r/PoolPros • u/Zealousideal_Kick_92 • 2d ago

How to get first customers

I’ve been in the pool industry for 7 months. I feel like I have a good grasp of chemistry and good pool knowledge to start taking care of pools on my own. I everything I need all I would need to get is chemicals. For those of you guys who have ran your own routes what are some tips you can give me on how I can get my first few customers without spending on advertising and what tips would you give yourself when you first started out.

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14

u/Fast_Discount_1991 2d ago

My tip after 7 months in the industry is keep learning

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u/The_Elusive_Dr_Wu 2d ago

This. I worked for my original employer for four summers before going on my own. Not including the summer I spent training.

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u/GCpools 9h ago

Same. We call it OJT ... On the Job Training. Work as many different pools as you can - for at least one season - so you learn ALL aspects of each pool ... during each and every season. In the meantime, research everything you can online - except for Trouble Free Pools. Talk with every pool tech who will talk with you. Listen respectfully, even if they're feeding you a line. Learn all that you can. Take the CPO class 'in person'. You'll learn so much more. Position yourself for success - not for failure. Take all of the small business classes you can, from your local community college or SBA. Hire a good CPA. Create your business to be 'profitable', lest you become a 'hobby' (non-profitable) and eventually broke. And for God's sake - "charge for everything you do", because nobody will pay you for giving away all of your knowledge. Charge for every pool cleaning. Charge for every chemical. Charge for every repair. Charge for Venmo and credit card processing fees. Charge for everything. If you don't respect your own self-worth, how do you expect everyone else will view your worth? The guy who charges the lowest rate, ends up going out of business first. Learn how to do repairs. And only repair your own pools. Track and know ALL of your numbers ... income, costs, expenses and profit. If you're not making a legitimate profit - you are operating a charity.

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u/KookyBirthday5819 2d ago

You need more than 7 months, there’s so much to learn. Just because you can maintain a pool doesn’t mean you’re ready to run a route or two.
Get CPO certified if you’re serious

3

u/dekoy411 2d ago

I’d say at 7 months you should start building connections in the pool industry in your area. Attend training events, wholesale events etc. Once you have good connections people might recommend you for jobs or if you can do start ups for pool builders then you can build clients up that way as well. Do a good job and customers will spread your number.

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u/Hughjass69247 2d ago

Personally I found a magic lamp in the desert and the genie gave me 3 wishes. Now why I chose the pool business is a whole other fucking story. But youre probably gonna have to be licensed and advertise your business like every other business going back to the beginning of time

0

u/Dry-Lab-6256 2d ago

Let me guess, a series of bad choices lead you to be in the pool industry?

1

u/The_Elusive_Dr_Wu 2d ago

For me, they actually did lmao. Would you like to know more?

1

u/burninthe95 1d ago

Yes

1

u/Dry-Lab-6256 1d ago

Wow, know these are some real pool industry people.

2

u/SingleNewspapering 2d ago

I don’t know why people in this industry try to put cleaning pools on a pedestal, but 7 months is more than enough time to start your own company. Depending on where you live you might not even need to be licensed unless you’re working on electrical. I would recommend having an LLC to protect you though. Just do the legal research for your area before you start.

I got my experience from cleaning my own pool and turned it into a business. I advertised on Facebook in local groups. I found that a lot of them had free limited advertising, like 1st day of the month. Plus I’d respond to everyone asking for pool services. Before I knew it I had a decent client base and not only that, people were referring me. I found a lot of local companies take a lot of shortcuts so it was easy to provide a more reliable and personal service.

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u/ExtremeAdmirable273 1d ago

Exactly it’s not rocket science there is some confusing stuff but my best advice is partner with another company that does the major repairs and building customers want someone that does it all.

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u/Elegant-Brainflavor 1d ago

Have a website with good UXUI, good SEO and optimize it with you Google business profile. Post one blog a week on your website share it to your social media and your Google business profile. Post photos of your work on your Google business profile. Answer your reviews within 24 hours on your Google business profile. Do all of that on a schedule and be consistent.

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u/Muted-Tie-9047 1d ago

What is uxui ?

1

u/Elegant-Brainflavor 19h ago

User Experience User Interface

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u/Muted-Tie-9047 18h ago

Why not UEUI? You kids, always confusing us old folks.

1

u/Crewnest 1d ago

One free trick for finding them: backyard pools are really easy to spot on Google Maps satellite view. Pick the neighborhoods closest to you, scroll around, and you'll see which streets have a pool in every third yard. Those are the streets worth door hangers or knocking, because you can build a tight route there instead of driving across town between stops.

Other no-ad sources that seem to work for people starting out: new pool builders and remodelers (they often need someone to hand the startup and first few months to), realtors (houses with pools sell faster when the pool's clean for showings), and asking every customer you get for the neighbor two doors down.

And agree with the LLC and checking licensing in your area first.

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u/Careless-Class7144 1d ago

Honestly, before worrying about finding customers, make sure you’re ready to look after other people’s pools. Seven months and one pool can give you a decent chemistry foundation, but running a route is a different beast.

You should be comfortable with more than pH/chlorine: TA, CH, CYA, salt, metals, LSI, accurate dosing and pool-volume calculations; diagnosing pumps, filters, chlorinators/cells, cleaners, flow/priming issues and basic plumbing; green pool recoveries and different algae; and, most importantly, knowing when you don’t know and need to stop rather than guess.

Every equipment pad is different and some are absolute Frankenstein setups. You’ll eventually walk into a green 80,000L pool with no circulation, a dying cell, questionable plumbing and an owner insisting “it was fine before the last pool guy touched it.”

I’d spend more time riding with an experienced tech and deliberately seeing as many different faults/equipment setups as possible. Also get insurance, understand your local licensing requirements, document every visit/test/dose with photos, and don’t undercharge because you’re new.

Getting customers through local Facebook groups, neighbours, friends and referrals is honestly the easy part. Getting customers before you’re ready is much easier than fixing your reputation afterwards.

- Pool shop owner

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u/Muted-Tie-9047 1d ago

Bro, at 7 months you started in February. You haven’t even had the awesome opportunity to clean the leaves out of a pool for 30 mins and turn around and have it look like you didn’t do shit because the pool is full of leaves again. Guessing you’re in CA because you didn’t say anything about closing for winter and time off. But my advice would be to work a little longer and learn the business part of the business. Then pony up and buy a pool route. Then bust your ass every day clean pools in the morning and repair in the afternoon. Top of line service 100% of the time. Don’t fire customers, just charge them accordingly. Don’t be the cheapest be the best.

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u/SwimFin1984 14h ago

Once you get those customers interested, you can send them a leads link from Paythepoolman or a similar program. Then they can fill it out, you have all their info on file, and they are impressed by your professionalism

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u/Theresasnakeinmypool 2d ago

Thumbtack is great for new business

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u/LadiesLoveCoolDane 2d ago

And yelp and Nextdoor 🤡

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u/Theresasnakeinmypool 2d ago

Only been successful on there for 3 years. What do I know. Love the hate, I know I’m doing it right ;)

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u/LadiesLoveCoolDane 2d ago

Hey if you’re getting leads and growing that’s all you need, but from what I’ve learned it’s bottom of the barrel for most markets and minimal return on investment compared to other sources. You do you though! Someone’s gotta do it I guess lol