Many pool professionals are challenged by the seasonality of the industry and look for new ideas that will keep sales flowing during the off-season. Performing energy audits for pool owners creates an innovative way to improve the bottom line and keeps professionals in front of their customers even during the winter months. In today’s economic climate, homeowners are seeking ways … Read More
Seven Steps to Implementing a Green Business Strategy
All across the business world, management is facing growing pressure to reduce their respective companies’ environmental footprints. This all starts with the top executives, whose responsibilities and actions necessarily impact and filter down to other levels of management and employees—all of whom are tasked with creating an organization that is more energy-conscious and produces more energy-efficient products for the consumer. … Read More
Busting Water Maintenance Myths
There are plenty of misconceptions about water chemistry and testing floating around. Aside from the one about a dye that will detect people peeing in the pool, which can be helpful if swimmers believe it, they all impede our ability to manage water quality. So let’s do some myth busting. Myth 1: Experienced pool/spa operators can tell if there are … Read More
5 Habits to Ditch Now for a Super Successful Future
If it’s true that our habits determine our future, knowing our habits and where they take us is one of the most important things we can do to shape that future. Good habits will help us build success, while our bad habits will draw us off the path. It’s the simple law of cause and effect. If you keep up … Read More
Value-Based Selling
A customer enters a pool store with an electrolytic chlorine generator (ECG) cell that is scaled beyond repair. If the customer wants to continue enjoying his/her saltwater pool, the cell would need to be replaced and a better quality pool salt with scale preventatives should be recommended. However, due to fear the customer might balk at the cell’s replacement cost, … Read More
How to Get the Appointment
When a homeowner makes their first call to a pool/spa builder or service company, they are looking for the expert help only a trained professional can provide. Unfortunately, many of these potential customers, who are often eager to spend money on whatever they need to make their backyard getaways perfect, are met with silence. Calls are not answered. Voicemails are … Read More
The Ins and Outs of Job Costing
For many in the pool and spa business, money is looked upon as a taboo topic not to be openly discussed. It is true that in any form of business, competitors are restricted by laws from getting specific when discussing pricing, overhead and profit margins with one another. However, understanding these factors in broad, general terms (which are legally discussable) … Read More
How to Control Calcium Hardness
Maintaining appropriate levels of calcium hardness is a key balance factor in basic recreational water care. Typically, water in a vinyl-lined or fibreglass swimming pool should contain a calcium hardness level of 175 to 225 parts per million (ppm), while the recommended range for plaster-surfaced pools is a little higher at 200 to 275 ppm. In addition, the overall balance … Read More
Battling Biofilm in Pools and Spas
Improving water quality demands a true understanding of what is hidden in the pool and spa environment, of what is lurking beneath the surface—in piping, filters and on exteriors. For decades, pool professionals have faced a particularly tricky phenomenon, one that has created havoc since the first swimming pools and spas. It is that slimy, sticky, gooey stuff that appears … Read More
Addressing Cloudy Water Issues in Swimming Pools
Pool owners respond more intently to cloudy water than any other water-related issue due to its direct esthetic effect on the pool’s appearance. It can easily be identified by visual observation; any pool owner can recognize cloudy water and know it is an indication something requires attention. Where the difficulty lies for pool professionals, however, is diagnosing the specific problem … Read More