How Build a Premium Doggy Daycare That is the Envy of Your Competition

Discover how Tim Jackson - owner of the greatest daycare - went from working 7 to 3.5 days a week, increased prices and introduced a membership that locks his clients in for the long haul.

Listen and learn from Tim's inspirational story by clicking on the image below...

Full Transcript Below

Dom: Today I am joined by Tim Jackson, owner of the greatest daycare. Tim is one of my private clients. He's going to tell us how the coaching programme has impacted his business and changed his life. Tim, you go first. Introduce yourself, tell everybody who you are, confirm who you are. And then how long you've been in business, where are you based?

Tim: I can confirm my name is Tim Jackson. I have been in business since 2008. My business, Pets2Impress, was established when I was working in practise as a veterinary nurse. I set up the business alongside my vet nursing job. But as time got on, the business just took off and got really, really busy. So I end up giving up the veterinary nursing side of my life. And concentrated purely on the business.

Life was going well for a while. And then I opened up the daycare centre in 2015. And with all the overheads came a hell of a lot of problems as well too. One main issue I think I had was I undercharged myself massively. I kind of looked at what other people in the area were doing. The big mistake that I think a lot of people make. And I decided to go cheaper, because I thought, "Oh, if I'm cheaper, I'm more than likely to get more clients." And it didn't necessarily work out like that.

Dom: Which we have to say is very common. This is very common throughout the pet industry. Daycares as well.

Tim: You see it on social media people saying, "We are the cheapest in town." And I'm like, "Yeah, that's not great." But I was one of them people. I did that. And I was forever trying to make money. I had tonnes and tonnes of services. Services that I didn't really enjoy delivering as well too. We would offer training courses for like £10 as a special offer. That's how, I guess, I want to say the word, "Desperate" I was desperate to get the money through the doors, because I now had staff to pay. There was the overheads, the cost of the building, utility bills, all them things. So I guess I just panicked a little bit. And then we had to go VAT registered as well too. And we were kind of just on the cusp of needing go VAT registered. But that took a massive impact as well too.

We lost a lot of money that way. And as a result, I sadly had to pay two members of staff off, which is something I really didn't want to do. It was a really, really difficult decision. Two lovely lasses. And I certainly didn't want to have to do that, but I was tied. Literally, my hands were tied behind my back. I had no other option. I even took on a second job. Again, something I didn't want to do. That's why I left the veterinary world, because I couldn't deal with having the two jobs. It was too much, especially having the family. But I had to do it, because I needed the money. I think at this moment in time, my wife was off on maternity leave as well with our son, when she had our son. And she wasn't getting any pay. So I was the only one bringing any form of income. So I had to make sure I was bringing it in. And it just felt like it was just a whirlwind and so many problems developing.

Dom: Would you say Tim, the situation you got yourself in, where you were you said feeling desperate, you're doing low price things to get clients in. Because there's not enough margin, business is a game of margin not volume. But because there wasn't enough margin in the system to pay everybody and yourself, do you think it was a lack of confidence, do you think with the pricing and the structure? Or a lack of knowledge of, "Well, I can be premium," or a bit of both?

Tim: Probably a bit of both, to be honest. Definitely, before I came into Dom's World, I definitely was very worried about raising prices. When I had a price increase, my idea of a price increase was, "Oh, I'll add 50 pence on top." That was my idea of a price increase. Which when I look back, I think, "Bloody hell, what were you doing? That's just crazy."

I was just so worried about losing a lot of clients. It was a really difficult time. It probably wouldn't have been as difficult had Rebecca not been on maternity leave. But she was. And I think that's certainly added to a lot of the stresses as well. But yeah, I was also a bit of a wimp and didn't want to up any prices. I felt if I up my prices too much, I would just lose so many clients ,and I'd still be in the same position that I was in now.

Dom: So fast forward then to the point in which you kind of came into Dom's World. Had you hit any kind of a low point that forced you to go looking for help with the business coaching?

Tim: So I guess back then, my marketing skills were really, really poor. And I kind of just pissed me money away with anyone that was going to take it, really. Which surprisingly, a lot of people want to take your money. There was a lot of people were ringing and saying, "I can get you top ranking on Google." People were ringing us saying, they can get us on Yahoo. Who I say, "Yeah, yeah. Let's just put us everywhere. Everywhere I can be. I need to be there." And thinking, "Right, this is the way forward. Surely this is what other people do." And obviously you believe the crap that they tell you when they're on the phone with you. And I was like, "Yeah, yeah, definitely. I need as much help as possible." And I did definitely piss a hell of a lot of money on these different campaigns

And I literally was getting nothing back in return. In my head, I was at a stage where I was like, "I'm literally trying everything. I don't physically know what else I can do moving forward." And then Katie recommended me, another Platinum member. And she sent me to your 33 best ideas. And I signed up to them. And I got emails every day with the different ideas. And I thought, "Right, you know what? I have tried everything else. Let's just start implementing some of these things, and see that makes a difference.".

And sure enough, it did actually start making a difference. Not straight away. There were certain things that took a little bit longer. But some very quick ones, like for example, just sending out emails.

