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Pet Safety Tips for the Holidays

Holiday season is fun and exciting time of the year. You are thinking of family, friends, get-together, food, gifts and decorations. But if you have a furry family member you need to take extra care of their safety around this season. Some of the things to watch out are: -

Christmas tree as beautiful as it looks with all the hanging ornaments could be a great hazard to pets. Please use the tight-fitting tree skirt so your pet can’t access the tree-water. Also, if you use the chemical to keep the tree fresh, ensure it is pet safe. Hang any small or fragile ornaments at the top or try to avoid them. Metal ornament hooks can get caught in curious mouths, so use ribbon or yarn instead. Clean the pine needles from the tree to avoid upset stomach of your pets.

2021-11-08

Automated Invoicing

Many businesses still use the traditional billing method of invoicing the customer at the end of each month. It’s a multi-step process, which is prone to errors. The typical steps businesses take are as below:

Review all their appointments for the time period on the calendar
Spend hours calculating and preparing invoices for each customer
Send the invoice to the customer
Track and follow up on payments

2020-12-12

How to increase your revenue by cross-selling and up-selling your cleaning services?

To achieve true business growth, you have to grow your customer base and retain your current customers. Cross-selling and upselling your cleaning services can be a powerful tool to make profit and grow your business. According to a Forrester analyst, research shows you can increase your customer retention by 5% and that you can increase your profits by 25% to 95%. Compared to if you use upselling and cross-selling, it can increase by 10% to 30% of your total business revenue.

2020-12-05

Essential equipment list to start a successful cleaning business

You have registered your cleaning company and ready to get started. Now you need to purchase the equipment to start offering your cleaning services to your clients. Making sure you have the right equipment is critical for success of your business. Buying quality products and providing great service will ensure your customer satisfaction and repeat business. To help you get started and stay organized, we have put together the list of equipment you will need.

2020-11-28

Manage appointments with multiple staff members

Working in field services business like maid cleaning service, window cleaning, pooper scooper etc. you’ll know it’s not one person’s job and you’ll need a team in order to complete your customer’s appointment successfully, and get work done faster and more efficiently.

DoTimely now lets you create appointments with multiple staff member so you can save time as we take care of all the work of informing your staff members & customers about upcoming appointments. You can either use the mobile app or web to create an appointment and assign it to multiple staff members. Each staff member will receive an email along with the details of the appointment.

2020-11-20

Most common pet services offered with their rates

Starting a new business has its own challenges. One of the challenges is deciding on what services to offer and how much to charge for them? You may want to offer few services in the start to keep the management simpler. As you grow your business and get feedback from the customers you can think of adding additional services.

When you are deciding on the pricing of the services you offer, then consider the below things -

2020-11-07

How much should you charge for house cleaning?

Deciding on your cleaning services price is lot more then picking a number out of thin air. If you price too high, you lose your customers and if you don’t charge enough then it will be difficult to sustain your business.

There are few things to keep in mind when you decide on your price and we can help you get started.

Pricing model - House cleaning rates can be determined by 3 different models:

2020-10-07

Things you should know before starting your own pool cleaning business

When you are thinking of starting your own pool cleaning business, don’t just think about homeowners with backyard pools but also schools, gym clubs, community centers, hotels and apartment complexes. Where ever there is a pool your services will be needed.

The demand of the work will depend on the location especially the ones with warmer temperatures year around. Also, this work will require being outside and on the road most of your day. If you love outdoors then this is the business for you.

2020-08-30

Manage canceled appointments

In the service-based business, you know how important it is for your customers to keep their appointments. But we all know life happens and sometimes the appointment needs to be canceled or need to be rescheduled. You want to provide tools to your customers so they can take action on their own without needing interaction with you. In DoTimely the customers can make a request to make changes to the existing appointment. The appointment is not updated until you accept the requested changes. Then with one click everything is updated and no more tracking needed on your side.

2020-07-10

5 Ways to offer discounts to your customers

We know every customer is unique to your business and that’s why you have to take care each of your customers need differently. You can offer different discounts for different scenarios so your customers are happy and your business keep growing.

