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.

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.

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.

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.

Of course, if you are a pool builder and you are competing against three other builders for a contract to build a nice pool, spa and deck, you have to give the best price you can. This is born of experience because nearly every market has one or two builders who like to “low ball’ a project. So I am not addressing my “leaving money on the table” complaint to any individual builder, but more to the “group consciousness” of our industry in general.

Never in the history of the world has more wealth been available than in North America in the 21st century. Stock portfolios are swollen like never before. Millionaires are being minted every single day. And you know as well as I that if you take your family to a ball game on a Saturday afternoon you’ll go through at least $150, if you’re careful.

What are you worth?

Just take a look at the price of real estate in most U.S cities. In California, where I live, people are spending huge sums to buy a little house, and then knock it down to build a larger one. So, we know people have money to spend.
How do we value our craftsmanship? What are our time, training, skills, and experience worth? I have a friend who is a successful anesthesiologist. I often tease him about his high rates, but he is totally confident in his worth. He reminds me how hard he studied for many years to learn his science. And he recites to me how critical his performance is during even a routine surgery. He usually ends up feeling like he should raise his rates.

Well, the next time my Doctor friend moves and has his new pool built, I hope his swimming pool contractors value their time and expertise as much as he does. He will end up paying a fair price for his pool. Let’s not leave any money on his kitchen table.

Promoting your expertise, value

When making a sales presentation, are you bold enough to talk about the things that you do that maybe your competition doesn’t. Are you able to show you have raised the bar when it comes to standards of pool construction?

You know your steel schedule exceeds the local code. You know you don’t use rebound when having the pool gunited. You know you install an extra pump for waterfeatures and a blower for the spa. You know you spend extra money to make sure the drainage in the pool deck is correct. You know your base price includes a step and loveseat. You know you always upgrade the control system so the customer doesn’t have to walk out to the equipment every time they want to reset the equipment, etc, etc.

How about supervision of the project? Your subs aren’t running the job like your competitors. You spend time in your customers backyard to make sure the job is done right. And you guarantee the pool structure will not leak for the lifetime of the pool.

Catering to quality-conscious customers

Many customers have become more quality conscious nowadays. They don’t necessarily want the cheapest product available. And it’s funny how if a customer gets three bids, and one is low and two are high, it’s the low bid that will often be thrown out. The consumer doesn’t believe he would be getting a similar product if he went with the low bidder.

I knew one builder who always had a good answer if faced with a lower bid from a competitor. He told the homeowner to obtain the exact specs for the lower priced pool and that he would build it for the same low price. The homeowner was rarely interested in downgrading his project.

It’s not easy to build a good pool and spa. I have seen the results of either an inexperienced builder or a do-it-yourself homeowner tackling a pool construction project. Good builders have earned a high price for their service. Let’s not leave our hard-earned money on the customer’s table.

BY MICHAEL FICKES

THE PREDECESSORS of today’s Teledyne Laars/Jandy Products have a lot of firsts to their credit. In 1949, Avy Lewis Miller invented the first pool heater, which eventually came to market as the Laars Heater. In 1966, Teledyne acquired Laars Engineers and created Teledyne Laars.

In 1958, not long after the first pool heaters were installed, Andy Pansini stared at a garden hose that had fallen into his pool. As water pressure made the hose wriggle around the pool, Pansini envisioned the first automatic pool cleaner.

He designed it, built it and named it Jandy, combining his first name with his wife’s first name, Jane. Soon, Jandy Industries brought Rigid Arm Pool Cleaners to the market.

Innovations continued with the Jandy Valve, which gave pool plumbers a high-flow valve that accommodated several pipe diameters and featured a time-saving grease cap lube system.

During the ’90s, Jandy developed one of the first families of pool/spa electronic controls. In May 1996, Teledyne Laars acquired Jandy Products, creating Teledyne Laars/Jandy Products, a division of Fortune 500 giant Allegheny Teledyne Inc.

Teledyne Laars/Jandy Products operates three business units. The largest, Pool Systems, makes residential and commercial pool heaters, spa heaters, valves, pool cleaners, accessory maintenance devices, waterfalls and other pool features, and electronic pool and spa controls.

These products are shipped across the United States and around the world from manufacturing facilities in Novato, Calif.; Moorpark, Calif.; and Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Recently, SWIMMING POOL/SPA AGE talked with Robert Rasp, president of Teledyne Laars, and Vance Gillette, vice president and general manager of the Pool Systems business unit. Here’s what they had to say.

SP/SA: Mr. Rasp, you have been with the company for three years and president for one. Where do the opportunities lie for the Pool Systems Business Unit?

