592: Bridging the Trust Gap
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Trust is essential in every part of a pet sitting business. It begins before a client ever reaches out and is built through clear communication, consistency, and transparency. Clients look for reassurance at every step, and trust can grow when expectations are met and mistakes are owned. Building trust with pets requires patience, routine, and positive reinforcement to create a sense of safety. Internally, trust within a team—and with yourself as a business owner—comes from accountability, honest reflection, and clear follow-through.
Main Topics
Recognizing signs of client distrust
Building trust through transparency
Establishing pet trust with routine care
Rebuilding self-trust as a business owner
Cultivating a trust-based team culture
Main takeaway: “Trust is really a living thing in your business. It grows or it shrinks with every action you take.”
In pet care, trust isn’t built in one big moment—it’s built in the tiny, repeated ones: showing up on time, communicating clearly, owning your mistakes, and staying consistent. Whether it’s with your clients, their pets, your team, or even yourself, every choice matters. If trust is low, take small actions that rebuild it. Every visit, every message, every decision is a chance to grow something strong and lasting.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet care, trust gap, client communication, team trust, pet routines, client distrust, professional business, client expectations, open communication, team accountability, standard operating procedures, client reassurance, pet care insurance, business values, decision-making
SPEAKERS
Collin, Meghan
Meghan 00:02
Hi, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin. We are the hosts of pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. We are so glad you joined us today. Thank you for listening. We'd also like to thank pet sitters associates and dog co launch for sponsoring today's episode. We'd like to give a special shout out to our executive producers on Patreon. They are Adriana Amber and Barbie Beck and Erica, Jan and Janie, Jenny, Julie, Katherine, Keith and Liz, Lori and Lucy, Rachel and Sarah Savannah and Scott, Teresa and Yvonne. We are so grateful that you love the podcast and want to keep it going. If you are listening as well and have learned something from any of the episodes that we've done, you can go to pet sitter, confessional.com/support, to see all of the ways that you can help out as pet sitters and dog walkers. We know that trust is the foundation of everything we do in pet care. People give us the keys to their home. That is not an easy thing. There's a huge trust gap we have to bridge sometimes before we even meet the client or their pet, they want to know more about us and our company, why we do what we do. Because if they get to know us a little bit, they can like us and then trust us. There's that whole know, like trust factor. Well, I
Collin 01:12
was actually at a networking event speaking with a marketer, and he was talking about this problem of, how do we get our clients to use us? And in that is this massive Gulf of the of the trust, and it was a reminder to me, and a good refresher of just how deep and wide that gap actually is. In most cases, we tend to take for granted what we do and how we do it, because we've been doing it for ever, right? It's easy. It comes naturally to us. So it makes sense that you'd have a pet sitter in your home. It makes sense you'd have a dog walker in your home. And yet it's still a weird thing in our society and our culture, and beyond that, in any business, you struggle connecting clients to your business and helping them overcome that trust, because they don't know you. They don't know the outcome. They don't know if you're actually going to follow through with what you said you're going to do. And so he and I had a wonderful back and forth about how to do that and what that looks like. And Meghan and I want to today talk about this overcoming this gap in trust that exists between clients, ourselves and our team, and really what
Meghan 02:22
that looks like? Well, I think a lot of it has to do with people trust their neighbors or their friends or their family to do the pet care most times. And they may say, Oh, I know it's an inconvenience to ask that person, but I know they're going to come through and do it, and it's just a one time thing or a couple times, and I'll return the favor for them.
