Should pet sitters drive cars with advertisements for their company on them? This topic can be sort of a hot button in the pet sitting community because pet sitters stand firmly behind whichever side of the fence they are on.
Recently, this topic came up in of the pet sitting forums we’re a part of and here are some of the responses sitters from around the country gave:
- “Whatever you use, don’t have signage when your clients are on vacation. Nothing says ‘we are out of town’ like a pet/house service sign!”
- ” I’ve had car signs for almost as long as I’ve been in business (almost 9 years). I haven’t gotten much business from them. It does help make you visible, though, which is good. I don’t think it advertises that the client is out of town so much as that someone is going to be coming in and out of the house keeping an eye on things. A potential burglar would not know what time you are going to show up every day. It also indicates there are pets inside (which could be large dogs that bite). Never had a problem with them and no complaints from clients either. Just my two cents.”
- “I have had vehicle signage on my back windows since I started a business 12 years ago – I have actually had nothing but a positive experience from it. As far as client safety when I was new at this it never even entered my mind but I try to be open-minded. I now back my vehicle into the driveway etc but it has never given me any grief. Neighbors are constantly looking out for me (positive) and I have gotten tons of business from it over the years and lots of networking. Its helped with security issues with local police and gotten me out of a few tickets LOL”
- “Personally, I didn’t want to advertise. I also admit I wasn’t always the best driver… and I didn’t always want to be ON. Publicly: The “security”
This past Christmas, while out pet sitting for a client in a gated community we had a neat interaction with the security guard at the gatehouse. I stopped at the gate and announced the address I would be visiting, as I had 3 times a day for the 4 days prior to this visit. The guard looked up the address and asked my name, to which I replied “Endless Pawsibilities” Although, we are on the list and he could see that, he proceeded to ask why I was there. So, I told him I’m there for care for the pets. He then told me, “If you were a REAL company, then you would be driving around in a car with your business name and information on it!” He was quite condescending. I politely replied, “While I can understand why you would think that, I disagree with you. If my business name and information was on my car, wouldn’t I be announcing to the neighbors and anyone else driving by that my clients aren’t home? We feel it’s better for our clients to drive unmarked cars.” He thought for a second and said, “Yeah…I guess that’s true. Have a good night!!”
Last week, I was speaking to a client who called to tell me that she sent us a referral. She said she told the new client that she loves that “they don’t show up announcing we’re not home.” She then told me that she was at a neighbor’s wedding and when she and her neighbors were standing around talking, of course, their pets became a topic of conversation. She said they began talking about pet care and they all (3 separate couples) discovered that they all had the same pet sitting company: US! Of course, I had to chuckle, because I knew they are all our clients.
We choose not to drive in cars advertising our business because we always want to ensure our client’s homes are secure. All the great advertising and marketing that come with car wraps would be great, but we feel that we can’t compromise security for advertising.
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