Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Did you know that the pet care industry is a billion dollar industry and it is continuously growing? But are the people who care for your pets growing as well?
I'm Dara Forleo and on the business of pet care we are going to talk about what really goes on behind the scenes of those grooming tables, those daycare walls and those social media filters.
Welcome to the business of pet care. Where we are talking about today we are jumping into businesses that are the pet industry. It's just a very competitive and demanding environment right now and many owners are working hard without even realizing that the habits and the blind spots and some weak business decisions that are holding them back.
And today we are really going to jump into talking about the need, what they need right now, like where business is undermining their own growth and what creates a lasting credibility for what they are building.
Practical, we're going to talk about practical things owners can make to, to build their company stronger.
Welcome to the business of pet care.
I'm your host, Dara Forleo and today I am joined by Nancy Hassell, founder and president of the American Pet Professionals. This is a long time business networking and educational platform multimedia organization which is serving the pet industry nationwide, globally. Have we gone global? Nancy, you have been spending so many years working on this.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
Thank you so much for being here. I really.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Oh, you're welcome.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Having me on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've had international members multiple times over the years and a lot of those companies, they were international and then they end up coming to the U.S. one of our members recently was in Japan by way of Turkey and she just moved back to the US after being away for 40 years and now is in New York.
Yeah, we've had people show up. She was showing up for our networking events online at like 3am I. Oh my gosh. So that's amazing. Yeah, yeah.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: So you have online events also?
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Yeah, we have online events.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: That.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: That is mainly what we've been doing for, you know, the past. Gosh, I don't even know how many years we were doing Zoom events and networking before COVID like when everybody was on Zoom and complaining. We were doing that for a few years because we have members all over the country. So yeah, everybody's in different time zones. So we always try to make sure we're, you know, serving the purpose of what they need.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: That's a, that's amazing. We're going to talk more about that on here because I want to hear more about that. But you know, getting to this, what, what Are some of the common business blind spots that you are seeing as you're talking to people that are really, really repeat and habits?
[00:03:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, you know, I've been in the industry for over 20 years. Our business is 17 years in business. And I think that a lot of those blind spots are common. Right.
I feel like people don't do enough research. They get excited about an idea or a business service that they're going to do.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: And they immediately see all the big numbers that we see in the.
Which are amazing. And their blind spots are in that they may not be looking at the overall picture. Right. Like, I think they're not thinking about putting systems and services together when they first start. They just want to get their product out there if it's a product. You know, maybe they don't have it patent pending yet. Maybe they haven't gotten their copyright stuff yet. So there's, there's a lot that goes into it. And I've always said like, one step at a time. So. So you don't hit those blind spots and so you're not blindsided by stuff that can come your way. Doing your research is going to help anybody in going into the pet industry, into business, no matter what your area of business is. And that is just going to help people really avoid some of those blind spots. And that might be painstaking. Right. You want to take more time doing the research, more time really figuring out is this going to be what is going to make me money having that business plan, all of the things. But people get excited about an idea and they get excited about wanting to be in business right away and not realizing it's going to take a little bit of time. So I think one day at a time, one goal at a time. It does.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Research is, is really important. And I, like you said that people are seeing the monster numbers of this industry right now and how fast the pet industry is growing and are jumping in, not just with products, but on the service side also. And it's like there's so many people who are getting into it and have very, very little education other than, well, I took my dog to a daycare or I took my dog to a groomer once. And you know, coming from that. So, I mean, I know I'm seeing it on a lot of, a lot of areas in, especially for grooming.
And it's. It's kind of scary.
Yeah, it's kind of scary because the safety of the pet is sometimes not being taken into consideration all the time.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. I think it's true. I mean, I feel like you might even have a great product idea. But I saw something recently that I was like, oh, my God, that is a massive choker. Choking hazard for dogs was like some sort of decoration on a crate. And I'm like, why? It wasn't like a something to hold a treat that your dog might. Nothing like that. It was like decorating the. I'm like, dogs are just gonna pull those off, eat that and choke. And so, like, you might think it's cute for decoration somewhere else. You know, you really have to do your research. And I just think that, you know, really paying attention to what is going on, you might be a new dog owner. We saw that with COVID right? Kind of like goes back to 2001 and 2000, 2001, when a lot of people lost their jobs and were going into the pet industry. And then during COVID right, we saw all the COVID pups and some really cool, great inventions have come out of it and some fun businesses have come out of it. So I'm not knocking it. We welcome everybody to the pet industry.
