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How to get your first client?

Hello Rover Community,

My name is Douglas and I live in Southern California and recently joined Rover upon a recommendation by a family member. I have three years of experience working with dogs and many different types of animals in retail, medical, and service environments. Now that I am pursuing my education in veterinary medicine, specifically to become a RVT, I need a part-time to full time job and love walking dogs and have a year of experience volunteering at my local animal shelter. Please feel free to check out my profile (https://www.rover.com/sit/dougsdogwalking (https://www.rover.com/sit/dougsdogwal...) ) for more information about me. Also if you could offer any tips as to how I can improve it or make it more appealing and easy for Pet Parents it would be much appreciated. Now that I have set up my profile and ordered some business cards I would like to know how you got your first client and what you did to take steps to get your name out there. How did you advertise? What was your first meet and greet like?

Thanks and looking forward to hearing your answers,

Douglas Quinn

3 Answers

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Hi Douglas: Wow! Nice profile! You certainly seem to be in the right profession as a Rover sitter! I don't want to nit-pick, but do you only have 3 years of ALL experience taking are of dogs? Many of the sitters here don't come from professional dog sitting backgrounds, so we include the number of years we've had taking care of our own dogs, as well as sitting for friends and family's dogs. So maybe you can have your total years of experience in dog (or pet) care as the number listed in your profile, and add a blurb regarding it in your "About Me" paragraph. For example, "out of the 15 years I've been caring for dogs, 3 have been as a paid professional/volunteer" or something similar. You should also get at least 2 testimonials from friends and/or family members that are familiar with your love and care of dogs. It's good that you ordered business cards. When you get them, you can go around your service area and talk to people about your services....local veterinary clinics, dog groomers, pet food & supply stores, etc. while you hand out your cards. It's always good to get your smiling face out there in the community! Does your neighborhood have a Next Door page? If so, advertise your services on there! You can use your links to your profile and discount code from the Dashboard to help sell your services. You can also place an ad in your city or county's buy/sell/trade face book (closed) group page. You could also make flyers with tear off tags to hang on the local grocery store, or community center bulletin boards. Maybe (now or in the future), you can order yard signs to be posted near the trails that you mentioned in your profile (remember to get permission to post them first :) I got lucky with my first client (I'm fairly new to Rover...since November) and she found me by doing a search for a sitter on here. My second client came from handing out business cards. (see why it's important to get your smiling face out there?) As far as meet & greets go, I always offer to meet during daylight hours in a neutral area, such as a park. I take along my "Rover bag" that has a notebook, pens, my business cards, a roll of poop bags (not that I show them, but just in case the potential client happens to look in, it looks like I take my job seriously). Have a page in the notebook with the clients Rover number and pet's name and then take notes while you're talking. Always shake hands with the pet parents before petting the dog! Sometimes, that one is kind of hard to do! Welcome to the Rover community, and good luck!

Comments

I forgot to mention to get the Rover app on your phone, so whenever anyone makes a request, you'll know right away, no matter where you are, so you can respond quickly. I have all notifications from Rover with a barking ringtone so I know that its not a regular call or text.

Thank you Mary for your helpful response. Have the app on my phone now. That is also an excellent idea differentiating your sound tones I may have to do that myself. Thanks, Douglas Q.

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Hi Douglas, Since you mentioned you want to increase your walking, I'd suggest you get listed as many places as possible to drive traffic. For example, in our area Wagly and Zingy are now offering walking services where you go to the dog's home and the entire walk is tracked by your smart phone. There are other local companies that you may also consider contacting. Of course, each companies clients need to be booked through the source, so that would be kept separate from & in addition to your Rover clients who are booked only via Rover.

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Deb thank you so much for your prompt reply, so you are suggesting signing up with a different companies to increase my probabilities of getting clients? Thank you so much!

Yes. You may get busy faster if you try a few different sources (rather than waiting for all your business to come through Rover). The amount those companies pay would be comparable to your published walking rate. The co.'s have customers book through them & the co's. pay you.

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Hi there! I think your profile looks great, and I fully agree with Mary's recommendations regarding testimonials and years of service. If you ever assist friends or family members with their pets, you can book them through Rover so they can leave you a starred review as well. You can always give them a discounted rate, but if you're providing care for their pets, you might as well also use it as an opportunity to improve your ranking on Rover and get them covered by Rover's insurance.

This time of year has historically been a bit slow for sitters; however this is the first year Rover has officially offered walks and drop in services, which fill a different niche than the overnight stays they have always offered. Since you're only offering the work day-oriented services rather than the vacation-oriented services, you may find your business to pick up fairly quickly once you get your first couple reviews.

Good luck!

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Thank you very much for the reccommendations and information this will help me tremendously!