RASP: There are tremendous opportunities for us by expanding our product offerings. We want to focus on introducing new products that add value for pool owners and create additional revenue-generating opportunities for distributors and builders. Most importantly, we hope to differentiate our company by introducing products that enhance pool ownership, products that will make it more appealing to own a pool while reducing the drudgery and complexity associated with operating and maintaining one.

SP/SA: What kinds of products?

RASP: Electronic controls are a good example. Our line of controls add convenience and flexibility to a pool. We also want to develop new water features for our line of fountains, water falls and rock falls, products that enhance the aesthetics of a pool.

SP/SA: Overall the pool business has been growing sluggishly, if at all. Electronic controls and pool features are high-end products. How do you square your enthusiasm for these products with consumers who seem uninterested in pools?

RASP: Although there are no hard numbers to evaluate, industry estimates indicate that consumers buy 150,000 inground pools a year. Thirty percent are pool/spa combinations, a high-end purchase. Of the total pools installed yearly, about 10 percent (or 15,000) use electronic controls, another high-end item. A market penetration of 10 percent is probably triple the percentage of pools equipped with electronic controls five years ago. So, while the overall market may be sluggish, the high-end appears to be growing. A number of our products are positioned in the middle to high end.

GILLETTE: Let me add that industry research shows us that one of the main objections consumers have to purchasing a pool is the drudgery of operating and maintaining it. And it is drudgery.

If you have a pool/spa combination designed around one set of equipment, think of the work involved in using it. To use the spa, you must walk to the back of the yard to the equipment pad. You must turn a series of valves. You must make sure the automatic pool cleaner is turned off. You must turn on the heaters. Then you must wait until the spa heats up, checking it periodically until it’s right. Then you can get in.

A half-hour later, you may want to turn the temperature down. So you have to go back to the equipment housing. When you are finished, you must trudge back to the equipment housing and reverse the system.

Electronic controls eliminate this. Today, you can push a button at a console in the house or beside the spa, telling the system to rotate the valve, turn on the heater, and lock out the pool cleaner. You can even access the system over the telephone. For years, the experience of using a spa really wasn’t all that pleasant. Electronic controls are changing that.

SP/SA: Are you saying that introducing technology to a pool system can help move the market forward?

GILLETTE: It’s quite possible. The bad news is that research has shown that consumers don’t understand the extent of advanced technology products available. As consumers learn about these products, I think their attitudes will change.

Alternative sanitation systems also promise to make pool ownership easier and less costly. Take the new electrolytic chlorine generator. Instead of buying chlorine every month, you have a small manufacturing plant connected to your pool that makes chlorine daily. At the end of the month, the cost is about the same as what you would pay monthly if you bought chlorine and lugged it home. After three years, the equipment would pay for itself and your costs would go down.

SP/SA: You mentioned consumer attitudes. Along with the perception of drudgery connected to pool ownership, consumers also seem to believe that our industry is unprofessional, which is another reason for foregoing a pool purchase?

GILLETTE: I have a different view on this. Sure, there are unprofessional representatives in every industry, but as a consumer, if you do your homework, get several bids and study them, you’ll wind up with an excellent pool. I would say we’re building the best pools ever.

I think we’re suffering from an inferiority complex. We look down on ourselves. But look at the beautiful pools we’re building: infinity edge, negative edge, with fiber optic lighting, electronic controls and automatic cleaning systems. We couldn’t, or at least didn’t, build pools like this 10 years ago.

Yet we’re preoccupied by the professionalism issue. We are a professional industry. Before we can persuade the public to understand this, we must believe it ourselves.

RASP: I agree. Pool builders are growing more sophisticated every day. Twenty years ago, a pool was a rectangular hole in the ground. Today, pools are eloquent works of art. When the public begins to realize this, they will raise their expectations and create opportunities for all of us.

SP/SA: Let’s look ahead. How might current industry trends change the way the pool and spa industry does business?

RASP: I think that one of the most dynamic trends in our industry is the rapid consolidation of manufacturers, distributors and builders.

I don’t want to speak for distributors and builders, but from my point of view, consolidation among the industry’s manufacturing companies eventually will benefit all of us.

Consolidation produces bigger companies and offers economies of scale. You can cut the cost of repetitive tasks and shift money into research, product development, customer service and other “value-added” activities.

Instead of numerous companies selling one or two specialized products, a limited number of manufacturers will compete with complete product offerings. Instead of evaluating hundreds of competing products, sales reps and companies, distributors and builders will have fewer and better choices to make.

In summary, consolidation among manufacturers will increase competition, thereby requiring manufacturers to significantly improve their performance with respect to the cost and quality of the products they offer and the level of customer care and service they provide. As a result, the entire industry will benefit - from distributors to builders to dealers to consumers.

