Are you juggling bookings across multiple channels, hoping nothing slips through the cracks?
Wondering how to reduce chaos, reclaim your time, and still grow your revenue?
Curious what smart pet pros are doing to offer next-level upsells and client experiences?
In this episode, Dom sits down with Sarah and Pete Stevens - daycare owners, Elite U.K mastermind members, and creators of the PawPal app. Born from the mess of their own overbooked and under-organised daycare, PawPal started as an internal fix and evolved into a business-changing tool. They share the pivotal moment that made them realise they had to change, and how their homemade app now powers their streamlined, upscale operation (along with many others).
You’ll hear how Sarah sold add-ons without even sending an email, and how their app turned chaotic scheduling into a McDonald’s-style easy order-and-upgrade system. Plus, we go behind the scenes on the second day of Dom’s Elite US mastermind as the members reveal the big takeaways from the previous day that they’ll be implementing as soon as they get back home!
In this episode, you’ll discover:
Building the Tool Your Business Needs – Sarah and Pete’s PawPal app was born from the chaos of managing bookings, messages, and upsells across too many platforms. Now, it keeps everything in one place—and boosts their revenue.
Easy Profits from Effortless Upsells – Sarah shares how she offered enrichment add-ons without needing a sales push or email blast - just a well-timed, in-app nudge.
How a Brilliant Booking Experience Boosts Your Brand – Clients judge your business by how smooth (or clunky) your signup and scheduling is. A streamlined experience builds trust from day one.
Clarity Comes from a Consultation Day – How a full-day strategy session helped Pete and Sarah realise their business was positioned as "busy and messy"—not premium. Now, they're building a brand that reflects their value.
How to Spot Big Opportunity – Dom reveals that national media is catching on to high-end dog services. If you’re not already offering premium experiences, someone else will.
Many thanks to this week’s awesome guests Sarah and Pete from Pawpal. Find out more about how Pawpal can help streamline your dog daycare by going to PawPal.net
Huge thanks to our incredible show sponsor PackPro!
PackPro provide comprehensive, affordable, and efficient daycare staff training for your pet boarding and daycare facility, to find out more about how they can help you empower and support your team by creating playgroups that are safe, productive and fun to manage, go to PackPro
If you would like to get Dom’s personal help to grow your pet business and be part of a powerful inspiring peer coaching group then you should check out my exclusive Elite Mastermind. Click here to apply now.
Barkleigh’s next show is the Pet Boarding and Daycare Expo which is happening in Hershey in November 10th to 13th. Register now to be the first to find out when tickets go on sale. Click here to register now
Episode Highlights:
[00:51] – Dom introduces the episode looking ahead to his UK Elite Mastermind and teases insights from the first U.S. Elite event in Annapolis.[03:14] – Dog news! Dom reveals the enrichment services offered by London’s five star doggy hotel.[06:35] – Meet Sarah and Pete Stevens, longtime Elite members and owners of Canine Adventures, who built their own app—PawPal—to bring order to their business.[08:21] – Pete shares the moment he found cash in the car sun visor, the eye-opener that revealed just how disorganized things had become.[10:04] – “We were in a proper mess.” Sarah and Pete open up about the chaos behind the scenes and why they needed a complete operational overhaul.[11:23] – Discover how the Paw Pal app gave them freedom—letting them manage staff, bookings, and sales even while on the move.[14:26] – Despite forgetting to send out an email, Sarah still makes enrichment upsells thanks to th...