Just want you to do your due diligence and really take your time to figure out if what you're going to do in the pet industry is going to be viable. If it's been done before, maybe you have a better idea way to do it and that's okay, too. But you know, I think that really networking, figuring out, talking to the right people, you know, I go a lot to a lot of consumer pet expos and I meet brand new, like, super green, you know, want to, want to be pet professionals. And I start asking them questions like, when did you launch? When are you thinking of launching? Maybe it's a treat company and they don't know all the, you know, ins and outs of all the things they have to get approved, right?
Or maybe it's something that they have to, you know, pay attention to as far as a product goes. Like you said, safety goes into a lot of things. Or they just don't know, like, they've never heard of, like, all the trade shows that go on in our industry. They don't know any of the trade magazines. So, like, I always try to like, gently give them, like, you know, congratulate them on in their idea and their product or whatever it is that they're doing and then try to just give them a little bit of advice and say, hey, if you ever need to chat, just here's my card. I'm always happy to talk to you. So it Is quite interesting.
It.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: And we just wrapped up Global.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: That's probably one of the biggest.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Yes, Global and Super Zoo, I think they're about the same size wise. But yeah, both shows are massive shows and it's a huge undertaking for everybody that is putting on the show, going to the show, being an exhibitor at the show. So.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I, I was able to go last year and it was like, oh, it felt almost like, oh, I wish I could have gone again this year.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Because it is. I think I was seeing a lot of people too. They were like, I couldn't make it this year.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: I know I had planned on going. I was gonna go for like a day and a half. I didn't go last year, but I went 13 years in a row previous.
So last year I was like, I'm taking a break from work, travel. I just need a break. And then this year I was excited to go, but then I ended up adopting a puppy and the shelter was like, he's gonna be ready this week. And I was like, well, I guess I'm missing Global. There goes global.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: So, well, where do you see.
Where do you see owners that, that sometimes are confusing all of this, you know, being busy, thinking they're doing all the right things, missing those blind spots, but where is that and how they're actually losing that progress?
[00:09:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, you know, busyness in any business, you know, might feel like you're being successful while I'm so busy. But if you're not tackling the hard tasks first, the ones that maybe you don't want to tackle in the morning, if you get those done, if you set a proper schedule, you know, you're. I remember getting up at like 5am in the morning when I started my business, you know, and getting as much work as done as I could before 10am So I could. I had other things that I was doing. You know, I was freelancing, doing public relations. I was pet sitting. I was doing all these things as I was launching this business, you know, way back in 2009.
So you have to, you know, where your priorities are. Maybe posting social media posts are a priority and we all get sucked into that. Unless you have a social media team. Right. You have to set schedule. It's really important to set the schedule as you're launching your business. And that is also something that can be harder because there are so many distractions nowadays.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: I was just about to say too. But it's not just setting it to get started. It's Maintaining it also. And keeping that habit and. Yeah, and, and maintaining that. And it is, I mean, I know I, I, I go, I have notebooks and four, you know, stuff here and stuff there and it's like, okay, what do I have to do? And it's so easy working on three screens to go, oh, I'll just take a minute over here and do this. Next thing you know, you got 40 tabs open and you're like, yes, where was I?
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Right?
[00:10:52] Speaker A: What was I doing?
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Kind of like the old school something
[00:10:55] Speaker A: and fixing and fixing and fixing and it just goes on and on and on.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Why did I go into this tab? It's like going into a room. Why am I in here? I also think that, you know, if you're a younger business and you can hire to help offset the things that you're not good at, hire faster than waiting. It might be scary. Even if you hire part time, an outside contractor to do whatever it is that you need to do that you are not good at is going to help grow your business faster. Make sure you do a lot of interviewing and make sure that you have find the right person. You'll probably go through a few people until you find that right person. It's just the way it is. Yeah, but I think that's really important is that, you know, finding somebody that can help you offset and be a team member even if they're part time.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. We gotta take a break. But up next we are going to be talking more about what Nancy just said.
What businesses get wrong to what they need most right now in the evolving industry. Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to the business of pet care. Want more of what you're watching?
Stay connected to the business of pet care. And every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand. You can download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or ISO for bilingual programming in English and Spanish. You can also catch the podcast at NowMedia TV. Now Media TV is streaming around the clock, ready wherever you are. And welcome back again to the business of pet care. I am Dara Forleo. And once you understand all those blind spots that you are running into that you may not have even known about, the next question becomes what do you actually need right now to operate more effectively, to be able to compete and grow with more stability? We kind of started talking about it. Nancy, welcome back.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: What do you think?