Collin 02:38
Yeah, the preponderance of pet care continues to be friends, families, neighbors, acquaintances, people who they as Meghan, you already mentioned they already know, like and trust that person. There's no gap that the friend has to overcome because of the past experiences that they've had with them. There's no gap for the neighbor to overcome because they've lived next door to them or their friend or their family because they're related to that person. That trust is already immediately there it comes with that person that is a trusted and known entity. We come in from the outside going, Well, yeah, you need to trust us. We'll do the same thing. And in that client's mind is, but will you? Will you actually do that, and that's what we have to overcome. And it doesn't just start when they first make contact with us. It starts the first time they hear about or come across our company. So if we start trying to build trust with a client when we're on the phone with them, we're kind of already too late. We've got to be doing other things outside of that, because a
Meghan 03:41
lot of times people don't know that this is an actual business, a professional business, that we pay taxes, just like everybody else. We've got websites, we have marketing materials. And because a lot of people don't know that this can be done as a full time career, they may be a little caught off guard and maybe a little leery, because there are definitely signs where somebody is hesitant or it doesn't trust you immediately. We need to recognize these recognize the client, distrust. A common sign could be their hesitation to book. If you require that the client add a payment method before they go to book, and they're not doing that, that's the part they get stuck on. Well, it could be that they want to have a phone call with you to make sure that you're an actual person first, and you're not just going to scam the amount of money. It could be that the client is starting to micromanage what you do. They're a helicopter pet parent. They say, Oh, what time are you gonna be here? What exactly have you done? I need pictures. I need to know the exact route that you walked with my dog. Now, some of these things we do automatically in our business, but if a client is starting to really nitpick at things that you do, it could be that they're not trusting you. Yeah,
Collin 04:42
we definitely have a helicopter owner flag in our software so that we just know going into this kind of we need to think of some higher expectations that this person may have for us, but it definitely is a sign where they are micromanaging. They second guess you, but you get those questions of, I'm just asking, or, Hey, just to. Check you did this XYZ, right? These checking in messages, where they just want to make sure you got the message, or they just want to make sure they I don't know if you get this, where they they call right after they've submitted their booking request, either through text or through your software. And this happens at each stage of the process, where people just want to know. They just want to know because they're they're looking for reassurance. I think it's really important to know and understand that this is not personal, right? This is, this is purely fear driven. They don't know you, so it can't be personal, right? Let's just accept that they don't know me from Adam. So it's not personal that they want to just double check that they were looking for this reassurance. They're afraid. Fear drives a lot of decisions and a lot of behaviors, a whole lot more than we really give credit for. When you dig down to a lot of this, it's all based out of fear. And so it's beholden on us to start building and establishing that trust at each stage of the process.
Meghan 05:58
Yeah, it really starts before you even meet them so on your website, using language that speaks to the pet parent problem, the pain points, the fears that they may have, the long days away, also including those things on your FAQs, have a specific page for all of the common questions that you get, whether it's on your website or on social media. Make sure you are consistent in your tone in communication, even messaging the client in your software through text message, if you want to always sound professional, make sure you're not responding super late at night, when you're groggy or early, the more in the morning, before you've had your coffee, because when clients know what they can expect from you, they'll be more likely to trust you that
Collin 06:36
thing they want to know what to expect from You. Need to be consistent across your actions, your words, your tone. When we start throwing surprises, when we start throwing curve balls, they start to have questions, and then from questions grow concerns, and that's where they're going to look to you, and that's where, again, you start building that trust.
Meghan 06:55
Of course, reviews, testimonials and referrals are always great for this, whether it's your Google page or on your website. Word of mouth referrals, of course, speak highly if they can directly say, okay, this person has used your company, I trust them. I know that I'm going to get a great experience too. Yeah,
Collin 07:13
that because that referral is usually coming from a friend, family, neighbor or acquaintance, remember? And we already said they have a huge trust in that person. And if somebody who is trusted can tell them, Oh, I've heard of or I liked or I've used, that is massive, and it really shortens that gap and makes that bridge a whole lot easier to build.
Meghan 07:34
It can be hard, though, to build trust with somebody that you've never met before and you don't know them and their fears. So take time to think about your client avatar. Who are you talking to? And this will be dependent on the kind of company that you run and your mission and your values and the services that you offer.
Collin 07:54
Yeah, we often think about, oh, my client avatar works at a certain place or makes a certain amount or lives a certain way, we have to remember that our client avatar should also be inclusive of what are the hindrances of that person using my services? What concerns do they have, what fears do they have? What are some past things that they may have gone through so that you can have a process that gives clarity and expectations and outcomes and sets all of that up front so they know what to expect, and not just what to expect, but what that process is. What is my first step in getting started with this company? What do I expect when I hit submit? Who will call me? Or what does that email look like? What information do they need for me to move forward? Each one of those things, again, we just take so for granted of like, oh, just tell me where you live, right? A lot of people get really cagey about that, because the world is awash with so many scams. Maybe you already mentioned, like, people get scammed out of their credit cards. They get scammed out of these things this give away personal information, so they're being protective of that. Give them a reason each time you ask for information, tell them why it's necessary that you have these things, so that as they go through your process, or as they learn about your company, they know how you're using it and why it's beneficial for them to give that to you. If
Meghan 09:16
your ideal client is as a young professional, they are online more, and they've probably heard some horror stories about pet sitters losing dogs.
