Vance Blog

I’m sure pool professionals all over the country expe­rience the same frustration

I do each year at this time. As the season begins, many local media outlets highlight a tragic accident that occurred in their areas. The story al­ways carries the same message:

Swimming pools are danger­ous and having one in your backyard is inviting tragedy.

Though I have the deep­est sympathy for the individ­ual families involved, these news stories always bother me. I believe they do more harm than good. They might achieve their goal of reducing the number of pools built, but in the long run, these stories actually cost more lives than they save. Here’s why:

The year is 1965 and I’m a teenager. My brother and I are in a canoe on a large lake near Yellowstone Park, no more than 50 yards offshore. Without warning (or maybe we just aren’t paying atten­tion), the wind whips up and the big lake is suddenly cov­ered in whitecaps. The canoe starts rocking and my brother tries to stabilize it by standing up and leaning. In a flash, we’re both in very cold water. Unable to tip the canoe upright, we decide we have no choice but to swim ashore. We do.

To this day, I am con­vinced I could have drowned in that lake. But I survived for one simple reason: I knew how to swim. And I had learned that skill in a back­yard pool.

So, my own life experi­ence taught me just the opposite of what the annual springtime newspaper and TV stories would have us believe. I know in my heart that pools actually save lives by reducing the number of deaths due to drowning.

This year, I decided to do something about this chronic misinformation by trying to scientifically prove how many lives are saved annually be­cause people learned how to swim in backyard pools. There must be a way of cal­culating the number of chil­dren who are taught to swim each year in pools, and com­pare that with the number of aquatic accidents. I won­dered: Are these statistics available anywhere?

I checked the Internet for clues and found a study by the Journal of the American Medical Associate, which stated that 73 percent of all drownings occur in natural bodies of water. An earlier report by the Centers for Disease Control found that only 10 percent of drownings occur in swimming pools.

I spoke to a professor of statistics at University of California-Berkeley and asked him if it would be possible to scientifically prove my point. His first response was to say that yes, one could make some assumptions about the number of lives saved. But because it involves a guess about what might have hap­pened, the results would always be disputed, even by those with good intentions, such as advocates of swim­ming pool safety.

But the logic of my point is irrefutable: If 73 percent of drownings occur in natural bodies of water and if most swimmers learn the skill in pools, then many, many lives must be saved by giving our kids time in backyard pools.

Let’s have some articles this season about that. And pool builders, don’t be shy. If a homeowner hesitates about starting a pool-building project this summer because of their children and safety … remind them that there is no better reason to build a pool.

In his recent book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell writes about how little changes can have big effects. When small numbers of people start behaving differently, their actions can ripple outward until a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, thus changing the world.

Gladwell’s thesis is that ideas, products, messages and behaviors “spread just like viruses do.” He believes that three kinds of people are responsible for the sea change: First are the Connectors, those sociable personalities who bring folks together. Second are the Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge. Finally, there are Salesmen, spurring change by their powers of persuasion.

I’m not sure which type I might be, but I see a new trend emerging in the swimming pool industry that I believe will lead to a “tipping point” for us all.

What if you needed your backyard landscaped, but the professional you called said he only plants bushes? What if he then explained you would have to hire someone else to do bark, lawn and flatwork? You would evaluate this particular landscaper as a terrible businessperson who chose to ignore most of the revenue available in a project.

Similarly, how many of you think of yourselves only as pool builders (bush planters)? You probably would prefer not to be responsible for the landscaping portion of your client’s project. In fact, some of you would be happy if the homeowner contracted with a mason separately for the decking, so you could concentrate solely on the pool.

The tipping point will come when the homeowner stops thinking in terms of “putting in a pool” and starts defining their project as “creating a new backyard.” When that point occurs, any pool builder who has not expanded his or her thinking will be at a disadvantage.

By the way, when people ask me what I do for a living, I don’t tell them that I am in the swimming pool business. I say I’m in the backyard entertainment and lifestyle business.

There is a lot of money to be made in the backyard. Someone will add to their bottom line by putting in a fire pit or a barbecue, a retaining wall and a couple of trees, etc. Why not you?

What did you think when SCP the largest company in our industry, acquired Horizon Industries, a distributor of irrigation and landscaping supplies? I doubt if SCP defines itself strictly as a pool products distributor. Do you think SCP wants to have a bigger piece of the whole backyard? You bet they do!

How about Hanley Wood, the company that owns and produces our industry’s annual trade show? Did you notice it ran two expos side by side this year in Orlando? One is the International Pool & Spa Expo and the other is called the Backyard Living Expo.

I predict that in the not-too-distant future, consumers will begin to look for contractors who specialize in the entire backyard. They won’t be satisfied with companies that just build pools or plant bushes.

The great news is that a similar change in our industry will increase its size tenfold.

Our industry is about to tip and redefine itself. You build exquisite backyard environments. Repeat this to yourself daily.