Providing different discounts to your customers can helps you build a stronger relationship with your loyal customers; it also attracts new customers to your business. Offering discounts can surprisingly help you reach your revenue targets during a slow period like COVID-19.

2020-05-25

6 Common small business problems and how to manage them

Small Businesses face many challenges in their first few years. The data shows 20% of the businesses fail by the end of their first year, 50% by the end of fifth year and by tenth year the number raises to 80%.

Many of the common business problems can be fixable all you need to do is take a step back, take time to understand and re-think your strategy. Here we are covering 6 of the common problems and how to take action to solve them. Let’s get to work.

2020-05-22

How to survive your business during COVID-19 pandemic

No one could have thought they will ever face COVID-19 like pandemic in their life. On one side we are worrying about keeping our families safe and on the other hand spinning our heads to come up with ideas to keep our business afloat. COVID-19 pandemic has brought the service business to a grinding halt.

Here are some of the resources for you to look into to minimize the impact of this crisis.

2020-03-28

Manage staff vacation and shift trades

Still relying on spreadsheets to manage your team's leave information?
Business owners face immense difficulties when it comes to managing their team right. Communicating with the team can be a very time-consuming process. Giving team members time off, finding a member for shift cover or filling an open shift can be a big challenge. The business has to be an expert in handling multiple time off requests without affecting its productivity. Managing it wrong could cripple the business badly affecting the efficiency and growth as well. The business can flourish well only if these time requests by team members are managed in an organized way.

2019-07-30

Automate Scheduling to improve your operations

In service businesses managing the schedule of staff members can be challenging and very time consuming. In today's world this is further complicated with the increase in part time workers. They have their fluid schedules and cannot always commit to set hours or keep everyone informed about changes in their schedules. This increases the work load of the person responsible for scheduling as they try to make sure they have the latest updates and can prioritize who to contact first for new appointments. It's not uncommon that the scheduler is using email, phone, text messages and group messages to ensure that the everything is scheduled correctly. This is burdensome task that requires significant time and resources and if not managed correctly can have a negative impact on overall operations and limit business to run to its full potential.

2019-05-30

What businesses get wrong in communication

Communication is the key to run any business systematically and effectively. Yet a lot of businesses end up using a mix of tools and confusing users. Effective communication can help users succeed at their job while lack of proper tools and policy can impede and reduce their effectiveness.

A Point of concern for every business today
Each organization needs the flexibility to cope up with challenges whether they are the most basic ones or the not-so-simple ones with total ease. Managing and keeping the team that doesn’t sit in front of a desktop engaged is a key challenge for the businesses. While scheduling software focuses on customer communication, the team's communication is left neglected. Team’s communication is handled via manual tools such as text, emails or phone call which is difficult to maintain and read for admin. Orderly management of the tasks can get burdensome both for the team and the admin. Relying on team members personal tools is also unreliable.

2019-04-11

5 Reasons to use google adwords

Nowadays there are so many different ways of marketing your product, rather than just referral and handing over your brochure. With the change in the landscape where people spend at least 2 to 4 hours daily on the internet, it is a powerful place to do marketing and grow your business.

Your prospective customer is searching for product, service, restaurant or any other thing, they will most likely go to a search engine such as Google. When someone wants to find something, people even say just Google it rather than saying search it on the internet.

2019-03-22

Unlock the secret of growth for your Tutoring Business

Like any other business, tutoring business also faces its fare share of competition. You are competing with college professors, school teachers, franchises or individuals who do this as part time job.
According to Global Industry Analysts, Inc. the tutoring industry will reach $260.7 billion by 2024. The reason of this growth is the desire of the parents to give additional guidance and education to their kids to compete in the very competitive higher education landscape.
With online tutoring the growth opportunity is not just in your local market, but you have chance to market anywhere in the world.

2019-02-23

How fast growing businesses increase customer satisfaction while improving cash flow

As small business owners we often do not spend enough time on how we should be pricing and collecting payments. I have had many conversations with business owners where the time spent on the logo or the colors is an order of magnitude more than on how the services will be priced. While the presentation of your services is important the impact of pricing is far bigger. This is one thing that growing businesses are more deliberately considering.
One often overlooked strategy is offering packages to your customers. Bundling services to offer packages is not a new concept. It is an age-old concept that we’ve seen exist in every industry.

