How to sell puppies online
How To Sell Puppies! A Proven Marketing Strategy that Works!
0:00 / 0:00
Timecodes:
hello everyone welcome back to the
channel must love labs my name is alan
on this channel we talk about tools and
tips for how to raise breed and sell
labrador retrievers as quality family
pets
in today's video we're going to talk
about developing a marketing strategy
for selling puppies
so if you're new here you might consider
[Music]
subscribing
okay the first thing i want to talk to
you about is where to list your puppies
now folks everyone is online these days
people used to put ads in newspapers and
put up postings on public message boards
in the supermarket that kind of thing
but those days are gone
everybody's online i there's a lot of
different ways to do this
and you can get into the ins and outs of
how this person does it or that person
does it and then debate those things
i'm not going there i'm going to tell
you what i do
and what works for me and you can use
that information to help you with your
decision so
here's what i do to sell puppies
now we use puppyfine.com puppyfind.com
that's where i list my puppies now
eventually your referral business will
get to a point
where you don't need to list your
puppies anymore
you'll have enough repeat business and
enough people talking about your dogs to
where
they'll be contacting you because a
friend of a friend told them where they
got their dog
and they'll be signing up for litters
that aren't even conceived yet
and i know for a fact that happens
because
i'm in line to get a dog with that kind
of a breeder right now
to bring one into my inventory
so that's the goal but i'm not there yet
so
like most people we're going to do
listings online
puppyfind.com is where we're going
i'm not going to spend time in this
video showing you how to set up a puppy
find
listing they're real super simple
it's fill in the blanks once you get
started i would encourage you to go with
the paid
subscription it's 19.95 a month
and you get full access access to the
site and your customers get full access
to
your contact information and you want
that it's a small price to pay
to basically have a business business
platform to move your puppies on
so puppyfind.com and
that starts with taking a picture of
your puppy um and wait till their
eyes are open they're after two weeks
old and then do it
puppy fine doesn't want you to list dogs
that that aren't born yet or they don't
want you to list
full litters a lot of people try to do
that
uh give your puppy a name instead of
just
black collar or something like that give
them a name if it's a boy call them
something like diesel
or or whatever you're going to call them
and you get them listed um with a
picture with their eyes open
and then just fill in the blanks they'll
walk you through that and it'll include
your contact information
now when you go to puppyfind.com you can
also do some research here
look at what other people are selling
you're going to find your breed there
and take a look at the way people are
wording their descriptions
and kind of get a feel for the way these
people like to list their dogs
what they say in the comments about the
breeder as well
pricing information you can look at what
people are selling these dogs for
and find comparable dogs to yours as far
as how they're going to be registered
are they
akc or aca or not registerable whatever
and you want to be middle of the road on
your pricing
don't set your standard too low don't
don't tell yourself oh
i'm brand new so i got to be cheap
that's actually a red flag for a lot of
people
they won't take you seriously and you
don't want to be
at the top of the price structure either
that's that's typically
people that are you know have show dogs
and things of this nature
be middle of the road somewhere take a
look at what other people are selling
these dogs for
and and be somewhere in the middle and
you'll find that
at least in the beginning that'll work
out pretty good for you
okay the second thing i want to talk to
you about is you're going to need a
place
where you can put up pictures and videos
of your dogs people want to see these
things they always want to see a picture
they love to see a video video is in
it's just where it's at people used to
just want pictures now they want to see
some video
i want you to consider learning how to
make basic youtube videos
one of my biggest dog gurus once said on
video
that if you're not using youtube to sell
puppies you should be
and i happen to agree with that and you
might think well man i don't know how to
make a youtube video
i'm right there with you i i used to not
know how to make a youtube video
i'll put a link in the description uh
the folks over at think media
are great at teaching this heather
torres has a wonderful video
on how to do a youtube video start to
finish
with everything in it with a smartphone
you don't have to go out and buy a fancy
camera and whatnot it's not necessary
i'll put a link in the description to
her video about how to make a youtube
video
and i think you'll get a lot out of that
all right i'm glad everybody's hanging
out and learning about developing a
marketing plan for dogs
and do us a favor if you're getting
value from this video hit that like
button
it sure does help out quite a bit and if
you want to support our channel we've
got a teespring store
