I was recently reminded of Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and his advice to “begin with the end in mind.” This is perhaps the best advice to come out of business education in the last 50 years. As I sit down to write this article about educating your customers, I find myself asking that question. What outcomes do we want? What is our “end in mind”? In our industry, we should have this question as our guiding value in all we do.

The answer seems obvious: you want the customer to return to your facilities to board their pet, get another groom, or sign up for training classes. But you really want a bigger outcome. You want to create satisfied and loyal customers who will tell their friends about your facilities, thus increasing your customer base.

You cannot stop with building a larger customer base. You must think past the financial benefit of profit and move to the ultimate “end in mind” to create, establish, and build ongoing, lifelong trust. Trust is your product. Trust is your service. One way to build trust is to educate your customers.

How do you educate customers in such a way that they not only return but tell their friends about you? The answer is three-fold. First you must identify and write down the value of the services you provide. By value I do not mean monetary value but rather value to the customer. For instance, what is the value to the customer to have the pet’s nails clipped not just any ol’ way but “your” way?

Second, you need to find the best way to communicate that information - a way that catches the customer’s attention and heart, meets them where they are, and makes them want more. The key here is to offer your service based on your relationship to the customer. You have to truly “know” your customers - where they are going, what they want, what they fear, and what pressures and victories they’re going through.

This brings us to my third point: building a relationship with your customers. This is where I would like to focus our discussion. The best way to build a relationship with your customers in the short amount of time you see them is to remember key information about them and their pet. Use that information consistently to enhance and refine what you offer and what you do, thereby providing the best services possible.

During your intake process, you are already collecting information in a casual way. When a customer brings in their pet, you not only complete a visual and hands-on inspection, but you also discuss how the pet has been and where they are going. Have they brought their pet in because they are celebrating a special occasion? On the initial information form, you would have already collected such information as age, birthdate, shot records, etc. All this information can help you educate your customer on what services you provide targeted specifically for that customer.

Let’s return to the example of a nail clip. You can communicate why “your nail clip” is not only the best way but is also vital to the health of their pet. This can be accomplished verbally at point of sale, electronically in a monthly newsletter, or via traditional mail.

This approach can be applied to other aspects of pet care, like coat trimming or bathing, and you can focus on breed-specific issues. You can also use thank you emails or cards to educate your customers on what makes your facility different. Do you use only green products to clean? Or maybe you serve only organic snacks. Do you offer spa services such as acupuncture, pet message, or aromatherapy?

Any service you offer in combination with any contact with your customer is an opportunity to inform, educate, and build trust with your customer. However you choose to accomplish that educational moment, be sure that it reinforces that you care for your customers and want them to receive the best care and service possible.

That’s the real bottom line in pet care. Work in such a way that you communicate with crystal clarity two things: 1) You deeply care, and 2) you have thought through and built systems of service delivery that ensures it is done right every time, all the time. This requires strategy and effort, consistency and refinement. As you commit yourselves to this relationship built on trust through education, you take your customers from “OK” to “WOW.”

Carmen Rustenbeck, founder of the International Boarding & Pet Services Association, has been involved in the pet care industry since 2004. She was an integral part of the ABKA, assisting Jim Krack in growing membership and developing resources for facilities around the country. As CEO, Carmen creates and implements a development plan that details how the organization gains members and identifies areas of service never before provided to our industry. Carmen’s focus at IBPSA is to build a member centered organization that promotes the best practices and strategies for helping our industry reach full potential. Contact Carmen at [email protected].

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