Collin 09:23
Well, we did an adventure hike recently for somebody, and one of the things that we like to do at the end of that is to include of a picture of the dog back in their home, right? It's a little thing. It's a real simple thing, but I just had this dog out on an adventure white walking in the wilderness for three hours. I want to make sure that this person who's not at home whenever I get back has peace of mind and is trusting that their dog is back home, because it does happen where people abscond with dogs and make them their own. Now this is obviously well into this process that we're talking about here right now, but what we this really is, is what's. Things along the stage. What is that person worried about? And we as a business can go, Okay, I know this person is probably concerned about this. They're probably not going to trust me in these areas. What policies, procedures, parts of the process can I build and put into place to help alleviate those
Meghan 10:20
well? And you really have to do some deep thinking about this, because a lot of us say, Oh, I offer peace of mind. But ultimately, that's a very overused phrase, and we've been guilty of this as well, so we're not scot free, but, but it doesn't mean anything to the client. Peace of mind, okay, well, what? That's so amorphous. What does it mean? So if you can dig down to their exact fear you'll be able to better connect with them. They'll be able to see, oh, okay, that that is actually what I'm worried about. They do
Collin 10:48
understand me, which helps you connect with them better, right? And so as you're going through this process and you're putting these social media points out, you have a clear, outlined process for leading up to that meet and greet. You've set clear expectations. They've never had to guess or question what the next step in the process is, because the more straightforward you can make this. Just imagine somebody's coming into your company. They already don't trust you. Just assume that, okay, they're already a little unsure of you. How does that person perceive sudden changes or variances or discontinuity throughout the process, they're going to view it as shady. They're going to view it as this person's trying to pull one over on me. This person's not a professional. Maybe I don't want to move forward with them. I'll go ahead and bounce and go somewhere else. They want to have clarity, because it helps ease their mind. It alleviates those fears. Now, once you have them in the company and you they, you are serving them as a client. You have to maintain this trust. You have to keep it going. You can't just say what great you're in peace. I'm never going to worry about this ever again,
Meghan 11:55
which is why open communication is crucial. And that could mean something as simple as sending them a birthday card of, hey, we're still here. I know it's been a while since they've used us check in messages. You know, when you make a mistake, admit it, don't try to hide it. I did leave the door unlocked. I am very sorry, and I will comp you a next visit. Or I did forget to scoop the litter. I am very sorry. Open communication is also super important when, yeah, you're changing anything in your company, you're updating your contract, you're having a new policy, you are taking time off. People don't want to be surprised when they go to book and, oh, you're not available. They want to be kept in the loop of these things so they can make informed decisions as well. Because when you give them the knowledge to be empowered for themselves, they're going to be trusting more. You're going
Collin 12:40
to send a ton of photos. You're going to send a ton send a ton of videos. You're going to send step by step, walkthroughs of any processes, or if you change your software through this again, we're going to show and tell business. I'm not just going to tell you that I'm going to scoop the litter. I'm going to tell you I'm going to scoop the litter, then I'm going to take a picture that tells you that I scooped the litter, and then I'm going to report to you what the litter was like when I scooped it. Each one of these aspects builds that trust, builds that confidence in the client that they can hit book, they can call you and you'll show up and you will do exactly what they need because you've done it in the past. You build that history, you build that confidence that you can keep building on with that relationship. So
Meghan 13:20
building trust is not only with the client, but the pet as well. First, respect their space, let them come to you. First. You don't want anybody coming over to your house and immediately trying to give you a hug, especially somebody that you don't know. Also stick to the pets routines. Predictability equals comfort. Pets want to know. Okay, I go on a walk, then I get a trait, then I go back in my crate. That's what happens Monday through Friday. I know what to expect and
Collin 13:45
advocate this for the pet as well. Sometimes owners, especially of cats, will usually say things like, well, I feed them twice a day, and I play with them, x, y, z, but I just want you to come over one time. It'll be fine. Advocate for those two visits and at this, you're coming at this to make it predictable and comfortable for the pet, reducing the stress and making it easier on everybody involved. You want to set you and the pet up for success when you do these visits, same thing with dog walks or other pet care visits. Really understand that routine, repeat it back to the client, so that they know that you are understanding what that process is going to look like, lean
Meghan 14:20
into that non verbal communication when you go into a visit, calm tone, low posture, avoiding direct stares. If you need to ignore the dog for a minute so they can get whatever they need to get out, then that's what you need to do. Also use positive reinforcement, treats, praise, toys, puzzles. Use these strategically.
