← The Scoop With Erica Krupin
Loading summary
Transcript49 lines
- [00:02]
Podcast Narrator
Welcome to the Scoop with Erica Kruipen. Your host is the owner of Kruipen's Poop and Scoopin. She's built a six figure dog waste removal business and loves talking a little crap with like minded folks. Starting and growing a small business can be scary, but Erica wants to share some tips and tricks that she's picked up along the way as she continues her entrepreneurial journey. She hopes this podcast will educate and inspire you to think outside the corporate box and do something a little crappy like scoop dog poop. And now, here's Erica
- [00:40]
Erica Kruipen
what's up Scoop Podcast. I'm your host, Erica Kruepen and on today's episode we are going to do a mid spring rush recap. I am in the middle of February, 2026. Today is the 19th. We had our first snow melt. It started last Thursday after having about a month and a half, two months of snow on the ground. It was a pretty aggressive winter and I was pretty nervous. I was pretty nervous going into this spring rush. There was just like a lot of anxiety. There was a lot of things going on behind the scenes. There was a lot of what ifs. There was just a lot, a lot riding on it. And today I'm in very hopeful, good spirits. Things are, I want to say things are flowing quite well. So if you're interested in hearing about how it's been so far and some stuff that I'm learning, stay tuned. So I'm really excited to be chatting with you. I know the past couple episodes I was really going through it, I'll tell you, like the big After Christmas, I kind of go through like, I don't know. Do you ever get like the After Christmas blues? There's just something about like the After Christmas blues and being kind of like burnt out and things are kind of slowing down and then the anticipation of like spring rush and what's going to happen, when is it going to happen? Just tired, so tired. I've been sleeping much, much, much better recently, so that is actually helping. And for those of you that don't sleep very well or you don't take the time to take care of yourself and go to sleep. Oh, my husband's calling me. Hold on a second. Yes, Just doing some recording. What's going on with you?
- [02:24]
Josh
Oh, dude.
- [02:27]
Erica Kruipen
Hailing.
- [02:29]
Josh
Yeah, like frozen ice balls.
- [02:33]
Erica Kruipen
Oh, no. Yeah.
- [02:35]
Josh
I mean it's not doing it so much right now. It's just raining pretty good. But it was like, we listen, we just finished this job.
- [02:43]
Podcast Narrator
No, no.
- [02:44]
Josh
Second did that. We sat in the car and shut the door. I mean, giant ice ball for hitting your windshield.
- [02:50]
Erica Kruipen
Oh no.
- [02:52]
Josh
Unbelievable.
- [02:53]
Erica Kruipen
I hope it's not denting the company vehicles.
- [02:56]
Josh
No, that's not, they weren't that, they weren't like golf ball size, but I take seriously the size of like a pee.
- [03:04]
Erica Kruipen
Well, that's good. I'm glad you got out of there. I know there's one more job. Do you think you'll be. You guys will still be able to do it later?
- [03:09]
Josh
Yeah, I mean, like I said, it's right around the block from the house. So I'll just go home, wait it out a little bit and then pop by and do it.
- [03:15]
Erica Kruipen
Okay, cool. Cuz Tonight, remember at 6 o' clock we got massages. Yeah, you've been working hard.
- [03:25]
Josh
Yeah, we rocked it, dude.
- [03:26]
Podcast Narrator
Every.
- [03:26]
Josh
Every job's been like 40 minutes or less, dude.
- [03:32]
Erica Kruipen
Nice. Okay, cool. I'm so happy to hear it. I was praying this morning and I was, you know, just having a conversation with God, just like thanking him for, you know, the past couple years it's just. It's felt like everything's been such an uphill battle, you know, and this year it's just, it's different. And I'm just so grateful for him, for all of it. It's just all the pieces are in place and the jobs are flowing well. It's just, I don't know, you know, we. I was just looking though. We're at a 22% conversion rate, so we gotta work on that. But we're still staying.
- [04:09]
Josh
You gotta lower your prices or you gotta do the like, sign up now for reoccurring and we'll wager spring.
- [04:16]
Erica Kruipen
No, I don't think I'm gonna go with lowering the price. It's just a couple tweaks, maybe with some verbiage and getting on the phone maybe. I'm thinking. I don't think it's going in lowering the prices right away. I don't want to do that.
- [04:29]
Josh
Talking to people on the phone can make a difference?
