Attracting new customers can be a bit of a challenge, but when you use the right resources, the return on investment can be great!
Hands N Paws is funding digital marketing efforts already, but sometimes the best marketing happens when team members talk about us to others in the community!
Our team members hold so much potential to bring in new business, simply because they know our business (and what we’re all about) on a deeper level.
How do I attract new customers?
There are many ways you can attract new customers to Hands N Paws. You are encouraged to utilize the different marketing materials in this support article (attached below) for assistance.
Marketing Hands N Paws’ services within the community can be as simple as posting fliers up on local community bulletin boards (best example we can think of for this is the boards inside of coffee shops). You can post on your social media or take a leap and by pet businesses in our service areas, introduce yourself, and hand out a business card.
For inspiration and assistance, try this out:
- Do some research on local pet events, pet groomers, trainers, etc.
- Check out their website, social media, etc. to learn as much as you can about who they are, what they do, and what they represent (mission, goals, purpose).
- Read reviews on these businesses to hear what people are saying about them online (Facebook, Google reviews, Yelp).
- Based on these metrics, compile a list of the “best pet businesses” in your area. You may also consider surrounding areas/cities as well so that you have broader opportunities.
- Using your understanding of Hands N Paws (who we are, what we do, etc.), jot down some notes about the correlation between us and these businesses (positioning it from the perspective of how we can bring VALUE to these other businesses).
- Gather your marketing materials and visit these businesses in-person to introduce yourself! Pitch your creative ideas to them and say that “if they ever have any customers looking for pet sitting and dog walking services, please refer us!”
Of course, you don’t have follow this approach completely. We do recommend it, however, because it can be most effective. Before you plan on going into local establishments, it would be best to know what you’re going to say to whomever you speak to! You might want to ask for a manager first as well. The most important piece of being prepared to market us to different pet businesses in your area is having a firm understanding of who we are. That way, when you stop in to visit and introduce yourself, you can have full confidence in talking about Hands N Paws!
Please use the following resources available to you, to gain a deeper understanding of HNP:
- Our website
- Our social media – Facebook and Instagram
- Our key differentiators (what makes us different from other in-home pet care companies) – see more below!
*Remember that when you are telling people about us, make sure to tell them that if they sign up, they MUST mention YOUR NAME when they go to schedule their meet n greet or make any initial contact with us! This is important so that you can get properly compensated for your referral! We also always make sure to ask about new customers how they heard about us, so we can be sure to catch your name that way, too. Let us know in Slack when you do give someone a card, that can help us keep track of things as well!
Who exactly can I refer to Hands N Paws?
You can honestly refer anyone! You might have the most success with stopping into local pet businesses and introducing yourself to them. You could also take a more casual approach and just make a post about us on your social media!
Here are a list of common people you will have the most success referring to us:
- Local dog groomers
- Local dog trainers
- Local veterinarians
- Local doggy daycares
- People at local dog parks
- Local pet supply stores
- Local online pet stores
- People at local dog events
Do I get anything in return for recruiting new customers to Hands N Paws?
Yes! When you refer a regular, weekly dog walking customer to Hands N Paws, you will get an automatic commission raise of 1%. This is 1% per customer you refer. The referred customer must complete their first month’s worth of services (any recurring service quantity for 4 weeks) in order for your commission raise to go into effect. The raise amount will apply for an ENTIRE quarter!
When you refer any non-ongoing customer to Hands N Paws, you get 1 entry into a raffle for a work commission raise. The raise amount is TBD but will likely be 2%. The raise will apply for an entire quarter! Please note that the referred customer must COMPLETE their service(s) with us in order for your entry into the raffle to count!
*There is no cap on commission raise amounts!
Provided Marketing Materials
The following marketing materials are ones we’ve created that you’re more than welcome to order and use to your discretion!
Business Cards
**Business cards are commonly used/passed out to other local pet businesses, other dog owners while they’re out walking their dogs, at dog parks, etc.
If you would like to purchase any business cards, please message your team leader in Slack. The pricing for business cards varies depending on the quantity you’re purchasing. On the low end, you can order 50 for $15; on the high end you can order 1000 for $100. There are other quantities and pricing available, so please message your team leader if you wish to learn more!
