The NAPRP Blog

Feb 27

Written by: NAPRP Admin
2/27/2009 5:18 AM

Today, I had the pleasure of talking with dog trainer Joan Mayer for our February teleseminar. (You can read more about Joan at her Web site.)

Joan and I talked about a number of super simple things you can do to train your volunteers and staff to help increase the adoptability and lower the stress level of the dogs in your care. (We even talked a bit about cats too!) Many of her suggestions echo things that I talk about in my books. For example, teaching a dog to sit is one thing. It's another thing to teach a dog when to sit. Imagine if every time someone walked up to his cage, the dog were trained to sit? What if he sat every time you put on a leash? Or every time he meets a new person? Think about how your prospective adopters would react to such a well-behaved dog!

(Note to Members: we'll upload the audio recording to the member area of the Web site in a few days.)

Today, someone also wrote in asking about tips for dealing with the bad economy. Although it's oriented toward business (not non-profits), I passed on a free report from Marcia Yudkin called "33 Keys to Thriving During a Recession." You can find the complete PDF report here:  http://www.yudkin.com/recess.htm

The report includes practical suggestions like "Mine Your Customer List." As a non-profit, that means talk to your existing members and adopters, rather than trying to find new people. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Great business information is all around you and it's easy to adapt it to your needs.

I know a lot of people in rescue don't like to think of themselves as being "in business." But it's smart to think like a business owner. Your adopters and donors are your "customers."

A lot of marketing really comes down to figuring out why people buy and then catering your offer to meet their needs. In this case, you want to find out why people adopt or donate to your organization. Then find ways to make it easy and fun for them to do it more often. Hint: the easiest way to find out: ASK them! You might be surprised at what you learn ;-)

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