- [04:31]
Erica Kruipen
Yes. If I get them on the phone, eight times out of 10, I'm closing those people, so. Okay, well, cool. All right, well, I love you. Bye. Bye. Okay, we're back. So my husband's out doing cleans full time. He has got a full time route pretty much Monday through Friday, Monday through Saturday he's out doing cleans cause he is laid off doing the tree work, which is perfect. It's absolutely perfect because there's no tree work for them. But there's so much dog Poop. I then have Jace which he's working for me part time doing regular routes and then he has been doing full time cleans so I have him pretty much full time. And then Brittany and Charles are taking care of the main routes right now. So I started off January. We were at for this what the numbers in Jobber were saying. We were at 177 recurring and active today which is the 19th. We're up to 224 recurring services. It's huge. And we're not even in the busiest month. March is the busiest month because that's. People are going to be getting their tax returns. I think they're going to be getting their tax returns. I think that's what I heard when I look in jobber though since 2020, March is always our highest income producing month. So anyways, where, where were we at before Josh called me? So anyways, yeah, he's been out scooping. The weather has been a little iffy but everybody's been out doing their thing. And I don't know if you heard that. I don't know if we're gonna keep this audio in the podcast. If it's. If, if you can hear it, I will. But it's like there's just something different about this spring rush. It is just. I'm not going to say that it's easy because that's not what it is. There just isn't this like dark, heavy looming cloud over myself and the business and the people within the business. I, I don't know how to explain it. It's just different. It's just different. This year, the year before last, terrible. Last year was a catch up coming out of it, figuring it out. I will say it was a. There was a bit of a struggle last year. But here's the thing is year after year we're in this business for, for a long time. I mean I have like a 10 year plan by the time I'm 50. I'm hoping the business has grown to a point to where I'm no longer the main one in here moving and grooving and relying solely on me. Maybe I sell it, maybe somebody else takes it over. Maybe I have a solid team that's operating it and then I'm no longer in the day to day. I don't, I'm not sure, you know, I don't know what that looks like. I have 11 more years. I will say I was shocked to realize that 50 is only 11 years from now. When I was looking at my, my retirement And I was like, well, how much will I have in 50 years if we keep putting this amount away? And they're like, in 11 years you'll have. And I was like, 11 years, that's not right. And so I, like redid it again. And I was kind of like tired and I was like, it's not 21 years, it's 11 years. You're going to be 50. A huge shout out to today's episode sponsor, Jobber, the number one operations management software for home service business owners. Jobber is the software I use to run, grow and manage my small pooper scooper business. Jobber helps me handle the admin tasks quicker so I can focus on growing my business and getting more me time back. From creating custom quotes all the way to getting paid my money, Jobber has my back. Yeah, we're pretty much best friends. But if I had to choose my favorite feature, I'd say the mobile app. I can create the quotes, edit the jobs, communicate with customers, and keep my eye on the staff right from my phone. If you're a home service entrepreneur looking to level up your business, look more professional and, and save time, head over to jobber.com croupin to start your 14 day free trial and get 20% off your first six months with my special link. Now let's get back to the scoop. You are right. Okay, so it was just boom. Kind of like boom hit me. You know, it's crazy, but I say all that to say that what's been working this year? Because I'm just going to tell you what we've been doing and what has been working. I have my Google Ads at $100 a day right now. Facebook, I believe is at $50 a day. And we're just getting a steady influx of leads. It got to the point where it was a bit unmanageable because this is Nina's first time with me. And I kept, I was telling her, I was like, it's going to be crazy. And she was like, okay, okay. And then once it actually happened, she's just like, the numbers won't go down. It's like I've been working, working, working, and there's still like 30 leads in there that we just cannot get. We can't get to them. But we did. We got caught up. Like at nighttime I went in there and we were like cleaning stuff up. So, yeah, Facebook and Google the vehicles. People are seeing the vehicles all over the place. People are like, yeah, I see you down the street. I see you. My neighbor's house. I see you at the gas station. I see you just everywhere. They see us on Google, they see us on Facebook, they're seeing our company vehicles. And I just got yard signs delivered, like a thousand of them. So I'm gonna, we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna go put those bad boys out, like literally everywhere. I need actually, I need to go pop in. I gotta go watch the, the, the yard sign video over on the ScoopStar channel. I'm gonna watch that video to get a refresher of where to put the signs because I can't remember. I'm gonna create myself like a little cheat sheet of where to put the signs. So we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna put those out. But I mean the goal really is 350 recurring customers. That's what I want. So we're at 224. We still have a long way to go. We, we'll see. But I think with Nina and I, we're able to crank it out and we have our script ready. We're building rapport, we're asking questions, we're getting pictures of the dogs, we're finding out motive, why they're reaching out so we can have the conversation about that and then we're offering the solution and our rates. Right now, if you wanna know what our rates are today, a one time clean for a standard yard is $170. And I have that scheduled for 90 budgeted minutes. That means we're at that property for no more than 90 minutes. If it goes over the 90 minutes, then we have an additional charge. If somebody is deciding to do recurring service with us, what we're doing is dropping that first initial cleaning down to 120 and then we're setting up their recurring service. We are getting our payment upfront this year. We're no longer after billing because I'm not chasing money. We were slowly becoming a debt collection company alongside being a pooper scooper company. And I'm done with that. We're not doing that no more. So we're getting our payments up front and that's also going to slow down the conversion rate because some people just don't, you know, they don't want to pay it, you know. And