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Happy to be hiring, right?
Yeah.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Hiring is, you know, it can be, I think very nerve wracking.
And I also think that, you know, finding the right person, definitely. You need to take your time and finding the right person.
Some people say, you know, hire fast and fire fast, but I personally don't like that. I would rather find the right person. Take a little bit longer to find the right person.
You know, you are going to go through a few people until you find that right person. I would say if you're going to hire somebody, make sure that you really put the proper job description for what they're going to be helping you with.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Huge. That is so huge. You're not just hiring someone to fill a spot, you're bringing somebody into your business, which is so personal.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. And also, you know, really make sure that your work description is not like four pages long. I see the posts on LinkedIn. Sometimes I'm like, that you're trying to hire like six people.
Like what? You know, like maybe parts of it are all, you know, there's only part here, part here, part. But sometimes I see these very long job descriptions and I'm like, how can one person do that amount of work for your company and do it well? So, you know, if you have to hire two people to fill two different roles, you know, find somebody that is really good at the role that you're looking to hire and put those contracts together. Make sure that you have everything in writing between each other so that there's no surprise on either person's end. And I think that will set you up for success.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Yeah, that is. That is huge.
We see it all the time. Too long, drawn out and it's.
You can't. You gotta. You gotta know exactly what you're hiring for.
What are business owners asking for today that they weren't asking for five years ago?
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Oh, gosh.
To be successful overnight. No.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: Yeah, to clone. Clone ourselves.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Right.
What are they asking for today? You know, I feel like it's kind of the same, honestly, than five years ago. Other than that, I think pet people coming into the pet industry, like we said before, are thinking about the big numbers, so they expect to be successful right away.
I think a lot of it is still true. It takes five years to prove your business before. You know, some people make profit faster, some people don't.
It depends on your business model. What are you trying to do? I think there's a lot of anticipation of people throwing something out there, not having extra expertise in something, maybe having a couple of years experience and then saying that they are, you know, an expert in this. And unfortunately, you do see that. And that's not just the pet industry. And I never want to, like, downplay anybody. I want to tell them, like, keep going for it.
But, like, I've done PR for the pet industry. I did PR for 14 years. I never called myself a PR expert. Other people did.
So. And I was like, well, not really, but thank you. You know, I did a good job at what I did when I did it. But, you know, I think that you have to be humble. And also with being humble, you don't want to be. You don't want to tamper down your own talent as well.
So I think that's something that a lot of pet professionals, you know, are nervous about. Like, maybe they don't want to be on camera or they don't want to do this, they don't want to do that. And I'm like, you have to represent your business in your own way.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: So think a lot are this, this big play on authenticity and, and the videos and. And TikTok thinking that you have to have that presence to be able to even be a spotlight video spotlight business.
I just.
There's so many places, platforms out there right now that are like, sucking and dividing your time.
And I just see that.
It's crazy.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: You know, I think that, you know, if you're a pet professional and your goal is to be seen more on social media, make one video, hire somebody, or use a platform that distributes to the social media platforms all at the same time, boom, bing, bam, you're done.
If you're stuck on, you know what content to have, look at content you've used before, pull out snippets of that. You know, we have AI now that can dice and splice things very quickly.
It's not always perfect, but, you know, you have to start somewhere. And I think that it can be very overwhelming.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that it is. It's very overwhelming. I know, because we do it ourselves. And I feel like, oh, my gosh, am I redoing content again instead of trying to figure out how to reutilize it better?
But I have also said, you know what? I'm not doing TikTok.
I'm not doing Instagram.
I have a presence on there, but I'm just not doing it because we just don't get enough return on it. Yeah, I think we're gonna have figuring out the platforms, where the returns are. Like, I'm definitely a lot more keyed in now on LinkedIn than on any of them.
So understanding where your market is and who. What to do that, that's huge. Do you think there are Certain types of businesses that are more prepared for the market today than others.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: I think it's easier to be prepared in that we have a lot more platforms. When I started my business, there was no platform for a membership based business or anything like that. So I definitely think we're more, you know, more. Have more platforms and it's quicker to get a website done. I think those type of things, there should be no reason. Yes, it might not be perfect. You're always going to be working on your website. There's always going to be back end work.
If you have a web designer, you're always going to be like, you know,
[00:19:35] Speaker A: asking them for help, always working on your website.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Right. There's always going to be that, there's always going to be updates. But I think it's a lot easier to get something on, you know, presence out there now.