Collin 14:39
We've even had some dogs who have been really interested in their harness or their particular leash, and so finding out what's going to motivate and it's going to be a positive aspect of that visit, and lean into that, use that to your advantage. And that takes knowing the pet, asking good questions of the client, and a little bit of experimenting. Sometimes.
Meghan 14:59
Yes, yeah. So go slow, stay consistent. Trust takes time, whether it's a client or the pet. It takes you being patient with the dog. If you notice the pet avoiding you, hiding fear based behavior that worsens over time. You're probably not building trust with the pet, or if they're refusing food, especially if you're trying to hand feed the animal and it's just not working, or they're refusing to go outside after multiple positive reinforcement attempts, growling or snapping is obviously you're not building trust there, and then any kind of shutdown behavior if they're disengaged, if there's no response to cues, it's time to reevaluate if this is even working at all, right, because
Collin 15:37
if it's not working, pushing is just going to make this worse. So we got to take a big step back. We've got to make sure that we're calm, that we're really present and in the moment, that we're assessing the situation correctly, and then we've just got to talk to the client again. This is where we've got to reach out to and it doesn't feel good. It's never a happy conversation. To say, Look, I'm over here trying to walk your dog, and they're in a corner and they're growling and they're lunging at me. Nobody wants to have that, but we need to be honest. We're coming to the client. This is going to build trust with them as we work to build trust with the pet. So talking with them, ask for more help. Okay, this isn't working. What other two things could you recommend to me? Then you can even dig deeper once you get out of that visit, asking about more context for the pet. Did they come from a rescue situation? Have they had bad interactions with men before? Or do hats typically scare them, past, traumas, preferences, all of these things. And then take that and being the professional that you are, start working on adapting the visit. Maybe they need to be really short, especially if you have a cat with high anxiety or high that's really not working well with you. You may need to shorten for a period of time as you can build it back into longer visits as you build that trust. Maybe it's extra visits. Maybe it's extra trials, working when the client's there or not there, working all of this stuff with maybe I can experiment in a new way here. Try different treats, entry methods, exit methods, trying different pheromones on you. There's a lot of stuff that you can start to work on, but ultimately you have to be honest with yourself and the client, if it's not safe, if it's not going to work, stop trying to make it happen. Stop trying to force this into being a thing, and just recognize this isn't moving forward, and for your pets well being, to decrease their stress, and for my safety, or my team safety, we can't move forward anymore, or
Meghan 17:30
even a crate. We had a client whose dog was giving us the run around the house. She was not interested in going outside right away, but we also couldn't get a leash on her in order to get her to go outside, because their house was a big circle, and so she was just doing laps, and we were constantly chasing her. And so the next visit, the client had put the dog in the crate, and she's perfectly happy in the crate. They just typically leave her free roam. We were then able to work with her and build that trust, because she knew, Oh, strangers are okay. They give treats. They love us. Ultimately, clients want to know that you see and respect their pet as an individual, and their pet needs to believe that too. All about that trust. Something that helps build trust is our friends at pet sitters associates, all professionals have specific pet business insurance. As a pet sitter, you know how much trust goes into caring for someone, for a family member, but who's got your back for over 25 years, pet sitters Associates has been helping pet care pros like you with affordable, flexible insurance coverage, whether you're walking dogs, pet sitting or just starting out. They make it easy to protect your business. Get a free quote today at petsit llc.com and as a listener, you get $10 off your membership when you use code confessional at checkout. That's petsit llc.com because your peace of mind is part of great pet care. Now let's talk about probably the hardest person to build trust with, and that is ourselves. We want to bridge that trust gap with ourselves. Where we struggle to trust ourselves is when we go to hire a team, hiring, firing. Who should I hire? This person really isn't working out. I really need to fire them, but I don't want to or pricing changes. My clients are gonna leave me. I don't trust myself to make this decision properly. And the most famous example of not trusting ourselves is knowing when to say no. Trusting our gut, it can be so hard to do when we've been let down by ourselves before we've been let down by other people. I thought I could trust this person. My gut said to go with them, but they let me down. They left the door unlocked, or they didn't do the project on time, like I thought they would, or I thought I could handle this many clients on a busy holiday week, but I really can't. Yeah,
