The Breakup Episode: When Customers Say “We’re Done”

Tired of losing accounts to low-price flyers or “I’ll handle it in winter” cancellations? We share a practical retention system that keeps clients loyal by focusing on what they feel at home: fast replies, reliable visits, crystal water, and billing they can trust. No fluff—just the habits that stop churn before it starts.

Water quality makes or breaks loyalty, so we outline a preventive playbook: sustaining proper chlorine levels, using enhancers like borates or phosphate/enzyme programs, brushing every visit, and staying on top of filter maintenance. One bloom can be forgiven—repeat blooms are a deal‑breaker—so we show you how to document, communicate, and correct issues fast. Finally, we tackle billing transparency: notifying clients before parts are replaced, leaving old parts for inspection, photographing work, and giving clear price‑increase notices. When charges make sense, trust rises.

Whether you’re a solo operator or running a team, this episode gives you a proven framework to keep customers happy all year. If you found value, follow the show, share it with another pool pro, and leave a review to help more service teams build retention that lasts.

• balancing owner‑operator vs team expectations
• fixing slow or missing communication with photo updates
• building consistent day and time windows
• educating on winter debris, stains and year‑round pricing
• preventing algae with chemistry, brushing and filter care
• documenting parts and clarifying invoices before charging
• using routing apps for logs, photos and follow‑ups

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting Up The Retention Playbook
• 2:54 Single Operator Versus Larger Team
• 5:16 Why Clients Really Switch Providers
• 8:34 Communicate Early And Often
• 12:00 Deliver Consistent Day And Time
• 15:11 Handling Seasonal Cancellation Myths
• 18:48 Water Quality And Algae Prevention
• 21:24 Billing Transparency And Price Changes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

And welcome to the Pool Grey Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to talk to you about customer retention, why customers may cancel service, and some surefire ways to keep the customers on your pool route all season long. And I do stress that because there is a time of year where a lot of customers think they can go without pool service, and you have to kind of correct that thinking. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. From me, I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. And before I dive in, I just want to emphasize this point that it doesn't really matter if you're a single polar or if you have a bigger company with some employees. I don't think customers really care too much about one or the other because there are of course advantages of both models. For example, if the customer has a pool and they hire an owner operator, a single polar with no employees, you deal directly with the owner, which is in the most part a good thing. And you know, if there's any kind of problems, the owner will address that of the pool company, I should say. And it may not be as quick as with a company with employees with a dedicated repair tech. So the advantages of the single polar is probably better customer relation because you're dealing directly with the company owner. The downside is that single polar may not have all the resources to address things quickly, whereas a larger company with a dedicated repair tech and employees can move things faster. Now, of course, the downsides, the downside with the big company with employees is that the customer may not like the particular service tech or employee that's doing the pool, and or maybe the employee is not doing as good of a job as the owner would do. But it's one of those things where there isn't really good statistics good statistics on you know single polars versus large companies. Most of the pool companies out there, I think over 50% of them are single polars, or maybe have one employee, and so there's smaller companies in general out there, and in my area, most service companies here are single polars. Every area is different, areas of Florida where there's gigantic companies in Texas as well. So it's not really gonna going to I wouldn't say that is a reason why a customer would cancel. Generally, if you have an employee that they don't like, they can move your pool to someone else. And if your own are single polar and the customer doesn't like you, you're you're out of luck at that point. But most of the time they're gonna like you. And I would say that your business structure is not going to be the reason why they're gonna cancel service. However, there are things inside your business model that can lead to a cancellation of service. I think the number one thing that makes customers want to switch companies, and they may have received a flyer from someone at a lower rate, and this is something that is unavoidable. But a lot of people just ignore those things because I get them all the time. Also, for my service providers, I have rental properties and I get flyers for pest control, other companies, and I'm happy with the companies that I use, and so I just kind of ignore those things. But to put those on the customer's radar, there are a few things, and the number one thing I think customers don't like is when there's a lack of direct communication. When there's a problem, they try to call you, get a hold of you to rectify it, and there's no response or a very delayed response, then that's