2019-02-14

9 things to consider when starting your own music teaching business.

You are starting your own music business part-time or full time. Here are the few things you should consider before getting started: -

Choose your Business Name

Business name is the first thing your customers will link you with so choose one that represents you positively. You should come up with many names just in case your first choice is already taken. You should check with registration office locally, state or Trademark office just to avoid issues down the road. With your business name you should also decide on your website URL. Do not worry if .com domain name is taken, its common to have other domain names. Just make sure it’s not taken by a similar business. If you are a known performer than it is good to go by your name. But if you are thinking opening the school down the road don’t go by location name if you plan to expand.

2018-12-10

Benefits of Subscriptions

As consumer buying habits are trending toward more simple and hassle-free experiences, more and more companies are jumping into the subscription space and seeing incredible growth.

What is subscription?

Subscription services are based on the idea of selling a service to receive monthly or yearly recurring  revenue.
The subscription owes its success to the optimal balance of value it provides to both the businesses and the customer.

2018-11-05

Where to find new customers

I had some customers that join DoTimely and ask how they can get more customers. I decided to write this blog providing them the information on it. As you are starting out your business or have an established business and looking to increase your customer base. You are always searching ways to reach more audience to grow your customer base. I have created this list for you to find your potential customers and grow your business.

2018-10-04

5 Ways Scheduling Software Benefits Your Business

Building a successful small business is no easy feat. It means paying attention to every detail, hiring the right employees and team members, and creating branding that gets the attention of your target market. Using software that manages your day-to-day calendar means putting systems in place that help your business run like a well-oiled machine – even in your absence. Automated saves time and frustration for many small business owners. That’s why so many SBOs rely on customer relationship management (CRM) software, social media schedulers, and other forms of scheduling software. These time management technologies allow you to implement better processes and implement time saving principles.

2018-09-10

6 things to consider when starting with a scheduling software

It is clear, customers today want a fantastic experience when they engage with your business. These tech savvy customers of yours want self-service, rich interactions, real conversations, and access to information from anywhere. They are willing to pay extra for this convenience.
Are you ready to embark on the journey to start using a scheduling software and give your customers what they want? To ensure your success, here are 6 things you should consider.

2018-08-10

How to be competitive in Pet Sitting/ Dog Walking industry?

Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking is a growing industry. Many new people are entering this industry year by year to live their dream of entrepreneurship and love for animals. The startup cost is low compared to boarding, grooming and training, hence the competition is increasing. The global pet care market is projected to reach sales of $110 billion in 2017, which is a major milestone for the industry. The industry has also grown a healthy 3% on average over the past five years, adding $14 billion in incremental growth. Ask yourself how do you stand out of the crowd? Are you doing this as a hobby or you really running a business here? If the answer is I am doing this to run a business then you need to do the following to stay competitive in this industry.

2018-06-12

9 steps to get started in pet sitting/Dog walking business

Many people are opening a pet sitting/ dog walking business to:

design a career that has the flexibility to grow
work toward financial independence
experience the love and joy of working with pets

Here are 9 steps that can help you get started for a successful business:

Choose your Business Name

Business name is the first thing your customers will link you with so choose one that represents you positively. Avoid using location names in your business if you expand your business outside of that location. You should come up with many names just in case your first choice is already taken. You should check with registration office locally, state or Trademark office just to avoid issues down the road. With your business name you should also decide on your website URL. Do not worry if .com domain name is taken, its common to have other domain names. Just make sure it’s not taken by a similar business

2018-05-20

Do you have what your customers are looking for in 2019 pet sitter?

Time has changed. We live in an information age where most of us have a mini computer in our pocket. The estimated number of people owning a smartphone in 2018 in USA itself is 237.6 million, Canada is 25.32 million, UK is 48.52 million and Australia is 17.35 million per statista.com.

Your customers are used to booking hotels, flights, movies, restaurants and taxis right from their smart phones.

2018-04-25

Benefits of using pet sitting/ dog walking software

"I can't do everything, need more time to grow my business and quality free time to enjoy life outside work." Does this sound familiar? If this is you, then you should explore how DoTimely can help you.

