By: Rachel Ellison, DVM
Did you know there are 80 million dogs owned in 50 million houses across the United States? And what’s more, a staggering 27% of these owners have utilized doggy daycare within the last 12 months! That’s a lot of opportunities to allow dogs to have a supervised, safe environment that allows for exercise, socialization, and mental stimulation.
So, how can a dog daycare business grow and differentiate itself from the pack? One of the key ingredients is to improve efficiency. An efficient doggy daycare will allow for as much productivity as possible with few wasted resources in an organized and proficient way. How can one achieve this? We’ll discover numerous ideas in this article, so let’s be efficient and get started!
Whether your company is in the planning stages or more established, is solely a dog daycare or combined with a boarding center, there are many resources available to have a great business plan.
A business plan does not need to be complex, but it needs to be in writing, and it needs to accurately reflect your business vision in a way that will allow you to easily assess day-to-day operations. These things will help you hone in on what’s important, which can help you prioritize and focus on achieving big-picture goals, which can in turn make the dog daycare more efficient.
Here are some fundamental ideas for writing a solid business plan:
As an owner or manager, this is key to maximizing efficiency. Running a successful business takes a variety of roles; it’s not reasonable, or feasible, to expect one person to fill them all! Because you can’t do this alone, you’ll need trusted, responsible, help to whom you can transfer tasks.
Delegation can be done within house to staff and with external business-to-business services.
When delegating work in-house, know the strengths of your team. Maybe there’s an outgoing extrovert who would do great answering phones and greeting customers, but a more introverted employee who may enjoy working 1-on-1 supervising the dogs. Dog trainers or employees interested in dog behavior can ensure that negative behaviors are not displayed among attending dogs.
Outline tasks with to-do lists and expected job duties for individual staff members. Managing and training staff effectively ensures employees can understand and perform well in their roles.
If your team lacks the internal capabilities for all operations, other tasks can be outsourced. These might include:
To allow for efficiency, a place of work needs to operate like a well-oiled machine. This means carefully examining the business and coordinating details so that inefficiencies occur as little as possible. Here are some tips on how to achieve that!
Put protocols and systems in place which will allow for:
Prioritize the most important aspects of operations first, and then triage in order of importance. Problem-solve by identifying the most obvious weaknesses of a business, and then finding structured solutions to address each one.
Observe the flow of practice and implement strategies at bottlenecks. For example, if there are too many people coming in and out during the same time to check their dog in, attempt to stagger check-ins if possible, and/or use technology for faster and more precise scheduling.
While it’s fairly likely that many of a dog daycare’s employees will have a love for dogs, that alone is not enough to make them a great fit for the business. It’s important to find (and keep) responsible, hard-working employees as they can make all the difference in the success of the business. What are some things that can help your staffing situation be efficient?
These can help you diversify the business and piggyback on related services, all the while being more efficient. If one must cover the cost of a locale and staff to be in business, why not become a hub or one-stop shop for pet parents and their beloved pups to help them save time, money, and energy while being able to maximize their profits? It’s a win-win! Some ideas might include:
Great businesses are problem solvers for their clients. What would YOU (and those close to you) want or expect in a dog daycare business? Find out and implement these practices!
In addition, what are your clientele’s wants? Listening to others and allowing constructive feedback to propel them forward can only help them improve their efficiency.
Pet parents: Look for what dog owners want and put yourself in their shoes or even ask for feedback! What does a concerned pet parent look for in a place where they leave their fur baby for hours at a time? Such customers will likely value:
Dogs: This is why the business is flourishing! Each dog may have their own temperament and preferences, but many actually enjoy going to doggy daycare! Things that can help them (and you) succeed:
Choosing the correct software will streamline your business processes, eliminate extra work for all, and serve as a game-changer when it comes to efficiency. When looking for technology or software to support your pet business, there are some key ideas or questions to ask. Implementing some of the software features highlighted below will boost efficiency:
There is various software on the market that could provide these features. Gingr, a pet-care software platform, is one such option that checks numerous of the boxes above and is worth checking out to help encourage efficiency!
While building a successful and efficient dog daycare facility is no easy task, it is achievable if approached with the right mindset and tools. Defining your business in a written business plan and implementing appropriate technology and software will all propel one to success and higher levels of efficiency.