Collin 19:33
all those examples you gave about the hiring and firing, the price changes, or when to say, no, really all of those, we struggle to trust ourselves, because those are changes. It to a state of being. Hiring and firing is a change to our business of increasing or decreasing the people and the people that we are bringing into the fold and trusting. It could also be about price changes. Okay, so the price changes here. It's changing how my business is operating, how it's perceived by my clients, and it's. Different than I was operating before. It means different things. It's going to make things be easier or harder to sell or pitch my services. And then saying no, this means that we are denying something, and there's a lot of unknown to that. And so we do start to question ourselves. And unfortunately, if we struggle with these things for too long, it can actually put us in a really bad spot. So maybe you get a client who comes into your company and they want to use your services, but you're unsure, and you sit there and you kind of go back and forth, and you end up delaying them coming into you wait too long because you aren't sure. You're unsure. You don't trust yourselves to either move them forward or to kick them out of your of your business, they know we actually can't take you on. And then let's say you finally decide you want to move forward with them. Well, if you delay for too long, that person's probably moved on to something else. They moved on to somebody else who's been able to answer them a lot quicker. Or, let's say somebody asks you for services, and you say, Yep. And our policy is that when you book, you're charged at time of booking. But then it sits in there, then it sits in there, and it sits and sits. And then you finally get around to it and you charge them. Well, it's happened to us before where we've waited too long, and we get a phone call from a client who's saying, What's this? Multiple $100 charge on my card from you guys for and we say, oh, that's actually from the request that you sent in a week ago, and they go, Oh, I thought you charged when I booked. Now, we've, we've, we've have to, we have to overcome that lack of trust, because we didn't operate how we said we did, and that client's going to be a little bit leery next time when they book and question. So being consistent in our actions helps in this as well. It
Meghan 21:37
is hard to trust ourselves, because a lot of times we don't feel like we are worth it or good enough that imposter syndrome comes in. But you have to realize that nobody has it all figured out. Even those pet care businesses that are a million dollars or more, they still have struggles. You know, new levels, new devils. They're dealing with something too No one has it all figured out. So it is okay to second guess yourself. Yes, there is something to be said for trusting our gut, but at the end of the day, we're probably not going to get it right 100% of the time. We talked all about imposter syndrome back on Episode 183 but it is a real thing to overcome when we feel like we're not good enough. Oh, I don't know how to hire. I've never done it before, so I'm just not going to do it. Because even though I really do need the help, and I don't like saying no to clients. I just can't get over that mental block of, well, I'm not a good manager. I'm not a people person. I can't get along or manage a team. I don't know how to do it, so I'm just not going to Yeah, so talk
Collin 22:32
with somebody, right? Talk to somebody who's done it before. Listen to a cool podcast that talks about these kind of things, or go to a networking event, or go to an in person conference that's going to allow you to start learning from other people, which will encourage you, because when you can see an example of somebody having done something that you're interested in doing, it really helps outline that path forward for you a lot more to realize, Oh, I'm not alone in this. And man, they have the same struggles too, and they question themselves too, and look how they overcame that. And if they can do it, I can as well. And as you overcome these, or as you overcome problems or concerns, or you make that decision that you really labored on, of whether to fire or hire or to whatever that was, write down whenever that turned out well, as you can reflect on past wins, past decisions that you made, that you go, man, I'm so glad that I made that decision, because I would have been buried under whatever that was. It helps reinforce that gut and makes you helps you see I do know what I'm talking about, because look how I've operated in the past.
