Be on Time! Small Things Can Mean Huge Profits

A lot of the dog trainers that I consult with through my personal coaching programs believe that if they are going to make huge changes and gain huge profits in their dog training business then they must make huge efforts to do so. In some cases I'm sure that can be accurate. For the most part, though, huge profit gains are achieved through finding small advantages.

Allow me to give you one example of a small thing that has earned me thousands of dollars this year alone.

Here in Utah, as in your neck of the woods, there are lots of dog trainers. Amongst all of these dog trainers I can be considered 'a new kid on the block'. My business has been around for only about three years so my reputation is still growing.

There is one trainer here locally, though, who has been around for a long time. He is definitely one of the most tenured trainers in the state. In fact, from all I've been told, he is a good trainer as well. He has one major downfall, though. He is always late and unreliable in keeping appointments. People complain that he may show up hours after a set appointment or even not show up without calling. This is obviously very frustrating and annoying.

So how does his lack of promptness earn me money? Simple. This trainer has been around for years. What that means is that he had clients a decade or more ago. The dogs he trained back then have now passed away and those old clients now have new dogs who also need training. When they are considering a trainer of course they think of their experience they had years ago. What do they think of? They think of how well their dog was trained, the service they experienced, and how they felt when they were training with the previous trainer. If the service they received was lousy that is going to trump how well their dog was trained, how quickly their dog was trained, and a variety of other factors.

Here is how this trainer's lack of service has increased my bottom line:

- I signed one client who had previously trained with this other trainer. They acknowledged that their dog was trained well but the trainer was lousy at keeping appointments. They were busy people and they couldn't fathom hiring him again only to wait around for hours for him to show.

- I signed another client who had used this trainer in the past. He was always late and on the last session didn't even bother to show up without calling. This person was frustrated enough that they didn't even bother to call him to make good on the training he had already collected on. They even admitted that he seemed like a talented trainer but were so frustrated with his practices that they wouldn't hire him again.

- I signed one client whose neighbor had used this trainer. They said their neighbor's dog was well trained but that the neighbor complained of this trainer always showing up late.

- I signed a client who actually lived down the street from this trainer and knew his reputation as that of a good trainer. They knew him, however, as unreliable so they decided to go with me instead.

If this trainer had only been on time he would have these four clients. His practices were so poor, though, that I ended up with these clients and thousands of dollars in revenue for simply showing up when I promised and doing a good job.

Focus on the small things because they can make some of the biggest differences in building your business.