We in the inground pool business are at a crossroads. With the tragic events of Sept. 11 still fresh in our memory, we look out across a new, rugged landscape of political and economic uncertainty.

As business leaders and owners, how do we guarantee a better future for our industry? I’d like to offer three prescriptions.

1. Rethink sales strategies

Instead of simply broadening our product lines to steal our competitors’ business and lower our prices, pool equipment executives need to rethink some of their tried-and-true strategies.

Collectively, we must develop products that deliver more benefits to pool and hot tub owners. For example, we need to develop reasonably priced, high-efficiency heaters, filters that clean themselves and pumps that are silent so zero-lot line homeowners don’t bother their neighbors.

Would potential pool and spa owners respond to these new products? Yes! Furthermore, this kind of innovation would reinvigorate the pool business and help us increase our share of homeowners’ discretionary spending.

2. Create easier-to-use products

Credit for this prescription must go to John Murphy, vice president of SCP Pool Corp. in Covington, La. He recently observed that many manufacturers spend too much time and resources on increasing the complexity of their products, while seemingly spending little time considering the ease of installation and use of products.

He also noted that too many builders, sub-contractors and installers avoid selling and installing high-end products because it has become too complicated to do so.

Of course, we manufacturers offer training, but many busy pool professionals do not have the time or focus to study our installation and operations manuals.

I saw a business newscast not long ago, where a reporter interviewed a handful of young adults who said they were surprised by how easy it was to set up Microsoft’s new Xbox system. They just plugged in a few cables and were good to go.

Then the reporter visited Microsoft’s technical support center, whose team members sat quietly, waiting for the phone to ring. Although they were ready to help the throngs of customers who hurriedly cleaned Xbox systems off retailers’ shelves, not many people called. As it turned out, the Xbox practically installed itself.

3. Get better education and training

There are builders who don’t promote waterfeatures or electronic controls because they don’t fully understand how to properly install them. This lack of understanding perpetuates false stereotypes about the industry as a whole: slow to change, behind the times, and out of step with consumer trends and desires.

Our only opportunity for growth is to build larger pools that incorporate more bells and whistles. To accomplish this goal, we need a trained base of builders and installers who are comfortable with the technology being offered.

Predicting the future is almost impossible. However, if we focus on new-product development, plug-and-play installation simplicity and proper educational tools, the pool-building industry will grow, regardless of an uncertain world.

Vance Gillette, is vice president/general manager of pool systems at Water Pik Technologies Inc. in Petaluma, Calif.

Dear Pool and Spa Colleague:

The horrors recently perpetrated in New York City, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania have affected us all, bringing overwhelming waves of sadness, anger and concern while fortifying our love for the United States of America. I offer my deepest sympathies to any of you who lost family members or friends on September 11.

In addition to facing both real and perceived threats to our courage and determination as Americans, each of us as business people must also consider the economic impact of recent events. We know the airline, hotel and other travel related industries have been devastated. As leaders in the pool and spa industry, we all have to join together to try to ensure the long-term success of our companies and, in turn, protect the livelihoods of our employees.

How do we expect the pool and spa industry to be impacted by the terrorist attacks of September 11?

Consumers will feel a great deal of financial uncertainty, and families will instinctively hesitate to commit to major purchases. It could be argued, depending on how events unfold in the next few months, that homeowners will shy away from digging that new pool.

I don’t believe that will happen, and here’s why:

Yes, families will hesitate to travel. Yes, the natural response is to cancel that trip to Europe or the Caribbean. Accordingly, people will choose to hunker down with their families, spend time with loved ones and stay in the safest places they can find. Like their backyards!

There is no question that, now more than ever, our products are uniquely positioned to bring joy and comfort to many people. There is no better activity for people today than joining with family, friends and neighbors to enjoy each other’s company in a nearby backyard paradise.

I urge all of you to be proactive and energetic in getting this message out to as many homeowners as possible. While there is obviously no positive side to our national tragedy, we can do our part to keep our economy strong, preserve jobs and provide secure havens for all of our friends and neighbors.

I wish you all the best in these challenging times. Let’s work together, stay creative, and build a better future.

Sincerely,

Vance

Vance A. Gillette
Vice President and General Manager, Pool Systems

We all want to predict what will happen in our economic, social or political futures. Practicing the art of futurism gives us so much satisfaction because it gives us a feeling of being in control of events, if only for a moment. So, as a follow-up to my series of 1994 articles, “The View Through the Mirror,” in which I predicted a boom decade for the swimming pool industry, I will once again try to predict the future. I hope to accomplish three things:

First, I will extend my predictions to cover the first decade of the 21st century. This will encompass not only some general economic predictions, but also some specific predictions for the pool industry.

Second, I will try to predict what will happen to you as individuals. Of course, that general task is impossible since each of you has different futures, and clearly I would need to know the details of your life in order to be accurate. But I will be able to predict which kinds of business behaviors will likely be rewarded with success, and which ones will not.