It's still going to take time to get something trademarked. Right. If you're looking to trademark your name or your logo, make sure that you don't forget things, you know, make sure that your URLs are on autopay and have that perfect credit card for it set aside for your business. Because, you know, years ago we were being at a trade show and somebody was trying to show me their website and they didn't pay their URL annual fee and was freaking out and it was the middle of a trade show and had to go like, go back and get the team ready. And I was like, oh geez. And you know, you get overwhelmed as a business owner and listen, we're all human, we all make mistakes. But all those things are automated now. So there's so many more things that are automated that make our lives easier.
All of the technology that's out there, of course, we love tech until it doesn't work right.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: Then we're yelling and cussing at it.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Yep, yep.
So I, I think that, you know, make a list, figure out what it is that you want to get out in the next, say you're launching a business, you know, this year. Make a list and put those goals on when you hope your website will be done, when this is going to be done next, when that is going to be done next. And don't overwhelm yourself and it'll get done. Before you know it, you'll be in business and you'll be like, wow, I can't believe I got all that done. I think that it's a much easier for that than, you know, it was 20 years ago.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: It totally is.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: Yeah. How about trends in the pet industry. What do you mean? Which part of the trends?
[00:21:13] Speaker A: Oh, geez, I don't even know. I mean, any, any that you're seeing that owners should be really be playing. Paying close attention to right now.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: You know, I think that the trends are like certain things with trends in the pet industry. I always say this, like, it's kind of like this. It goes up and down. So for example, what I mean by that is years ago, pet tech was like having, you know, it's. It was coming about, you saw more products and then it kind of dipped a little bit. Now it's coming back again. So you see those trends with pet technology and more streamlined things and easier to use for pet parents. There's a lot of apps out there for pet parents to, you know, utilize. There's a lot of things like that, I think for the trends when you're thinking about like wellness and care and health care. When it comes to products, there's a lot more information in that. Not just for food, but in grooming or I'm sure, you know, there's a lot more certifications that groomers can get to be more of a wellness groomer. Um, there's a lot of things along those way, those way, that way. The other thing I think is like, the pet. The pet industry is so big that it depends on what area you're going into. If you're deciding I'm going to be a dog trainer, you know, or I'm going to be a groomer, you really have to do your research and figure out what are pet parents looking for right now? Not the owners, the business owners, but what are pet parents looking for right now when it comes to training, when it comes. I think a lot of pet parents are super overwhelmed with the amount of information that is out there. And that is also a burden for the pet business owner. You have to be the educator in the niche that you're in with your pet business.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: That is so true. So true. And there is also. There's. There's a lot of great information out there and there is a lot of bad information out there too.
And trying to, to help them weed all of that. Because as you know, nothing in our industries are regulated.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: And it, it's still like the wild west of everything out there. It's just you said I could be an expert in this. I did it great once.
Now I'm an expert in it.
Oh, that can get scary. So. So you have so much to bring here.
We have to take a break. But before we do Tell everyone real quick, where can we find you? Where can they find you? How can they join?
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Sure. Like you, I am on LinkedIn the most. That's where I have been since 2008. But if you want to go to our website, It's American Pet Professionals.com you can find out so much information there. We also have blog posts and videos and all kinds of information on there about the pet industry to help people.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: I have seen a lot of transformations in your website over the last few years.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: So thank you. Yeah, it's a lot of work.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: Yes, it is. Okay, stay tuned. We will be right back.
Welcome back to the business of pet care. Don't miss a second of this show or any of your NOW media favorites. So streaming live and on demand anytime.
Grab the free Now Media TV app on Roku or ISO or listen to the podcast at NowMedia TV. Now Media TV is streaming 24 7. My dogs are starting to bark and that's always distracting.
Welcome back. We are here with the business of pet care. And what would it be without dogs barking in the background?
Or is it just me that's hearing it?
So we kind of started in with it, Nancy, just a bit ago talking about credibility, trust and the kind of reputation that, that really leads to, the referrals and, and long term growth.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: What, what makes, what makes a pet business credible today?
[00:25:37] Speaker B: I think the same thing that's always made it credible. Right.
