I’m a huge fan of Below Deck, a Bravo TV reality series and it’s not for the drama amongst the crewmates, it’s because I love to see what the “preference sheets” for each of their guests’ demand. Here’s the premise…A guest (the Primary) charters a private super yacht with several friends for around $30k for usually 3 days/2 nights and they sail around places like Croatia, Italy, Greece, or Australia while the crew caters to their whims, desires, and quirky requests. The chef must prepare meals based upon likes, dislikes, allergies, eating lifestyle etc. for each of the guests. The crew must entertain them, keep them fed with a drink in their hands and all the “toys” on the yacht like a huge water slide, jet skis and all kinds of floats and bobs ready to show their guests a great time. I love watching the crew rise to the challenges of the individuals in their care. Some are high maintenance, some are rude, others are just happy to be on a luxury vacation and are as laid back as can be. Are you seeing some parallels between the yachties and your pet care business? 

Whether we like to admit it or not we’re in the customer service business. Our furry friends are clients, some are challenging and high maintenance while others are happy, go lucky and laid back. The same can be said for pet parents. Think back to the most recent time you received excellent customer service, hopefully that wasn’t too hard, but I do believe customer service is a dying art. What was it about the service that set it apart from other exchanges you’ve had? Was it the friendliness of the provider? Was it the resolution of a problem, perhaps they anticipated your needs and were right on top of things, maybe it was their attention to detail. One of my hot buttons is attention to detail. Here’s an example: in my previous life I had the opportunity to go to many “soft openings” for various restaurants and nightclubs. At one venue we sat down for lunch and as our server greeted us, he removed the white napkins from the table and presented black napkins as we were wearing black pants (no lint). The rest of the meal and the service were equally detail oriented and this is the example I often use to train my sitters. It’s this level of attention to detail that allows us to say we offer amazing customer service. Does your business strive for excellent customer service? From details I hear from other sitters many do, so what will set your business apart from other sitters who give good customer experiences? What will take you from good to great? What will allow you to charge premium prices when others charge the “going rate”? Will you be giving the “white glove” treatment?

Communication

The clients’ first impression starts with your first communication with them. This might be on the phone, through your website, in person or on social media. What’s the saying? People form their opinion of you within the first 17 seconds. Let that sink in…when a client looks at your website how long do they stay on a page? When they see a post on Facebook or Instagram what message are you conveying? Do you answer the phone when it rings or does the potential client leave a message and wait for a return call? How long must they wait to hear from your organization? When you meet someone for the first time are you prepared with a business card, do you have clean, appropriate clothing? All these forms of communication help form our clients’ first impression of us and our business. 

The key to a consistently great client experience is understanding the main components of customer service.  There are several key elements to customer service.

Understanding the client’s expectations 

When you do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it you earn respect and loyalty from your clients. Most clients don’t have outrageous asks but even if they do and you’ve said you can accommodate the request then you must come through. Expectations will vary from client to client but it's up to you to understand these expectations, it’s why we do Meet and Greets. Other great ways of understanding your clients in a broad sense are to conduct surveys, do follow up phone calls, and seek feedback from them.

Provide effective and clear communication in a swift manner

To me this should be number one! Most misunderstandings happen in the communication (or lack thereof) phase. Listen to your clients, really listen to them! You have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason. If they’re not clear, ask follow up questions until you understand their expectations. In this era of multiple modes of communication ask how they prefer to be contacted. All communication with clients should be communicated promptly, don’t put off contacting them off as they’ll move onto another sitter that will call them or contact them immediately. I always say I’ve built my business off returning phone calls promptly. 

Now let’s talk about having an empathetic tone. Use empathetic phrases and language that convey understanding and compassion. This quality may need to be utilized during the initial phone inquiry, during a meet and greet or when something didn’t go quite as planned. As pet sitters we’re extremely empathetic individuals so this shouldn’t be something you need to work on, however, I see it abandoned when something goes wrong. A sitter will often take the easy way out and text a client with an issue they’ve had, say, diarrhea on the expensive Persian Rug that was supposed to be off limits. Instead of fessing up and CALLING the client they take the easy way out and text them. There are no “tones” in a text, and they can easily be misinterpreted. If something has gone wrong, always call and convey your sincere apologies and do it immediately!

There are a few more key elements that we should explore next week but in the meantime, let’s talk about your biggest customer service wins on the NAPPS Pet Sitters Private FB Group. 

Yvette Gonzales

As You Wish, LLC