Checking on your competition

Now knowledge on how to start a dog training business is complete without the knowledge on how to spy on your competitors. Now that you have identified one or more locations where there are lots of dog owners, the next thing you want to do is check out on the competition. Just because there are lots of dog owners and dogs in a particular location does not mean the demand for dog trainers will be high. If there are lots of dog trainers in that location then the demand for dog trainers may be low.

You will need to gather intelligence on the competition in the areas of target. Visit their location and try to find out long it takes to join their group and private classes; if you have to book several weeks in advance then there is probably a shortage of dog trainers in that location and it should be easier for you to carve out your own niche.

However if multiple dog trainers and dog training school are struggling to get clients this may indicate an over saturation of dog trainers but you do not want to stop your research of the competition at this point.

Your next line of action to lay hold on your writing materials, your laptop or pen and paper and classify the dog trainers in that location into 3 groups:

1. The very successful dog trainers.
2. The mid range dog trainers.
3. The struggling dog trainers.

Now try and find out what are the differences among these 3 different groups of dog trainers. You want to check out stuffs like:

• What sort of training do they offer?
• How much do they charge?
• What is their customer service like?
• What are their marketing methods?
• Do they market both offline and online?
• How do they get most of their client?
• What are training methods that they employ both for the dogs and their owners?
• Are the most successful dog trainers providing the services on their own location or do they provide the services at the client location or both?
• Is there any sort of correlation between the most successful dog trainer business and the time of establishment (age) i.e. the most successful ones are the ones who have been around the longest? If you can find a link, then you should find out why?
• Are there services that you can provide that are not current being provided or can you improve on the services that are currently available?

How to Start a Dog Training Business on Your Own

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