Being professional in your pet business. Right. That's, I think that's really important. The pet industry is a lot of fun, but pet parents are always looking for that person to be the source of information that they're going to. So let's say you have a retail store and maybe you, you know, are a, like a raw food feeding store. I would make sure that you have, you know, all the knowledge and experience for the raw food feeding in your store. Right. Make sure that you know what you're talking about. I think, you know, building credible is credibility is really important. Right. What do they say? You know, once you break that trust with somebody, it's really hard to get it back.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:22] Speaker B: So I think being professional, being courteous, being kind, you know, the pen industry can get like, you know, tough in some spots. Right. If you're in dog training, the dog training world can be tough where people don't believe certain things.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: I've always said for me, I'm more of middle of the road kind of person. I like to not weigh too much in on everybody else's and just show what I know. And my expertise and if I don't know it, and this is the same for any pet industry pet person that owns a business, you can bring somebody into your business that will help your clients out that is an expert in that area.
If somebody comes into your store and asks like, hey, you know, we're having some issues with our dog for dog training, do you know anybody? You know, the more people that you can recommend that is going to be the best solved person to solve that problem. And of course, that's not your job. Right. You have a pet store, you're trying to sell products, but that's going to bring that person back to your store every time.
So I think it's really important to, you know, be the educator in your pet business, bring in educators. Right. If you are looking to serve the public and serve pet owners.
And again, if you're not the expert in like let's say pet nutrition, bring somebody into your store to talk about it that is, that can talk about the products. I'm not talking just a sales rep. I'm talking like somebody that's been in pet nutrition that's certified for over a decade that can talk to your audience, your customers about all of that. The same thing with a groomer. And if you are a groomer, right. And I put that client is saying, well, what do I do with my dog in between grooming appointments? You know, give them the tools and understanding so that your job is easier when they do bring their dog back. I think there's so many things that you can do and just to stand out.
But great customer service to me is going to stand out. I don't care if you're a business to business in the pet industry, if you're service orientated, if you have a storefront, the best customer service, getting back to people right away. I know it might be really hard.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: If you can get back to somebody within that 24 hours, they're going to go, wow. That's usually what people say to me. They'll say, wow, I can't believe you got back to me so fast.
[00:28:40] Speaker A: That it is, you know, we're such a need for instant right now that everyone is is looking. They didn't respond back. They didn't text me back right away. They didn't respond to my email yet. They haven't messaged me back on Facebook or wherever it is that they're looking for that instant gratification.
So it is really important also to, to say give your window of how long you expect to get back to Them because if, if you can't do it instantly, I know we, we battled it at the salon. You know, people want to call and make an appointment.
Sometimes they just want to have a conversation before they schedule appointment. They don't always want to do it online. Yeah, sometimes I don't want to do that with my hairdresser. Sometimes I'm like, oh, you know what? I'm ready for a style change.
I don't know what to book.
So I got a call and if I have to wait 42 hours because they're not going to return calls, then I'm going to look for somebody potentially who's going to pick up the phone right away and answer my questions.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: Yeah, that goes back to hiring somebody that can help you with the task that you can't do. And like, I understand if you are, especially if you're in grooming, it's so hard to have that, you know, but like you said, if you, if you don't have the time to chat with somebody or somebody dedicated while you're grooming, maybe you're a solo groomer running your own shop. You can have a voicemail set up and say, well, somebody will get, we're grooming a dog. Somebody will get back to you within 24 hours. You, you know, something like that, or by the end of the day.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: It's that simple. I mean, but not doing it is when those expectations and that customer service gets dropped.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: And you also have to set those boundaries for yourself, especially smaller businesses, whether you're a team of one, a team of 10, you know, you have to let them know, you know, we don't answer emails on the weekend or you don't answer emails in the evening, which I know kind of sounds silly because what we just said, you have to get back to people right away, but it doesn't mean you need to be on your computer or responding to people 24 7, unless it's an emergency, unless you're in that type of business, maybe you're a veterinarian that does need to get back to somebody right away. It's, you know, it really depends on what your business is. But you have to set those boundaries, otherwise you are going to burn out as a pet business owner really quick.
So for me, I don't answer emails on the weekends and I let people know that, you know, so sometimes I'm like, I put bounce backs on me weekend emails when I know, like, we're in a busy season and I'm like, I need to not look at my email and I need to, for people to realize. I'll get back to you on Monday.
So, you know, setting those boundaries is really important.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: That really helps with your, your reputation.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: What are some signals that tell you a business is
[00:31:40] Speaker B: really
[00:31:43] Speaker A: chasing that attention? What, what do you see anything in, in that.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: Well, what do you mean chasing attention in what way?