a problem, and that is a lot of reasons why people cancel. It's really amazing that the easiest way to retain customers and to have a thriving business. There's a local restaurant here that I'm not sure well, they don't have anyone really running it to the capacity that they should be, but it's a really popular restaurant. There's lines out the door on Saturday and Sunday, and it's one of those things where if you try to call in an order to pick up, they may pick up the phone, they may not. Most of the time they don't, and then when I go in there to place an order trying to call, and I they don't answer, I go in, and I can see that there's no reason why they shouldn't be answering the phone. They I mean it's it's something that's kind of irritating, but the food's so good I kind of ignore that to a point, you know, they can stay in business because they don't answer their phones, they don't, you know, they don't run an effective business. They even have weird hours where they close at 6 45 at night, which is kind of strange. And it's one of those things where they they don't run their business properly, and if their food was bad, then they'd be out of business already. But since the food is great and everyone loves it, everyone overlooks those details. That does not translate to pool service because you can they can find another pool service company pretty easily, and there's really nothing holding them to you except goodwill and how you service their pool. And so if you don't communicate with them with a problem they may have be having, maybe there's a small drip leak coming from their filter, which would be probably a simple O-ring change, and they're calling you and telling you to change it or fix the leak, and you're kind of putting it off, and it goes three weeks go by and the leak's still there. That's a problem, you know. That's beyond miscommunication and not being able to get a hold of you. That's just kind of neglecting your duties out there. And it's one of those things where the customer has a tipping point. You know, they're calling you, they're saying, Can you fix this leak? You may say yes, I'll fix it next week. You don't fix it, or you may not even get back to them. At that point, they're gonna be like, Hey, I got this flyer from All American Pool Service. I I I let me look for it, and they may have it on their desk stacked up there, and sure enough, they will call this company, they'll come over and give them a bid, and then you've lost that account, all because you just weren't communicating or being proactive with what the customer was communicating to you. And this is very common in business, not just pool service, but anywhere except where the food is great, you can get irritated by people not answering the phone or responding to you in a quick manner, in a fast and appropriate manner. This is where the routing software comes in super handy, like skimmer, where you can send messages and you can send photos when you were there cleaning the pool, fixing something or repairing something, just snap a photo and send it to your customer. And this is this is why the pool routing apps are really great and a good way to stay in constant communication with your customers. And I think if you're not using an app, you know, definitely try Skimmer. It's one of the ones that looks a lot like the Apple ISO. And if you use an iPhone, you're gonna really like the way Skimmer looks. To me, it's the best-looking app out there, and it'll really help you with these kind of miscommunications, especially if you have employees and you need to follow up on certain things. This is where these routing software apps come in super handy. Before I touch on the seasonality and sometimes why people may want to cancel, I'll touch on one more that really is a problem, and that's inconsistent service. Now, whether you're a company with employees or you're a single polar, people really like consistent same day, same time frame service for a lot of reasons. They're comfortable and familiar with the pool guy coming Tuesday between 10 and 11 a.m. Now, of course, there's some delays there with filter cleaning season, things like that. But if you can consistently show up week after week at the same time frame on the same day, the customers get very familiar with that, they feel comfortable with your service because a lot of times they're not around to see you doing the pool, they're may not even be home during your service call, but at least from their ring camera, they can see that you've come at that time and you're consistent week after week because they're paying you for a service. And if if you come on a Wednesday sometimes or a Thursday, or if the hours fluctuate so widely that they can't track you, they're gonna think that you're not serviced in their your pool. Even if you send them pictures with the app, it's one of those things where people like consistent service and you have to provide that for them. And I think if you don't provide that consistency that is kind of week in and week out, barring vacation and days off, then you're gonna have a problem with the customer really respecting or understanding that you're servicing their pool and that your days fluctuate for whatever reason, it could be anything. But if you don't fluctuate and you're there all the time, the customers overlook a lot of things. You build a lot more goodwill by being there and being consistent week in and week out. Now, there is something with seasonality here in California where customers think that you know you