I will try to predict which types of enterprises, both big and small, could thrive regardless of economic conditions. In other words, I will describe what you can do as an individual to succeed in the pool and spa industry, during a national recession or expansion.

Third, I will try to identify several cultural and technological changes that I believe will alter how we live, how we consume and how we make decisions.

You might believe that predictions about technological and cultural changes have a slightly longer time frame than my previous predictions. To the contrary, my sequel to “The View Through the Mirror” I purposely named “Objects are Closer Than They Appear,” to suggest that some of these changes are imminent enough that they will dramatically alter the landscape of our own careers.

Macro-economic predictions

The general principles I discussed six years ago are still valid. In summary, it was an analysis driven by demographics. At that time, baby boomers, whose behavior has shaped the American cultural scene since they were infants, were mostly in their forties. The average pool buyer is the head of a household between the ages of 40 and 49. Thus, it is easy to see why new pool construction has been so strong these last few years.

These “peak household spenders” will continue with us for another eight or nine years (before they become empty-nesters interested in downsizing). So, the demographics should remain strong for pool sales until approximately 2008. Also fueling this trend is the fact that baby boomers have elderly parents — named by Tom Brokaw as “The Greatest Generation.” They are, unfortunately, dying in increasingly greater numbers. This translates into an enormous transfer of wealth, which will spur the purchase of many goods and services, including home improvement and swimming pools. According to a study by Cornell professors Robert Avery and Michael Rendall, boomers are expected to inherit $10.4 trillion in the next decade.

Further, I would like to add my voice to the small but growing number of people who believe we are not in a mature market. We haven’t even scratched the surface yet. P.K. Data has estimated there are more than 56 million homeowners who can potentially own a pool but have not yet decided to do so. There’s plenty left for all of us.

Micro-economic predictions

Now, how about you?

Being able to predict one’s personal future can be far more exciting than predicting global events.

How are you prepared to meet the future? Is your business positioned properly? Do you have the right skills to thrive in the next 10 years? If you are a builder who constructs pools as they were built in the 1970s, are you prepared for what will be required in the next 10 years? If you are in the pool service business, but don’t feel comfortable with electronic control systems, will you be able to serve your customers 10 years from now? If you are a business executive for a larger corporation, have you kept up with the latest technology, or are you afraid of it?

Your answers to these questions will probably affect your future more than the macro numbers I have already addressed. Let me give you an example: Let’s say you are a pool builder in a mid-sized city in central California. You install about 75 pools a year, and even though you compete with about 10 other builders, you are the third largest in the area.

The economy continues to do well and your city continues to grow, with people streaming from larger urban areas seeking more affordable real estate and fewer crowds. Things couldn’t be better, right? Pools are being built like never before, with new cash-rich arrivals installing pools to counter the strong Inland Valley heat.

But wait a minute. It seems there are a dozen new builders in the area. Some just work out of a pickup truck, while others seem to be happy building two dozen pools a year with seemingly tiny margins. The sub base in the area is far too busy with all of the activity, and you can’t seem to get your jobs done on time. Prices for your work are routinely $6,000 higher than your competitors’. Is this a good economic scenario for you, or are the “good times” giving you more frustration than ever?

In this situation, the builder would have to market his services more aggressively. He has to decide who he is and what he does, and then communicate that to his buying public. This means developing an advertising plan, a Web site, collateral material, direct mail campaigns and a public relations strategy.

Of course, each market has various segments, and builders can decide which ones they can best serve. Maybe an individual builder specializes in first-time pool owners with limited resources, and can promise the least expensive pool in the market that meets code. Perhaps that can become his “brand.” I believe every builder must brand himself to succeed in this business. If you try to be everything to everyone, you will have an uphill battle.

Further, perhaps this builder should take it upon himself to create alliances. For example, he could partner with local home construction to include pools with new building projects. Building relationships is an important step toward building more pools.

Technological and cultural changes

When I started in business, I was still using carbon paper. We had no fax machines, personal computers or cell phones. The Web was inconceivable to most. Well, what’s next?

We are in the midst of a wireless revolution. With what is called an “ad hoc network,” several devices in a given area can identify one another and establish connections. Your handheld computer, PC, home security system, pool equipment pad, landscape systems and more can all be linked automatically. Think of the possibilities for convenience and control. By 2004, analysts estimate there will be a billion devices on the market. Consumers will come to expect this kind of connectivity, and your inability to participate will hurt your pool business.

So how can all this be summarized?

By nature, I am an optimist. I believe we will continue to live longer and more comfortable lives. I believe the economy will remain strong for the next 10 years. And better than that, despite a few hiccups, I believe that long-term technological changes will rescue us from problems that have plagued us for centuries. But along with these changes will come bewildering complexity for many people.

Except, of course, when we are floating in our pool right in our own backyard paradise. This is a place more and more humans will need to go to replenish and rejuvenate. That’s where I’m putting my money.