Emails seem to work very, very quickly. Something that I would never have imagined would. Because I am the sort of person that if I get emails, "Delete, delete, delete, delete." I'm not the sort of person that reads a lot of emails unless it grabs my attention.

I'll see a lot of Dom's emails. I'm not just saying this, because I'm on a call with Dom. But a lot of Dom's emails do actually grab my attention, and I'll read these emails. But in my head back then, I was like, "I don't know if the emails will work." But I thought, "I'll try." And sure enough, it did work. I was proven wrong. And then there was the newsletters. I started doing them. And business just started picking up. More and more people were coming. Then there was the pricing structure. I'll be honest. I don't think I've ever told Dom this one. But when I was going through the 33 ideas, I didn't increase the prices then. I was still too scared.

So when I got to the end of the 33 ideas, I think I got emails regarding IMPACT. And then Katie said she was going to IMPACT. I was like, "Oh, well, I'm going to go to IMPACT as well too then." So I signed up to an IMPACT. Sadly, I still haven't been to IMPACT because of the pandemic and everything. But I will get there one day.

So I signed up to Impact then. As a result of that, I got two months free in the PBIC. And I'll always remember, it was a horrible, typical rainy day in the Northeast of England. I was sat in the house. The kids were out at the nursery. My wife was at work. And I was just sat at home on me day off. I was listening to one of your CDs that you sent us in the post. I've got a lovely, welcome pack from you as well too. So I was listening to one of your CDs. I was looking at one of your emails as well too.

And then there was a knock on the door. And I say, "Who was that?" Open the door, postman. They sent a parcel. I opened it up, and there's some of Dom's books. I'm like, "This man is everywhere. He's literally on my computer. He is now coming through my door. He's on the radio." I was like, "This man clearly knows what he's doing. He's literally everywhere in my head." And then when you go on Facebook, there's something else on him as well too. He was literally just everywhere. I'll always remember, it's the one thing that made me think "I need to stick with this guy. This guy, if he can be here, there, and everywhere. I want to be here, there and everywhere with my clients."

"I need to be with someone that is proving that it works, and is doing it." So anyway, I didn't even get to me free two months. I signed up to Diamond pretty much straight away. And I was a Diamond member for not that long either, actually. I think I was only a Diamond member for a few months. And then the Platinum doors opened, and I found out Katie was a Platinum member. And I thought, "There's no way she's going to be better than me. So I need to be a Platinum member as well too." So I applied to be a Platinum member

I achieved a hell of a lot being Diamond member, but I always felt that that was kind of just the icing on the cake. And I always knew there was going to be more to achieve as well too.

Dom: Interesting that when you talk about that story that you told about the mail incoming, and listening to me. Dan Kennedy calls this omnipresence. And you want to kind of be omnipresent in your clients and your tribe's world. And this is something that it takes a lot of effort, doesn't it, to have all these different pieces of the puzzle in place. But you've been able to replicate this with what you do as well, haven't you?

The newsletter, the postcards, the videos. Everything that you're doing, you're omnipresent in your clients' lives. And hence they're buying so much more stuff from you. So tell us now, Tim, let's fast forward to some of the results that we've had. So I want to know business results, stuff you've implemented, differences made. And then your personal life and stuff as well.

Tim: So when I first signed up, we looked at introducing upsells in the daycare side of the business. Something I would never, ever again have dreamed of. But we started just introducing adventures, and then that evolved. And then we started introducing school trips, then picnics in the park. And we started doing a number of different upsells. And people were literally biting me hand off, people wanted these upsells. And I was like, "Wow, great. Brilliant." Some more money was coming obviously through the bank account as well too. It worked at a really good time, because we started the adventures, I think it was at September time. So it meant by Christmas, I had a lot more money in the account, so I could actually buy the things for the children that I'd always wanted to buy them. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't spoil my children.

I'm now not at a stage where I worry about what January is going to bring, because I know January is going to be absolutely fine.

And then 2020, the pandemic hit. And so I'll not lie, initially I was like, "Oh, shit. I don't know what's going to happen here." But I had Dom right by me side the whole way. And I'd say I made a hell of a lot more money during the pandemic than I ever imagined I would. And as a result, I got a hell of a lot of clients from it as well too. A lot of people had signed up the daycare. A lot of people had signed up to our puppy schools!

But we as trainers, as business owners, we had to kind of do the best we could in the situation. And I moved all of our puppy school online. And we had all the advantages. And we spun it around, and there was a hell of a lot of advantages for it as well too.

I remember we did a week's challenge. And then I sent an email out with an early bird special. And the spaces just went really, really quickly. So I had an early bird special. The cutoff date was this particular date. And the spaces went really, really quickly. And then the early bird was kind of half price to what the full price would be. And I remember after again, listening to the advice Dom gave. Once the early bird was finished, I thought, "Fuck it. I'm still going to try and sell some more spaces." So I literally just sent emails out every single day with different stories. And then getting them in to try and sign up to the puppy school.
And as a result, I had a few extra signup at the higher price package as well too. Initially I kind of thought, "No one's going to sign up after the early bird." But I thought, "Well, you know what? I'm stuck at home. I've got nothing to lose. I may as well keep trying to push it."