i'll put a link in the description you
can stop in and check out a hoodie or a
coffee mug
and thanks in advance for doing that i
do weekly puppy
update videos for all my litters
if you look in my playlist for instance
rose sam and rosie's second letter
you'll see them week one week two week
three
one when they're even born but at least
a weekly puppy update video
and you can upload this to youtube and
i'm gonna talk to you about starting a
facebook fan page for your dogs as well
and you can upload the exact same video
to your facebook page
so it's not like you have to make two
videos you don't you upload you make one
and you upload it to both platforms
it's real simple so you have pictures
being uploaded
videos being uploaded and this gives
people lots of eye candy when they're
picking out a puppy
now you don't have to reinvent the wheel
here you can take a good close look at
how i make my puppy videos
and just do the same thing or something
similar i i don't mind
you can use my exact format if you want
to until you figure out your own
what i can tell you is that it works
okay it's simple
and it works it gets dogs sold that's
what it does
now you're going to want to do when
we're talking about videos
you're going to want to do a video where
you introduce your puppies to everybody
we do this at the first bath video at
four weeks
um and we'll give them a name
and we'll give them a caller color
i literally printed out a name of
popular male dog names and popular
female dog names off the internet
and we just run the list ever every
litter
uh and and you can just move through it
and weed out the ones that
you know maybe you don't like or
whatever but you also give them a caller
so now instead of puppy number five
you've got charlie and charlie has a
blue collar
or you've got daisy and daisy has a pink
collar
and you you you start to sell people and
experience at this point
they're not just a number now they're a
name
and they've got a collar so that when
they see them on video
when you're doing your weekly puppy
videos they'll be able to spot the dog
that they're thinking about
or the dog that maybe they've got a
deposit in on and i'm not kidding you
we've had people come to look at the
dogs and to look at the puppies and to
buy puppies
we've had families come and the kids
know all the dogs names already they're
like oh there's charlie and there's
daisy
it's an experience now if you've ever
taken a marketing class
you'll know that selling people a
product is one thing
showing people an experience is another
you give them lots of videos to watch
pictures to look at
names to think about colors to think
about they can do their homework now
they can do their research they can show
it to their family
their their significant other their kids
you're showing an experience at this
point
and at week eight when they're all
available
boom they're gone cricket's chirping
it's like wow
where did all my dogs go yeah
okay let's talk for a minute about a
facebook business page
uh it some people call it a fan page um
if you've got
a facebook account anybody can do this
it's free uh just
follow the links on facebook to start a
business page
and um for entertainment value is fine
when they ask you for a category
if you're wondering how that looks just
take a look at mine
we've got a facebook fan page under must
love labs just do must love labs search
on facebook
and look for my logo and you see it or
you can click on the link in the about
section of my youtube channel and
that'll take you there
and while we're on that topic once you
get your fan page set up
you put a link on your fan page in the
about section to your youtube channel
and on your youtube channel you put a
link in the about section
to your facebook page and this way
you're cross connecting people
people can come in from from any
direction and find you
you can go on to fiverr.com
and get somebody to make you a logo my
must love labs logo
everybody's seen it that one right there
yeah you can have that done on
fiverr.com for
20 bucks and for a little bit more than
that you can have it animated if you
want to but then it's yours you own it
um copyright laws apply
and you can use that logo for your
facebook page
for your youtube channel and then later
on a paypal invoice and we'll talk about
that here in just a minute
talking about that facebook page you
want to set up
photo albums on your facebook page you
want to have an album for your parent
dogs
you're probably going to at least have a
mama dog maybe you'll have a resident
stud
if you don't have a resident stud if you
outsource that you can still get a
picture of that dog from whoever you did
business with
and list that on your page uh as the
sire for your pups that's fine
so you want a photo album for your
parent dogs and then you can start a
photo album for your puppies
and you'll also get testimonials people
that buy puppies from you
six months later they'll send you a
picture uh with an update saying you
know oh he's doing great he weighs 48
pounds at the vet now and
we're glad we got him that's a
testimonial and you can put that in a
photo album on your page as well
take a look at my page and look at how
we structured it you'll see there's the
parent dogs
there's also a section for keeping up
with our puppies and those are the dogs
that we've sold that we're getting
pictures back on you know six months
