Recently IBPSA conducted an interview with PetExec President, Paula Mosteller. PetExec has been a Vendor Member with IBPSA since 2016, and will be an Exhibitor at the Flow Business Conference in September.
IBPSA: What is the most common advice that your clients ask for, or what is the most needed service that they do not realize they need? Paula: I have to think about it for a minute because everybody asks for different things. I think the most important thing that people ask for, is advice on how to set up their system to be efficient and easy to use, for both the staff and the pet parent. I would say the most common questions I get are, "How should we set our pricing? What should we include in a contract?" And other important things like, "Should we use packages? Should we discount our services and by how much? How should we advertise?" These are all important questions that people need to know when they are starting out. Without the right answers or the right resources, it could land them in trouble quickly. I do my best to lead them to the associations or vendors who I trust in tandem with the right software system. IBPSA: It seems that their first questions are all about business systems. and not really software. Paula: Yes, that’s correct. There are many factors to consider in order to run a pet business well. At PetEx-
ec, we have a lot of associations with like-minded vendors. We like to share knowledge to prevent pet professionals from making costly rookie mistakes. We conduct live events on Facebook or use other various ways to connect with people who have the knowledge and can answer questions about pricing, profitability and other other important topics in our unique business. While those questions are being answered, we can address the additional information that people should know before choosing the right software system. One of the most important pieces of advice I give to pet businesses to get them on the right track fast is to make sure pet parents are able to help you wit your daily tasks. I think it’s very important to have an easy, fun, and addicting way for the pet parents to utilize technology. For instance, PetExec’s mobile app or owner portal can be setup in a variety of ways to appeal to the pet parent. It allows the customer to schedule or request services, sign contracts, view past messages and transactions, display current announcements and many other tasks. Pet parents enjoy the flexibility of performing tasks at their convenience. This pet owner input can revolutionize the entire business practice. IBPSA: It sounds like using technology such as app type program helps meet the needs of the customer as well as the business owner. Paula: Apps are the future. We use them all the time in our everyday lives. No matter what age or technical ability, nearly everyone has a smart phone. People love the ease and convenience of apps so they become addicting. There seems to be an app for just about everything! Here at PetExec we say that we didn’t create the addiction, but we feed it by having a really nice app. Much of the burden of what facility owners did in the past is now passed on to the customer via technology. This creates less work for staff as the customer uses technology. App technology is a win, win for everybody. IBPSA: How did technology change during COVID? What was something different that maybe the customer had asked for that you think you will either expand on or continue to do? Paula: We learned a lot during COVID. We didn’t expect certain services like grooming and training to be so impactful. These services did not lose money during the pandemic. In fact, quite the opposite, they actually gained in popularity. As people adopted dogs the need for trainers and groomers grew. This caused us to be more focused on our app to be sure we
