Michelle Cramer

Joined April 23, 2020

Articles 89

📩

What’s in your truck?

By Michelle Cramer
We asked pool pros what they kept in their service trucks. Their answers varied based on the season, location and individual service professional. But everyone had chlorine and a pole. John Reid, Founder and President Primo Pool Care (Norfolk, Virginia) @primopoolcare “The most important item in the back of the pool truck is the pool…

Make ’Em Yelp

By Michelle Cramer
More than 70 percent of the leads generated for Patriot Pool & Spa of Austin, Texas, come from Yelp, company president Hal Denbar, says. Genna Gold, senior manager of business outreach for Yelp, says 2018’s second-quarter analysis shows 104 million people visit Yelp on their mobile devices each month, and 74 million on desktops. Since…

Love Wins: Beating Hurricane Harvey

By Michelle Cramer
Hurricane Harvey ravaged the greater Houston area on Aug. 26, 2017, leaving a wake of utter devastation from the floodwaters. Mark Uberecken, owner of Unified Pool Solutions in Houston, says that once the floodwater receded, thousands of volunteers came into help with cleanup. The streets were lined with piles of trash, which amounted to practically…

Five-Star Sanitation

By Michelle Cramer
Unless you’re really into vehicle mechanics, most people just want their car to run well and get good gas mileage. They’re not interested in the valve opening time, the internal compression — just reliability. And that is the approach that Georgia-based CMP — manufacturer of pool, spa and bath products — is taking with the…

Linked Up Through LinkedIn

By Michelle Cramer
In the world of social media marketing, LinkedIn may get nothing more than a passing glance from your company. After all, LinkedIn is about finding a job, and you already have one, right? That was the LinkedIn of years past. These days, the platform is a melting pot of professionals sharing content and establishing credibility…

Don’t Spring a Leak

By Michelle Cramer
Though a concrete pool structure will never be 100 percent watertight, achieving an adequately sealed pool requires reliable materials and techniques. Steve Goodale, owner of SwimmingPoolSteve.com and a swimming pool specialist in Ontario, Canada, points out that because concrete is a porous construction material, “at most you are attempting to make a highly water-resistant structure.” Concrete will…

Building a Name for Namco Again

By Michelle Cramer
Dominic Radocchia had a vision when he opened Connecticut-based Namco in 1962 — a vision that spanned more than four-decades. His family-run pool and spa retail business grew to more than 30 stores and a loyal customer base by 2005 when Radocchia sold the company to a private equity firm, staying on as CEO and…

Leading the Way

By Michelle Cramer
Industry leaders are often industry innovators, too. Several pool companies are using cutting-edge strategies and business practices to expand their market reach, grow their business and save on overhead costs. Absorbing Electrical To make its off-season more profitable, Aqua Quip in the Seattle, Washington, area, started its own electrical division of the company in 2006…

Information Overload

By Michelle Cramer
“Plan, blow holes in the plan, revise the plan, and then execute and adapt to each situation as it presents itself.” That’s the pool building process for Scott Heusser, manager of Idaho Pool Remodeling in Meridian. Preparing your customers for this fluctuating plan and schedule can be difficult. Depending on the design, materials and details,…

Just Hit Record

By Michelle Cramer
When Lake Air Pool Supply in Waco, Texas, received its first-ever Endless Pool for the showroom in April 2017, sales manager Ryan Jordan went live on the company’s Facebook page as they unloaded it from the truck. That video alone has more than 750 views. A two-minute live video in June about its tent sale…

Swim with Your Fish

By Michelle Cramer
Michael Hilleary’s industrial-design education initially led him to a job designing zoo exhibits. Once, he fashioned an exhibit with clear, clean, chemical-free water for otters to play. It gave him an idea. “After watching the animals enjoy swimming, I began to think about how people could enjoy the same quality of water,” Hilleary says. From…

Ridding Ring-Around-the-Pool

By Michelle Cramer
Swimmers and the environment bring all sorts of things into the pool with them: skin oils, dirt, sunscreen, bird waste, debris, bacteria — you name it, it’s probably in the pool water. As a service professional, you see the worst of it in poorly functioning pool filters, water chemistry frustrations and the cumbersome ring that…