We started this article series by challenging ourselves with a question: In this $23 billion global industry, why do sales growth and career development often seem to flatline or end in burnout? Over the past year, we’ve focused on uncovering and removing the barriers that keep many people stuck in what marketing expert and author Seth Godin calls “90% below average.”
I have rarely met a service tech who considered themself in “sales,” and I understand why; in their world, salespeople usually create problems, and techs fix them. Sales and service are different skills, but thinking of them as completely separate is a mistake and a missed opportunity for both the technician and your pool company.
The greatest opportunity for industrywide pool equipment and service sales growth is better sales support and education from the manufacturers to distributors to the service professionals and retailers on the front line.
Just about everyone has hopes, dreams or goals — whatever word you want to use — something short or long term they want to accomplish. If they are not written down, they’re actually a wish instead of a goal. There is magic in writing goals down, as well as research that supports the difference in accomplishment between written and unwritten.