later
a year later and it all it adds up to an
information picture
and what happens is somebody contacts
you off a puppy find
and they want to know more information
you send them to your facebook page
answer whatever immediate question that
they have usually it's is this dog still
available
yes he or she is and take a look at our
facebook facebook page where we've got
plenty of pictures of the parent dogs
and videos of the puppies we do weekly
updates
if you have any more questions email me
back
now you've sent them to your facebook
page and you will eliminate
a ton of back and forth communication
one piece of information at a time for
each person that inquires
you can bypass a big portion of that by
sending people to your facebook page
where most of what they're looking for
is there in the pictures in the videos
with that facebook page you want to get
good at uploading
cute puppy pictures and cool dog
pictures of your breed
on a regular basis you can find them out
on the internet you can take them of
your own dogs you can do both
it's free and easy but it keeps the
conversation going on your fan page
now you want to get good at taking cute
puppy pictures okay
the pictures in the videos are what sell
the dogs
so practice you know i'll put some
pictures up here in just a second to
give you an idea of what i'm talking
about
but practice taking cute buffy pictures
it'll put money in your pocket
when you're on your facebook page and
you put up a listing like for instance
your puppyfind.com listing
you can put a listing puppy fund will
give you a link straight to
diesel's puppy listing and you can put
that on your facebook fan page and let
everybody
know that diesel's for sale there but
never ever ever discuss price or
sales specifics in a public post
on facebook it's a violation of the
terms of service to sell live animals on
now people can message you on messenger
and private message that's fine
you can talk about pricing and whatever
in in that environment
but don't do it out on the public post
you'll you'll get in trouble with
so your facebook fan page ends up being
your go-to page for most of your
inquiries about the puppies
and that's what it's there for uh it it
will it
for me anyways it ended up being my
biggest tool for selling puppies is the
facebook fan page
it's it's a it's an information
gathering spot for
photos and videos that's that's really
unmatched anywhere else
okay so if your marketing efforts have
gone well and
people looked at your puppy fine listing
and uh
and after asking you some questions and
looking at pictures and videos they
usually at that point when you hear back
from somebody it's uh
how can i reserve one is what they want
to know you know how do i get one from
you how do i buy one from you
and um i use paypal for puppy deposits
that's the easiest way i've found to
handle deposits typically when i'm
selling dogs
i've got a 250 dollar non-refundable
deposit to hold a dog and i let people
know that
in the paypal invoice it's 250
it's non-refundable and that covers me
for dogs that are selling in the
uh you know 800 to 1500 range
it's your business do it however you
want 250
is a good round number the
non-refundable part
comes from these people have asked you
to take your dog off the market take it
off the shelf so to speak
and stop trying to sell it and hold it
for them
okay during the prime selling season the
first eight weeks
so the price for doing that is 250
dollars this weeds out the tire kickers
okay
nobody that's that's on the fence or
doing the i don't know
maybe thing i'll hold one just in case
anybody that's being that way
isn't going to give you 250 on a
non-refundable pet deposit
okay these are serious inquiries at this
point these people plan on coming and
picking up a dog from you
and that's what you want
now if you're going to ship a dog if you
plan on shipping one some people ship
them some
don't i do i found that i can ship a dog
anywhere in the lower 48 for
about 450 shipping and handling and i
just know that there's a service right
here in missouri that helps with that
they have relationships with the
airlines and they help you get a dog on
the plane
uh there's veterinary farms that have to
be filled out and your vet's gonna
charge you a little bit that for that
too
that's like 25 for a little bit of a
more stringent physical before a dog can
fly
dogs can't fly until they're eight weeks
old so that all works out
anyways about 450 shipping and handling
i add that to the price i tell them that
up front
this much for the dog this much for
shipping and handling
and make sure that you get paid
in full all the money
before you put your dog on a plane or
before you hand your dog off to somebody
and let them drive away with it okay
you must be holding all the money people
now when i send somebody an invoice 250
non-refundable pet deposit
balance due prior to shipping
or prior to pickup
via cash via cash or cashier's check
okay cash or cashiers check
i'm not using paypal for the bulk of the
purchase
just for the deposit trust me on this
there's a way for people to scam you if
they really want to be that way
and it happens so don't set yourself up
for it
take deposits with paypal that's what i
do it's it's easy
it's real easy but let people know up
front
what the balance is going to be and then
they're going to need to settle that up
