How Scooper Troopers Reached 100 Recurring Clients in About 8 Months
Chris Bangel, Founder ·Scooper Troopers · Buffalo, NY
Built Local Podcast with Clay Lawrence · · 22 min episode
The short version
Chris Bangel started Scooper Troopers, a pet waste removal business in Buffalo, New York, at the end of January with a van, a logo and a full-time sales job. When his employer let him go in the spring, a Facebook post about going full time reached over 100,000 people and brought in 60 to 70 clients within a month or two. About eight months in, he had roughly 100 recurring clients and was working three to four days a week.
What other owners can take from Scooper Troopers
- 1
Start with what you have. Chris used a van he already owned and a logo, and says you could start for under $100.
- 2
Post in local Facebook groups three or four times a week and knock on doors. Expect to be removed from a few groups along the way.
- 3
Tell people your story. A post saying he had left his full-time job for the business reached over 100,000 people.
- 4
Do one small extra thing on every visit. He brings in the trash bins from the curb, and customers mention it in their reviews.
- 5
Automate lead follow-up: a text on a missed call, then texts at 24, 48 and 72 hours with emails staggered in between.
- 6
Have a black-and-white policy on unsafe dogs. Skip the yard, drop the client, refund them and offer a referral.
- 7
Give a new business a full year before you judge it. His busiest months were March and April, not summer.
How did Scooper Troopers start in Buffalo?
Scooper Troopers started as a side business with almost no startup cost. Chris Bangel found pet waste removal by researching on YouTube. He already had a van and a full-time job in sales, so he got a logo, put it on the van and began at the end of January. “You could probably start with under $100,” he said.
His first customers came the way most owners are told to find them: local Facebook groups and door knocking. He still posts three or four times a week and has been removed from four or five groups for it. A couple of family members signed up right away. He does not give service away. “I think time’s too valuable,” he said.
What was the Facebook post that changed the business?
It was a post saying he had left his full-time job for Scooper Troopers. The business picked up sharply around March. Chris was selling campground memberships at the time and asked to go part time. His employer let him go instead.
He posted a photo of himself next to his vehicle with a small printed logo on it and wrote that he had quit his job to do this full time. He is not sure he even put ad money behind it. The post reached over 100,000 people, according to his Meta insights, and that is when he got 60 to 70 of his clients.
“I’m taking three to four phone calls in one backyard,” he said. “It was insane.” He rushed to hire a full-time employee because he thought the calls would not stop.
About eight months after starting, he had roughly 100 recurring clients, most of them from March and April. At the time of the interview he described the business as himself plus a virtual assistant in the Philippines, with Chris working three to four days a week.
How does Scooper Troopers keep clients?
With small gestures that cost him a minute. What he described:
- Thank-you cards with a QR code on the back for a referral offer: $20 off for the client and $20 off for the person they refer.
- Bringing in the trash bins. If the bins are at the curb and already emptied, he walks them back up. Customers write about it in their reviews.
- Three texts per visit: on the way, on arrival, and when finished, with a photo of the closed gate so the dogs can go back out.
He has also added haul-away and deodorizer as extra services. Since then, he says, his average per client has moved into the $120s, and he tells other owners not to shy away from add-ons, though he would hold off on deodorizer until there is at least a full day’s route.
How does he follow up with leads?
Through Podium, which puts his reviews, Facebook messages, email and texts in one inbox and connects to his CRM. He admits it is pricey and says it is worth it to him.
His funnel for a new Facebook lead:
- The lead comes into Podium and gets a text.
- If they have not filled out the form in 24 hours, they get a follow-up text, and again at 48 and 72 hours.
- Emails go out on a staggered schedule in between, so the lead is not hit with a text and an email at once.
A missed call also triggers an automatic text. He used the quieter summer months to get this right before the next rush.
What does he do about aggressive dogs and non-paying customers?
He ends the relationship quickly and politely. In one yard flagged for an unsafe dog, a child let three dogs out while Chris was working, and one of them, he thinks the Cane Corso, grabbed at his arm and drew a little blood. He left, skipped the yard and called the client to drop the account. “There is no gray. It’s a black or white line,” he said. He refunded her, did not report the dog and offered to recommend another company.
On a one-time cleanup, a customer came out after an hour and a half of work and said she had not known he was coming and could not afford it. He bagged the waste, left without charging her and disabled her account. One-time cleanups at Scooper Troopers are priced by time, not by the bin, and recurring service is prepaid so he is not chasing $20 invoices.
What would Chris tell a new owner?
Do not give up in the slow months. He assumed summer would be the busy season and had it backwards.
“You have to give something a full year if you know it’s going to be right or not,” he said. Treat it like a side job until then, keep going every day, and it will grow if you stay dedicated to it.
His goal for next June, after the spring rush, is to double.
In Chris's words
“You have to give something a full year if you know it's going to be right or not.”
“I'm taking three to four phone calls in one backyard. It was insane.”
“There is no gray. It's a black or white line.”
“Some people even write that he brings in the trash cans, he's awesome.”
Review Harvest Client
What Scooper Troopers says about Review Harvest
Chris says Scooper Troopers had reviews in the low 20s when other pet waste owners kept telling him to sign up with Review Harvest. He had tried sending review requests through Podium and it was not working. After what he calls a super easy walkthrough, he says he was past 60 reviews within a couple of weeks, all of them good. He likes that he does not have to write the replies and that he pays only for the reviews he gets.
“This right here is the best service hands down. Now I have, I think, over 60-something reviews and that was just in a week, a couple weeks' span.”
Chris Bangel on working with Review Harvest: “Best Money I've Ever Spent: From 20 Reviews to 60+ in Weeks”
Questions this episode answers
How did Scooper Troopers get 100 clients so fast?
Scooper Troopers in Buffalo, New York started at the end of January and had about 100 recurring clients roughly eight months later. Founder Chris Bangel says 60 to 70 of them came in a month or two in the spring, after a Facebook post about leaving his full-time job reached over 100,000 people. He keeps them with thank-you cards, a $20 referral credit for both customers and small extras such as bringing in the trash bins.
How do you get your first poop scooping customers?
Chris Bangel of Scooper Troopers says he joined local Facebook groups and posted three or four times a week, knocked on doors, and signed up a couple of family members right away. He has been removed from four or five groups for posting. He avoids offering free service because he thinks an owner's time is too valuable, and he says word of mouth is always the best source.
What should a pet waste company do about an aggressive dog?
Chris Bangel was working in a yard that had been flagged for an unsafe dog when the dogs were let out and one grabbed at his arm, drawing a little blood. He left, skipped the yard, contacted the client right away and dropped the account, then refunded her and offered to recommend another company. He says Scooper Troopers' policy is strict because he would not put an employee in that position.
How does Scooper Troopers follow up with new leads?
Scooper Troopers uses Podium to pull reviews, Facebook messages, email and texts into one place. A missed call triggers an automatic text. A Facebook lead gets a text, then follow-up texts at 24, 48 and 72 hours if they have not filled out the form, with emails staggered between them so the lead is not flooded. Chris Bangel built the funnel during the slower summer so it would be ready for the next rush.
When is the busy season for a poop scooping business in Buffalo?
Chris Bangel expected summer to be the busy time and says he had it backwards. Most of Scooper Troopers' clients signed up in March and April, which he calls the craziest months. He tells new owners who start in a slow stretch to treat it like a side job and give it a full year.
Need pet waste removal in Buffalo? Visit Scooper Troopers at scooptroop365.com.