[00:31:52] Speaker A: They they're trying to get building for that, that those huge moments building for that clientele to come in, building for, for that there. And it's just like constant, constant, constant on, on social media. Like I'm bombarded sometimes from companies with emails.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: And it's just like seriously, I'm off.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: So I think, you know, email can be funny. I think that it depends on like you said, setting up expectations. I sent out, I subscribed to an email not pet industry. And it was supposed to be one email every Tuesday. And I got bombarded and I unsubscribed from all but Tuesday. And I wrote to said listen, I love your stuff but this, you basically said to sign up, you'll only get one email on a Tuesday. And I have 15 emails from you in four days. So it was kind of crazy. But now we just get the Tuesday email and it's fine.
You know, you just have to set that precedent as well. And I think that, you know, it depends on what it is that there. Is it a launch? Are they launching something? Is it an event coming up? How many emails are coming up to that? So I think it really depends on what it is it
[00:33:03] Speaker A: any of your. I'm going to ask some of your, your businesses that you've, you've worked with or some of your members that have really built a strong credibility that you're like, oh my God, this company is amazing. They've done such a great job. And any secrets that they did or anything special did.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: I don't know if I have secrets, but I think it's, you know, goes back down to working hard. One of our members, Marshall is the co founder of I Heart Dog, which I'm sure you've heard of.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:33] Speaker B: And he. They built their business from the ground up. They did all the work themselves. So I give them so much credit. They're very down to earth, very nice professional people. We have a lot of members like that of people have gone from. I remember when they had a prototype and I met them in New York City and then they sold their business or you know, for millions of dollars. Like I've seen it run the gamut, depend on what it is.
I think it's hard work. I think it's again setting those boundaries. If you're trying seen on social and email I think you have to really curtail what you're sending out. How many emails? I've been sending an email out since 2008 called the pet events newsletter once a week. I don't bombard people. It's not salesy, it's about events that are going on. Every once in a while I'll have something come up and I'll send another email out. 2 I list, it's not always the same full list.
My unsubscribe rate is below 0.1% like if I get one person on because I built that credibility. I didn't bombard people. I'm not trying to sell them everything under the sun. It's valuable information, it's educational information, it's fun information. Right. So I think that goes for anybody that's sending out an email that is doing anything with social media.
You know I personally don't like the, the replies on social media where it's like we're not in right now or thanks for reaching out to us. The auto dms. I hate those. I think it's because you might be DMing with somebody that you know and then you're getting the auto DM on there and you're like oh my gosh, I can't stand those. I don't think it's necessary.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: Okay, that's good to know. We have our set up but I'm never on, I, I just never on there. And so I was just like I think for DMing us here, come email us.
[00:35:18] Speaker B: Right. I think if you're a really big company, you know to have those auto DMs I totally get that but for small businesses it just seems impersonal to me.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah we, we've been staying off of that social. Yeah, that's just.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: And I'm the opposite. I love tick tock all the things.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Yeah, see I just, I guess I gotta embrace it but not there yet. Maybe a little old fashioned in that way.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Yep. I spoke about TikTok at Global Pet Expo in 2022 and everybody was really still scared of it. We had so much fun in that session but it was so educational and we had standing room only. Everybody wanted to learn about TikTok. So you know it's funny because it was years ago and people were like oh I'm not on that. Oh my God. And now it's like everybody has flocked there. So it's really Kind of funny.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: That's great.
Well, we're going to take another break here, but I do want to ask one more time. Where can people find you? Give us all your info.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. American Pet Professionals.com is our website. If you're on LinkedIn and you want to connect, just go to Nancy Hassle on LinkedIn. Search me in there and I'll connect with you there. And we are also on Instagram at, at American Pet Pros.
[00:36:35] Speaker A: Very good, thank you. Up next, we are going into our final segment and we are going to talk about businesses that moves pet owners and what can be done right now that they can do to make stronger and a more sustainable business.
Welcome back to the business of pet care. Do not miss a second of this show on NOW Media tv, streaming live and on demand and anytime. And don't forget you can grab that app on Roku or ISO and listen to the podcast at NowMedia TV. We are streaming 24 7, so the stories and the people and everything that you want to hear and learn more about are always within your reach.
And we are back on the business of pet care with Nancy Hassell. And in this final segment, we are focusing on some practical advice. Not that nothing we have been talking about has not been practical by any means, but if you are wanting to just stop spinning in that hamster wheel and you want to really start building, I think Nancy's got a wealth of knowledge in this. Working with so many different, that's what is really neat about what you do, Nancy.
You work with so many different types of types of businesses. Your, your organization is not just focused on, on boarding and daycare and, and you you uncover, you cover everyone.
