minute cancellations last minute requests, and she didn't like our cancellation policy. So we had to we stuck to our policies. And we said no, this is this is not going to be a good fit. On the other hand, we've had a long range trucker that has been a great fit for our business. They do book last minute but the client is very understanding of our policies and our values. But the client is very understanding of our policies and knows that if they want a certain timeframe that if it's a last minute we may be we may be able to fit it in but it may be at a time that they didn't necessarily want but they value and us enough to keep using us
Collin Funkhouser 09:24
and that is a discussion that you have to have with both existing clients or new clients that you bring on last minute of okay, you've you've taken me on this man, I can't fit you in. But the options for timeframes is going to be way constricted, right, there's less wiggle room for me because I have an existing schedule, then that person has to be okay with that whether they're existing client or new client and if it is a new client, let's say you do decide you want to bring on that new client. Do not skimp on your onboarding processes. It can be very tempting because last minute means oh they need me immediately. You may have this desire to go okay, I don't need you to fill other forms that don't need to meet, I'm just going to show up to take this on. If you don't have enough time to go through everything, be honest with them and let them go. And we have actually had to do that with several people who have reached out to us last minute and gone. Look, there's not enough time for you to fill out all the paperwork, schedule the meet and greet, go, we'll go over everything and then bring you on for the visits when you need us to do we're not a good fit for you right now. But if you need us in the future, or when you get back from this trip, we could send a follow up message or, or we can work towards that later. But right now, we can't help you.
Meghan 10:31
And we actually did go through that recently with a potential client who had wanted us over a very busy weekend. And we said, No, we are fully committed, that we appreciate you. And thank you for reaching out, you can go ahead and go through our onboarding process. And we can get a meet and greet scheduled for after you come back. But right now, we cannot fit you into this weekend schedule. So it is important to not cut that process short. And because also, having a lot of brand new clients during a very busy time, particularly holidays, is really mentally exhausting. And they likely won't stick with you. So at the end of the day, what is that mental? What is your mental health worth? Well, it is worth a lot. It is it is priceless. Because we can't get time back, we can't get the the stress free time back. If we are constantly running around with our chicken with our heads cut off just for clients who potentially aren't going to be with us for the long term. That's not really running a business efficiently.
Collin Funkhouser 11:28
Well think of it this way. Would you rather have eight visits back to back with somebody who you have had or clients that you have had a multi year long relationship with? Or even just a couple months relationship? And you're going that? Or would you have rather have eight visits back to back have completely brand new clients who have never used your service? Again, I think for me, personally, I'd rather have the first one. And I we have to consider that if you have staff consider that for them as well, making sure that they are set up for success that they're not walking into new client, new client, new client, new client new client all day long, that's very stressful, that's very time consuming for them. And it's a headache for us a lot of times to bring them on into the company when like you said Megan, most likely the dog you want them to stick around for us later down the line. Because most of our last minute request as a dog walking and pet sitting company are from potential clients that don't have their regular kennel or their boarding facility or their neighbor is gone. Or this these other consistent things that they have been using for years and years and years. The offseason, they don't have that. Now, as Megan mentioned, if we can take them on, we will take them on in and try and show them what this option is what this way of Petcare is like, it doesn't always pan out honestly, it really hasn't over the last several years. But it is something that we try and do.
Meghan 12:45
When you are debating taking on a last minute request. Think also about what you were saying no to is it dinner with family, is it a night to relax, you have to determine your priorities. And then more importantly, you have to stick to them. Do you always go to dinner at 6pm on Thursdays with your dad and it is your favorite time of the week and you really get to connect and bond. Don't give that up just because somebody wants a dinnertime visit for their pet, keep your priorities, know them, make them write them down, put them on the list somewhere so that you can be reminded of what is truly important. Because at the end of the day, you are the owner of your business. And if you are rundown, there is no business without you. At the end of the day, last minute requests happened for a whole host of reasons. Maybe it's if they legitimately planned this last minute, it could be a family emergency, they could also be trying to get around your cancellation policy. I feel like we've had that in our business of we have a pretty strict cancellation policy. And a lot of times people don't like that. They don't want to be charged 50% Or for cancelling and not having a service performed. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 13:48
do not discount the fact that some people will do whatever they can to get around your cancellation policy. And if you are one of those that does have a fairly strict cancellation policy, you may need to look at that and see is this the reason people are now booking later than they were even a few months ago. As people become more and more price sensitive or worried about their pocketbooks, they are not going to be too keen about losing 50% or 100% of an entire trip to a cancellation policy. And so therefore they may wait longer to book so that they get around that when they know for sure that they are absolutely going either way. That's a discussion that you need to have with your clients. If you see that becoming a problem and really determine what's going to be the best fit for you as a company so that you can serve your clients well without being taken advantage of or losing out on the income that you need. So
Meghan 14:42
think about that as well that whatever the reason you at the end of the day you have the agency to say yes or no to last minute requests.
Collin Funkhouser 14:50
Well one thing that we have seen recently as people are trying to save money and they are looking for multiple options to take care of their pets while they are traveling. To help reduce costs. And so one way or one reason why you might get a last minute request is because additional care that this person had outlined, or another sitter or somebody else who had they thought would be taking care of their pet, as no longer able to do all of it or in they need you to take on some of it. So we have to ask ourselves, do we take on booking requests from people who are using someone else for other care of the visits or have their pets while they are away, and we are coming alongside and and partnering with that or job sharing that with them.