so I just tell them like first come, first serve. If you want to wait till Friday, go ahead, just go ahead and pay it. And as soon as you pay, you'll get put on our schedule and you will be priority. Something else we're doing differently is one time cleanser scheduled For Saturdays, we are leaving the weekdays open, like the sooner visits for anybody that wants to sign up for recurring. So some verbiage that we've been saying is they're like, oh, I just want a one time. I'm like, okay, I understand. I'll go ahead and I'll send you that price over. But by any chance were you interested in entertaining the idea of weekly? And they're like, no, I just, I just want a one time. How soon can you come out? And then I say, the soonest that I will be able to come out for a one time cleaning is going to be that following, let's say that following Saturday, insert date. Or if you were interested in the recurring service, I can get you in sooner since our weekday slots are saved for our priority customers which are recurring. And then I send them over the price for the 120 and then the 2750 per week or whatever the price is for service. And then I just let them know you, you sign up for recurring. Give us a shot. I'll get you, I'll get you on the schedule this week. The other thing I've been doing is I'm answering every phone call. I know it's crazy. Every phone call that's coming in, eight times out of 10 if I get somebody on the phone, I'm closing it. I'm also recording my phone calls now. We use open phone now, it's called qo. I think they bought them out. But we're recording all of our phone calls now. So I get the transcripts afterwards because something I realized too, it's like you get on these phone calls and you talk to so many people, you kind of forget what you talked about. Now I have a backup and a transcript to be like, okay, what did we talk about? How many dogs? Did I write that down right? What happened? So I have the transcripts, which are really nice. The other thing is, is I've been trying to not stay on the phone too long with them before I get a payment. So I've been taking payments over the phone. So we answer the phone, I greet them, find out how many dogs, find out the motive, see how soon they want to get on the schedule, have that conversation with them, and as soon as they deliver the price, I shut up. That'd be 170 for the one time clean. Just don't say anything, Let them process it. This is something I've really been working through. It's been pretty tough. And they're like, oh, great, move forward or oh, that's More expensive than I was thinking. I say, I understand, I understand. What price point did you have in mind? Let them explain. And if it's something ridiculously low, they're not your ideal customer. And you just have the conversation with them. Be like, I wish that I could, I could do that. You know, do it for that price. I just. At this time, we just cannot. These cleans are taking a very long time, so we're not able to accommodate that. But I know that you're wanting to have the service done this Tuesday. I will be able to do the service this Tuesday with Joshua with the price point at 170. And then they'll either say yes or no. And then you ask them when they say yes. All right, great. I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to get your, your profile set up. While I'm doing that. If you could please get your. Get your credit card and I will get your payment. And they say, oh, you take payment. Yes, I'm taking the payment as a. Let me back that up. Talking too fast. Yes, we take payment up front for the one time clean or the clean to get your, your. Now I'm nervous that we're talking about this. So funny. Yes. I take the payment up front for the first payment to secure your spot on our schedule. Let me know when you're ready. And then I just through jobber, I process their payment rate then and there. And then I ask them all the questions after about like, you know, if their dog's aggressive, the area about their property, where their trash cans located, all the things after. I have their card on file and I have the conversation with them because now they're at a customer now. Now they're in. Right. And that's been a huge game changer is answering the phone. That's what I've heard a lot is a lot of people aren't answering the phone, which I've been there. I've done that. When I was out in the field, I couldn't answer the phone. Either it was tough or people are calling the phone numbers and the phone numbers aren't even valid. So I've made a lot of changes. We've made a lot of changes. We also have our hot window where we're doing follow up like manual follow ups on Wednesdays and Sundays. Nina's been doing a really good job with that. She's been work. She was working with Kelly. Kelly has been kind of coaching her with sales and follow up. I'm really weak when it comes to explaining what I do. This is something I really need to work on as a leader and a trainer is understanding how I operate. That. That's what I really struggle with is I move and I, I groove and I, I pivot and I change and it's, it's just something that's very like natural to me. I don't even really know what I'm doing. I almost need to have somebody come in to be able to observe me and to see what it is because I don't want to sit here and I don't want to toot my own horn. But I do have special gifts and I do have talents. I just don't know what they are. But people from the outside can see it and they can observe it. Like, my husband's like, you got this. And I'm like, I don't know how to explain it. I don't, I don't know. And Kelly has been doing a really good job of doing that and explaining stuff. So I'm really appreciative. So basically I just built a support team around me. Yeah, it's raining right now, so leads have slow load down. Something else I did a little bit different is I was not showing the prices on now my dad. Now my dad's calling me. Hold on a second. I really shove my phone on. Do not disturb. Do you want to launch or grow your pooper scooper business? If you answered yes, then you have to check out the Poop Scoop millionaire community created by Will Milliken, the president of a seven figure dog waste removal business, Swoop Scoop. You will gain access to the same strategies he used to scale his business from zero to over 2,000 reoccurring customers in just three years. Community members will receive exclusive access to his community forums with industry leaders, business courses are running, Facebook ads, commercial services and so much more. You'll get downloadable pooper scooper documents, live coachings and trainings, and access to verified one on one coach coaches and vendors that is a perfect fit for you. Including a gold level Google product expert that can help you with all of your Google troubles. Space is limited, so please join Poop Scoop millionaires today@skooled.com or click my link down in the description. Hello?
