Are you still trying to tweet your way to more pool sales? Step away from Twitter and Pinterest while I tell you about the one social medium every pool builder should be using: Houzz.com. Pronounced just like how’s (as in “How’s your mama?”), Houzz is a match made in heaven for pool builders — especially…
Swim University does not offer a four-year degree or doctorate; no sheepskin is earned and there are no football tryouts. Instead, Swim University offers a flood of knowledge from its founder and creator, Matt Giovanisci. If it has to do with the operation of your pool, Giovanisci’s media-rich and enlightening website, swimuniversity.com, probably has a…
How can a small insect wreak so much havoc on swimming pools? For two years, I have been explaining to customers why their pools are turning green and their patios are turning black: The whitefly infestation is taking Florida by storm. After about two months, I gave up and called around for help. I couldn’t…
What is your policy or how do you respond when a customer asks for part or model numbers when you’ve recommended they replace a piece of pool equipment? / What’s your policy on installing and/or servicing parts and products you did not sell? “Some people call to ask for a quote for hot tub covers,…
The landline is dying. Lack of mobility pushes many service industries, including pool professionals, to rely heavily on mobile devices to communicate with staff and customers. The downside? Everyone has your cell-phone number, and you can’t transfer or forward calls like your office setup. That’s where cloud-based phone services are coming into play, offering businesses…
Brett Lloyd Abbott, president of MYM Austin, Inc., a marketing firm geared toward pool builders, focuses exclusively on pools in order to garner better marketing results for his clients. “We’re selling a product that most people would deeply emotionally love to have,” he says. “You don’t have to do a whole lot more than show…
Ask a pool builder about the controllers they install on a build, and they’re usually committed to the models available from the pool companies they represent. Hayward Pool Products has erased these borders with the release of OmniLogic, its controller for pools and spas. You might be one of the hundreds who spent some up-close…
No. 1: The Pool-Buying Process Is Unique. Can you think of any other product or service that has all of these unique marketing challenges? • It’s a large purchase. This means it’s similar to just a handful of other high-dollar items, such as homes, automobiles, boats and recreational vehicles. • It’s a rare purchase. You…
Flashback: 2008. Recession hit, and the banks and market collapse under the weight. River Pools & Spas co-owner Marcus Sheridan says his business lost 80 percent of its market because “homeowners just couldn’t get loans. No one had equity due to the housing crash. In an industry where literally anyone could get a loan for…
The job requirement of a pool service technician isn’t just to clean leaves out of the pool. If there’s a job that a general contractor can do, you can be sure that most pool service technicians can do it, too. However, that expanded list of job requirements means pool service technicians need an expanded insurance…
As a boy, Adam Morley, the president of IPSSA, would idly push a net around his grandfather’s pool to stave off boredom, What he couldn’t have known then, of course, is how this pastime would play a role in his future. Morley, now president and CEO of the Independent Pool and Spa Service Association (IPSSA)…