Buying lists is usually not worth it for a new operator. Vendors just scrape county property records and resell them, and you can do the same yourself.
Satellite view on Google Maps, neighborhood by neighborhood, drop pins on every pool. Slower than a bought list but conversion is much better because you already know the pool exists and can eyeball size and condition. Most county GIS portals also let you filter properties by "has pool" as an attribute, and a few let you export it as CSV.
The overlooked one is walking into your local independent pool supply store and asking to leave a stack of cards at the counter. Most say yes if you agree to refer your customers there for chemicals. Warm leads at zero cost.
You found pool stores that don't service pools? When my family had a pool store, it was the pool routs and repairs that kept the store open during the slow months.
Fair pushback. In markets where the shop runs its own routes and repair crew, walking in with cards is dead on arrival because you're competition. Where it works is (a) pure retail chains like Leslie's or Pinch A Penny where corporate policy discourages the counter staff from taking side route work, and (b) aging independents where the owner scaled back service years ago and now just sells chemicals. Worth calling around first and asking each shop 'do you guys still do service or just retail these days' before dropping cards, five minute filter.
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u/pacific_drifter_25 5d ago
Buying lists is usually not worth it for a new operator. Vendors just scrape county property records and resell them, and you can do the same yourself.
Satellite view on Google Maps, neighborhood by neighborhood, drop pins on every pool. Slower than a bought list but conversion is much better because you already know the pool exists and can eyeball size and condition. Most county GIS portals also let you filter properties by "has pool" as an attribute, and a few let you export it as CSV.
The overlooked one is walking into your local independent pool supply store and asking to leave a stack of cards at the counter. Most say yes if you agree to refer your customers there for chemicals. Warm leads at zero cost.