Automated growth: Hope Gables Canine integrates QuickBooks and Mailchimp for client communication

Nick Angione, owner and founder of Hope Gables Canine in Norwalk, Connecticut, knows exactly what it’s like to be in his customers’ shoes. 

“I remember what it was like to struggle,” he says. “I grew up with dogs, and I never had to bring any of them to a dog trainer until we got Layla. She really threw us for a loop.” 

Layla is Angione’s Australian shepherd, and the catalyst behind Angione’s growing business. “I knew nothing about dog training when we first got Layla,” Angione explains. “But she had all these issues, and we didn't know how to tackle them. It was honestly a traumatic experience, going through what we did.” 

At the time, Angione and his wife were living in an apartment. “People were avoiding us,” he says. “We were getting notes slipped under our door.” They decided to seek professional help. 

“We ended up going through a few dog trainers — some better than others — and we finally got to the point where we had to send her to a boarding and training facility,” says Angione.

Fortunately, Layla’s training experience was a success. In fact, it was so positive, Angione was inspired. “I ended up shadowing that trainer for my own experience, and then I worked with him for a number of years. From there, once I felt confident enough to work with clients one-on-one myself, that's really when Hope Gables Canine was born.”

Now in its sixth year, Hope Gables Canine is seeing steady growth. The business is beginning to serve clients not just from the surrounding areas, but from neighboring states as well. Soon, cross-country clients may very well be knocking on Angione’s proverbial doggy door. 

But while tried and tested training techniques are certainly part of Angione’s success, there are other factors at play. Working in the background at Hope Gables Canine, QuickBooks and Mailchimp are making it easier than ever for Angione to communicate with clients, convert leads, and stay on top of his business’s finances.

Invoicing in a flash: QuickBooks helps Hope Gables Canine get paid

Of the two business platforms — QuickBooks and Mailchimp — Angione started using QuickBooks first. “It was great,” he says. “Sending out invoices was a breeze.”

The process worked like this: “Normally what I do is I go in, I set up the invoice, I put in the client's information, and then I create a link to that invoice. I'm usually emailing with a prospective client, so when they say, ‘Okay, we've had a phone call, you've sent us more information, and we want to move forward,’ the next step for me is to create that invoice in QuickBooks and email them back a link. All they have to do is click. That brings them to the invoice, and they can just pay it right there.”

For almost five years, that’s where the automation ended. The client would pay their bill and Angione would pencil their name into the calendar. But then, about a year ago, Angione decided to add Mailchimp and integrate the two for an even better result.

Creating a journey: Mailchimp helps make a tedious task simple

“I come from a marketing background, so Mailchimp was something that I used in the past,” says Angione. “I integrated it with QuickBooks, which helped us track client revenue and segment our contact lists based on each dog's training program.” Then, Angione did something big. He decided to create a journey in Mailchimp.

“I didn't realize you could do this, but if somebody pays an invoice, you can create a ‘journey’ that will trigger a confirmation email,” he says. 

That journey looks like this: “Now what I'll do is send the invoice link via QuickBooks. Once that invoice is paid, Mailchimp will trigger a reservation confirmation email. I love that because that's almost like when you book a hotel room and you get that email saying your reservation is confirmed. Historically, we never had that. Somebody would pay their invoice, then I would just email them personally and say, ‘Hey, thanks for paying your invoice. You're all set.’ Now we have something a little bit more formal where the client will get a message saying, ‘Hey, your dog's reservation is confirmed.’ And that email is very professional. It will include the drop-off and pickup dates; it will include what they paid and their remaining balance. At the very bottom, it even includes directions for how to get to us.”

But that’s not all Angione’s journey includes. 

“In addition, I've also set up that Mailchimp journey to keep in touch with that client along the way,” he explains. “We book about three to four months in advance. So if somebody books with us, they get their reservation email right away. Then, two weeks before their dog comes to us, they get a reminder email of items to bring.” 

Angione’s journey goes on from there — an email that lets his clients know when to expect their next invoice, an email helping to set expectations for pickup day, and more. Later emails provide reminders and encouragement aimed at making each dog’s training a success at home. It’s all designed to make his clients feel informed and at ease, while simultaneously removing some of that tedious communication from Angione’s plate.

Back to the beginning: Nick Angione shares his process and his feedback

Now that the journey is in motion, Angione can enjoy the fruits of his labor: less time spent on compulsory communication, fewer miscommunications and potentially pricey human errors, a positive response from customers who feel prepared and supported, and more.

“It was a big undertaking,” Angione admits. “It took me a while to build, but now that it's set up, I don't really need to touch it. It's super automatic, and it really saves a lot of my time because I was doing all of that manually before.”

Tools like Mailchimp and QuickBooks are important to a business like Hope Gables Canine. “The busier we get, the more I need to start automating things,” Angione says. He wants his customers to view Hope Gables Canine as a legitimate and competent business — one they can trust with their best fur friend. 

“Mailchimp really lends that formality to our company,” he says. “I still add my own personal touch to the business, and I'm still obviously emailing personally with people, but there are some things that I don't need to be doing, like confirmation emails. I think people are okay with that. I think it’s fine to add a personal touch when it’s needed, but everything else, in my opinion, should be automated. And thankfully we've got to that point now.”

Automation is one thing; ease of use is another. For that, Angione says QuickBooks is a prime example. “QuickBooks is just easy to use. I don't really know a better way to put it,” he says. “I just go in, I set up the invoice, and within three clicks I have a link that I can send to a client. Anybody can use it.”

Angione appreciates that QuickBooks is easy for his clients to use too, offering several different payment options. “A good product is not only easy for the business owner, but easy on the client side too. I think QuickBooks has really nailed both of those things. A client doesn't want to use something that's difficult, and I think that's why we've never had problems getting invoices paid; it's just so easy for the client to click a button.”

Working together, QuickBooks and Mailchimp help Hope Gables Canine grow

Hope Gables Canine is doing something incredible — giving hope to potentially hopeless dog owners. It’s a mission that feels personal to Angione, and one he’s excited to carry into the future. 

“My dream is to have a lot of land somewhere, and our facility in a finished barn with our sign on it,” he says. In the meantime, he continues to apply both empathy and common-sense tools like QuickBooks and Mailchimp to his growing business

“Honestly, we would be lost without both platforms. They're such an integral part of our business that I couldn't see us without them. And I do attribute a lot of our success to having platforms that are very easy to use,” says Angione. “I don't want to have to learn something that's complicated. And Mailchimp and QuickBooks equally make it easy for me. Whether it's creating a campaign or creating an invoice, we're pretty much ready to go. The fact that they can speak to each other is amazing. That integration is something I don't think a lot of small business owners are aware of us using. So any small business owner that's a friend of mine — I always recommend that they integrate their platforms. Because what you can do with them is endless.”

Disclaimer

The views, information and opinions expressed in this article are those of the people interviewed and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Intuit, Mailchimp, or any of its cornerstone brands or employees. The primary purpose of this article is to educate and inform. This article does not constitute financial or other professional advice or services.

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