ACCORDING TO a recent American Demographics magazine report, 17,000 new products were introduced in the United States in 1994. Eighty­-five percent of them failed.

That means more than 14,000 new products, representing significant investments in product development and promotion, didn’t grab a position in their respective markets. Why? Poor market research.

But the need for market research isn’t limited to new product offerings. Business publications are filled with stories of businesses that didn’t recognize marketplace shifts, changes in consumer tastes or threats from competitive forces.

They sacrificed tomorrow’s opportu­nities on the altar of yesterday. Their passion was for old business, old products, old methodologies and old marketing. They failed to develop a passion for new opportunities, technologies, consumer tastes or market approaches.

I’m afraid this is what’s happening in our industry. We are allowing a variety of leisure-time activities to siphon discretionary dollars that could be invested in the total backyard environment.

Consider resort travel. After commercial jets started flying across the Atlantic in 1958, ocean liner passenger service went into a steep decline. Ship owners responded by conducting extensive market research and launched a campaign equating an ocean cruise with health and prestige. Ships were refitted and redecorated to become resorts.

Today, cruise lines operate in all parts of the world. There are about 25 major cruise lines that stress the beauty, healthful benefits and convenience of ocean cruising.

Leisure-time marketing isn’t confined to cruise or resort travel. Count the number of motor homes on our highways. They’ve become a mainstay at national parks and resorts nationwide.

My point is that the money spent on travel, motor homes and cruises could be better invested in developing a complete backyard environment consisting of a pool and spa, waterfalls, landscaping and outdoor lighting. This approach would bring a resort-like atmosphere closer to home.

As an industry, we don’t have a strategy that allows us to participate in the resort and motor home travel markets. We are content to market against each other. We need a passion for what we do as an industry, a passion that will lead to an increased interest in our products.

A Mixed Report Card

While NSPI has taken steps to pass on this passion, we need to help. During its last expo, NSPI made a day available to the public. However, I think the timing and location should be reviewed.

Holding a pool and spa show in November pits our industry against the Christmas season and winter holiday mind-set. And because everyone likes to go fishing when the fish are biting, consumer-orientated pool and spa shows should be conducted in March, April or May, when homeowners are thinking about home projects and summer.

If the show is to be an effective consumer marketing tool, it should be conducted in a prime geographic area. It also should emphasize the total backyard environment.

While Phoenix (the site of the 1996 show) represented such a market, I question Chicago in 1997. Let’s take our message to our markets. Let’s pass our passion to those who can envision and embrace it. Although I’m happy our expo is open to the public, I think we must expand the show concept. I encourage NSPI to book space at the larger regional home and garden shows.

These shows have a demographic profile that is close to ours, including home builders, homeowners, architects and some 10,000 landscape architects. And the regional schedule, which should only include our major markets, should emphasize the total backyard environment.

NSPI deserves credit for creating some impressive television spots, but how many people have seen them? Studies indicate that any given television advertisement needs significant repetition to be effective. If the NSPI spots are designed to benefit the entire membership, they must be aired on a national basis.

I also suggest they use a high-profile spokesperson who can be identified with swimming or leisure-time activities. The spokesperson should be a draw for regional shows, promotions and lectures, discussing the long-term health benefits of owning a pool and spa. This person should have a strong female appeal, since the lady of the house influences many of the landscape decisions.

Forging Strategic Alliances

Earlier, I mentioned the success of the cruise and resort travel industries. Such results were not achieved by concentrating exclusively on the consumer. To build awareness of their products, passenger lines and resort destinations conduct intense marketing and education campaigns with travel agents, editors, television and radio reporters and employee incentive executives.

Pick up any Sunday newspaper or city magazine and you will see how successful this approach has been. Travel magazines or exotic cruises are regularly the subject of in-depth reports.

How often do you see comparable coverage of attractive, contemporary backyard environments?

NSPI should create strategic alliances with - and develop marketing plans for - the same type of audiences as our competition. Travel agents draw the blueprints for leisure-time plans. Real estate agents, architects and home builders play the same role for home and outdoor living.

Are we educating these audiences?

Do we have regularly scheduled newsletters addressing their needs and interests? What percentage of home builders are including pool and spa environments in their designs?

Home and garden magazine editors, leisure-time television/radio reporters, and Sunday newspaper supplement editors always are looking for a good story. If we don’t feel the results we achieve in the backyard environment make a good story, then we lack the passion necessary to compete in today’s business arena.

Throughout history, business leaders have been characterized not only by their ability to feel passion­ately about their objectives, but also by the successful transfer of that passion to their respective publics.