with you either with cash when they come
by your
house or they can mail you a cashier's
check
and you want to deposit that and check
with your bank to make sure the funds
are available
before you put that dog on a plane or
hand it off to a prospective owner
if they hand it to you in person when
they come to pick up a dog that's
probably fine
but no personal checks is what i'm
getting at nobody does money orders
anymore
and i wouldn't take any personal checks
or business checks
they're just way too many more modern
and convenient ways
to deal with things and cash is always
king cash is best
okay the next thing i want to talk to
you about is being a communicator
my biggest frustration with breeders
that i've dealt with is their
their lack of communication these people
that won't return
phone calls won't return emails and then
when you do finally get a hold of them
days or even a week later
or something that they they want to tell
you about how busy they are and start
giving you excuses well
we're all busy you know we've all got
the same 24 hours and how you use it is
up to you but we're all busy
so if you're too busy to return an email
from me
or if you're too busy to answer your
phone then maybe you're too busy to do
business with me
i i really have walked away from deals
like that just because people wouldn't
communicate with me
that's a red flag it makes me start
wondering why won't this person
communicate with me
okay and that's that really is from a
customer's perspective because i was the
customer during that transaction
so i learned from that and i don't want
to put any of my customers in that
situation
be a good communicator be open be easy
to get a hold of
and be as quick as you can we're all
busy we all get that but
don't leave people hanging you never
want to mislead
people okay be open be fair
be honest and tell the truth
okay you have to tell people the truth
whatever it is
maybe it even stings a little bit maybe
things didn't go the way you wanted it
to
whatever but tell people the truth you
never have to worry about what you said
if you told someone the truth
you don't have to worry about it just go
there we've all got our big boy pants on
our big girl pants on
we can handle the truth but we have to
know what it is
i mentioned before selling people an
experience and
think about doing that when you're
dealing with people about selling them
an experience
let them come and visit the dogs
puppyfind.com actually coaches people on
how to buy a dog and the other sites do
too
and they tell them to if they're close
enough to see if they can come out and
visit
see the mama dog see you see where these
dogs are being raised at
meet the dogs maybe even pick one out
while they're there and you want to be
open to that
if you're not going to be open to that
then you're going to be turning away
business
and people will start to wonder about
you so that's the nature of the dog
business
okay so let's take a look at the process
here
you're going to put up a listing on
puppy find
and you're going to share a link to that
listing on your facebook business page
you're going to put in the breed that
you're selling the price that you're
asking for it
uh some light information about you
and when the dog is going to be
available for pickup when it can go to
its forever home
that's typically going to be eight weeks
customers are going to respond to that
listing by asking you for more
information
you'll get an email from puppyfind via
them
and answer any immediate questions they
might have and then direct them to your
facebook page where they can go
and look at the pictures and watch the
videos
at this point when you hear back from
people it's typically because they want
to reserve a dog
your answer any final questions they
might have
and then you're going to send them an
invoice if they want to reserve one via
paypal
non-refundable and you can disclose
whatever other
conditions you might have in there we
usually give people about two weeks to
come pick one up
after they're ready so they're ready in
eight weeks
uh i really need them picked up by the
end of the tenth week or thereabouts
whatever works out best for everybody
i try to give people a couple of
weekends after the dogs are ready
because most people are going to be
available to come and do that kind of
thing over the weekend
you want to be sure and give people
weekly updates
on on social media on facebook and as
the dogs get older
take some more pictures of them and you
can freshen up your listing on puppy
fine there's room for like five pictures
there i believe
so as the dogs start to get a little
older you can take newer fresher
pictures and put them up people will
appreciate that
and lastly don't forget to make sure
that you're holding all the money before
you ship or deliver one of your dogs
well that wraps up today's video for how
to develop a marketing strategy for
selling your puppies
i hope you got value from it feel free
to leave comments
if there's something else you'd like to
hear us discuss or a question that you
have i'll get back to you as soon as i
can
i sure do appreciate you watching must
love labs you definitely want to hit
like on this video and subscribe to my
channel
because i will be doing more videos on
this topic and others as we move forward
and thanks again for watching we'll see
you in the next video
you
