Share This Page

Tweet

By Beth Stultz-Hairston | June 1, 2021

There are many reasons why diversifying your service offerings can be good for your pet-sitting or dog-walking business, including helping your company remain successful in any economy.  There are also many additional services you can add that complement basic pet-sitting or dog-walking visits and can increase your revenue streams. (This past blog post from PSI includes a list of potential complementary services for your pet-care business.)

So, how do you determine which new services you should offer?

Every business is unique—and there will be specific considerations you’ll keep in mind when making these types of decisions for your pet-sitting business, but here are a few of the factors to consider:

1. Do you have the experience and skill set necessary to offer the service successfully and safely?

If the answer to that question is “no,” then of course that is not a service you should offer—or at least not one you should offer until you obtain the appropriate training.

With any service you consider, it’s important that you stick to your expertise. Offering and charging for training or behavior consultations, for example, would be unethical, harmful to the pet and damaging to your professional reputation if you do not have the appropriate education, experience and, if required, credentials and/or licenses to offer those services.

Depending upon the new services you are considering, seek out online or in-person training, volunteer work and/or direct instruction from another pet professional to ensure you have the experience and comfort level needed.

2. Is this service one that is in demand for your area or something that your clients have requested?

The most successful businesses provide a solution to their clients’ specific problems or needs. Of course, you already do that by offering professional pet-sitting or dog-walking services, but you want to apply this same litmus test to additional service offerings you consider.

If, for example, you have no clients with reptiles—and you do your research and determine that there does not appear to be many pet parents with reptiles in your area after checking with pet stores, seeking out online groups for local reptile parents, etc.—it may not be prudent to spend significant time or money to obtain more training in that area (unless you want to simply learn more for your personal enrichment, which is fine too!).

To help with these decisions and determine the demand for specific services, get in the habit of writing down or making note of requests you receive for services your company does not offer. Keep record of those so you can see if you notice any trends in what is being requested.

You may want to survey your current clients on any potential offerings you are considering to see if they—or someone they know—would be interested.

Also be sure to do your due diligence with local market research. Explore local Facebook groups or your local NextDoor app to see what types of needs and services pet parents are discussing. If you are considering specific services, such as wedding pet attendance services, reach out to local wedding planners or bridal boutiques and see if they’ve worked with pet parents who have mentioned they would like to include their pet in the service but would need help. In short, do your research!

3. Do you have the time and staff, if applicable, to offer this service?

Even if a potential service offering is a good idea, one you may be interested in, and one you think there will be a demand for, you do not want to add that service offering to your business if you don’t have the availability to offer it.

It would not benefit your company—and would likely harm your company—if you began to advertise wedding services, pet transportation or overnight visits, for example, when you are already stretched thin, then had to tell every potential client “no.” So, you need to know your limits as a business owner and be honest about what you have the bandwidth to take on.

Determine if you have the appropriate number of staff or would be willing to add staff (if you are solo) to meet the requests for new services you want to offer and promote.

4. Are you adequately covered for the new service your company would like to offer?

To determine this, you will want to check with your pet-sitter liability insurance provider. Do not assume that because a service you are considering falls under the general umbrella of pet care that your pet sitter liability insurance will cover it.

Ask your insurance provider about any specific service you plan to offer. Make sure you are covered—or can obtain the coverage you need—and that you have the adequate level of coverage. This is essential to protect your clients and your business.

Also be sure to check with your insurance provider to determine if any new service offerings would impact other coverage, such as worker’s compensation, if applicable.

Have you recently added new services to your pet-sitting or dog-walking business? If so, what prompted you to expand your offerings? Let us know in the comments section below.