Time to hold a mirror up to your business
On page 35, we take a look at proper shotcrete procedures — it’s quite possibly an article you’ll glance at and then move on without reading. You already know everything you need to know about shotcrete. Not like your competitor down the road. He’s the one whose mistakes you’re always cleaning up after.
More than once when working on an issue of PoolPro, we hear something along the lines of, “This is how guys have been doing it for 30 years, and you can’t tell them any different.” The funny thing is, for some reason we never seem to be talking to the guys who won’t listen or change. But we talk to a lot of people, so either we somehow just keep talking to the select few who are up on everything; people have a warped perception on the stubbornness of the pool industry; or it’s time to take a good look in the mirror.
It’s probably a combination of the three. Typically, we’re talking to people who are experts in a particular subject and presumably know more than the average person. And manufacturers are always going to think the industry is slow to pick up on their revolutionary new product. But I also think it’s hard to be honest with ourselves and evaluate the real state of our skills and businesses.
Maybe you don’t need a refresher on shotcrete (or you only build vinyl pools), but are your books in order (page 14)? Is closing season always a nightmare you can’t quite keep up with (page 31)? Or have you been slow to update your website to add online bill pay (page 16)?
I’m not trying to be preachy — I get it; it’s tough. There are a million things I wish we did better, had more resources to devote to or time to learn. But we know you’re always looking for ways to improve, and cooling weather makes it the perfect time to do so. Take a vacation, take in a trade show or two — and then get to it.
Best,
Megan Kendrick, managing editor
megan@bigfishpublications.com
