One of the most challenging and important tasks for businesses is attracting and retaining new clients. It doesn’t feel this way in this industry during peak times. During peak times like summer or super peak times like Christmas or the Fourth of July, you’re likely hoping someone will stop the phone ringing because you are completely out of space.

Running a pet care facility is primarily a people business (customers and employee dependent); then and only then, comes the pet part. The primary reason owners open a pet care business is to be surrounded by pets, but also to hopefully run a lucrative and successful endeavor. To be successful, a business’s revenue needs to be greater than its costs.

3 Ways to Increase a Company's Revenue

Increase the Number of New Prospects

The first way to increase revenue is to increase the number of new prospects. This means increasing your advertising as much as you need to generate the amount of clients required to run your business successfully.

Increase Your Conversion Ratio

Second is to increase your conversion ratio, which is simply the number of actual confirmed new clients, divided by the number of potential new client inquiries you received. In other words, it’s the number of new clients booking reservations divided by the number of new client phone calls. The bottom line is doing a better job converting phone inquiries into actual reservations.

This can be challenging because most businesses and industry software programs are not designed to encourage or even monitor success in this critical area. However, the conversion ratio continues to be one of the most powerful—but underappreciated opportunities—available to nearly every business I’ve helped in the last 27 years.

Increase the Average Value of Each Customer

The third way to increase your revenue is to increase the average value of each customer. This can be achieved numerous ways. One possibility is to increase the revenue from each transaction through price adjustments or upselling. Another option is to increase the average frequency each customer utilizes your services. Finally, you can cross-market your other services like lodging, daycare, training, or grooming. Overall, this method can be summarized as having each customer use more of your services.

Is All This Work Increasing the Amount of New Clients Necessary?

The following data says it is.

If you’re tracking the average length of stay, you’ve likely noticed that this is decreasing in your own business. You may not notice this unless you diligently track your pet nights and check outs. When you divide the two numbers, you’ll notice if there is a decrease in the length of stay. A slight decrease in a length of stay, multiplied by the number of stays, is a big deal to this business.

“But travel is up,” you say. Yes, money being spent in the travel industry is up. However, a large factor that would account for the shortened stays in your business is that the average American does not fully use his or her vacation or paid time off (PTO) days. This can be because of recent poor economic outcomes; a decreased workforce, or that people are afraid that taking their days off will have a negative impact on their company or individual job.

Another reason for decreased pet nights is increased competition. If you’ve been doing this a while, you may have initially only been one of the few choices for pet care in your area. That certainly isn’t the case today. Large chains are attempting to centralize the market. One online pet sitting network reported that in one year, their company provided service for a million pet nights. That is taking a big bite of the traditional pet care facility’s revenue.

These factors show the importance of having numerous profit centers like lodging, daycare, and training. Multiple profit centers can provide a business insulation during even temporary decreases in one area.

So What Should You Do to Grow Your Business?

Improving the way your staff members convert inquiries into reservations is the most cost-effective and logical way to improve your business’ bottom line.

You may ask why you shouldn’t just push people to online reservations. Because when handled properly, the interaction with a phone call will bring in far more revenue initially and long term than online reservations. Online reservations also can commoditize your business. So if you provide above-average care, the phone is a great way to differentiate yourselves from your competition. Also, pet parents, especially the particular ones that feel ‘nothing is too good for their baby,’ are highly emotional about their furry family member. They want to talk to someone before booking and, just like choosing a human daycare or doctor, they wouldn’t dream of just filling out a form.

Speaking to the pet parent also gives you the opportunity to upsell wonderful services that can double the average revenue per pet per night. Our clients bring in hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of dollars in one location in activities each year.

After you are rock solid on the phone, then it’s time to look at your advertising budget. A new customer can cost your business as little as $50 when you burden your advertising budget properly with all appropriate. costs and as much as $200 if you’re not handling the phones properly or buying advertising effectively.

Especially during difficult economic circumstances like a downturn in your area, most business owners are tempted to reduce their advertising budget. However, successful business owners and managers realize this difficult time may represent an opportunity to attract new clients cheaply and profitably. This concept is similar to buying stocks at the bottom of a market. To do this, you need to know how much it costs to acquire a new client and where to spend your advertising money. Until you do, increasing advertising is likely throwing your hard-earned money out the window. But before foolishly spending on advertising; you need to know what a reasonable cost per lead is. Once you know that, you can decide if increasing your budget will be a good investment in your business.

The good news is that despite some doomsayers, there are more pets than ever. So if you’re answering the phone well and know how to buy appropriate advertising, it’s a great time to grow your business. Doing both of these strategies well will result in both an initial and a long-term increase for our clients, which means your business, too, could be sellable and worth millions more than it is today!

Laura Laaman is president of Outstanding Pet Care. OPC helps some of the most successful pet care facilities thrive in highly competitive markets and GUARANTEES THEIR CLIENT’S SUCCESS! If you would like to receive a complementary phone evaluation, contact the OPC team at www.OutstandingPetCare.com or call 1-888-735-5667.

Next Article