have you in the summertime, you're doing the pool, and then it comes to October, November, and they're like, Well, you know, I don't think I need pool service, you know, I can handle it myself in the winter time. And a lot of times you get cancellations in the off-season. I think it's pretty rare to get cancellations in the middle of summer unless you're doing a really poor job, and I'll touch on the water quality as another reason that they may cancel. But if you're doing a good job in the summer, the customers don't usually shop around for another company during that time because you're consistent, you're answering messages, you're showing up the same day and the same time block, and you're doing a good job. But when it comes to winter, a lot of customers think, well, I can, especially if they're new and they just started service with you over the summer, that they can handle it in the winter time. And the truth is, at least in Southern California, the pools actually get messier in some cases in the winter than they are in the summertime with the winds blowing, with rain, with other issues in the wintertime. So I really think that if you have people that are thinking about canceling seasonally because the pool looks pretty easy in the wintertime, let them know when you're doing the bid that you provide year-round service, and your rates are based on the fact that you're providing service year-round. And be honest with them, let them know that in the winter time you do recover a lot of your chemical costs because the pools require less chemicals in the wintertime. And the reason why you can charge, you know, 185 a month or 190 a month is because you spread everything over the whole year. And if they sign up for service, let them know that it's a season a year-round service, I should say, and not a seasonal service. And if you're in an area where it's seasonal, of course, like with the closed pools, you charge a lot more because your season is so short, you have to make as much money as you can, and you'll find areas where they close pools, the service rate is a lot higher because of that reason. But since you're servicing the pool year-round, the service rate is kept lower for that reason, and let them know that in the winter time there's a lot of things you're doing as well, and that a lot of the staining and damage to the pools come from people that don't have don't clean their pools in the wintertime properly when dirt gets in there. This is the truth of it. If a lot of dirt gets in the pool and it's not removed quickly, the pool can develop stains. Organic staining is another problem, and there's all kinds of things that could happen to the pool surface as well, from neglect in the wintertime in the year-round service areas like California, Arizona, Florida. So just educate the customer. And if the customer still wants to cancel service in the winter time, I would say let them go and they'll probably be calling you back, and you may decide not to do the pool again or not. But sometimes, you know, it's one of those things where even with all the education and talking to the customer, they still feel like you're just a summer-only kind of service, which is not okay because you really need that year-round pool service to sustain yourself and to stay in business and be a viable pool service company in those year-round areas. Another reason why customers may be apt to cancel, and it may not be something that happens immediately, they may wait for a month or two after the fact. But if the pool were to turn or have algae, it's a big problem. You know, it's the number one thing that you're actually out there doing to keep the pool blue, swim ready, and if the pool starts to develop mustard algae on the sides or even turns green on the customer, that's a big failure. I mean, it's like if you go to a car wash, you know, the car wash where you pay to have them wash your car, you know, polish it, dry it, and you get your car back, and you know, half the car is still full of dirt and water stains, and you just pay 30 bucks for this hand car wash, you're gonna be like, Well, this car wash is no good. I mean, I brought it in here$30 later, half the car is still dirty. The car wash would not stay in business for long. You want to go back there, and that's kind of the same thing with pool service. You're there to make sure that when the customer looks out their window drinking their morning coffee, that the pool does not have mustard algae on the sides and it's turning green. Now, if it happens once, most of the time the customer will give you a pass because things happen. You know, I've had customers leave their pool in spa mode all week, then the pool turns, and I let them know, hey, you know, you left your valves wrong, or they may have trees trimmed and the pool gets destroyed, the tree trimmer gets all the debris out, but there's algae forming in there from all the you know stuff that fell in there. All these things do happen. You know, you may forget to put chemicals in the pool one week. This has happened to me before. I get busy, I get a phone call, I forget to put the tablets in, and the pool turns, and oops, that's my mistake. But it happens only once and I correct it. And usually that's a free pass, get out of jail free card kind of thing. But if it happens again or multiple times, or if they can't use their pool for a party because there's algae in it, that is a problem. And you know, they do have grounds for cancellation in a lot of cases. So if you have employees, train them that the