486: Living Up to Your Own Standards
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Can you meet the promises you make to your clients? Our goal should be to truly embody values like professionalism, dependability, and transparency. Whatever you promise your clients, these should not merely be marketing terms but actual practices, supported by robust systems. There can be significant repercussions if we fail to meet the standards we set for ourselves, and we should be prepared to defend our practices when clients hold us accountable. Ultimately, we should strive to align our practices with our core values and maintain consistency in all interactions to build and sustain trust with clients.
Main topics:
Professionalism
Dependability
Integrity
Setting Standards
Main takeaway: The words that we say matter; what we portray to clients on social media, on Google, they matter because maybe one day, they're gonna hold us to it.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, pet sitter, standards, business, professionalism, people, dependability, words, pet, potential clients, promise, confessional, professional, reliable, dependable, service, busy, transparency, day, software
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin
Meghan 00:01
Hello, I'm Meghan.
Collin 00:03
I'm Collin.
Meghan 00:03
And we are the hosts of pet sitter confessional. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you also to pet sitters associates and our Patreon supporters like Adriana, Annabelle Barbie Becky, Erica, Jan Janie, Jenny And Julie, thank you so much for finding value in the show and helping to keep it going and supporting it. We also wanted to say that we are almost at 500 episodes, which is a huge milestone for us. And we are super excited about it. We wanted to do something special for it, but we don't know exactly what we would like your help in deciding what we should do for our 500th. So you can either email us at feedback at petsitter confessional.com. Or you can send us a message on Facebook or Instagram. We are at Pet Sitter confessional. whatever idea you have, we would love to hear it. No idea is too silly. We recently had an accusation against us for not staying the whole time for a visit, the clinic caught motion on their door camera at about 10pm and got our update at 10:11pm. Their exact wording was I think I overpaid for a 10 minute visit. Thankfully, we could pull our software report with timestamps and GPS data. We also got our photo metadata and we sent everything to them. We basically laid out the facts and said we have our sitter arrived at this time she checked out at this time she sent the report here are the GPS tracks. Because we knew that we had done nothing wrong. We knew that our software was there to back us up it was our cover our butts situation, we don't like potentially making clients mad. We always want to be professional and on time and do the things that we say we're going to do. We want to have a business of integrity and transparency, because that's what clients want from us that they that's how we get that trust is by that transparency. The client later came back to us the next day and apologized realize they had missed the alert when we arrived and believed us this could have turned out to be a really bad situation where the client didn't believe as our data and the facts that we had presented and just never used us again, she could have also badmouth us on Facebook and given us a bad review on Google. None of this would have been good. But it really got us thinking, here we have someone is holding us to our own standard. What do we sell in our pet business? Think about for you, in your own pet business? What do you sell? What is the language that you use for potential clients? What are your marketing messages? What do you put out there that attracts people to you, in our business, we sell professionalism, we sell dependability, we sell transparency. And we do this through various methods, one of which is our software that we could go back to that client and say, here are the exact timestamps of when we were there, here is the check in and check out GPS track location.
Collin 02:41
And when we talk about these, whether that's on social media, or in our email newsletter that we send out, or even our face to face, or our phone conversations that we have with potential clients, or existing clients, when we talk about these aspects, the professionalism, dependability, and transparency, these cannot just be empty words. For us, we cannot let these be empty marketing gibberish, because that it's really easy for us to fall into the trap of just saying the words, right, we see other people saying these, we see other industries using this kind of language. And we think, Oh, I'll use that, or me. And that sounds good. that'll catch people's attention. And so we just start putting it out there as a way to attract clients without actually having thought through all the implications for what it means to be professional to be dependable, or transparency, or, or, or whatever those words are that you use to describe your business. When we fail to think through those logically. And in boots on the ground, real implementation stuff in our business. That's where we fall down. And that's where we really suffer the words
Meghan 03:44
that we say matter what we portray to clients on social media on Google, they matter because maybe one day, they're gonna hold us to it. And just because the dog walker down the street has uses this language or has these certifications doesn't mean that you need to as well, if you aren't licensed and bonded, don't promote that you are licensed and bonded.
