Lessons from Other Trades: What Pool Pros Can Learn

What if the fastest way to grow your pool service isn’t a new ad, but a missed call you never return? We walk through the simple, repeatable habits top plumbers, HVAC techs, and landscapers use to win business—and show exactly how to apply them to pool care. The playbook is straightforward: answer quickly, look professional, write clear bids, and respect the clock. Do these well and you’ll close more estimates, earn better clients, and build a referral engine that compounds.

We start with responsiveness because it’s the real gatekeeper. When a homeowner is shopping, they call until a human picks up. A quick reply—by phone or text—keeps the lead alive and signals reliability from day one. We share low-friction systems to capture calls during business hours, including using a spouse, assistant, or simple auto-texts to acknowledge inquiries. Then we dig into presentation: clean, branded trucks, tidy uniforms, and name tags that build instant trust at the curb. Image isn’t vanity; it’s proof of care.

If you’re ready to turn small habits into a big advantage, this conversation gives you the framework and the tools to start today. Subscribe, share this with a fellow pool pro, and leave a review to tell us which habit you’ll upgrade first.

• learning from plumbers, HVAC, and landscapers
• answering calls and texts within minutes
• using a spouse or assistant to capture leads
• presenting clean trucks, uniforms, and name tags
• sending typed, detailed bids and invoices
• using a one‑page service agreement for clarity
• scheduling realistic windows and arriving on time
• building trust that supports higher pricing
• compounding small habits into market advantage

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Chapters

• 0:00 Learning From Other Trades
• 2:18 Coaching Program Invitation
• 2:37 Responsiveness As A Growth Engine
• 5:53 Instant Gratification And Call Capture
• 7:06 Spouses As Live Dispatch
• 7:30 Business Hours And Lead Capture
• 8:18 Image, Trucks, And Uniforms
• 11:26 The Hayward Hiring Story
• 13:35 Clean Paperwork And Pro Bids
• 15:32 Service Agreements And Templates
• 17:38 Punctuality And Respect For Time
• 18:07 Find More Episodes And Coaching