Meghan 15:34
But before we get into that, we'd like to tell you about our friends at pet sitters associates, as pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members. And that's why pet sitters Associates is here to help for over 20 years, they've provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. Because you work in the pet care industry, you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters Associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote at pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when joining by clicking membership Pet Sitter confessional and use the discount code confessional when you go to checkout, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again, at pets@llc.com. As far as job sharing, we used to take a very hard stance on absolutely no, we will not do this, we will not participate. No. In one of our conversations, we were reminded that Oh yeah. Just because we say no to job sharing doesn't mean that the clients are going to be really truthful with us if somebody else is in the house, if we are not there at all hours of the day, that's not to say that the neighbor isn't checking on them when we're not there.
Collin Funkhouser 16:37
And you can usually catch this if if somebody usually books you three times a day, and now they're only booking you two times a day. And it's it's for the afternoon in the late night one and not the morning one and you can catch signs of this. But if they are having somebody come in and be in the home 24/7 Or when you aren't there, they don't have to be truthful with you about that.
Meghan 16:58
So while we used to take a very hard stance, we've realized that coming out of COVID, we need to be a little bit more flexible with our clients, we would rather have all the business and place all the liability on the client than not have their business at all. We formulated our contract to say that it we release all liability from us when job sharing with neighbors family friends, and that we require the name and phone number of the other person who's caring for them in case of an emergency that's already in addition to the client's emergency contact that we asked them for this. So this would be a second emergency contact. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 17:33
and that is an important distinction here of job sharing and liability of just because it is a liability doesn't mean that your insurance won't cover it. So if you are having if you have business insurance, which you absolutely should go and talk to them and ask them, would you cover me if I was job sharing with somebody else? Give them the example of exactly what you're looking for? I think you'll be pretty surprised to find out that most insurances don't care. They really don't care. And it's unfortunately, it's very common for senators to say that insurance won't cover it. Because it's an easy out. It's an easy way to say no, I don't want I can't do that. Because my insurance won't let me when really, it's liability that you are unwilling to take one for you personally, that's those are two different things, insurance coverage and liability. It is a liability to have somebody in there, but are you covered it with it by insurance? Double check with whoever you have and ask those hard questions. Because it may just be that you're uncomfortable with it. But insurance does cover you.
Meghan 18:35
Well, and that's and that's perfectly fine to be uncomfortable with somebody else coming to the house, particularly if you're an overnight sitter, you don't want the other person coming in at 6:30am. While you're still in your pajamas, like it's totally reasonable to not want to drop share. So just I want to put that out there as well of it. It's okay either way you fall on this Oh,
Collin Funkhouser 18:54
right. No, there's too many reasons. Oh, dude, exactly. is giving the medications that are required? Who is checking the mail? Are we all locking the doors. That's why we personally don't like to do this. We don't like to get into those situations, we just have to understand that. It's a personal decision and how comfortable we are with that, versus and insurance will will not cover us
Meghan 19:20
well. And sometimes you can't decipher why the client is wanting to Job share, maybe they can't afford any more visits. Maybe the pet only likes the particular neighbor that comes over and the client is wanting their pet to get used to more people but not too many people right off the bat. So wanting to do more of a slow introduction away from the neighbor but still having the neighbor do the majority of the work. The client could also be using a house sitter overnight, but you don't offer that service. You only do droppings or walks and so you are the midday person but the house sitter is overnight. So for me personally, I can sometimes get offended when I know that somebody else is sharing the job that they've hired. Our company to do because it doesn't feel good when I offer these services. And they're not utilizing all of them. Or maybe I don't offer these services. But I still feel like I want to be the all pet that everything pet care for my clients. But at the end of the day, I feel like we're seeing more and more out of COVID have, that's just not true anymore. A
Collin Funkhouser 20:20
lot of our clients are wanting to have an overnight sitter and then another senator come in throughout the day to do those check ins. It could be but also there's just a lot of different options here. Like there's one, these are just snares that we've come across one, the son or another family member is staying home, while the rest of the family is traveling. So it's a person who normally lives with the pet and is in the home, usually, and they're just staying there. So it's kind of like the client is already home, it could be that they're having a neighbor or a friend family acquaintance, coming to the home and working from home or maybe traveling and using it as another home for themselves as they go to work. Or they see the area or travel around kind of like a house swap kind of thing. Or third, they could be hiring another city or another company to come in and perform some of the services, but not all of the services. And so those are all different scenarios where you have to judge how comfortable you are with that have an understanding whose responsibility is what and what exactly am I required to do. And having that written out an outline to communicate to both you know, the client and the other person that's going to be there doing the job?
Meghan 21:25
Yeah, because the last thing that you want is for a pet to be doubled up on medication or to not have gotten their medication at all, you have to do what's most comfortable for you and your business and your employees if you have them. I'm not saying that we have to craft our entire company based on the whims of our employees. But if your employees come to you and say, We don't like when we do this client, because this this person is home and makes us uncomfortable, we then need to go and have a conversation with them and reevaluate what we need to do. Because we never thought we would job share for our for our personal business, we never thought we would. But here we are,
Collin Funkhouser 22:03
we are finding all of these little scenarios that we never would have thought of before. And clients are trying to strategically use our company in combination with other options that they have, whether that's a family member or a neighbor or acquaintance, other company to kind of put together a whole pet care package while they travel. And and we have to sit and assess each situation one by one to determine if that's something that we are comfortable with and are willing to work with. Ultimately,
Meghan 22:31
you do you you know your company best you know what you're comfortable with and whether it's taking on last minute requests or job sharing. You do what works best for you. Thank you to pet sitters associates for sponsoring today's episode and thank you for listening. We really appreciate it. Thank you for sharing this time with us. We will talk with you next time. Bye
