Partner offers and events for a pet waste removal business

A partner offer puts your discount in front of another business's dog owners, and an event puts you in front of the neighbors. A Florida pet waste company is listed on a dog-care chain's perks page with 20% off the first three months. A Colorado one promoted a free dog festival. Neither published a result.

What does the Paws 'n' Rec perks page list?

Paws 'n' Rec is a dog-care business with locations in Arkansas, Florida and Nevada. Its public perks page lists local partner discounts for members. Under Florida, it lists Tampa Bay Poo Patrol with 20% off the first three months of service, described as commercial and residential pet waste clean-up.

The page says most perks are redeemed by showing an active membership profile, and that partner perks vary by location and are updated regularly. That is the whole mechanism: the chain's members already have a profile, and the perk is one more reason to keep it.

What the page does not say is how many members used the offer, what it brought in, or whether any fee changes hands. The offer shows a partnership exists. Whether it pays is not published.

What would a partner offer cost me?

Run the numbers before you offer anything. This example uses Poopy Scoopers' published starting price of $13 a weekly visit, so swap in your own.

So the offer gives up $33.80 per customer who redeems it, on a made-up example. For scale, PostcardMania's numbers for one landscaper's postcard and ad campaign work out to $245.73 per new customer.

A discount you only pay when someone signs up is a different animal from a postcard you pay for whether anyone answers. The customer acquisition cost guide shows how to put both on one footing.

How do I find and ask a partner?

Neither case published a method, so this one is mine. It borrows the one thing the perks page shows clearly, which is a short offer that is easy to redeem.

1. Pick businesses whose customers own dogs and have yards: groomers, boarding and daycare, vets, and HOA or apartment managers.
2. Write the offer in one line, with a start and a limit, such as the first three months.
3. Ask the partner to list it where their customers already look, such as a perks page, a front-desk card or a newsletter line.
4. Give every partner a code, so you know which one a sign-up came from.

Keep the offer to your own service. Don't ask the partner to promise anything about your work.

How do I know it worked?

Count three things: sign-ups with the code, how many of them stayed past the discount, and what each one cost you. The third is the arithmetic above.

If a partner can't use a code, ask every new customer how they heard about you and write the answer down. It costs nothing, and after a few months you'll know which partner earns its discount. The route customer lifetime value guide covers what a customer who stays is worth.

What did Colorado Pooper Scoopers publish about its event?

Its home page promoted A Day With the Dogs, a free community dog festival at a dog park in Northglenn, Colorado, on a Saturday from 8am to 2pm. The page lists music, face painting, vets, groomers, walkers, sitters, local vendors, adoptable rescues, raffles and prizes, all supporting local animal nonprofits. It also has a link to become a vendor.

The page publishes no result. There is no attendance figure, no cost and no count of leads or customers, so nothing here says whether the event won work. What it shows is a tactic: a dated local event that puts a pet waste company in front of dog owners who live nearby.

Is a booth or an event worth it for a one-truck business?

No published result says it is, so treat it as a test and decide three things first.

• Who is the audience? Dog owners in the towns you serve are worth more to you than a bigger crowd from out of town.
• How will you follow up? Use a sign-up sheet that says what you will send, and send only that.
• What happens afterward? Post a recap with photos, and send the follow-up you promised within a week.

Then count sign-ups at the event and customers a month later, and compare the total with what the booth and your time cost.

What do I do next?

Start with your route math in how to start a pooper scooper business, and check your price against what pet waste removal costs. For other ways to fill a route, read about door hangers and Nextdoor.

When a new neighbor looks you up, they see your page. Get your free ProveWorth page, or see how it works.

Sources

• Paws 'n' Rec, member perks
• Colorado Pooper Scoopers, home page
• ProveWorth page, Poopy Scoopers LLC
• PostcardMania, Kingston Hill Landscaping case