Meghan 23:37
When you do those weekly or monthly self reviews, yeah, you can see I'm winning a lot of the time when I trust my gut. So even though this past time I didn't, I my gut failed. But all of the previous 15 times it did, great. It is important to give ourselves that space, that recovery time, to really heal, settle our decisions, make sure that we're not making decisions too quickly. It really isn't good to hustle all the time, because it
Collin 24:04
blocks you from making well informed decisions when you have that space, when you can't make it so that we're recovery. What are we recovering from? Recovering from our day to day operations. We're recovering from our anxiety. We're recovering from our nervousness that impacts us mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, we have to, sometimes, before we make a decision, make sure that we're okay. Am I making this because I'm too tired? Am I doing this because I'm stressed out? I'm doing this because I'm worried about money? Am I doing this because I'm worried about relationships? Am I doing this? Whatever that is, mark that and know that so that you can say, well, that's a bias that I've got to work around, and that's inhibiting me here, and that's influencing my ability to see this clearly. And we only can do that if we have time and extra capacity in our day when we operate at 187,000% every day. How in the world can we expect to be introspective? We can't. It takes operating at 70 or. 80% it takes understanding who we are as a person. So writing out your personal values, your business values, writing out what drives you, what's motivating you, what's important to you, so that when you have that decision, when you're looking to check your gut, what are you checking against? Sometimes I'm checking against, whether I'm actually hungry or not, or my sleep, or how well that client didn't talk to me on the phone earlier, and then I'm angry and I'm rash. Instead, I should be checking it against something that's black and white, something that's written down in front of me. So you go, you know what? Collin is, this kind of person who thinks this and values this? Well, in this situation, regardless of whether I'm tired, hungry, Cranky or otherwise, I see a path forward, and I can be consistent in my actions, and that's
Meghan 25:48
how you rebuild trust with yourself. But there are consequences of doubting yourself. If a big project is staring you in the face and you just can't go A or B and you don't know which one to choose, it could mean lost clients, or frustrated employees, or miscommunication with clients. We want to avoid that as much as possible. You can't build trust with others if you're constantly second guessing yourself. So implement these things. Do small steps at a time so that you can build your trust with yourself again. So we've bridged the trust gap with our clients. We've bridged it with ourselves. Now we want to bridge it with our team. What does trust look like internally? Well, same, pretty much the same thing with our clients. It looks like clear communication follow through, mutual respect, doing what you say you're going to do, integrity
Collin 26:34
and not just for you, but also your team. What do you expect back from them? Because this is a two way street. You have to trust your team to do as they are trained and to be in the client's homes. And they do have to trust you as the leader of the company, the manager, the overseer of all of these things. They have to know that you're doing things for their good and for the company's good, and you have to know the same for them. So clear communication. Meghan and I firmly believe that to be clear is to be kind. We're being kind to people. The more clear, the clearer we can be in our words. And then follow through. This is one that's really hard for me. When I do my one on ones with our team and I say, hey, yeah, I'm gonna send you the link for the x, y, z, and then I don't well, then all of a sudden, I become an unreliable cog in the wheel of their progress. In our company, I become a barrier to them getting the resources, the tools, the information that they need to do better, and we can't have that. When I say I'm going to send you a link to this policy, I'm going to send you a link to this webinar I want you to watch. They have to get it, because if they don't, they don't trust me. The next time I say I'm going to do that, and then I become an untrustworthy individual.
Meghan 27:48
Well, and speaking of SOPs and checklists, that's what you have to build that system of trust. When you hire somebody, you onboard them, you give them training in your company. That's just the start. There's the checklist, the SOPs, the regular reporting, the reinforcing it over and over again, the in house training, the out of house training. There's so much that goes on to keep them motivated and inspired to show up every day that this just isn't okay. You walk Sally, and that's it. There is more to our companies. There is more to the pet care world than just walking one dog?
Collin 28:22
Yeah, as we look to see, do we trust this person to do the job? How do we know that? What's the what are you what are we measuring against? Having good standard operating procedures allows you to say, this is how we scoop a litter box. This is what you are judged and you are ranked against, and this is how I'm going to hold you accountable. The checklists are fantastic. When you say, when we say, a dog walk. Here are the 17 things that go into account. You have to make sure that you've checked off each one of these to have successfully completed this visit. But this
Meghan 28:51
requires tools like GPS tracking, software alerts, time to pet updates, or whatever software you use. There's also loom videos that we send to our team slack for team communication, Asana for tracking their progress. So there's a lot that goes into all of this, but at the end of the day, the more communication you can have with them, the more they're going to trust you. Because what
Collin 29:10
this is is, this is transparency, right? GPS tracking, software alerts these check in, check out, updates things that's being transparent, yes, to the client, but to you as the business owner, and when the team, when your team knows that this is going on, and you can couch it in, yes, this is transparency and building trust. There's also a lot of safety aspects to this, of having people hither, tiller and yawn, across all hours of the day and across all hours of your service radius. Yes, there's a lot tied into this, but when your team knows that these are taking place, it helps have that accountability and that transparency for you and them to know that they are actually doing the work that you need them to do,
Meghan 29:49
but knowing that we're all human at the end of the day. So they're going to make mistakes. You're going to make mistakes. Communication is not going to be on point all of the time. Mistakes don't always break trust. But it's how you handle them that does so if you had a team member leave the door unlocked, you can yell and scream on the inside, but obviously you're going to have to be professional on the outside, and you have to judge, is this a fireable offense? Do you want to work with this person and train them to be better? Do you want to have more check ins and put a policy in place to make sure that this doesn't happen again?