Your team leader will figure out how to collect payment from you – please remember that you are responsible for paying the TOTAL amount of any marketing materials you want to purchase!
We can also look into customizing the design of these cards if you have a design idea in mind! Sometimes, team members prefer to have their name somewhere on the card so that the customer doesn’t forget who referred them to us. Please let us know how you’d like us to customize and we’ll see what we can do!
Bark Cards
**Bark cards are commonly used/passed out whenever our team members pass by homes that contain barking dogs. We’ve found that sometimes while our team members are out walking other pups, they see/hear other dogs going crazy in some of the homes they pass by. By passing out bark cards (placing on or in between front doors, etc.), we’ve been able to strategically sell to the person who lives in the house with the barking dog. Several of our current clients today are “Bark Card” referrals!
If you would like to purchase any Bark Cards, please message your team leader in Slack. The pricing for bark cards varies depending on the quantity you’re purchasing. On the low end, you can order 10 for $16; on the high end you can order 100 for $33. There are other quantities and pricing available, so please message your team leader if you wish to learn more!
Your team leader will figure out how to collect payment from you – please remember that you are responsible for paying the TOTAL amount of any marketing materials you want to purchase!
We can also look into customizing the design of these cards if you have a different design idea in mind! Sometimes, team members prefer to have their name somewhere on the card so that the customer doesn’t forget who referred them to us. Please let us know how you’d like us to customize and we’ll see what we can do!
Marketing Fliers
Marketing fliers are the cheapest and easiest option when it comes to our marketing materials. You can easily print out fliers on your own and post them in places in your local community! Some places commonly include: coffee shops, dog parks, at vet offices, at pet supply stores, etc.
Wanna customize these fliers in any way? Let us know! In the past, we’ve seen team members add the names of local businesses on these fliers (for businesses they may be posting the fliers at) for a totally personalized touch!
Infographics
**Infographics are commonly used/passed out to local (pet) businesses. They may stack them on their reception counter for people to take as they please, or they may more actively pass them out to customers. You can also just place them in similar places as fliers – it’s up to you!
If you would like to purchase any infographics, please message your team leader in Slack. The pricing for infographics varies depending on the quantity you’re purchasing. On the low end, you can order 10 for $8.40; on the high end you can order 100 for $35. There are other quantities and pricing available, so please message your team leader if you wish to learn more!
Your team leader will figure out how to collect payment from you – please remember that you are responsible for paying the TOTAL amount of any marketing materials you want to purchase!
We can also look into customizing the design of these infographics if you have a different design idea in mind! Sometimes, our team members like to include the name of the business they may be handing these out to, so that way the infographics look totally personalized!
Social Media Marketing
Social media/digital marketing is HUGE in our world today! Here are some branded graphics and videos that you’re welcome to share on your social media accounts. If you’re a part of any local community groups on Facebook, you might also consider posting in there to spread the word about us to a wider audience (beyond just your following/friends).
Let’s make a pitch on Hands N Paws!
When you encounter a potential client while out on a dog walk, at the dog park, etc., you’ll want to have a quick pitch prepared to be able to capture that person’s attention and be memorable to them when speaking! If you also plan on stopping into local pet businesses, you’ll wanna be able to have something prepared to say.
Needless to say, you’ll want our brand (mission, purpose) to be at the forefront of your interactions – how we specialize in providing peace of mind to busy pet parents.
Here are some helpful lines that have been used in the past!
- “We specialize in in-home pet care – dog walking, pet sitting, and cat sitting – and pride ourselves in giving our pet parents true peace of mind for when they’re away from home and away from their pets.”
- “We work with 9-5ers, vacationers, and overall busy bees who feel a sense of guilt for leading busy lifestyles. Through our services, we take away that guilt and provide our clients with peace of mind as busy pet parents.”
- “We offer services in 4 different time durations (20, 30, 45, 60 minutes) and you can schedule as many of those a day as you need while you’re away on vacation OR as many as needed while you’re at work all day. Being able to customize our services to your pets needs is how we guarantee you get peace of mind when you’re gone!”
