Running a dog daycare can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to maintaining a clean and organized facility. Not only does this help ensure the safety and well-being of the dogs in your care, but it can also go a long way in attracting and retaining customers. By nature, pets tend to be messy. It just comes with the territory. However, having a messy and disorganized business
doesn't have to be the result. Here are seven reasons why the importance of a clean and organized facility in a dog daycare should not be overlooked.
Health and Safety
A clean and organized facility is essential for the
health and safety of the dogs in your care. This includes ensuring that surfaces are sanitized, and there is no risk of exposure to harmful bacteria or viruses. Keeping the facility organized also helps prevent accidents and injuries. There's a saying in the restaurant industry,
mise-en-place, which means that everything needs to be in the place it needs to be in and ready for when it needs to be used. When you're properly organized, you're not wasting time trying to find things. Everything is where it needs to be.
Attracting Customers
A clean and organized facility can help you attract new customers. People are more likely to trust a daycare that has a reputation for being well-maintained and providing a safe environment for their pets. If people arrive at your business and there's uncleaned poop on the floor, it's not going to instill any confidence in your business's ability to properly take care of their pet. Going back to the restaurant example. When you go into a restaurant and it's sparkling clean, you feel much better than if you walk into the restaurant and
see a C in the window.
Retaining Customers
Maintaining a clean and organized facility can also help retain customers.
Being organized is key to business success. When dogs are happy and well-cared for, their owners are likely to return to your daycare again and again. If your business is disorganized and you keep misplacing the items that customers bring to their appointments, you're going to lose customers. Where's the leash that Fido came with? Oh shoot, I think we gave that to Luna's owner when they left. Stuff like this doesn't need to happen when you're properly organized and know who came with what.
Employee Morale
A clean and organized facility can also help improve employee morale. When employees are proud of their workplace, they are more likely to take pride in their work and provide excellent care to the dogs in their charge. Organized facilities run better and employees want to work for a place that runs smoothly. There's nothing worse that working for someone that doesn't seem to know how to keep anything organized. There are always
fires to put out and that just adds to workplace stress.
Professionalism
A clean and organized facility can help convey a sense of professionalism to your customers. This can help build trust and credibility, and can help you stand out from other daycares in your area. Think about the difference between a facility that has a nice paved parking lot and a clean and well-light entrance compared to a dirt road facility that has a front office in disarray. Where would you feel safe leaving Fido for the weekend?
Efficient Operations
An organized facility can help streamline your day-to-day operations and make it easier for your staff to care for the dogs in your care. This can help increase productivity and reduce stress levels among employees. If you have business flows put into place, it makes it easier for your employees to do their jobs easily. If everyone knows how to do the check-in process because you have a well-established training policy, it's going to make it easier to check in more pets and make more money. If everything is just kind of hobbled together, employees are not going to feel comfortable.
Increased Profitability
By maintaining a clean and organized facility, you can help increase your profitability by attracting and retaining customers, and by improving the efficiency of your operations. Let's imagine that you try to keep your appointments on a white board. On the white board, it looks like Fido is staying until 6pm, when in reality he is actually leaving at noon. Well, your employee just rejected an appointment because it looked like there wasn't a spot for Luna today, when in reality, she could have gone in Fido's slot.
Being organized will increase your revenue, there are no doubts about it.