I have talked to many business owners that want to start using a software to save time but don't find time to try the software. You will have to break through this vicious cycle and take control of your life.

2018-02-15

Pet Sitting Holiday Surcharges

Holidays are busy time for pet sitting and dog walking businesses. The demand goes up during holidays while the supply usually remains the same. Your customers will understand if you choose to charge extra for holidays. Here are some examples how some pet sitters are adding Holiday surcharges.

Charging for the whole holiday period for instance starting from December 24th through January 2nd , Spring break and around Thanksgiving. They are adding additional $2-5 per visit.

2018-02-15

GPS Dog Walking App

Lot of new customers come and ask me this question I am not sure if I really need the GPS Tracking. So, I decided to capture my thoughts in this article. I am going to present 5 scenarios and let you decide if you really need it or not.

Competitive advantage – Nowadays lot of national level companies in Dog Walking business are marketing their GPS tracking feature to the end users. They are using it to set themselves apart from other small businesses and competition. To stand neck to neck with with the competition and to win the customers you need the new technology features. For new businesses GPS can help develop a reputation and build credibility much more quickly. So even if it’s not something your existing customers are looking for, you need to keep your new customers in mind also.

2017-12-27

Things to consider when creating user policies for your business.

Things to consider when creating business policies

Every business needs policies and procedures. As a business owner these are your guidelines to ensure consistency of your service and to help your employees and clients to learn about your business and understand, what is expected out of them.

Below are some of the things you should consider when setting up your business policies and procedures.

2017-11-26

Holiday Marketing

When you own a pet care business, then the holiday season is more than a time to celebrate. It is the busiest time of the year as lot of pet owners who are travelling for holidays will need a pet boarding or a pet sitter. They also need some help while they are out shopping for their family members and friends. If you are thinking of taking benefit of this season, here are few tips to increase your business: -.

2017-11-05

How packages work in DoTimely

Service Pack / Package

A package is a collection of specific count of a service. For instance, if you have a service 15-minute Solo Walk, you can have a pack of 20 Solo Walks for 15 minutes. Usually packages are offered at a discounted rate than the individual purchased services.

How do Packages work?

A user with proper permissions can add a package for a customer. Once a package is added for a customer an invoice for the package purchase transaction is created. Future appointments or existing appointments can be redeemed against that package.
When an appointment for a service for which a package has been purchased is completed it automatically reduces the package's remaining balance and is added to the Invoice created for the package purchase. You can also manually add or remove scheduled services from a package via the link /unlink page.

2017-10-25

6 Things to keep in mind for using messaging

Chat can be a great tool for enhancing customer experience but there are certain behaviors you should adopt and avoid to get the best results in customer satisfaction. Here are some of the best practices: -

Chat has higher satisfaction rating compared to email and phone.

Know Your customer / Personalize

Each customer may have different style of communication. Rather than have one style try to adapt to the customers. If they like formal to the point conversation keep it that way. If they like emoticons do reciprocate so as not to appear disengaged. For most situations let the customer initiate the chat first so that you know that they are using it and can assess their style.

2017-10-14

Benefits of messaging

We live in the era where customers are used to text messages and need for instant gratification. Messaging apps have over 5 billion monthly users worldwide. The chances that your customers are familiar with this communication channel and are using it is very high.

Chat has higher satisfaction rating compared to email and phone.

With this, rises the need of incorporating messaging for your business. You might be calling it instant messaging or simply chat. This communication channel is the future that even Facebook recognized and decided to purchase WhatsApp. Industry leaders say, chat has higher satisfaction rating compared to email and phone. It’s a great casual and organic communication channel which is easy to get started with. Here are some of the benefits you can get using messaging for your business.

2017-10-13

How messaging works in DoTimely

Business Owner Chat

Business owner can do one to one chat with customer or staff member. The chat has all the key functions that you have come to expect from a modern messaging service. Some of the features specific to One to One chat are:-

Allow users to track message delivery status
Show message delivery time stamps
Provision to display message read receipts

2017-10-10

Choose your Business Name