Jacob Morgan argues dog trainers use group classes wrong, treating them as cheap loss leaders instead of profitable retention tools. He proposes charging £50/month for exclusive classes of already-trained dogs, generating £2,500/month from 50 graduates while building organic referrals through a well-behaved pack in public parks.
Most dog trainers look at group classes completely wrong. They see them as a cheap front-end offer, a way to get people in the door for like £20 a session, hoping they'll eventually upgrade to a one-to-one package or a board and train. That is a terrible business model. If you are running group classes for untrained dogs, you are basically running a circus. You are spending an hour shouting over barking dogs, trying to teach loose lead walking to people that can't even get their dog's attention in the living room. It's stressful, it's low margin, and it's going to burn you out. But there is a way to run group classes that is highly profitable, low stress, and acts like the best marketing tool you will ever have. You don't use group classes as a front-end offer. You use them as a back-end retention strategy. Hear me out. When a client finishes a £1,000, £2,000, £4,000 programme or a comprehensive, I don't know, one-to-one package, online programme, I don't know what you're selling. What happens next? Usually nothing. You shake their hand, you tell 'em to keep up the good work, and you never see them again. You have just lost a massive opportunity for one, recurring revenue, and two, the cheapest leads you'll ever have. These people have just spent thousands of pounds with you. They trust you. Their dog is trained. They know the system. They know what markers are. They know how to use tools, but they are terrified of messing it up. They want ongoing support. They want a community of like-minded people that aren't gonna judge them. They want a safe environment to practice around distractions., and this is where you might introduce the backend group classes. You say, look, you've graduated the program, your dog is doing great, but training is a lifestyle, not a destination. You know, I always use the analogy of like you go to a PT to lose a bunch of weight. You can't just go straight back to eating like a fat fuck again, otherwise you're gonna just pack on the pounds, right? So you might do some maintenance stuff, e.g., in, in your diet and exercise to make sure you don't become a giant gluttonous disgusting pig once again. And that's basically what your group classes do, but dog training instead of Fatties. Anyway, it's £50 a month, or you can do a subscription. Sometimes you could even offer like a bulk pay system. I'm not gonna give all the secret sauce away. You can click in the link in the description if you want the secret sauce. It's there for you. Otherwise, she's just gonna get the 10% I'm willing to put out here on YouTube just to get some attention from you guys. You come down. You could also offer something like a pack walk or like obedience classes. We have a life skills class as well. The possibilities are literally endless. So do the maths on that. If you have 50 graduates paying £50 a month, that is £2,500 of monthly recurring revenue that covers your rent, that covers your van payment, that covers your maybe basic living expenses too. And then everything else you do in your front end stuff goes in your pocket. Obviously some to the taxman as well. Fuck the taxman. But what can we do about it? And one of the best things about it is you're training dogs that are already trained. You're working with clients that you already like. You aren't teaching them from scratch. You are just facilitating a structured environment. You can do this offsite if you don't have a facility. You could just meet at the local park. It's the easiest money you'll ever make as a dog trainer. But the recurring revenue isn't even the best part. The best part is the marketing. Imagine this. It's a Saturday morning. You are in a busy public park. You have 20 clients with you, 20 dogs, all walking perfectly on a loose leash, all holding a down stay, or other people's dogs. Bark like a fucking headcase. All your dogs, no barking, no lunging, complete silent obedience. That cultivates trust like nothing else. Every single person walking their untrained, pulling, reactive dog in that park, they're going to stop and they're going to stare. They're going to look at the group and they're going to look at their own dog dragging them down into a bush. And then it's likely they'll walk up to you and ask, how did you get them to do that? And you don't even have to sell to them. Your clients will do it for you. Your clients will say, oh, this is, I don't know, Steve. He trained all our dogs. He's the best in the business. You need to give him a call. This is a walking, talking referral machine. It's guerrilla marketing at its absolute finest. Obviously, your clients are going to do this for you every single day as well. Everyone that's in that group class, they're your biggest fans. They're your biggest advocates. When they go out walking, they're very well-behaved dogs. They're going to recommend you over and over and over again. So make sure you look after these people. You cannot buy that kind of social proof. You cannot run a Facebook ad that is as effective as 20 perfectly behaved dogs in a public space. You cannot achieve that if you gatekeep the group class. If you let untrained dogs into that class, the spectacle is kind of ruined. It just looks like a fucking chaotic mess. So you have to protect the standard. The group class is a privilege for people that have put the work in and paid the premium price to get the results. Stop treating group classes like a cheap entry point. Start treating them like an exclusive club for your best clients, build monthly recurring revenue, create a community, and use that community as a billboard for your competence. If you want to learn exactly how we structure our backend group classes here at Yorkshire K9 Academy, which is unlike anyone else in the business, I can guarantee you, then you can click the link in the description, sign up to my mentorship, or at least book a call to discuss my mentorship program. How many of these fucking YouTube videos are you gonna watch before you actually put your balls on the table, pay someone to take a look inside your business, and just tweak a couple of things? How many clients have you had as a dog trainer that spent and wasted 2, 3 years of their dog's life searching on YouTube when the result was just the easiest of smallest fixes? They just needed the right set of eyes. That's exactly what you're doing for your dog training business right now. Sorry to hard sell you, but how many fucking YouTube videos are you gonna watch before you finally pay me a little bit of money where I can help you grow and scale your business for good without the trials and tribulations on the way?
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