7 minute read
ASK THE EXPERTS: OVERCOMING ROADBLOCKS
Veronica Boutelle explains how to improve marketing and business practices to ensure a smooth client journey that will fill up your schedule and help your business to thrive
Q: I’m hoping you can help. I’ve been in business for nine years. My clients are very happy. I know because they say nice things to me and give me great testimonials and I can see the progress their dogs make. The problem is, I don’t have enough clients to fill my schedule even after all these years. I have a nice website. I do some marketing. I always return phone calls in a timely manner. I try to follow your advice about pricing and consults and packages and making the sale, and I think I do all that pretty well. If I get a consult, I usually get a package, too. I just need to get my schedule full and keep it that way.
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I promised myself 10 years to make this work. That anniversary is only a year away now. I really love this work but at some point I’ve got to start making a good enough living to save for the future. What am I missing?
A: We don’t want you to quit, either! Okay, that said, let’s get down to figuring this out. It’s a little tricky given that I can’t ask you any questions or see your website or your marketing plans and materials. But you’ve given me some good clues to work with…
First, though, let’s celebrate what’s already working. It sounds like once you get a client to commit to a consult you’re good to go. Nice work there! You’ve told me you’re following our rate setting and packaging advice, so you’re setting yourself up for strong revenue from each client, in addition to setting the client up for success. That’s excellent, because once we get your volume up you’ll be in great shape.
So, to that volume issue. Lack of volume usually points to a few key culprits. One is marketing. You say you’re doing some, which is terrific. If you aren’t getting a lot of inquiries to begin with, though, the questions I’d ask are: Is it enough? Is it the right marketing (aimed at your target clients)? Is it in the right places (to reach those target clients)? The fact that your conversion rate is strong once you get a consult leans me toward the worry that you’re simply not getting in front of enough of the right dog lovers. Thankfully, that’s a solvable problem!
© Can Stock Photo / damedeeso Once a client commits to training, professional trainers should consider what services they can offer to keep the client with them for longer — both for their own benefit and for the clientdog team
Bumpy Ride
Another possible culprit is unintended offramps along your client journey. This is something we’ve been focusing on recently with our THRIVE! members. Think of the client journey as every experience a dog lover has with your business, starting from when they first hear about you through their work with you as a client and beyond. We want that journey to be smooth but sometimes we accidentally forget to put up signposts, or we inadvertently construct roadblocks or miss potholes or even sinkholes in the path, which means losing people along the way.
If you aren’t getting a lot of inquiries, your client journey may be missing some signposts, like the right marketing in the right places as I suggested earlier. You also mentioned you have a nice website (so glad
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If you’re getting inquiries but not converting as many as you’d like into consults, look for gaps or roadblocks in your journey there. Asking for a long, written questionnaire before booking is a common roadblock, for example. Being too timid about following up with potential clients after chatting by phone or email is a common gap. Basically, is there anywhere that you’re making things harder than they need to be for potential clients or losing touch with them?
Speaking of losing touch, here’s an extra piece of client journey advice: The journey shouldn’t end once the client commits to training. After you troubleshoot and strengthen the path potential clients take to become actual ones, the next step in building a successful, thriving business is looking at how to extend that journey. What services can you offer to keep clients with you longer for your benefit and for theirs? Something to think about down the line…
Speaking of down the line, I hope we’ll be hearing from you again to celebrate your 10year anniversary—and your 20th, too! n
We hear THRIVE!, dogbiz’ group coaching program, will be opening to new members sometime this fall (or autumn if you’re outside North America!). Their waitlist is here. We recommend getting on it now! And don’t miss their ads on pages 23 and 58 for more info ‐ Ed.
© Can Stock Photo / Germano_Poli Professional trainers sometimes forget to put up clear signposts, or inadvertently construct roadblocks, or miss potholes in the path, so they end up losing clients along the way instead of retaining them and providing further services
Veronica Boutelle MA Ed CTC is founder and co-president of dog*biz, and author of How to Run Your Dog Business and co-author of Minding Your Dog Business. dog*biz offers professionally designed positive reinforcement dog training class curricula, including Open-Enrollment Puppy, Open-Enrollment Basic Manners, and short Topics classes built for retention. Do you have a question for the business experts at dog*biz? Submit your question for consideration to: barkseditor@petprofessionalguild.com
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