The DriveSales™ | Here are the top 8 essential sales strategies for pet shops and boutique owners!

The pet industry, especially services, is thriving globally. Pet owners have a deeply emotional connection to their pets, just like any other family member. Whether it be for grooming services, apparel, food, veterinarian services, toys, etc., pet owners seldom flinch at the thought of splurging on their pets. Pet retailers have been formulating new innovative ways to engage consumers with their brands when it comes to pets’ needs.

These sales strategies are just a few ways brands are driving sales by reaching out to prospective pet owners.

1) A Unique Product Portfolio:

As discussed in the previous section, this deep knowledge can be further utilized as a lever to stock unique and differentiated products. This freedom to choose unique products and supplies acts as a major pull factor for attracting new customers and retaining current customers in this category. Examples may include products such as natural pet food, a special comb that eliminates fur shedding, or a pet video camera that allows the customer to easily monitor the pet from work.

2) Experiential Sales:

This is about leveraging human-pet activities. Brands should focus on creating holistic experiences where pet owners can pamper their fur babies. Brands can experiment with concepts such as pet playing arenas such as a fenced-in playpen with some toys, pet parties, photography sets, complimentary grooming sessions, etc. These also help in partnering with other small businesses and increasing the frequency of client visits. Pet shops can also host pet adoption days to attract a whole new segment of customers and become a single point of contact for taking care of any future pet-related demands.

3) Cross-promotions:

No business can survive in isolation. This can’t be more true for the burgeoning pet industry. Focusing efforts on exclusively targeting pet parents may potentially lead to the loss of a huge opportunity to increase pet store sales. Collaborating with other pet care professionals and service providers such as pet groomers, sitters, trainers, shelters, pet clinics, pet training schools, and private veterinarian practices is an essential piece of the sales strategy puzzle having the potential of increasing client base exponentially, leading to a boost in sales and revenues. a group of pet care providers can band together and cross-promote each other thus generating more quality leads. For instance, a pet groomer, a pet food store, a vet, a dog trainer, and a dog walking service can band together and create a full-service dog membership. This can happen when a customer can pay a flat monthly rate and receive all the services he or she needs from the collective. To further boost your sales volumes by bringing in additional customers, create flyers and business cards to display at and pet groomers.

4) Consider Subscription Services:

Pet owners keep looking for ways to add more convenience to their daily lives in providing for their fur babies. Owners’ increased attention to pets has changed the way they are seeking out natural foods and protein-based products, treats, toys, and health products. A subscription service that provides pet owners such add-on services can grab consumer attention and drive sales by being a critical differentiator in addition to giving a boost to customer loyalty and top-of-mind awareness.

5) Expertise Attracts Customers:

With the progress of time, pet parents have become more sophisticated and discriminating about the products they are willing to purchase and the services they seek. Thus, customers are more likely to frequent pet stores where the staff has deeper knowledge about pets and pet care.

6) Augmenting use of Images and Videos:

Increasing videos and images on the brand website and social media handles is a powerful way to gain more attention towards a pet industry brand. Similar to blog posts, videos have turned into a major content stream to showcase expertise in a more accessible and entertaining medium nurturing the leads through engagement and education. A quick short video of the premises showcasing the variety of products and services offered along with clients’ video testimonials goes a long way in driving up sales volumes by building trust in the brand by simply uploading the video to YouTube and embedding a link to the brand’s website. Creating pet-related videos disseminating content related to pet care and posting them on YouTube maximizes the SEO benefits of using YouTube and provides a clickable call to action can become a major sales driver.

7) Think Hyperlocal:

A great way to generate word-of-mouth is going hyperlocal. This refers to the process of targeting prospective clients in a highly targeted, geographically restricted area to target people conducting “near me” searches on their mobile devices. This includes:

· Business listings on local listing sites form the backbone of going hyperlocal. These listings, better known as citations, are any form of online mention of a business’s basic information such as name, address, and phone number on the web. These citations carry authority where the more authoritative ones are given more weightage as per Google’s algorithm of ranking websites for searches. The most commonly used local listing sites include JustDial, Indiamart, Asklaila, and Grotal to name a few.

· A Google My Business (GMB) page is another important parameter for getting more eyeballs locally as potential clients can find basic information such as location, operational timings, and contact numbers on the world’s most widely used search engine. They are also able to see the images of the facility and business reviews of past users. The ratings from other local listings are also mentioned a lot of times on the GMB card which garners more trust for the business.

8) Going big online:

This will help in building an ongoing relationship with the customers by engaging with them through new content and useful information. Here are some great ideas:

· Creating an updated website: Create your website using any of the free online website building services, such as Wix, Weebly, or Duda. The website can be used as a means of inviting members to sign up for specials events and discounts. This will generate a repository of member information that you can access for determining future strategies. It’s imperative to keep the website up-to-date with current educational content and updated information about products and services. Incentives such as coupons and discounts help to retain current customers and attract new ones.

· E-mail newsletters: Create a monthly/biweekly newsletter that can be emailed to customers describing existing and new products and services, answering frequently asked questions, pet news and upcoming events, holidays, sales promotions, rewards for loyal customers, and providing helpful tips and advice. A meet and greet section showcasing pictures of pet owners and their pets from surrounding communities will add an extra push.

· Blogs: A pet blog is the no-brainer medium to determine customer needs and educate them about your products and services to build brand awareness and credibility in prospects’ minds.

· Social media: Use social media effectively for the pet industry is becoming increasingly critical such as finding the latest trends and how your business is intricately connected with these trends creates an opportunity to spread the word about your business. Following animal publications and well-known people in the industry and sharing their content with your commentary is another low-cost way of building brand awareness. Doing this will help your brand to become established as an authority.

· Utilize influencers: Another great way to promote your business is by finding an influencer who may eventually evolve into a brand ambassador and represents your brand consistently. Having a clear picture of the target audience will let you discern the type of influencer required for effectively convincing a potential lead in making a positive purchase decision or else increasing brand awareness.

As emphasized previously, pets are family members to their owners. This is the central theme for any sales strategy to work effectively. In addition to this, leveraging data and gaining actionable insights into audiences specifically interested in pet care products and services to continuously improve user personas for improving the business goals and strategies.

Now, as an effective SALESPERSON! We can do three things from here.

1. Not ignoring the opportunity and blaming the situation for revenue loss.

2. Taking necessary notes and revisiting your sales strategy with a growth mindset.

3. Reach out to The DriveSales™ in case you need any specialized help.

To conclude, what you believe also provides some idea of your development as a consultative salesperson. For more, please be connected to team The DriveSales™ as these are the foundations for our culture and ways of working!

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