- “We work as a team to provide services to clients. What’s nice about us is that our clients never have to rely on one person to come and care for their pets at all times. We are a team of Pet Care Techs who are trained to provide the same deliverable to pets and pet parents all around.”
- “We pride ourselves on being fully professional – we are insured and bonded, we have an app that we use to communicate with clients when we come work with their pets. Our app also sends journal reports to clients after team members complete services for them, which include visit notes, photos, a map of where we walked your dog, and more!”
It also may be helpful to know what differentiates us from other pet sitting and dog walking companies in the area (local competition). Here are several unique selling points for Hands N Paws:
Over time, we’ve realized that our customers don’t simply purchase our services because of the commodity itself- the pet sitting and/or dog walking- but rather, they purchase because of the PRODUCT of the service delivery- the feeling of peace of mind they get in knowing that their pets are in good hands with us while they’re away from home tending to their busy lives!
Everything about our business- from the way our services are designed to how we communicate with clients upon completing services- is structured with the sole purpose of giving pet parents genuine and true peace of mind that they most yearn for with regards to their fur kids’ needs.
The various factors/pieces of our business that contribute to the peace of mind that we deliver across our work are as follows:
- When we complete services with pets, we take a very particular and detailed approach to how we communicate with them about how the service went, what happened during, etc. This communication is in the form of what’s called “journal reports” that we send to pet parents through our app as soon as a service is completed. These journal reports are detailed summaries that include: a checklist of what happened during the visit, pictures of us having fun with their pets, a GPS map to 1) show where we walked their pet (for dog walks in particular) and 2) serve as proof that we were at their home to complete the service, and general comments that summarize what happened during the visit from start to finish. Here is a visual example of what a journal report from us looks like (visit page titled “Sample Journal Report”).
- **To expand on our last point, we have an app that allows for our pet parents to do everything from scheduling/cancelling services with us, paying their invoices, storing their personal and pet information, viewing journal reports, and more. Our pet parents LOVE the convenience of our app along with having control over all the various features!
- We work to create custom care plans for our pet parents (and their pets!). Our app allows pet parents to store very specific information about them and their pets; thus, our team is trained to follow these notes/details very carefully and precisely so that we are delivering to customers’ exact needs when it comes to caring for their fur babies. We ask a plethora of questions during our client onboarding process (which takes place right on our app), some of which includes the following:
- Tell us about your pet’s personality/quirks
- What’s your pet’s potty routine? What do they do and when/how often do they go out each day?
- What’s your pet’s food routine and location? What kind of food do they get? How much food and when?
- Does your pet know any training commands? What are they and how do you implement them?
- Does your pet wear a harness for walks? If yes, where do you keep it?
- Do you want us to walk your pet? When do you walk them? How long do you walk them for and where?
- We also offer services in four different time durations for which pet parents can schedule us: 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes. They have the option to schedule unlimited services a day and any combination of the three durations they choose.
- We take a team approach to working with our pet parents. This is what differentiates us from a lot of other pet sitters/dog walkers in the market. We have a team with extensive availability, which allows us to ALWAYS be available when pet parents request services with us. We work in the field completing services 365 days a year and between the hours of 7am and 10pm each day. Taking a team approach also allows us the ability to always have a team member to send over to a client’s location to complete a service, especially should an emergency arise in which the originally assigned team member couldn’t make it out. While several of our pet parents have wished that their pets could establish relationships with primary/single people from our team, once they’ve seen the value in the whole team approach, they’ve only ever become super grateful and reassured. Having a team available is like having an insurance policy on the completion of services. There is always a guarantee in that regard for the customer. Plus, our team is vetted extensively so that they can all provide the same deliverable to the customer in completing services for them. Though we are a team, we all provide the same exact thing!
- We are insured and bonded with one of the world’s leading pet care insurance providers, State Farm!
- All new clients get the chance to meet us first, free of charge, before getting started working with us/using our services! These meetings are called “meet n greets” and again, they are FREE for all first-time clients. Once a new client schedules a meet n greet with us (via Get Started on website), we confirm it via text and then come by on the scheduled day/time to meet them and their pets. This allows us to collect any information that we need, allows the client to put a face to our name and brand, and eventually help them establish trust in us as their go-to pet care providers.
