Episode 252: How To Choose A Pet Sitting Software For Your Business

Choosing a pet sitting software is not an easy task. Maybe you're overwhelmed with all of the different options out there, or even tried them all but just can't decide. It's difficult to determine which features are important to YOU and then to match those needs up with software. In this episode of Bella In Your Business, I sit down with Kristin Young, where she shares her scientific process for successfully choosing a pet sitting software to use in your pet business. Kristin spent 20 years in corporate real estate and business. She "woke up" one day and realized she wanted to take control of her time and get away from the common cubicle. With two young kids and a supportive husband, she began the search for an income model that she could manage, grow, and LOVE. In January of 2019, she came across the opportunity to buy NOT ONE, but TWO cat-sitting companies, with the intent to merge them into a single business. Kristen uses her business experience to take a little of what she knows and a little of what she doesn't know to learn how to run a pet care business. One of the first steps was finding the RIGHT pet sitting software company. Show Highlights [5:30] - Who is Kristin Young? [8:00] - What was the driving force behind switching pet sitting software companies? [10:45] - Can you describe what an "RFP" is? [21:00] - How did you come up with the methodology for RFP and choosing a pet sitting software company? [19:15] - How long did you try each pet sitting software for? What advice would you have for someone that is stuck trying to choose a pet sitting software? [25:00] - Where can you find Kristin online? Links Kristin's Website: www.preciousfur.com Jump Consulting Facebook Group Let's Connect! Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’' Are You New Here? Welcome, I am so glad you are here. If you are a dog walker, dog sitter, cat sitter, doggy daycare, or kennel owner, then you found the right place. Jump Consulting is the one place on the internet to get all the resources you need for your pet care business. Can I give you some freebies to generate sales and increase revenues for your business? Grab your freebies below. Are you starting out? Been in business for less than two years? Get your startup resources here. Do you own an established pet care business and you want to take it to the next level.? Get Your builder resources here. Transcript: This is episode 252 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome jumpers to today's episode. Today's episode is very, very important. It is something that I've actually had a lot of conversations with you guys recently where you have been saying to me things like, how do I get all my leads organized? How do I land more leads? How do I understand how many miles my people are driving? How do I streamline the communications so that we are never missing anything happening when someone sends us a journal and we lose a thousand-dollar booking because I did not see that message come through? Guys, there is so much muck out there. There are so many muddy waters of people's systems and softwares, and a lot of softwares are actually working against my clients. My clients are wanting to do things one way, but their system is bucking against them. So friends, this is when you take a step back and honestly say, am I molding my business to the software company that I'm currently paying because I'm too afraid to switch? Or do I actually understand what my most important things are with my business, my growth, and my expansion—and get a software that helps assist that? Guys, I got news for you. A lot of the popular ones are actually working against my clients. Once they’ve realized this and made the switch and made the flip, things have skyrocketed. In today's episode, we're going to talk about choosing a pet sitting software that is going to help support your business and support your growth rather than work against you. Our guest today is going to help us with that. She is going to walk us through her experience of evaluating different software options and how she came to her decision. She’s also going to share her process and the lessons she learned along the way. Let’s dive right into it. The first step she took was identifying what she really needed in a software. She didn’t just jump into demos or free trials; she actually started with the end in mind. She asked herself what was most important for her business, what problems she needed to solve, and what features would make the biggest impact. From there, she created a spreadsheet to compare options. She started by listing all the available software she could find—everything from Precise Petcare, Time to Pet, Pet Sitter Plus, and others. Then she narrowed it down to a handful she could really dig into. Next, she developed ranking and weighting criteria to evaluate them. For example, one of her biggest priorities was key management, since in cat sitting, keys are constantly switching hands. Because of that, she weighted key management very heavily in her comparison. Price was another factor, but it wasn’t the most important one. All the options were within about $100 to $150 of each other monthly, so price didn’t influence her decision as much. What did matter was functionality, customer service, and ease of use. Once she had her ranking and weighting system built, she reached out to four or five of the software companies for interviews. She sent them her list of questions ahead of time to see who would take the time to prepare and respond thoroughly. Interestingly, two of them didn’t even look at her questions, which immediately disqualified them. The ones that did respond demonstrated that they cared about customer service and valued communication. After reviewing their answers, she conducted one-on-one interviews with the remaining software companies. Each interview lasted about an hour and a half, during which she and her team walked through every key feature and evaluated it against their criteria. She also created a Gantt chart to help visualize implementation timelines and transitions. Each feature was scored and weighted according to its importance. For example, key management might have an 80% weight, while price might only be 10%. That way, the final decision wasn’t just based on feelings—it was based on a quantitative analysis that reflected what was most important for her business. After all the research and interviews, she made her final selection and created an implementation plan. She even called the launch day “D-Day” because it was such a big event for her team. They ran both systems simultaneously for a short time to smooth out any errors and make sure the new software was running correctly before completely switching over. One key takeaway here is that she didn’t rush the process. From start to finish, it took her six months to complete the evaluation and implementation. She says that trying to do this in one or two weeks is unrealistic—you’ll only overwhelm yourself. But if you take your time and approach it strategically, you’ll feel confident in your decision. When asked if she was happy with her choice, she said yes—she was very happy. She narrowed it down to two major contenders: Precise Petcare and Time to Pet, both well-known in the pet sitting industry. Ultimately, she chose Precise Petcare because of its strong customer service and willingness to listen to users’ feedback. For example, one of her biggest pain points was communication between sitters and clients. She wanted her sitters to be able to communicate directly without her having to be the middleman. The team at Precise Petcare promised to work on improving that feature, and their responsiveness and openness to feedback were major deciding factors. However, she also mentioned that Time to Pet had a beautiful client interface, which she thought was more visually appealing from a customer’s perspective. In the end, though, she chose the option that best aligned with her priorities. She also pointed out that while she’s happy with her choice, she believes that the pet sitting software industry as a whole still has room to grow and improve. Her advice to other business owners? Communicate with your software company instead of just complaining. It’s easy to vent frustrations in Facebook groups or forums, but that doesn’t solve anything. Instead, have open, honest, and positive communication with your software provider. Tell them what you love about their product so they don’t remove those features, and clearly explain what needs improvement and why. For example, don’t just say, “I don’t like this button.” Instead, say, “My clients are struggling to find this button, which affects their ability to book services.” That kind of feedback helps software companies understand your needs and make meaningful changes. As pet business owners, it’s our responsibility to push software companies to innovate and evolve. We need to advocate for our industry’s needs in a constructive way that helps everyone grow. If you want to check out our guest’s business, you can find her at preciousfur.com. She’s also active in the Jump Consulting community on Facebook, where she shares tips and experiences with other pet sitting professionals. Cat sitting businesses can thrive,