With roughly eight working weeks left in the year, there's still time to make meaningful improvements to your pet care business's profitability. But rather than trying to overhaul everything at once, Michelle Kline shares three practical areas to focus on before the end of 2026: holiday pricing, reengaging former clients, and improving operational efficiency.
In this episode, Michelle explains how to evaluate your profit margins against industry benchmarks, why retaining existing clients can be more profitable than acquiring new ones, and how seemingly insignificant amounts of wasted employee time can add up to substantial costs. Whether you're running a small dog walking company or scaling a larger pet sitting operation, these strategies can help you make better use of the time, team, and client relationships you already have.
Key Takeaways
- Understand your profit benchmarks: Michelle recommends a 20% to 30% profit range for team-based pet care companies where the owner is out of the field, with higher margins potentially achievable depending on the business model.
- Review your holiday fee structure: Consider applying smaller surcharges to services surrounding major holidays and higher fees on the holidays themselves.
- Protect your existing bookings: Honor fees already agreed upon with clients while evaluating pricing for new Thanksgiving and Christmas bookings.
- Reengage former clients: Reach out personally to clients you haven't served this year. Some may simply need a friendly reminder that you're available.
- Prioritize retention over acquisition: Reconnecting with existing clients can reduce the marketing and onboarding costs associated with bringing in new customers.
- Keep outreach personal and low-pressure: Focus first on restarting the relationship rather than immediately pushing clients toward recurring services.
- Manage employee time carefully: If you pay your team hourly, monitor routing, visit durations, and the time spent on activities that aren't directly billable.
- Recognize the cost of small inefficiencies: A few extra minutes per visit may seem insignificant, but across a large team, those minutes can add up to dozens of hours each week.
- Think about long-term profitability: Improving operational efficiency can help your team serve more clients without proportionally increasing your labor costs.
Ready to Grow Your Pet Care Business?
DogCo Launch helps pet care business owners build more profitable, sustainable companies through practical strategies, systems, and coaching.
Explore the program and learn more about growing your dog walking or pet sitting business at dogcolaunch.com.
Michelle Kline is the founder of DogCo Launch, and the host of the DogCo Secrets Podcast. Michelle spends her time helping pet care companies in the industry grow and scale their teams, increase their revenue, and increase personal profits - all while protecting their time. Learn more about Michelle here.