Choosing the correct service area for your pooper scooper business is a crucial component to your success. If your service area is too small, you won’t be able to acquire enough clients to sustain your business. Conversely, if your area is too large, you will spend all day driving instead of making money. Here’s how to strike the right balance and select the optimal service area for your pooper scooper business.
Two Service Area Strategies
When deciding on your service area, you have two primary options:
- Small Service Area – Focus on Route Density
- Pros: Less drive time between services, higher profit margin.
- Cons: More difficult to acquire customers due to the limited area.
- Large Service Area – Focus on Faster Client Acquisition
- Pros: Easier to acquire clients, potential to eventually service more clients.
- Cons: Longer to build route density, higher drive time costs.
Our Approach at Swoop Scoop
At Swoop Scoop, we prefer to service a larger area to acquire customers more quickly. We mitigate drive time issues by dividing our service area into five different sections, each assigned to a specific day of the week. This strategic division helps us maximize work efficiency.
Seattle Service Area Map (Example from Sweep&Go)
Each color on our service area map represents a day of the week, helping us to streamline our operations and reduce drive time. When planning new locations, we aim for an area where the drive from one side to the other takes no more than 45 minutes.
This approach ensures that our technicians can efficiently reach yards with minimal drive time.
Optimizing Routes
Seattle Single Day Route (Example)
Our scoop technicians are assigned 20-30 yards to clean per shift. We optimize their routes to minimize drive time as much as possible. As you gain more clients, your route efficiency will improve, allowing you to hire more technicians and further optimize routing.
Assigned Service Days
To maintain tight routes and high profitability, we do not allow customers to choose their service day unless we offer twice-weekly service in their area. When customers request specific days, we explain that maintaining assigned service days helps keep prices low for everyone by optimizing our routes.
Arrival Times
Do Not Offer Arrival Times
Offering specific arrival times can hinder your ability to scale your business. Instead, explain to customers that your service operates similarly to garbage collection. You optimize routes the day before to maintain efficiency and keep costs low. Using tools like Sweep&Go, you can send arrival notifications approximately 60 minutes before your technician arrives. This gives homeowners ample time to prepare, if needed.
By carefully selecting and managing your service area, you can ensure your pooper scooper business operates efficiently and profitably. Whether you opt for a small, dense service area or a larger, client-acquisition-focused approach, the key is to optimize routes, assign service days strategically, and avoid offering specific arrival times. With these strategies in place, your pooper scooper business can thrive and grow sustainably.