[00:38:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I know it seems a little crazy, right, when you hear people say you should only niche down and do one thing. But when we started, you know, back in the day in 2008 and 2000, I couldn't go to the trade shows. I was not media, I wasn't a buyer, I didn't have a pet store. I, and you know, so like I really wanted to go to all of those type of, you know, shows and the things and I, you know, it makes sense why they have parameters of who they're having at the show. Totally makes sense. But I really wanted an overarching education for business owners because I was me meeting so many people coming into the pet industry that, you know, maybe they had a full time corporate career for 30 years and they just lost their job or, you know, we were in the middle of a recession and people were losing their jobs back in 2008 and 2009. And I happen to be at a another entrepreneurial event speaking about how to get your business in the news. And I was like, I could host one of these networking events not realizing all the work that was going to go into it. And that's just kind of how it started. And really just being able to help business owners understand, you know, what it's like going into business and working in the pet industry. Because we are different, we are working with people's animals. If you are hands on with a pet, right. Or if you're creating a product, you're still working with people's animals.
And even though we are focused on cats and dogs, I would say that one of the main things is, and I said this before, but is also, you know, repetitive in that you have to have really great customer experience. I'll give you an example. One year speaking at it was either I think of asked this in Super Zoo and Global. In the session I said, how many people here went into the pet industry to work with pets? Everybody raise your hand. And the whole room raised their hand because everybody went into. I said, okay, how many people here went into the pet industry to work with people?
And one session I had like 100 people in the room and four people raised their hand and I said, until the dog has a little tag on their collar and they're walking through the store buying their own stuff, you have to focus on the people because that is who you're selling to.
So that would be no matter what your business that would be. My practical advice is to understand your customer avatar, who it is that you're trying to sell to, whether it's business to business, whether it's that dog grooming, whether it's pet products, whether it's training, what is that person looking for and how are you selling the problem? How are you selling the solution to their problem? Right.
And how can you do it in a really good way that you're showing how much that you care about them and the problem that you know, you want to solve. I think that, you know, understanding that as a business owner in that like we just talked about Global Pet Expo was last week, right. And there's a lot of pets at Global, but you're talking to the people, you're not talking to the pets. You might say hello to the pet, of course.
[00:41:39] Speaker A: Right, right. Yeah, yeah.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: But you're selling and talking to the people, you're understanding their needs.
What you know, what does that person need? That's Coming into your pet store. Oh my God. I just got a new puppy. I just got a new puppy. I haven't had a puppy puppy in 21 years.
So while it's all coming back to me, at first I was like, I haven't had like my last dog I adopted 11 months. He was still puppy. But not at that stage. Right, Right. You have to think about it in those things. What is the practical things that people are coming to you to ask. And sometimes people get confused by that. And I'm like, well what do you think about what are your frequently asked questions from your customers? And that will help you understand coming up with that education, that advice, that content, all things.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: I, I try to tell it to the groomers every day. I'm like, not every person with a dog is your client.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: True.
[00:42:30] Speaker A: You it. Not everybody's gonna fit your, your environment, your salon, your, your just you've got to know what kind of person or what kind like you said avatar, your customer Persona and, and think about and, and I know I, I talk to a lot of groomers who are like my what I can, I don't have to take every single person. I can create my own and like niche myself. I'm like, yeah, you, you can. Yeah, you should.
Yeah.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: I think it's so important too to think about that that not every customer is for you and that's okay. What the next customer is going to be for you. And that I think is a hard for a lot of businesses in the beginning. It's a hard lesson learned. It was a hard lesson learned for me, you know, when I first started. Yeah. But I think that, you know, me working with all different kinds of pet professionals, a lot of what the problems are, are very similar, right?
[00:43:35] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:35] Speaker B: Businesses. Yes. There are some things that are niche down. We have had, you know, dog trainers and sessions for that. We've done dog grooming stuff. We've done stuff for pet like everything under the sun. But when it comes down to all the practicalities of a business, everybody does have similar problems. No matter what your business is totally
[00:43:54] Speaker A: business is still business.
[00:43:56] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: Whether you're in the pet industry or not, it doesn't matter. As a business owner, everything is the same.
[00:44:03] Speaker B: I mean, right.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: If you have employees, you're going to have the same problems.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: You're going to have those bumps in
[00:44:09] Speaker A: the road and you gotta figure it out.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: But sometimes you can hire people to help you figure those out too. Because there are people who have been in your situation.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:44:22] Speaker A: And that's, that's not a bad thing to have somebody and go, I need help with this and that.