- [19:33]
Josh
Hi baby.
- [19:34]
Erica Kruipen
What's going on?
- [19:35]
Josh
Are you scooping?
- [19:36]
Erica Kruipen
No, I'm recording.
- [19:39]
Josh
Oh, I got a real quick question.
- [19:41]
Erica Kruipen
Yeah, what's up?
- [19:42]
Josh
You know how you ordered that thing and it came like really quick?
- [19:46]
Erica Kruipen
Yeah.
- [19:47]
Josh
Can you do that with other things?
- [19:49]
Erica Kruipen
Yeah, I have Amazon Prime. What's up?
- [19:52]
Josh
Yeah, but I was just Curious.
- [19:54]
Erica Kruipen
No. I mean, if it's not from Amazon, then I don't know about other people shipping. I don't know.
- [19:59]
Josh
Oh, okay. Well, I should find out if they use Amazon.
- [20:04]
Erica Kruipen
Yeah. All right, we'll find that out and give me a call back.
- [20:08]
Josh
Okay, Go ahead.
- [20:09]
Erica Kruipen
You're gonna. You're gonna make it on the podcast, dad.
- [20:13]
Josh
Okay. Sorry.
- [20:14]
Erica Kruipen
Bye. Love you. Bye.
- [20:16]
Josh
Wait, you got a live one going? Yeah, I'm gonna listen.
- [20:20]
Erica Kruipen
Tell everybody hi.
- [20:22]
Josh
Okay. Hi.
- [20:24]
Podcast Narrator
Okay.
- [20:25]
Erica Kruipen
Love you. Love you, too. Bye. Where were we at? Oh, pricing. My dad. He's fun. We have a good relationship now. We do. We've come a long way, for sure. Even though I still got daddy issues. It's a work in progress. Pricing. Pricing. Yeah. I did not have my pricing on my jobber request form, and I decided to put it on there. Leads have slowed down, but there's also rain and hail, so I don't know. I don't know if that's impacting them. Coming through. I'm gonna let it ride out for Saturday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And if we don't pick back up, I'm gonna put it back to not showing the prices. I don't know. We'll see. But, yeah, things are going pretty decent. Just trying to keep things as simple, as streamlined as possible. That's the thing. When you get such high volume, things have to be so simple because when there's a bunch of hoops that you have to jump through, it's just. It slows everything down. And get that money up front. Get that money up front. And if people don't trust you, I mean, I understand that in the beginning, where people are like, I don't know. I don't know if I trust you. Well, why do you trust me to come to your house? You know, it's one of those things where I didn't understand it in the beginning, but now at the point in business, if you're willing to trust me to come to your house and scoop your yard, you pay me up front. And now I have the social proof and the social backing. You know, been in business for eight years. We have over 500 Google reviews now. Our vehicles are everywhere. They see us everywhere. Their neighbors are using us. We're recommended by very trusted business owners in the community. So at this point now, if they don't want to pay, they're not getting put on the schedule. But it was different in the beginning when, you know, you got to put in that work. It takes time to really dig your heels into the community, to be able to build that trust and we show up and we're not one of those companies that don't show up. And all thanks to Jobber. Jobber's the only reason why I'm going to be super transparent with you. Jobber is what keeps me organized. If it wasn't for Jobber, we'd probably miss services. So yeah, I'm going to go ahead and include link down in the description. So if you're not using a CRM, definitely check Jobber out. So I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to get out of here because my husband just got home and I'm sure he's going to want to come in here. So it was really cool to chat with you. Things are going good. I hope your spring rush is going good too, and I will talk to you when I talk to you. Bye.
- [23:22]
Podcast Narrator
Thank you for hanging out with Erica Krupen. She is so grateful and honored you decided to tune in to the Scoop podcast and hopes the information you heard today positively impacts you moving forward in business and life. Follow Erica on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @CroupInSpoopin Scoopin. And don't forget to follow the show in order to get notified when the next edition of the Scoop drops.
- [23:50]
Josh
Sam.