Five Steps to Quickly Increase Your Dog Daycare Revenue

Let's be honest. You started your dog daycare and boarding kennel because of your love for animals. You've always had a soft spot for taking care of pets, or maybe you grew up with pets your whole life and decided you wanted to make a business out of it. BUT, you also started it because it's a great way to make money in a booming industry. Right? There's nothing wrong with that. Selecting a profitable business market to enter is one of the hardest parts of starting a business and you happened to get lucky enough to be part of a multibillion-dollar industry.

Now that you're up and running and starting to make some good money, you're probably looking for some extra ways to increase your revenue and ensure the long-term success of your business. If so, you're in the right place.

Here are five strategies you can use to boost your profits and ensure the long-term success of your dog daycare:

1. Offer Additional Services that Your Clients are Already Looking For

One of the most straightforward ways to increase revenue at your dog daycare is to offer additional services beyond just basic daycare. This could include grooming services, obedience training, or even dog walking. By offering these services, you can attract a wider range of customers and generate more revenue per customer. If your facility has the space, adding boarding as a possible service is a great way to earn more money. The average cost of boarding a dog for one night is close to $50, so you can imagine how much extra money you'll bring in if you board just 10 dogs at least 2 nights per month. We're talking about an extra $1,000 a month! Take a look at this dog boarding financial projection spreadsheet to see how much extra you can bring in from boarding even more dogs. If your business has the space, you can also look into adding grooming services to your current business services. Adding grooming isn't as hard as you would think either. Its just a matter of hiring a certified groomer, preparing and prepping your facility, buying the necessary equipment, marketing your service and, most importantly, making sure you have all the legal documentation in place.

2. Host Events for Pet Parents

Hosting events such as dog-friendly barbecues, holiday parties, or even dog training classes can be a great way to increase revenue and bring in new customers. These events can also be an opportunity to showcase your dog daycare and all the services you offer. If there's one thing that pet parents like to do, it's meet up with other pet parents and share stories about their dogs, meet new pet-parent friends, etc. Think about hosting a monthly puppy happy hour at your business. $10 to $20 a pet. The dogs run around, the owners socialize. Anyone who signs up gets a soda/beer/wine, as well as some light snacks. The pet parents can chat and make friends with one another, and you can put a little extra money in the bank. Also, if your clients are friends and they both like your facility, there's a chance that they'll tell their friends about your facility and pretty soon, you might be seeing some new clients walk in the door. It's a win win situation!

3. Implement a Loyalty and Rewards Program

A loyalty program can be an effective way to incentivize repeat business and increase revenue. You can offer rewards such as discounted services, free daycare days, or special treats for dogs. Loyal customers are more likely to continue bringing their dogs to your daycare and to refer their friends and family as well. We here at DoggieDashboard have a loyalty program for our users (dog daycare owners). For every new client that they send our way, they get a free month of service. That's a $40 value. If they refer just 10 clients in a year, that's an entire year of free software! Not a bad deal.

4. Offer Pickup and Dropoff services

This tip is somewhat similar to number one, but we felt that it deserved its own bullet point. There are probably a decent amount of pet owners in your area that would like to leave Fido at daycare a few days a week, but maybe they dont have the time to drop him off before work and pick him up afterwards. They're just too busy so Fido stays home all day and you lose out on a nice bump in revenue. By offering a pet taxi service, you can both profit from the extra pick and dropoff fees, but you will also doubly profit because the pet owners will be paying for services like grooming and daycare on top of the pet taxi fees.

5. Market your Dog Daycare More Effectively

Finally, it's important to market your dog daycare effectively to reach a wider range of potential customers. Utilize social media, local advertising, and word-of-mouth referrals to get the word out about your daycare and all the services you offer. By doing so, you can increase revenue by attracting more customers and keeping your existing customers coming back for more. One of the most effective forms of advertising for dog daycares is definitely word of mouth. There is no better way to get more clients in your door than by having your current clients tell their friends about your business. Sit down with your team and figure out ways that you can increase word of mouth. Maybe its the referral program, maybe its using something like birthday cards or followup emails to build client relationships. Once you get the plan in place, start driving that word of mouth.

Increasing revenue at your dog daycare is about being creative, proactive, and always looking for new opportunities to grow. By implementing these five strategies, you can ensure the long-term success of your dog daycare and make the most of this exciting and rewarding business venture. One thing that is always important to remember with marketing your pet care business is that you might not see immediate results, and that is okay. It's all about planting the seeds that will eventually turn into a profitable stream of new clients down the road.

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