How NoCo Pet Doors Went From $800 to 200+ In-Glass Pet Door Installs a Year

What does NoCo Pet Doors do?

NoCo Pet Doors installs pet doors in glass: storm doors, French doors and sliding glass doors, plus walls and entry doors. Michael, the owner, says that about half the time his salesperson hears, “We didn’t even know you could do that.”

He learned the trade as an entry-level glazier at a glass shop he joined in 2015. About two years in, the franchise asked the shop to push in-glass dog doors, and within months they were 90% of the work. Michael installed the shop’s first one and worked his way up to sales and operations manager. When the owner had to step away and the business dissolved, he told his wife he could do this on his own: “Give me 3 years.” If it did not work, he would go back to residential and commercial glass.

It was not his first attempt. He had four failed businesses behind him: hand-printed clothing, smart home installation, a short run at power washing, and digital art.

On price, a basic door cut into a normal swing door comes to about $800 to $1,000 out the door. A Wi-Fi door with a profile for each dog and set hours runs $3,500 to $4,000.

How do you start a service business with $800?

They had $800 between the two of them. The first customer’s deposit paid for the first materials. Michael’s brother-in-law, then in coding school, built a one-page website that stayed up until about two years ago.

With no money for a marketing agency, he contacted every person he knew who lived in Northern Colorado: “Hey, I’m doing this. Do you or anybody you know need a dog door?”

Growth from there was “a real slow incline.” The first big swing came from posting on social media. The next came when there was money in the account for yard signs and door hangers. On every install he:

1. Put a yard sign in the front yard first thing, so it stood for at least the hour and a half he was there, then asked the homeowner if it could stay.
2. Hung door hangers on the two houses on either side and the three across the street.

Calls from the yard signs were the biggest lever.

What kind of Meta ads work for a service nobody searches for?

Almost all of NoCo Pet Doors’ leads now come from Meta ads. The other 15 to 20% come from Google and the website. Michael says it took two years to get the ads to where they are.

His reasoning: on Google, people are looking for your business. On Meta, “they’re doom scrolling,” so the first line has to stop them. An ad that opens by greeting Fort Collins and introducing the owner loses the people who would have bought before it gets to the point.

His best ad, from last Christmas, was just him and the camera:

• The hook: “Your dog is a hostage, but you don’t need a negotiator to set them free.”
• What the company does, briefly: dog doors that are safe, secure and energy efficient, in your glass, your wall or an entry door.
• One offer per video, such as $100 off installation.

He runs a static post in the same ad set and lets Meta decide which to show each person.

How do they earn five-star reviews with a four to five week wait?

By telling customers what is happening. Michael says the hardest part of growing the business has been logistics. Glass is ordered from a manufacturer and quoted at four to five weeks. It usually arrives in three, and sometimes takes six with no warning.

His observation is that at any service business, the reviews that are not five stars are almost always about communication: nobody called back, nobody picked up the phone. So NoCo Pet Doors customers get an email and a text when the estimate is set, a text when the sales rep is on the way, another when the installer is on the way, and follow-ups through the wait.

“A lot of times it’s just saying, ‘Hey, we’re still waiting on the glass.’ But people appreciate knowing.”

Office manager Mary follows up on the glass orders. Six years in, the company installs 15 to 20 doors a month, which is 200 to 250 a year.

What would he tell an overwhelmed service business owner?

Find someone who has been there and ask. About a year in, Michael was working 80-hour weeks doing the sales, the installs and the customer communication. He posted in a local Facebook word-of-mouth group offering to pay for coffee with any business owner who would meet him. Two people responded.

One was Tim, an entrepreneur with multiple businesses who became his mentor. “I knew there was a way to have a business that runs without me. I just didn’t know where to start or what that looked like,” Michael said. The two are now co-founders of Service Catalyst, a peer mentorship community for service business owners, where Michael created a course on scripting, editing and running Meta ads.

His advice: “There’s someone that has the answer and they will save you years if you just put the shame aside and just ask.”