7 Cost Effective Cross-Marketing Strategies

By Laura Laaman

This industry is now very competitive. That makes it challenging and expensive to attract new customers to your business. When you have an interested pet parent call you, handling the phones exceptionally well and successfully converting those inquiries into reservations is very important. It’s also critical that you measure the results of each person taking new inquiries and tours. If you let people handle calls and they don’t do a good job converting phone calls or leads, you’re wasting marketing dollars and costing the business profit.

Most business owners think they’re doing well on the phone and tours, but when they actually track those numbers, they convert far less than they initially hoped. So what’s a good target for your company?

Clients utilizing our proven phone protocol convert new phone inquiries on an average of 65% or greater. This includes all calls—those who don’t have dates yet, live too far, aren’t a fit for the service or even those who are calling for someone else. They convert tours at an average of 75%. So beyond doing a good job on the phone and tours, how can you leverage your database to increase your success in this very competitive industry?

Your database is one of your most valuable professional assets. Our clients have been trained to successfully acquire prospects’ (not just customers’) information and build a large and fresh database. Regardless of the size of your database, you can leverage it for great returns.

Most pet care facilities offer numerous, complementing services. It surprises and frustrates many pet care facility owners to learn that most of their customers only know about one service—the one they came to you for initially.

Cross–marketing is a proven, inexpensive, and cost–effective strategy you can implement and has an exceptional high return on investment.

Good News

Let’s start with the good news. You have a valuable asset your competition does not: your customers and the relationship you’ve already built. They already trust you, and assuming their initial experience went well, you have a positive relationship. The more services a pet parent chooses from you, the closer the relationship or bond, the stronger the loyalty, and the larger the revenues for your company.

Before we go on, it’s important to understand The Marketing Rule of Seven. This rule explains that a new prospect needs to see or hear a company’s messaging at least seven times before they take action and engage with the company. Your initial goal is for them to purchase one service, such as overnight lodging.

Bad News

Here’s the bad news. Once a customer buys one service from your company, the marketing job starts all over again. Now the same marketing rule of seven applies to get them to purchase another service such as daycare, grooming, training or transportation. When done properly, it will be easier to get them to opt in for additional services, but it takes a little work and proven strategies.

1. Message on Hold: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if customers were never put on hold? Now back to reality. Unfortunately, it’s often necessary to place a customer on a brief hold. Typical options for hold times are silence (lovely) or your favorite type of music (which likely isn’t theirs). Far better is to have a system that communicates your additional services in a positive way. Remember to update your messages regularly.
2. Tour Gifts with Coupons: I hope you agree that this is a very emotional and personal business. You’re asking someone to trust you with caring for their dog or cat. Giving a tour gift is a great way to make a new prospect feel special and welcome. If you have coupons for other services, don’t forget to include them.
3. Outbound Calls After Daycare Evaluation: Calling a customer after they had their daycare evaluation is a wonderful way to let them know they’re more than just a number. Tell them how much you enjoyed having their dog in daycare and how he/she enjoyed playing with new friends. However, it’s not easy for employees to make these calls without scripting, training, and coaching.
4. Signage Promoting Other Services: Most people learn and retain information best visually. A few tips to promote all of your services:

   A) Ensure your business name either has all of your services or is a name that makes it obvious what you do.

   B) Make your services even more visual by ensuring your signage on the outside of the building and in your lobby promotes all of your services.

   C) Your brochures and vehicles also present the same opportunities.

5. Referral Campaign: Referral campaigns are a wonderful way to ask existing clients to promote you to other pet parents. Having a small offer to thank them for referring others to your business is a nice way to help spread the word.
6. Social Media: Social media provides a great opportunity to promote all your services to existing clients. Post professional and positive messages regularly and promote individual services, including special offers.
7. Flyers: Flyers are an inexpensive and cost-effective way to get your brand in front of potential prospects. Your marketing materials should match the quality of your brand. Place them in local businesses that match the quality of your clientele. If you have a high–end clientele, choose higher quality stores.

We hope you agree that cross–marketing is a powerful yet underutilized strategy that is especially important with increased competition.

If you would like help taking your business to the next level with guaranteed results, visit www.OutstandingPetCare.com.

Laura Laaman is president of Outstanding Pet Care. Outstanding Pet Care guarantees to substantially increase the revenues of its clients with its proven services. If you’re interested in growing your revenues, schedule an individual consultation with Laura Laaman or one of our team members. Call Outstanding Pet Care at 1-888-735-5667.