Collin 04:03
And so it's really important that we take time to understand the words that we're using, and the implications that they have for our business, whether it's a certification, whether it's bonding, the type of insurance that you may have, or just the language of how you respond. A lot of people say, Oh, I'm open 24/7. But are you really open 24/7? Or they say you service everywhere within a particular city. But do you actually do that? All of these words, like you said, make it all the words that we use, they actually have meaning. And importantly, they have to be lived out in our company and through our company. All of these words have to be linked back to the systems, the processes that we have. They come from the planning that we do, the education that we undertake for our business. That's how we imbued words like dependability, with meaning when that we can link that back to a process to make sure that we are dependable and that they can trust us? Because when we say dependability, how do we prove that to a client? When we say something like transparency? How do we as a company, how do we show that? Or when we say professionalism? How does that make a client feel? How do they feel that through every stage of the process, not just onboarding, but additionally, while they're using us, because too often we use terms to get people into the company to start using our services to attract them to us. And then they're left feeling empty. Like they were kind of like a bait and switch on what they were promised versus the kind of service that they're actually receiving. And nobody wants that. We don't want that as a business. And clients don't want that as a way of being served. So how do we make sure that they get professionalism through every step and continue to that for years to come as one of our clients, because there's also the
Meghan 05:52
word like reliable, everybody is reliable. Everybody says they're gonna show up on time. But how do you back that up, when you break these words up, like dependability, reliability, professional, transparent, or maybe you say you're loving or caring or detailed, these terms are just thrown out. But if you actually break these down and have an emotional connection to some of these are stories that you can share from past clients, on your social media, or on your website, that's going to attract a lot more people than just saying, I'm reliable, because nobody knows you're reliable unless they book your services. So to get them in the door, you need to start using stories and sharing experiences and get them to emotionally connect with you as a business. Well,
Collin 06:38
and Megan, you said that word reliable. Everybody says that on all of our community, Facebook pages and posts that we see when somebody asks for a pet sitter. A lot of people either recommend themselves or the recommend to their pets, or that they're using and they'll say, Oh, they're super reliable. Everybody uses that term. So it has actually effectively become meaningless to the general population, if everybody's using it in the same way, when we all know that it's not the case. No, I gave a presentation to a group of other business owners recently. And I talked about our business and some of our core promises and kind of you know who we were in our background, and the only question at the very end was from a guy in marketing. And he asked, okay, but what does all of that do for me, as a client? Basically, he was trying to get us get me to translate all of the words that we use the gobbly gook, the background of the training all that stuff into, actually how it impacted our clients. How do we distill all of that down? Megan, you mentioned the emotions, it's a great way to link these things together. Because at the end of the day, like and here's the other thing, here's this word that we all use, we all say, peace of mind, this word peace of mind. But how does that actually impact a client? In what ways? Do they have peace of mind? How can I link my pet first aid and CPR certification to a client's peace of mind, we have to walk through those stages to get to that point, because when we see people asking for a pet sitter, they don't ask, I need the most professional, well trained pet first aid and CPR certified person out there. They say, who's got the best price? Or who does everybody recommend? The people are not asking for these terms, but they're looking for an emotion, they're looking for a feeling. And we have to be able to present that to them in a way that they understand. But that's
Meghan 08:38
not saying that if you use emotions, the person posting the Facebook post, looking for a cheap sitter is automatically going to go with you. Of course, that's not the case, because nine times out of 10, your prices aren't cheap, but it's still the mindset of trying to connect with the client on an emotional level. And so
Collin 08:53
all of this work that we are doing as businesses and as professional dog walkers and pet sitters, what we are trying to do is we are trying to educate people on what professionalism actually looks like in the industry. We are trying to set a standard for ourselves and point back to it. We are trying to make sure that we can talk about ourselves as an industry as leaders in the industry to potential clients and even our existing clients. So and as we raise that bar, we have to make sure we're filling it with actually good things. And there's something to support that standard. And it's not just empty words.
Meghan 09:33
The key here though, is that if you count yourself as professional, as reliable, as dependable as providing peace of mind to pet parents while they have long days at work or travel, then you can't be offended or you shouldn't be offended when someone calls you out on that professionalism. When we had gotten that message from our client, I was a little taken aback. Wow, this person has used us multiple times. We've always done exactly as we said we went above and beyond for this person and yet they're Were still challenging us, they were accusing us of not giving them something that they paid for. I was affronted, I was hurt, really. But then I had to remind myself that we do tout our professionalism, we do have these systems in place these processes in place to cover our butts, to say, No, we have the facts here, the fact that truth is on our side, here are the facts, you can I guess choose to not believe it. But here is what it is. So when you say you are something, and the client challenges you on that, as long as you are building a business on integrity, and doing what you say you will, when you do it, you have nothing to worry about. And
Collin 10:38
that's the biggest thing, when we talk about the high standards of professionalism, it's about our integrity as a business. Do we do what we say we're going to do? But as a business? How do we prove that? How do we back that up? How do we support ourselves to always execute in that way, we live in breathe and work in an industry that very rarely gets second chances after we mess up something that we've noticed after 1213 years of doing this, if you mess up, if there's a mistake, very rarely does somebody give you a second chance because that you are caring for their most prized possession, their furry family member their home, everything, the stakes are really high. So as we raise the bar, as we say, we'll always be there, we'll never be late. You can always book or whatever promises you make to your clients, because at the end of the day, that's what it is. It's a promise. Do you have the systems, the support, the training, the education, everything in place to to actually follow through on that promise. And we never want to over promise and under deliver, we don't even want to under promise and over deliver. We want to give it 100% and execute at 100% every time because people will call you on it. You simply say something like, Oh, we're never late. Well, and then you show up at 503 instead of five o'clock? Well, to some clients, you will have broken that promise. So how do you explain that to them? What structures and systems do you have in place? What reminders Do you have What software do you have to make sure that that kind of thing never happens? If it's important enough for you to promise a client it, it's important enough to build systems and policies around it to protect you and make sure you can follow through on it. But that's
Meghan 12:24
not to say that we aren't human, and we aren't fallible, because we are things will happen. But if a client calls you on something, and it's true that you messed up, then you need to take ownership of that and potentially refund them as well. 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 have 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 llc.com. You can get a discount when you join by clicking membership petsitter confessional and use the discount code confessional when you go to checkout, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again that pets it llc.com. As business owners, we don't want to look like the other dog walker down the street. We don't want to look like the pet sitter in the next town. We want to be our own individual businesses. We have our own standards that we want to live up to think about what that means for you and your business. Do you want to be a luxury brand that caters to the high end clientele? Because I mean, think about it. Nobody says they offer low quality pet care. Very few people say I'm the cheapest pick me I'll work for $3 a day. If you are that person, you need to raise your prices to not be that person you cannot live off $3 a day. So think about in your own business. What are the standards that you want to live up to? What does your business want to promise to potential clients?
