A dog walking business is a pretty easy and inexpensive business for a teen to start-up. But getting your first customers is probably the most difficult part of starting up. This is why before this, I gave you some pretty powerful tips to landing your first customers. If you’re at the point in your business, however, that you already have your initial customers, then you probably want to know how to step up your game a bit more so you can make even more money. If this is the case, here are 5  tips to help you:

• Get referrals from your current customers – it may not be as difficult as you might think and I show you why here; but once you do have your first customer, don’t forget to ask them for referrals. Dog lovers often know other dog lovers. And this would be the perfect way for you to pick up a few more clients. Simply ask them to give your name and phone number to people who they know that might be in need of your valuable service. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth advertising. It’s still the most effective marketing strategy there is.

• Distribute business cards and flyers- with the help of your parents a relative or an older sibling, you can go from door to door distributing your flyers and business cards to let people know about your valuable service. There are a lot of online sites where you can order a couple of hundred business cards for free (pay only the shipping), and flyers are fairly inexpensive to print at a local copy shop. You can also post flyers in your local supermarkets, grocery stores and put them on cars in parking lot and other places.

• Make a website for your dog walking business – nowadays a website is an indispensable tool for marketing your business. If you’re really serious about stepping up the game in your dog walking business, then this is one step you don’t want to skip. If you don’t know how to build a website or you’re on a tight budget, you can easily just start a blog on a free service which we discuss here. It’s simple to do and initially you only need 3-4 pages just to tell people about the service you offer, your prices and a way to contact you. Of course if you’re going to have a website, you need to learn how to get traffic to your site and we discuss that here.

• Veterinarian referrals – there is probably no better place to advertise your dog walking service than with your local Vet. In fact, it’s probably the single most effective way of getting more customers in this case. All that’s required is for you to do is go to your local vet’s office and introduce yourself to them there and ask if you can leave some of flyers or business cards. You can bring along a nice business card holder or holder for your flyers (get these from an office supply store), so you can show them the you will be displaying your flyers in a neat and professional way – rather than just leaving a bunch of flyers for them to keep organized. Many people will not mind you doing this so the key is to overcome your shyness and simply ask!  You can also leave your business cards in clever places such as animal hospitals and pet stores.

• Join National Association of Professional Pet Sitters – there may be other pet associations in your area, but if not then the NAPPS is a great organization for you to join because it allows you to get a free listing in their referral network. This network can be accessed by pet owners either by phone or online when they are looking for a dog walker in their area. Being apart of an organization will give you even more exposure and help you to get more customers. Not to mention the fact that it makes you look more professional that you took the time to join an association.

Getting customers is the key to most businesses surviving. Without a good customer base, you dog walking business may not last long. So it’s important to advertise in the best ways possible so that you can increase your bottom line. Money! Now go on out there and have a dog-gone good time!

[photo credit]

About Steve: I'm 18 years old and my goal is to one day become a millionaire! I’m really into business and entrepreneurship. I love being independent and having my own money so I'm always finding ways to earn more. In between school and homework, I write articles and maintain pages on facebook, myspace, twitter and youtube for TMMI! Continue reading here.

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