3 Key Small Business Saturday Messages For Your Pet Business

Hellooooo, November– and Small Business Saturday, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, and all the other Q4 holidays you need a plan for in your pet business.

How are you feeling about Q4 this year? Prepared? Excited? Overwhelmed? Stressed? TIRED?

All of these are definite possibilities, and while we can’t predict your exact Q4 feeling mix, we can fill you in on how Candace, our CEO and founder of Pet Boss Nation®, felt in her previous pet businesses heading into Q4 chaos. She felt STUCK in the day-to-day tasks that needed to happen.

“It is so easy to get behind during Q4 in your pet business. It’s so easy to let all the to-dos pile up, to get stuck in the work of actually helping customers…actually grooming the dogs and actually doing the pet sits. It’s so easy to get stuck in the weeds of the business that you don’t realize how much time has flown by. And here we are in the month of November and the end of the year is fast approaching!”

-Candace D’Agnolo

Candace has been in the pet industry for nearly two decades now– pet retail, doggy daycare, pet care, pet bakery, you name it! In her previous pet businesses, Small Business Saturday was a new concept, so consider her a pioneer of the holiday within the pet industry. 😉

Small Business Saturday was a campaign launched by American Express back in 2010. While it was a great marketing tool for American Express, it was also a way to help small businesses gain exposure and inspire shoppers to shop within their local communities during the holiday season.

When Candace was running her pet businesses, she was still utilizing Black Friday as a way to get people in the door to shop, and ALSO taking advantage of the same for Small Business Saturday– but with a focus on bringing in the local community to celebrate the #ShopSmall movement and her own local pet business.

She learned A LOT along the way that she then implemented each year to make more sales, save her sanity, and not burn out through the Q4 craziness.

Here are 3 things Candace wants you to think about as you approach Black Friday and Small Business Saturday in your pet business this year: 

1- Ask for more help. 

Just when you think *maybe* you have enough help in your pet business through the holidays– ask for more.

Ask yourself what you need to be doing, and make sure you have someone assigned to do… everything else. Is your zone of genius planning the events and doing the marketing side of things? Schedule people to be present in the business and allow yourself the time to make it happen.

Will you need to be on the sales floor talking to customers and answering questions on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday? Make sure you have enough staff to cover the register, answer the phones, and be there ready to jump on any other task needed. 

In order to map out how much help you need, ask yourself:

Where is my time best spent in my pet business? 

What other tasks are there, and who do I need to delegate those to?

2- Plan in advance. 

We know, we know… easier said than done. UNTIL NOW! 

There was one year in Candace’s pet business that she had to miss Thanksgiving dinner because she was too busy stuffing mystery bags for her customers to get there!  

Why was she STILL stuffing mystery bags with extra inventory on Turkey Day?

Well, because she didn’t plan far enough in advance. 

At Pet Boss Nation®, we focus on giving you the tools you need to plan, execute, and SUCCEED. Inside the Pet Boss Club®,  we provide over 30 sections of resources to plan anything and everything you need in your pet business.

And this year, we decided to do something we’ve NEVER done before–

Release one of those sections for individual purchase so that every pet business owner has the tools they need to plan their Q4, maximize their profits, and make this the best holiday season EVER (in your business & life!)

Our Holiday Success Kit for Pet Businesses includes 3 expert training videos, 5 step-by-step guides to streamline your Q4 processes,  9 holiday strategy playbooks, and an entire pack of Canva templates to help you get your plans out into the world!

It’s everything you need to dive into your Q4 plan NOW, bring it to life, make more money, and lower your stress level– so you’re not stuffing mystery bags on Thanksgiving day.

3- Upselling is key, and bundle with glee!

Take this money-making opportunity to start thinking about how you can upsell at a time when people are actually looking to spend money! Upselling is giving your customer a more expensive option based on their needs– but make sure it pertains to them and will benefit them!

If they’re purchasing training treats as a gift for someone with a new puppy– suggest the training pouch as an upsell! Boom, they have the perfect gift and it will surely benefit the recipient.

Consider how you can bundle things in your business too! Offer a special price on the harness and matching leash purchased together. Put together the perfect puppy gift basket with all the essentials someone might need. Put products or services that complement each other together and watch your sales soar! 

(And P.S.: This is ALL covered in more depth inside the Holiday Success Kit for Pet Businesses !)

Did this get your Q4 planning juices flowing? Ready to take November 1st by storm and make the rest of the year smooth sailing and money-making?

Here are some more resources for your pet business to plan a successful Small Business Saturday (complete with real-life examples and photos!):

🦃 9 Event Ideas to Boost Q4 Sales

🦃 7 Simple (And Last Minute) Small Business Saturday Ideas

🦃 Small Business Saturday 2022: The Pet Business Roundup

😉 And don’t forget– you have a unique opportunity to gain access to our Q4 planning section in the Pet Boss Club® portal when you grab your Holiday Success Kit for Pet Businesses! It’s $926 worth of resources– for $99. 🤯 Use it for YEARS to come!

November and December are looking pretty bright this year, Pet Boss! And you haven’t even hung any holiday lights yet. 😉

Learn more with us!

• Need 1:1 support to make massive action now? Book a discovery call with us to see if working 1:1 with Candace is the right fit for you.
• Join the Pet Boss Club®! You’re passionate about pets. It’s time to have a business that supports the life you want, too! Learn the specific techniques to find new customers, to increase sales and to build a better team for ANY kind of pet business by joining the Pet Boss Club®! Get on the waitlist here.