When I started my dog walking and pet sitting business in 2016, I had no idea we would have this much growth. I am thankful to all of my clients for the support over the years. We now have a team of seven professional dog walkers and pet sitters and have expanded our territory into downtown Charleston, West Ashley, and parts of Summerville. We have also implemented new policies to keep the business running efficiently while continuing to offer the same outstanding service our clients are accustomed to.
We are excited to announce our shift to lock boxes for our pet sitting and dog walking business. In this blog post we’ll be talking about why we chose Lock Boxes as the best way to handle our business needs.
Why We Chose Lock Boxes for our Pet Sitting Business
Keys are Becoming More Difficult to Manage
In the past, Paws Up! has always collected two keys to each client's home at the initial consultation. While the key system was definitely a great way to get started when there were only two of us, it had one major problem: it didn’t scale. We’ve now reached a point where our business has grown and we had to come up with a better solution.
Because we work as a team, any of our pet care providers could visit your home to care for your pets while you're away. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage only two keys per client among 7+ pet sitters. We have to do key swaps if a different pet sitter is covering visits for the primary sitter. This leads to more opportunities for lost or misplaced keys.
The Solution to Managing Keys
After careful thought and research,we have come up with a solution we feel will work best for our amazing clients and our growing business. Beginning in January 2022, we will be switching to individual lock boxes for each of our client's homes. Lock boxes have become fairly standard in the pet sitting industry today, especially for companies with multiple employees.
Lock boxes are the best way to ensure your keys are safe and to provide access to your home for all of our pet care specialists. They will allow us to provide the excellent care you have grown accustomed to along with ensuring you will always have a back up sitter in case your primary pet sitter or dog walker is not available.
One key will always be kept in the lock box and we will maintain one back up key in the safe in our office so your keys will always stay secure.
How Lock Boxes will Benefit You and Your Pets
You'll never have to worry about your pets receiving care because your key will be in the lock box and readily accessible to all of our pet care specialists
You won't have to worry about having multiple copies of your keys floating around with the potential to be misplaced
If you need a last minute walk or potty break for your pup, we will more likely be able to provide the service as all of our dog walkers will have access to your key in the lock box
If you ever get locked out of your home, you can access the lock box key
What You Need to Do to Prepare for This Change
Decide where you would like to place your lock box. Make sure it is a secure location like the side or back door, a railing, or other stable location.
Let us know if you'd like us to provide a lock box for your property or if you'd prefer to purchase and maintain your own. If you choose our lock box, there will be a one-time fee of $15.
Finally, if using your own lock box, you will need to set up a code for us to use and ensure your house key is in the lock box at all times. If you opt to lease one of our lock boxes, we will maintain the box and set up the code.
In conclusion, we chose lock boxes because we wanted something that would be useful for our clients and for our business. Lock boxes are simple and easy to install as well as being unobtrusive and low-profile. Any of our team members can quickly and easily retrieve the key at each client's home. Lock boxes also give our clients the ability to easily retrieve their keys should a lock-out situation arise. In addition, because we use Time to Pet to schedule and confirm appointments, your lock box code will be encrypted in the software.
If you would like to learn more about our pet sitting and dog walking services, please get in touch with us today or call 843-480-4480 and tell us about yourself and your pets.
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