With over 150,000 pet care professionals in the United States, your ability to differentiate your business is critical to long-term sustainable growth. By focusing on the customer experience you can gain the loyalty of prospective pet parents and continue to thrive with your current pack.

Below are 5 ways to differentiate your pet business so you have a leg up on your local competitors:

1. Unique Services & Accommodations

By taking your current services and thinking of innovative ways to make them standout, you are able to provide a service that has no substitute in your local market (plus it will increase your revenue). Working with hundreds of pet resorts, trainers & groomers provides us insight into the latest service trends in the market. Below are a few that have recently begun to catch some momentum:

Creating a variety of room sizes (Cabin, Condo, Suites) with themes
Pawdicure with color (using a special paint pen)
Adventure Outings
Bosco & Roxy Treats

Customers will love these because…Customers who love to spoil their pets are looking for the next best thing that they can tell their fellow pet parents about. Your facility will catch their attention when you specialize in services that some pet owners have never even heard of!

2. Superior Employee Training

Differentiate your business through exemplary employee training. By training employees in a consistent matter you are able increase your operational efficiency, but even more important is pet parents will know what to expect. Start with the basics (answering the phone, check-in & check-out process, on-boarding of new pet parents) and once your staff is all on the same page, then you can move to more advanced training. We recommend DogTec for a wide variety of courses including pet first aid, reading body language, and many others.

Customers will love this because… The workshops and certifications will allow you to advertise a first-rate staff & the customer experience will be consistently exceptional allowing clients to take comfort in routines.

3. Healthy Pet Guarantee

For pet parents, knowing that their pet is going to have a good time and come home healthy are their number 1 priorities. By offering something as simple as a “Healthy Pet Guarantee” you can reassure pet parents that you are focused on providing a safe play environment. What does it mean to your business? It means if something happens to a pet while in your care, that you will cover the costs and it’s an opportunity to increase revenue by charging $2-$5/per pet per day.

Customers will love this because… everyone loves a guarantee. Even if you have not changed anything in your daily routine, this type of insurance is worth the extra dollars to a pet parent.

4. Creatively Organizing Dogs into Playgroups

How do you organize your dogs into playgroups? Big and small? Aggressive and mild-tempered? Dog Days San Diego places dogs into group based on size and temperament. They implement a temperament test process in which they have each new canine client meet their specially trained and socially aware husky to test for aggression. This way they will have an idea of how the new client will socialize with other dogs and be aware of any behavioral tendencies. Consider making the playgroups smaller so that there are only up to 8 dogs per group. Some kennels even have a 4:1 pet to employee ratio. All of this is done to make sure that dogs are playing in safe environments.

Customers will love this because…They will be assured that you have their pets’ best interest in mind. The majority of customers are concerned that their pets will be unsafe or uncomfortable. Going the extra mile to provide them with reassurance will make your facility more memorable to current customers and attractive to potential customers.

5. Outstanding Pet Parent Engagement

Boost your pet parent engagement with personal touches that make them feel included. Consider sending text updates, photo updates, and report cards to pet parents. With your kennel software, these reports can updated easily and are fully accessible to pet parents while they are away at work or on vacation. Some of PawLoyalty’s clients have even started offering “FaceTime” as an extra service that pet parents can use to calm their separation anxiety.

Customers will love this because… Physical proof of a pet’s well-being will put customers at ease and will save you the hassle of tying up the phone lines with frequent calls from concerned pet parents. This way you can set up times for these updates that work around your facility’s schedule.

So how are you going to be different? Take the next step: add a new service or give an old service a facelift in your kennel software and then track the response of your customers. You will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Throw Us a Bone!

How have you differentiated your pet business?