Adapt or die – a terrifying lesson from January 2019! (Love Your Business)

Without wishing to traumatise any of you lovely folks reading this missive, I am going to have to mention the B***** word…

Because this January has been more challenging than normal for my business.

And when I started writing these emails and blogs, I promised to be honest about the ups as well as the downs.

The beginning of the year is definitely a weird one for trainers and behaviourists.

There’s often an influx of new puppies for classes, or struggling puppies for 121 sessions.

And we tend to get a lot more enquiries about behaviour help for the dogs who bit relatives over the festive period.

What’s less reliable is the uptake in weekly classes - sports, activities and other progression stuff.

It can be a tough time of year financially, but this year feels even harder.

And I really do think we’re finally feeling the Brexit effect. Uncertainty is at an all time high, and that means people are less likely to spend money especially if that’s on a perceived luxury.

The good news is that we could see this coming because

• We monitor enrolments and enquiries weekly - which gives us scope to make last minute changes where they are needed rather than panicking at the end of the quarter 
• If people don’t sign up for classes they’d expressed an interest in earlier, we gently but persistently ask why – we need this information to be able to adapt 

What are we doing as a result?

• Making changes to our class schedule so courses are a bit shorter (and therefore cheaper without cutting the price) 
• Offering more half day themed workshops (require less commitment from owners) 
• Concentrating on promoting our core earners (puppy classes and behavioural work) 
• Making sure we monitor enquiries, follow-up and conversion rates for puppy and behaviour categories 

Have you noticed the Brexit Bite hitting your business yet?

What steps are you taking now? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Morag 

UltraCaniCrosser, Firewalker, Clinical Animal Behaviourist

PS Thanks for the feedback on the webinars, I’m so glad you enjoyed them but I know not everyone managed to book on for the whole set.

If you want to catch up on any of the webinars that you missed from last year, or go back through them and start taking action, they are all finally uploaded and available!

Choose a single webinar + resource pack (£15+vat each), or grab the whole set of 6 for just £80+vat

You have access to these for as long as Teachable exists, and I’ll add extra resources to each pack as and when I think of them.

https://wellconnectedcanine.teachable.com/p/the-business-of-behaviour-training