[00:44:27] Speaker B: You know what? That's one of the things that we do at our organization is we have masterminds, we have networking and we all come together to help each other out. When there is an issue, somebody comes and said, this is what happened, and we all jump in and help out. You know, that's just on a different level besides education. That's something that we do because somebody's been there before you and has gone through that and this is how I handle it. It might not be the exact same way you're going to handle it, but this might be helpful for you.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: Yeah, that. That's amazing. That is something that's really good.
Do you. Have you seen over the years any habits or systems that have separated the businesses from the ones that have.
Have really lasted and blossomed to those that have just kind of fizzled away?
[00:45:12] Speaker B: I think it depends on who is running the business. Right.
If you have that go getter that's. That's somebody that is like, my business is going to be successful and they're going to go after everything and try and do everything. They are going to be successful. I think there are some people that are going to have excuses for everything and you can't change their mind no matter what.
What Depends on what it is. Right. But they might. You. I hear the excuses from a mile away.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:38] Speaker B: I'll tell you this. Really something funny.
[00:45:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Somebody in our organization. I'm not going to call them out, but it. She's very talented at what she does. And I said, oh, I wish I could do that. And she said, well, all you have to do is practice. It was like artistic. And I was like, oh. I was like, that's true. But I don't know if I'd ever have your talent because you're so talented at what you do. And then she gives a little bit technology challenge, as she likes to say. I like to give air quotes. And I said, well, you know, you just have to practice at it and you'll get better.
I said, that's your own advice.
[00:46:11] Speaker A: Take your.
Absolutely. We all got.
[00:46:14] Speaker B: That is all of our own excuses for something.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: A huge thing. The stuff that I hear a lot of is I'm so busy and I don't have.
I'm not tech savvy. I don't know anything about technology. It's like you can groom a beautiful dog.
You didn't start.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Beautiful dogs in your first week of being in business. Right?
[00:46:42] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:46:43] Speaker A: You grew you.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: But it's always the people that say they're not tech savvy that are doing things on their phone all day and then you are tech savvy. You just don't realize it. Yeah, yeah.
[00:46:54] Speaker A: We have a technology basics, so.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: Because really, like, is this the right person for us? Can you operate and function on a phone app?
[00:47:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: It's so funny, but oh, my goodness. Yeah, well, it's.
Business is business, man. You are doing some great things. You have a lot. I went before because we got a few more minutes before we wrap up, but tell us a little bit more about your business. What. What is it that you're offerings?
[00:47:29] Speaker B: Thank you. Well, yeah, I mean, so we're 17 years in business that I said earlier. And we basically provide education, networking, we do multimedia. So I have a TV background. I'm always attracted to media.
I see things with media and I jump in and I figure out who this would be good for. And some people that I know really well with our members and I'll say that might not be good for you, might not be your forte.
One of the things I will say is with everything that we do for our members, we've never tried to be a huge, massive organization where our members are going to be a number. You know, I get to know my members very well so that when I'm having conversations with other people in the pet industry, even outside of the pet industry, I'll say, wow, I know five people for you. Or these are the members that I want to introduce you to.
So we host monthly networking, as I said before, we host monthly webinars. So every month there's an educational webinar and anybody that joins our organization can go back to 2018 and watch any of the webinars. You name it, we have covered it.
And we have a lot of times experts in our own membership that come in and do the webinars, people that I work with in and out of the industry, Right. Because I see things and I see gaps and I see where people might be struggling. I always ask my members, what do you need to learn about where you're struggling? What do you need help in? Every year I do that and get that feedback and go from there. I also like to pay attention to what's going on in and outside of the pet industry. As far as trends, like you said before, what's happening, you know, in businesses, I go to other conferences that have nothing to do with pets. So I'm paying attention to what's going on so I can bring that information back to them. When I first came out November 2022, I was like, there is no way that this isn't plagiarized. And I tested it and tested it and went down the rabbit hole. And I said, okay, my members need to learn how to use this. So it's ethically. And, oh, and by the way, you've been using AI for years, you know, but they didn't realize it.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: They'd never realized.
[00:49:33] Speaker B: So those kind of things really just helping them out with anything that they need to know. And if I can't do it, I hire an expert and they come in and do it.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: That's amazing.
I appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for bringing all of this and talking about it to everyone watching. If your business feels active but not effective, the problem is probably not the effort that you're putting into it. It is probably the structure, the positioning and. And just the habits that you have really looked at and that have become so normal.
This is the business of pet care. I have been joined by Nancy Hassell today, and I am Derrick Forleo, and we will see you next time.
