In this video I give you one simple question to ask every prospective dog training client: “Am I the first dog trainer you called, or am I just the first dog trainer who answered the phone?” It doesn’t have to be the first thing out of your mouth, but ask it early. When you start hearing the same pattern over and over, it’ll change how you think about your sales funnel—because you’ll realize how many leads are getting lost before they ever become paying clients. What you’ll find is that a lot of times you’re not the first trainer they tried. You’re just the first trainer who picked up. That means other trainers dropped the ball, and you’re winning business simply by answering the phone. I’ve been hammering on this for years: don’t put “I’ll get back to you in 24 hours” on your site, and don’t rely on voicemail if you can avoid it. If you can’t answer consistently, hire someone—virtual assistant, answering service, onshore or offshore—just get a warm body to capture the lead and promise a quick callback. If all you’ve got is voicemail, you’re probably missing about 50% of the leads you could be getting.