Keeping in touch with your kennel or dog day care clients is one of the best ways to retain them, and to keep them happy. The easiest way to accomplish this is with regular newsletters.
A kennel is a service business. You are providing a service to clients, and therefore you must treat them with the utmost respect, and provide them with what they need and want. In the pet boarding or dog day care business, this is compounded by the fact that you are also dealing with their pet.
You’ve likely already heard of Angie’s List, which has become one of the single most important and most trusted sources of accurate consumer reviews of service-oriented businesses, including Boarding Kennels, Dog Grooming, Dog Training, Dog Walking and Veterinarians. If not, here’s what you need to know.
Occasionally, your kennel or dog day care will not fulfill the needs of a client. It is far easier to retain existing clients than to entice new ones to your pet boarding facility; on average, gaining a new client costs the kennel five to ten times more than keeping an existing one. For this reason, you must do everything possible to keep clients from defecting to the competition.
As the owner of a boarding kennel, dog day care or dog grooming salon, of course you won’t need pet insurance to protect the animals in your care. Your general liability policy does that. But as a pet service business owner, there are still two good reasons why you should know about pet insurance.
When a client at your kennel or dog day care has an important day, you should recognize and celebrate it. The best way is through a handwritten note or an attractively-formatted email. Verbal congratulations are good, but don’t provide the same impact.
How do you go that extra mile for boarding kennel clients to leave a lasting (positive) impression? Get to know them and their dogs, and anticipate their needs.
Many dog boarding clients want to see a tour of the kennel or dog day care prior to leaving their pet for a stay. From the kennel’s perspective, the tour serves multiple purposes.
While the idea of web cams is appealing to many dog day care and kennel owners, the cons of being constantly on display to the public sway many into skipping over this technology. When used correctly, web cams can provide owners with a fun diversion while they are away from their pets, and peace of mind knowing that they can check in on the boarding facility at any time.