Collin 13:52
It's that promise that's really important. What are we promising to them? Again, Megan, you said when none of none of us say oh, we offer really bad service. It's really crappy service. So you get what you pay for. Right? No, we we all talk about the high quality that people get, we talk about the background, we try and talk about these factors for to play into people's lives and what they do and how they're going to pick us and why they should use our services. But at the end of the day, it's a promise that we make to them, it's a promise that their pets going to be loved, that we're going to do it in a professional manner. We're going to do these things. And so sitting down with pen and paper or on your computer and writing out, what does it mean for us to be dependable? What does it mean for us to be on time? How do we define on time? Start with that make your own internal definitions for your standards. When you say on time is that it must be right at five o'clock is on time. Could you be five minutes early or 10 minutes late or what does that actually mean for you and walk through each one of the those core promises that you have to your clients are each one of those marketing words that you use in your social media posts, scroll back through the past 10 that you've posted and see what words that you've used are on your website. And actually make sure that you have a document somewhere, or an internal one that you know, in your head of what defines each one of those words, that becomes your key sauce as actually it was going to separate you from everybody else. When you build around those definitions, those terms, those standards, how you've defined them, you'll actually start to craft services, policies, procedures, and run your business in a way that nobody else does to meet the needs of your clients like nobody else can, whatever standards
Meghan 15:45
you have, whatever words that you choose to use, they need to align with your mission, vision and values for your company. Your whole business needs to be aligned, every part of it, the words you speak, the emails, you send out the updates you send, they all need to be cohesive. That's one of the ways you build trust with clients is having that integrity, doing what you say you're going to do, having a solid mission that propels you forward to keep doing the things you say you're gonna do, because it needs to be consistent through everything. It doesn't matter who the client is, it doesn't matter how busy you are, or what time of year it is. Or if you've got personal issues going on. Your business needs to be cohesive, it needs to be consistent. And that's hard to do. It can be hard when we don't get days off when we're working constantly around the clock, it feels like why do we have so many people pulling us in different directions, but the business needs to be consistent in its execution of its promises.
Collin 16:41
So when you think about those standards that you're gonna hold yourself to ask yourself, Is this something that I can consistently do? Is this something that I can always do? Now, it's a bit easier to do that, if we are aligned with our own personal mission, vision and values, if it aligns with us and how we operate already, that's an standard that are going to come pretty easily and naturally to us. However, if we're trying to break habits, or if we're trying to operate in a way that doesn't really fit us at a personal level, it's gonna be harder to be consistent with those. But when it comes to those standards of when it gets to the busy seasons, can I hold this same standard in the doldrums of of winter, as I can, during the busy days of summer, or whenever you're busy and off seasons are? Can you have those same standards apply equally and fairly to you, when you're really busy and slammed? As to when you are not. Think about that and make sure that whatever you do that consistency is key. And as you are consistent with your standards and holding yourself accountable to the promises that you're making, to your clients, to your business and to your employees. If you have them, as you are consistent in this and maintain those high standards, something else is going to happen. See, when you maintain high standards and you set those for yourself, you've defined those for how you're going to operate and what your business is going to stand for. You're also going to develop and you're going to maintain your self respect, and importantly, your dignity. And when you know that, when you know that you're going to know what you deserve and what you won't tolerate, you're less likely to put up with disrespect, you're less likely to put up with difficult situations or difficult employees or hard to handle clients. You see, as you set your own standards, you develop those you cultivate those, you build a culture around those standards. It influences the people around you, your policies and your procedures, your software, everything comes around those standards to help support them help maintain them help push those forward and onward, day after day after day. And you yourself will have something to point back to that's external to you. So even in the hard times, even in the busy times, even in the frustrating times. You can point to things and you can say that is how we operate. That is what we do in this business and how we actually treat people. Those are our standards. It gives you something to stand on and point back to to hold yourself accountable those people around you and make sure that you are ultimately providing the highest quality pet care that your clients deserve.
Meghan 19:27
Thank you for listening to this today. We hope it was of some value. Thank you also to pet sitters associates for sponsoring today's episode. If you have any feedback or would like to share your own story, or even if you have ideas for the episode 500 That's coming up. You can email us at feedback at Pet Sitter confessional.com. We will talk with you next time.
Collin 19:59
Bye