number one reason, and I think this is the number one reason in most cases that a customer will cancel is algae in the pool or poor water quality. Now, there are a lot of things you can do to prevent that, keeping the proper chlorine level, using an enhancer like boric to 50 parts a million or the pool RX or phosphated enzymes, lots of ways to prevent algae from forming in a pool, making sure the filters are clean on a regular basis. All these things can allow you to keep the pool algae-free. Brushing the pool every time you're there is a key factor as well. Brushing the pool really helps with algae growth on the sides. And so your employee should be brushing the pool every time they're there, the steps, the sides, and this these are all ways to prevent algae and to keep that customer happy. And it's one of those things where it is very logical that if the pool looks terrible and you're consistent, you're communicating with the customer, they're still probably going to cancel service and find someone else because you're missing one of the main elements, which is keeping the pool clean and swim ready. And this last one does happen, and I've had a customer cancel on me for this reason because of inconsistent billing or not being clear. Now, this was back in the day before any kind of software, and this is when they would leave me a check, and the customer got mixed up on which month of service they were paying for. I don't know what exactly happened, but it was a kind of a dispute like, hey, I paid you for this month, and I I showed them that they didn't, but then you know they said they did. And this is an old school example, you know, when people leave checks or cash out for you, how things can get messed up. The new modern age, this shouldn't happen. There shouldn't be too many billing issues or problems. The main billing problem that you're gonna have with the customer is charges that appear on there that they're unfamiliar with and that they may question a lot of times when you replace a part. And I always tell pool companies to do this: like if you change a cleaner part, like a Polaris wheel or a diaphragm and a cleaner, or if you change you know the pumplet O-ring or pump basket, I always leave the old one somewhere by the equipment near the heater or somewhere like that, and then the customer questions it, and I always tell the customer too that I'm changing this part. I left the old one there so you can inspect it and see that I changed it. That way, there's no question that you put that O-ring on or that pump basket in. It it eliminates one of the reasons why a lot of people will switch services in billing. It's not the fact that they it was a confusion over what they paid for, but there are confusions about what you're adding on to their bill. And if you're gonna raise service rates, of course, inform the customers with a letter. I have a a form, a little paragraph that I send out, and it basically talks about inflation and the fact that everything's gone up in cost in the pool industry, and that's why I'm raising prices. So inform them that prices are gone. Don't just raise their service rate without informing them. In fact, most companies will let you know ahead of time, and if you raise them without letting them know, that could be a reason for cancellation. So be transparent in your billing, what this charge is for, why you're billing them for that, and of course, set your company up to where anything that is taken out or changed is left there so the customer can see it. Don't have the employee or don't throw away the part right away. I've even had customers two months later question me on something, and thankfully I didn't take that out and throw it away. Usually I leave it there for a couple months so they can see it. I mean, you don't want to leave like a changed pump and motor there, it looks kind of tacky sitting there like an equipment graveyard, but there are certain things you can leave there and it's not gonna cause a problem. And just let the customer know you change it. Take photos of the part, of course, in case you throw it away. You can just pull it back up on your phone and say, hey, I changed this. Of course, the apps are great for sending a picture of the part that you changed, but a lot of pool companies still are not using these apps, so of course leave it there, take a photo of it, just document anything you've done to their pool so that later on, if there's a question, you can clarify it, and that won't cause the customer to cancel service over a simple billing issue, which has happened to members of my group. You know, they bill them for something, customer questions it, they can't answer it or give them clear, concise reasons why that was charged, and the customer cancels. I remember a long time ago when I was working for a pool store when I first started, someone got a bill for it was like I think it was like 14 cents. It was really embarrassing, but the system kicked out this. This is like early days that there was really not really good software, but for some reason there was like a balance forwarded to them for like 14 cents. They were so irate, they can they cancel service, and you don't want a billing error or a building problem to be the reason they cancel service. If you're looking for other podcasts, you go to my website, swingprolearning.com. On the banner, there's a podcast icon that'll take you to a list of over 1800 podcasts for you to download. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have you guys your week and God bless.