where do you live?
I do the Meet and Greet at my house. So the dog owners know how to find me. And yet - why is it so difficult to find out where the potential owners live?
4 Answers
You're running a business from your home, and in order for people to use your business, they have to know where you are located. But like with most businesses, you don't really have any need to know where your customers live. If you were a travel sitter, the opposite would be true; you'd need to know where the job site is located, but your clients have no need to know your personal address because it has no relevance to your business transaction. Unless it's been part of the arrangement, like for providing pick up and drop off, or the occasional dog walking client I get, I don't know where any of my clients live except very vaguely.
During a M&G, why do you need to know? Until someone books with me, I have no interest in knowing where the customer lives. If they book, then I have them fill out a dog info sheet, which would have their address for my records. So it isn't a matter of it being so difficult to obtain, but one of that information isn't necessary for a job interview.
I'm not employed by Rover and can't provide an official answer. My best guess is relevance and privacy (if you're not sitting at their home, it's not information a sitter really needs to know). Especially if they're doing multiple Meet&Greets (as recommended) to find the best match, they may not want to share that information. In some areas, the pet-parent may also believe that if you knew where they lived, the price of services would be adjusted upwards.
During a conversation with a potential customer, I asked where the customer lived - really just wanting cross streets and not their actual address. (My mistake for not stating it correctly). Suddenly there was an uncomfortable pause until I asked about the cross streets just to make sure they were willing to drive the potential distance. I gave them my closest cross streets and it was either good for a M&G or neither wanted to waste each others time. I have had potential customers later tell me I lived to far from them. Also, because I don't go to their house I believe there is a safety/security concern on their part. I can understand their concern. I don't have any of my customers addresses, just their veterinarian information, er contact and anyone authorized to contact or pick up their pets if needed.