Episode 305: 8 Ways To Stand Out From Your Pet Sitting Competition

Your hope as a business owner is to stand out from the competition and entice clients to choose you to work with, right? But you need to do just that, stand out! When there is a plethora of pet sitting or dog walking businesses to choose from, what sets yours apart from the rest? But do you know the right things you should be doing to stand out from the competition? Do you know what your website should look like and include? Or how about the type of relationships you should build that your competition probably isn't doing. When you know the right things to do to stand out from the competition, business will grow and succeed. This week I fill you in on 7 ways to stand out from your pet competition, with a bonus tip! Biggest Takeaways: 1:58 Beautiful Website 3:58 Show and Tell website 5:35 Anticipate questions 7:07 Do as you say and say what you mean 9:52 Genuinely figure out how to follow up 11:56 Be real on social media 13:17 Real face-to-face relationships with community leaders 13:56 Bonus! Veterinarian endorsements 16:45 Doors opening up soon... Recommendations: Planning ahead is the biggest strength when it comes to running a successful business. In Better Marketing With Bella, planning ahead has never been easier. With 6 months' worth of marketing content created for you, you get to focus on growing and scaling your business. Better Marketing With Bella stands out from the competition while keeping you on track with your marketing needs. Doors are opening soon for 2023! Links: Better Marketing With Bella Bella Vasta Instagram Mastermind Group Transcript This is episode 305 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! Here we go. Welcome everybody to episode 305 of Bella in Your Business. Today we're going to talk about something where we really want to make sure that you stand out. It's not just a matter of being the first person who answers the phone when people call around looking for your service. It's not a question of whether your website worked. I want your customers to fall over themselves to sign up for you. They should be the kind of customers who plan their vacations around you if you're a pet sitter, or who completely trust you to come at whatever time of day to walk their dog because you are the best and there’s no one else they’d ever want to trust with their baby. Today, we're going to talk about seven ways that you can stand out from the competition. These are intangible feelings—things you can’t touch. These are emotions that we get to evoke in people that turn them into raving fans who tell others about us and who truly love our brand. I want you to think about a company or a restaurant that you absolutely love—one where it doesn’t matter how much it costs or what they require of you; your answer is yes. You just love the way they do business so much that you get excited to give them money. Wow, what a concept. Imagine if your clients were excited to give you money every week or month. 1. Have a Beautiful, Intentional Website Your website needs to be beautiful—and that means hiring someone with a design eye. Templates are a good start, but you can always elevate beyond them. Most people are used to seeing a standard look and feel online, so when you change it up and give them something different, it grabs their attention. There’s also something called user experience (UX). I once wrote a blog about why Rover is beating professional pet sitters—and it’s because of their user experience. You can get on Rover, much like Uber, book what you need, and be done in minutes. Many pet sitting and dog walking businesses make the process so convoluted that it stops the sales flow multiple times. The user experience should be fast, simple, and satisfying—like, “Yes! I did it. I finally have a pet sitter, and it only took me three minutes!” Your website isn’t just about what it says—it’s about how it looks, how it feels, and the experience it provides. 2. Create a Show-and-Tell Website That Evokes Emotion Don’t make your site boring or all about you. Make it about your clients—their problems, their pets, their needs. Have fun, interactive visuals—videos that are aesthetically pleasing and immersive. For instance, when you show how you communicate with clients through visit notes, display it inside a mock phone screen as if the viewer were scrolling through a conversation. You could also include top-performing Reels on your services page—something like a fun dog walk reel embedded right into your website. Everyone knows video works, but hardly anyone is doing it right. 3. Anticipate Their Questions and Answer Them Before They Ask This builds massive trust. When people interact with your brand, they naturally start wondering, “What if this happens?” or “How do they handle that?” One of my favorite phrases was, “Our clients love to know that we work as a team and back each other up.” If their primary sitter is ever sick or on vacation, the team jumps in to help. Phrases like that reassure clients that you’ve already thought of everything—and that they don’t have to go into panic mode over the “what ifs.” 4. Do What You Say and Say What You Mean This goes hand in hand with the previous point. When I used to take client calls, I’d always close with, “What’s your email? I’ll send all of this to you in writing.” Then I had an email template ready to go that started with, “Hi [Name], as promised, here’s the email I said I’d send you.” When they get that email right after the call, they think, Wow, she said she’d do it—and she did. Building this reliability into your process earns trust. Too many competitors don’t answer their phones, take 24 hours to respond, or make clients beg for information. Doing what you say sets you apart. 5. Genuinely Follow Up and Personalize Client Experience Follow-up is not just about thank-you notes. Think about the first 100 days of the client experience—based on Joey Coleman’s Never Lose a Customer Again. New clients often go through buyer’s remorse. They second-guess their decision. You need intentional touch points after onboarding—ways to make them feel appreciated and confident about choosing you. It doesn’t always mean gifts; it means showing up meaningfully and consistently. 6. Be Real on Social Media Show behind-the-scenes moments. Be human. Talk directly to your avatar—your ideal client. For example: “Hey guys, one of the questions I always get asked is…” That’s how you connect one-on-one. Social media is H2H—human to human. Not business to consumer. Show your quirks, your face, your personality. People don’t expect you to be perfect—they admire your confidence and authenticity. 7. Build Face-to-Face Relationships in Your Community Make real, intentional connections with pet store owners, vets, office managers, and local business leaders. Aim to meet or reconnect at least once every two weeks. Drive over, shake hands, build relationships. The bigger your network, the more referrals and brand recognition you’ll get. 8. Get Veterinarian Endorsements (Bonus Tip!) If you already have vets recommending you, take it up a notch. Get them on camera or in writing. Imagine being able to say, “The only company in Scottsdale that’s veterinarian endorsed.” That’s powerful social proof. And yes, I actually did this—and it worked. You want to stand out so clients want to pick you and stay with you for years. If I can copy and paste your website onto another company’s site and it still fits, you haven’t done enough to differentiate yourself. Your competition should never be your focus—if you’re doing your job and being authentically unique, they won’t even matter. Next week, I’ll share what I’ve learned from 20 years in this industry and how to cultivate a thriving business that lasts. Until then, go binge on Bella! If you’re looking for a specific topic, go to jumpconsulting.net and search keywords like “pricing,” “employees,” or “ICs.” And just a heads up—we’ll soon be opening the doors for Better Marketing with Bella for the first semester next year (January–June). If everything I’ve said today sounds foreign to you, we need to talk. Email me at [email protected] or DM me on Instagram or Facebook. If you’re not killing it on social media—someone else is. And I want you to rise as the cream of the crop I know you are. Hey guys, it’s been another episode of Bella in Your Business. Thanks so much for listening. Go ahead and listen to another episode too, and I’ll see you again next week. Bye! So what did you think? Did you love this episode? I sure hope you did because I put a lot of love into this for you. The best way you can show me that is by going to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts and leaving a review. I just might read it on the next episode. And remember—when life gets you down, always keep jumping. Thanks for listening.