Dom: Dom's doing it. I'll do it.

Tim: Exactly. And it worked, it paid off. And again, some of those people that signed up to the online classes are now loyal clients to us. They've continued with us. We've got some great testimonials from them as well too. And a lot of people actually really, really enjoyed the online classes. They felt it was really, really personal as well. Which is something that we wanted to try and achieve as best as we could.

Dom: ... you introduced the membership. So we got people going from puppy classes to daycare, and then on and on, and on. And lifetime customer value. Daycare, we about full at the moment.

Tim: Yeah, pretty much. We are looking at closing the doors very, very soon. So our current members have all been given a polite reminder to get everything, get dates booked in, in advance. Just to give us a little bit more of an insight as to what space we might have available. But I don't think we're going to have many spaces available. We've got a lot of events planned for the rest of the year, as well as daycare. So people are biting our hands off to book in for them. We've got upsell. So next week we've got Halloween week. We've got the Christmas week coming. And all obviously want to get their dogs involved in all of this as well too.

Dom: Absolutely. Hat tip to you, Tim. You really have dived into everything that I've suggested, and continue to do so. If I say, "I think you can charge ... I think you can create an extra higher price level here." You'll have a go at it. And everything else as well. I think the big thing that was missing before is probably you. You and your personality in the business. Your daycare can't be compared to anybody else's because of all of the events, and there's something new. It can't be compared and nor can it be copied. Because if somebody copies what you do last week, by next week you're doing something different. And you're charging more money. My business is totally different, but it's a nice feeling, isn't it? To be in control and to have time for marketing, and to see all the results that it brings.

Tim: And do you know what the thing is? I absolutely love it as well too. If I look at where I was a few years back and thinking how much I kind of hated everything, because I didn't really know what I was doing. And you're right, my personality just wasn't in the business at all. It was more just a company and I was here to help out. Whereas now, people hear of Pets2Impress, and people think of me straight away. They think of the crazy ideas that I'm going to come up with next. I mean, I went out with a bunch of the clients a couple of weeks ago, they invited us out for a drink. And they were like, "Do you know you make this place. It's you. That's what makes it work. We'd love to be inside of your head." I'm like, "Trust us, you wouldn't."

I absolutely love it. And I really love getting my personality in there. But that's with help from you as well too. I think you've kind of given me the confidence that I needed as well too. We're now at a stage where I'm never, ever worried about increasing prices. I'll happily increase prices. We'll talk. You've mentioned briefly about introducing a higher level of the membership. So we introduced the Platinum Plus. And within, I think it was a week of having it there, someone signed up.

Dom: We've always got to be testing and tweaking, and trying new things in a market. And so the membership, we talked about the membership there. Just very quickly for everybody. When Tim was full, you were keen to do a membership and we figured it out together, didn't we? And now people have to be a member of, I think we're almost getting the point where it's going to be a membership only anyway. Then they get a load of member benefits. This benefits them, because then know they got their place locked in. They get all these other advantages. Benefits Tim massively, because they're paying him a chunk of change. Which helps pay for all the marketing or everything else. And it's the bedrock for everything else that happens in the business, isn't it? And yeah, it's magic, isn't it? If you think about what you've achieved in two years.

Tim: Amazing. I don't think I could imagine two years ago being where I am now. The stress I had. I mean, that's why I've got no hair. But that's caused by a lot of the stress that I did have. Countless nights with not getting enough sleep, not having any money in the account. Really, really struggling.

Dom: And you would recommend the coaching programme?

Tim: I would definitely, definitely, definitely recommend the coaching programme.

Dom: For daycare owners?

Tim: For daycare owners. So we do training as well. So anyone that does dog training. We did used to do dog walking. And you helped us a little bit with that, but it was kind of a service that I didn't really want moving forward as with.

Dom: Tim. Brilliant. I'm so proud of you, buddy. And thanks so much for the recommendation, and for coming and telling your story. Where can people go to find out more about you?

Tim: You go to our website, www.pets2impress.com. You'll find all the information you need.

Dom: Fantastic. And we forgot to mention Tim also wrote three books over the years. He's now a published author. So you'll find out more about his books and everything there. But if you run a daycare, and you're constantly worried about increasing prices. If you haven't got any upsells in place, if you're thinking about introducing a membership. Any of the things that Tim's talked about, really. And then we can help you inside of the Diamond private coaching programme. Just click on one of the links below to find out more. You can apply. If I think we're a good fit, then we'll get on the phone. And yeah, hopefully you could be sitting here telling your story of success same as Tim has. Tim, well done, buddy. I'm so proud of you. And congratulations again, live on camera, for the recent birth of your 14th child. No, your fourth. Your fourth child.

Tim: That's four that I know about.

Dom: And on that note, we'll finish it there. Click on the link below, guys, to find out more about the coaching programme. Thanks, Tim. All the best.

Check out Tim's website here

To hear more about Tim's story check out this Episode of The Poodle to PitBull Pet Business Podcast

If you would like to join Tim in the Diamond Coaching Program then check out the links below.

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