Once we pass the passion about the backyard leisure-time environment around our industry, it will be just a matter of time before we surpass our competition and assume a position of leadership in leisure-time choices.

leisure-industry pie seemed big enough to feed us all.

But now that the excitement has faded, we’ve been drawn down by the change to a point where our enthusiasm is forced, our zeal diminished and our prospects grim. The slice can’t feed everyone anymore. And if we are to survive, we must reinvent the pool and spa industry and learn to get excited about our prod­ucts all over again. That’s the only way that we’ll get more pie for all of us.

For too long, we’ve been squabbling over our little slice, while others in the leisure industry, instead of focusing on their tiny slice and targeting a select audience, have concentrated on making the whole market bigger.

And what makes other leisure indus­tries successful is that they know one critical thing that we don’t seem to understand: They know how to sell the dream, the vision, the need and the sizzle.

How exactly are they doing it?

Through strategic alliances.

COMPETITORS - OR ALLIES?

Let’s talk for a moment about our “competitors” in the leisure industry. How many times have you heard that we have to focus on the boating, travel and RV industries as our enemies because we’re competing with them for the same leisure buck?

Here’s an idea: Instead of fighting against these industries for their slice of the pie, why don’t we sit down with them and make the whole pie bigger together? Hey, if we can’t beat ‘em, I say we join ‘em.

Consider a travel industry expo and imagine a pool builder’s booth, right in the middle of it, with gorgeous photos of custom pools and spas. Imagine the effect a similar booth would have at a boating or RV show.

After all, aren’t these attendees exactly the same affluent buyers we want to reach? What a wonderful opportunity these shows are to make them aware of

the many benefits of family, health and beauty that go with owning a pool.

By forming strategic alliances with our “competitors” in the leisure industry, we really have nothing to lose - and every­thing to gain. They’ve already penetrat­ed many of the markets that we’re after and we’ve penetrated markets they want.

If we join forces, it will mean more pie for everyone - and that’s especial­ly true if we’re all selling the dream of leisure and family togetherness, the sizzle of our products.

OUR FUTURE PARTNERS

Every time there’s a possibility that another product, service or activity can be linked to pools or spas, we should be there, eager to spread the word. Just consider all the opportunities:

• Builders and remodelers: This is perhaps the most important strategic alliance that a pool and spa builder can make. A pool shouldn’t be installed “by accident” when a new home is built. It should be a standard amenity the home builder presents in every quote.

Pool builders should approach home builders and explain how a strategic alliance would benefit both parties: The home builder adds value to the home by including a pool in the plan, and the pool builder adds another pool to their list.

It’s not enough to approach the home­owner after the fact. We need to be part of the “basic home” of the ’90s.

• Landscapers and landscape archi­tects: What’s the most spectacular and beautiful landscape element an architect can add to the backyard? I think we all know the answer to that one: water. But we have to sell this idea to landscapers and make sure that they see how they can benefit from adding a pool and spa to their plans. .

A strategic alliance with landscapers means that they have the opportunity to include the drama of water and light in their designs. A pool and spa should be the centerpiece to every backyard-land­scaping design, the crowning element in an architect’s vision that sells the home­owner on the concept!

• Home and mall shows: Pool and spa builders, retailers and equipment manu­facturers all need to get involved in more shows that sell to our real target audience: upper- and middle-class homeowners.

By displaying pools and spas in home shows and mall shows - right next to other high-end home accessories - we can significantly expand our base.

• Doctors and physical therapists:

Many doctors and physical therapists already believe in swimming as one of the best forms of low-impact exercise. And even if doctors won’t suggest a specific builder, the more our industry can do to reinforce the message to doctors that swimming is great low-­impact exercise, the more they will push the activity - and the more prod­uct we will sell.

• Swimming meets: It’s insanity to let an opportunity for sponsorship of an event as obvious as a swim meet slip by, but oftentimes, that’s exactly what happens. We need to forge more strate­gic alliances with the folks who put these meets together.

Think of the mind-set of the people at a swim meet: They’re thinking about swimming. So what better time could there be to present to them the idea that they can have all the fun of swimming in their own backyard?

A WEll·KEPT SECRET

The pool and spa industry has been a well-kept secret and I, for one, am ready to leak it to the press.

Owning a pool or spa means owning a backyard paradise! Swimming pools provide for family togetherness, fun and a healthier lifestyle. Instead of spending a few days on vacation every year, you can bring a vacation right into your backyard - and use it every day!

So what’s my wish for the pool and spa industry in the New Year? Let’s continue to spread this message through every industry, including our own. Let’s make the pie bigger.

]]> http://www.vanceblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=17