Collin 30:20
But what you want to see is that people own those issues and they work to fix them on their own. Right, a great example of this. Okay, maybe they did leave the door unlocked, but let's say, instead of the client contacting you and saying, Hey, I got home and my door was unlocked, what if, five minutes after the end of the visit, your employee called you and said, Hey, Meghan, I'm driving away, and I just realized I didn't lock the front door, but I've already turned around. I'm gonna go get back and get that locked and let the client know that I fixed it. Boom. Trust earned. Trust rebuilt because that person owned up to it. But in order for them to own up to it, you have to have a culture of a company that allows that,
Meghan 31:00
yeah, an open door policy. If you can come to me at any time, I will hear you out. I promise I'm not gonna get mad and blow up in your face. We can work through this together. We are on the same team and on the same side.
Collin 31:11
When they trust you with that, they'll come to you with little and big things. And you have to have that if we sit here and we just get angry and irate every time somebody comes to us with something that didn't go well, they're gonna stop telling you that things didn't go well, and then you're not going to know about them. So we have to work to to empower our employees. One of the things that Meg and I have encountered a lot with people we bring on is they get everything it seems to be going well, but what we realize is, oh, they don't just, they just don't trust themselves. And we see that whenever they reach out to us about the littlest questions, they just want to, quote, unquote, check, just read, double checking on this, triple checking on this, quadruple checking on this, going, okay, this person knows the right answer, but they don't trust themselves in this. So we have to find that boundary between hard lines in the business and flexible thinking, you have to, we have to define which rules, which policies are non negotiable, which which can we not deviate on two points of contact, on the leash, how we enter a home, things around safety, health and security, there's nope, nope. There's no wiggle room. I don't need you to think outside the box on this. Please don't Okay. And then everything else I can train you on. I'm going to train you on principles so that you can properly and you can confidently problem solve we here in our company, here are the five principles that we use to solve problems. Here's how we go about here are our priorities when things happen, when you train people on that, and the big picture stuff, the principles, you can then step back and confidently say, I trust this person to make the right decision in who knows what's going to happen, because they know how we as a company think and What we do so
Meghan 33:01
say you had a team member misrepresenting times at the visit, and the client comes to you and says, on my cameras, I saw that they didn't check in until this time, but the employee said this time, this could lead to you putting in a GPS tracking policy of you have to know exactly when they get there, exactly when they leave. This is solved pretty easily if you have software, but it creates this policy of, okay, well, I don't trust trust you right now, but in order to build that trust, this is what we have to do moving forward. Trust is built when expectations are clear and more importantly, consistently followed up and now a word from our friends at dog co launch.
Speaker 1 33:37
Dog co Business Summit is coming up soon, located in Winston Salem, North Carolina, September 26 through the 28th This is a conference for scaling pet care companies. Learn from top industry leaders about how to take your pet care business to the next level. Go to dogcosummit.com to get your ticket today.
Meghan 33:59
So we talked about bridging the gap with our clients. We show it, we prove it, we communicate with them, and we do this early and often. That shows that we are people of integrity. They know they can trust us with the pets. We are patient with them. We respect them. We are consistent with them too. They know what to expect, and we bridge the gap of trust with ourselves when we reflect on what is truly important to us, we align with our values again what's important to us, and then we act accordingly. We act in alignment with our values. When it comes to our team, we clearly communicate our expectations and them back to us. We have accountability on both sides, and ultimately, that builds that trust. Trust is really a living thing in your business. It grows or it shrinks with every action you take. So hopefully you can find time this week to just do one small thing that's going to build trust with each of these what's one trust gap in your business that needs attention this week? Think about that. You could let us know by emailing pet sitter. Confession. At gmail.com or looking us up on Facebook and Instagram at Pet Sitter confessional, we appreciate you listening today. We hope you have found this valuable, and if you have, you could share it with a friend if you'd like. We'd also like to thank pet sitters, associates, dog co launch and our executive Patreon producers for helping to support the show. We'll talk with you next time bye.
