Think Like Retail: Business Hours and Holidays from What Would Mike Say? on Vimeo.
Did you know that having the right business hours can make a huge impact in pet adoption? Do you have business hours that are convenient for your potential clients? Are you open holidays when families are out and about?
Thinking like a retail store can drastically increase pet adoption and make money for your organization. Learn tips from Mike on how and why staying open when it’s convenient for your clients can help you save more lives.
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I know it’s different if you have pets all in foster homes, then you have to adjust times to have somebody there to meet the new pet, etc. But if not, and you have a facility, you must realize that we follow retail so much. The mall is open seven days a week and they are open early a.m. to late p.m. and there is a reason for that.
Adopting a pet is a family purchase. If Mom wants to go out and buy a toaster, Mom goes out and buys a toaster, she doesn’t need anybody with her. If she wants to buy a frying pan, she doesn’t need anyone with her. If Dad needs to go out and buy a hammer, he doesn’t need anybody with him. But there are family purchases. For example, a car; the family talks about it, they all go out to see it. Large items, bedroom sets, etc.
Adopting a pet, we all agree, is a serious matter. And we want all the family to come in. And, in most cases, the entire family wants to see the pet and see if it fits with everybody.
Well, Moms and Dads are working. So if your organization is only open during afternoon hours or morning hours and you’re not open evenings and weekends you’re only making it harder for your pets to be seen… Where the pet shops in the mall are making it very easy for the pets to be seen. Dad can come home after work, pick up the family and kids and go out, or on the weekends they can go out.
Do you know there are only two days a year that we are actually closed for adoptions? We are closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. But some places I know are even open for Christmas Day because not everybody is Christian and that doesn’t mean that they are not going to be great pet owners.
If you are someone there feeding and caring for the pets then you should be doing adoptions.
Just this past 4th of July we had an exceedingly busy adoption day. There are two reasons: all of the other organizations in our community were closed, and it’s a “family day.”
If you are going to be feeding, caring and cleaning for the pets then you might as well be doing adoptions.
Here’s what a lot of organization say to me and it’s a lot of bogus… that it’s just more payroll to be open on a weekend and a holiday. If you’ve been doing what you are supposed to be doing and putting value into your pets, (and you can’t get a puppy here for more than $300), then two puppy adoptions should more than pay your staff on that day, and we far exceed two.
Be realistic about it. Look at your budget and how many adoptions you can do. Look at your fees on what a pet adoption us and what you are paying for those employees to be there.
Remember this: we are in the business of saving lives. I don’t ask organizations to lose money. I ask them to put value into their pets and think of things in business terms. Doesn’t it make more sense that we can save more lives, increase our revenue, than worry about ‘should we be open or not?’
If we’re open and we can promote our pets on a family day that’s what we should be doing.
