This is something I see on pretty much 99% of pet business websites but could make ALL the difference in how many clients book with you moving forward.
I’m telling you this mistake is costing you lots of pet sitting, dog walking, dog training, pet photography clients - you name it!
Here’s the mistake: Waiting to respond to inquiries when you get to your desk next, or up to 24 hours later.
Why is this a mistake?
When you aren’t the 1st one to respond to an inquiry, you're leaving your competitors to be the potential client’s saving grace while you’re away from your desk. In other words, they'll already be on to the next business.
Let’s get into an example of what I see on most pet business websites.
Say we have another dog mom who is filling out contact forms on 2 different websites - yours and a competitor’s. On your website, she submits the form and sees a notification pop up underneath the ‘Submit’ button that says the message was submitted and that your company will get back to her within 24 hours. Awesome.
Next, she decides to also submit the form on your competitor’s website. Instead of getting the same success message, not only does she receive an email response immediately, but she is also redirected to another page on the website that allows her to learn more, move forward, schedule a call, and goes over what to expect along the whole process.
So, naturally, she begins the next steps of the process and is well on her way to scheduling with your competitor.
Skip forward 20 hours later (heck maybe even like five hours later).
You’re finally at your computer doing your admin time and you respond to her about the next steps and ask if she’d like to set up a call, but you never hear back. It’s crickets.
Wanna know what happened?
She deleted your email and has already moved forward with your competitor.
This happens ALL the time. You finally respond to inquiries, but then you never hear from them again. It’s crickets. It’s not because they changed their mind and no longer need a sitter or dog trainer. Let’s be real. You think they’re magically going to leave their dog at home alone now or all of a sudden, their dog is an angel and doesn’t need any training?
No!! It’s because they’ve already moved forward with someone who helped them faster.
So, imagine this…
Instead you get yourself an automatic inquiry responder that redirects form submissions to another website page (and sends them a welcome email) that allows them to move forward, schedule a call, and goes over what to expect. Since she’s already in the groove of wanting to book this service, she begins work on the next steps, schedules the call, and creates an account on your booking software - She’s ready to go!
And now, she’s more invested and more likely to move forward. Why?
Because of the Cialdini Commitment Concept.
In essence, once someone makes a small commitment, they’ve become more invested and will therefore be more likely to continue moving forward.
So, by meeting your dream client’s needs (when they want them met) and creating an up-leveled onboarding experience for them, more leads will come to your business. It’s really as simple as that.
Our free masterclass for dog walkers and pet sitters will teach you how to do just that - meet your dream client’s needs every step of the way! By the end of the class, you’ll understand how to seamlessly onboard clients, and not just any clients, but the right dreamy ones. Watch the free masterclass right here.
Or, if you know you want help piecing all of this together, step-by-step with all the templates to do it, check out Unleashed Website Academy! We’ve got the website templates and onboarding strategy for you - all you have to do is customize, plug it all together, and boom - you’re good to go. Learn more about UWA here.