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:03

Hey, welcome to the Pool Guy Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to can kind of give you an idea of some things that you can learn from other industries and kind of apply them to your pool service business. And I deal with a lot of vendors and other in other fields, and I think this is very applicable in your pool service business. Some of the things that they do right really translate well directly into pool service. 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 I think the number one thing that you can take from this would be the fact that companies that answer their phones and return messages are the ones that actually are very successful. You probably have seen this if you go online and you're looking for maybe a new plumber or an electrician, and you go to Yelp and you see these one-star reviews, and a lot of them are like, Yeah, I called the place five times and never answered, or they said they were gonna call me back and they never called me back. Don't do business with this company. And a lot of these, of course, you have to take with a grain of salt because yeah, I mean, giving a business a one-star review because they're not responding to you, is that actually legitimate something that you should be doing? Probably not, but people do it and they are up there and then they can't be taken down. And so you'll see all these over the internet, these one-star reviews for companies that are not responsive. I think this is an important factor because you may not be able to compare this to pool service companies. A lot of them aren't listed on Yelp or Google reviews, and so there's no way to kind of gauge your competitors or what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong. And so you have to kind of go out into other industries that do have a more vigorous online presence, like plumbers and electricians, and you know, landscapers, because there's a lot of pool companies that are under the radar. So, what do these other companies do well that you can apply to pool service? Well, number one, answer your phone, return messages, even if it's a generic, I'll call you back later. Um, out in the field right now. Anything like that is important to keep that communication window open. Another problem, I think, is you have to realize that when someone's looking for a new vendor, they want to get a hold of that person right away in some form of connection. In other words, if they're calling your company, you know, let's just say you're Sky Blue Pools, and they get your number off the internet and they call you, and the phone rings, and you they get a message, hi, this is Sky Blue Pools, and we're not available right now. They'll hang up the phone ninety-five percent of the time. I don't know if that's an accurate statistic, but I do like 95% of the time hang up and I'll call the next person, you know, Crystal Clear Blue Pools. I'll call them and they'll pick up the phone and that hi, I was just wondering if you can give me a bit for pool service. Now, I know that that sounds really harsh that because you missed the call, your competitor gets the business. But that's just the reality of a customer looking for a vendor. They just don't have the patience, and this is kind of a bad thing with the way society has gotten nowadays. I mean, I grew up in the 80s when there were no cell phones, there's no way to get a hold of your friend except like leaving a note on the front door. It's like, hey, I stopped by today at 1230, you know, come over to my house and you know, or whatever. And you can call them, I guess, but you know, then you have it's really weird. You have this answering machine with this cassette tape in it, and you gotta kind of rewind it and hit play. This is like ancient technology. The note on the front door, you tell your friend's mom, hey, have Billy come by. That's kind of the only way to get things done. And so you just sit there and wait. But we can't do that nowadays because if you text somebody and you don't get a response within like five minutes, you would like re-text them with a question mark. It's kind of irritating when people do that, by the way. But they want instant results, and so if you don't answer your phone or find some way to capture those calls. Now, a lot of these vendors that I deal with, they use their spouse or relative that answers phones for them. Highly effective. Answering texts text messages as well. It's a highly effective way to capture business. And I think my my uh appliance repair guy and my handyman use their spouse, and every time I call them or text them, they text me back or they answer their phone, like 90% of the time they answer their phone, and if not, they text me back within like five minutes. Really great business models and something that's highly effective. And if you do that in your pool business, maybe a relative, someone who can actually be there to answer the phone. Now I'm not talking, you know, for them to answer the phone after business hours like eight o'clock at night or six in the morning, but during normal business hours when people are actually calling you, which is most people will try to call for service during your business hours, or most business hours are from 8 30 to 5 p.m. And most people are going to call you at that time, and so being able to capture that is gonna move your business to the next level in a lot of cases. And the reason I spent five minutes on this topic is because it is the number one way to capture leads, in my opinion. If you're advertising and you people are calling you or texting you and you're not getting a response, then you're never gonna capture that lead. It sounds logical and simple, but I find that a lot of businesses fail to do this, even you know, outside the industry, and especially I think in the pool industry, if you're trying to expand, be proactive and answer those calls. Another thing that I talk about a lot is looking professional. Now, this is something that you may not think is a big factor or a big deal to people, but put yourself put yourself in this situation. You call a plumber, the first guy shows up in a truck that looks like it's from the A-Team TV show, you know, back in the 19, I guess 80s, that's when that was out. Or maybe yeah, I think it was 80s. And you know, the van's all beat up, it's like black smoke's coming out of the tail, out of the exhaust, and the guy gets out in a t-shirt, it's all filthy, you don't know what's on there. He's like, Hey, yeah, this is Mike's plumbing, you had a problem. And then the other guy shows up, you know, he has a really nice service truck with his logo on there, he's wearing this uniform, name tag, he looks clean. Which plumber would you hire? So I don't think it's appropriate to say that looking good or your image doesn't matter in full service. It matters a ton, and it's something that people aren't gonna say anything to you because it's not polite, but in reality, if you look disheveled, they're gonna think that you're not doing a very good job doing pool service. I remember that I was talking to one of the Hayward reps, and he told me that at the headquarters there's two things that they do when they're looking for a potential employee. This was way back in the day when they had that they had a single owner, old school guy, he didn't even have a cell phone. Hayward's, of course, he passed away, and so it's not the same owner. But he would do these things to kind of gauge employees. Number one, there's like a a path on the on the entrance way to the Hayward headquarters, and there's grass on both sides. And the easiest way to get there is just to walk across the grass and go through the front door. So whoever walked across the grass and not walked on the cement path, they would get a check mark off right there to begin with. And then they would walk you out to your vehicle, to your truck, or wherever your car. And they would do this just to continue the interview and conversation, but they wanted to see how your vehicle was, you know, was it messy, disheveled, dirty, you know, bugs on the windshield, the interior has like fast food cups from like three days ago or different restaurants, and they would gauge you that way also. And this is kind of how they picked their employees, and it's actually sounds really effective to me because you come in there with your suit and you're looking good, but how's your vehicle? Or do you cut corners? These are all aspects of looking good for the customer. So, one of the aspects, one of the things that a lot of companies do really well, they have clean trucks, they don't have fast food cups in there, they have a nice uniform, and you can actually replicate this in your pool service. Now, I'm not saying that you should go to the car wash every day, and you know, but your car should look good. Newer model, you know. I don't think you should be driving a 25-year-old truck that's all beat up, that's not gonna get you a lot of customers, or customers that you really want to retain, I should say. And getting a uniform is really simple and easy. You can just about go anywhere and get uniforms made, and it's something that's going to set you apart and make you more professional with the client, and it's gonna make you give you the ability to get service accounts much easier than if you didn't have that image that a lot of these good companies portray out there. HVAC companies, plumbers that look good for a reason. And I was recently talking to Skimmer about this aspect that a lot of these other companies like HVAC plumbers, landscapers, don't have a robust software ability or the availability, I should say, of software like Skimmer to do routing and you know, send messages and do the invoicing through. And they rely on a lot of different old school technologies of invoicing, but there are some people that do it really well out there, and so the reason I bring this up, this is also one aspect that you can really take your business to the next level. It's how you invoice your customers, how you present bids to the customers, and the services that I use or the people that I use really give good bids and they look really professional. And I'm not saying that if you don't have professional invoices and or professional bids drawn up, you're not gonna get the job. I think it gives you the edge over someone else for sure. Once you get to know the person, maybe you know you overlook these things. But if you don't know the company at all and you're getting a new vendor, it's kind of important that their bill and their invoice and their bid is something that you can easily digest and it's something that looks good to you. I mean it it just is clear if someone gives you like a carbon copy invoice and it's handwritten, you can't even read what they're writing, and someone else has a computer printout with so much detail, that company with the detailed information is going to, of course, win. And that's why I have like a service agreement. It's a one-page, really simple service agreement. You can actually get a copy if you email me. It's David at swimming poollearning.com, and I can send you a copy of my one-page service agreement. And I think it's a really clear way of showing a professional. It's not really a contract neck technically, but it does give the customer ideas of what you're going to do at the pool or what you are responsible for and what they're responsible for, and it just makes you look professional. Now, when you're doing a bid, you of course want to maybe type have a template where you could type stuff up and submit it to the customer so that everything is kind of easy to read. I used to use a contractor, he moved to Arizona, but he his bids were so detailed that he even had like the price of the screws he's using. It was like an incredibly detailed invoice, and I kind of miss him. You know, he he was a great contractor, and the way he wrote everything up was just spectacular. And this is something that you can do in your business pretty easily. You know, you can create templates, you can create your logo on there, different things, and just make yourself look like a professional company with really good paperwork that makes sense. And again, it's really difficult to gauge your competitors out there because a lot of pool companies don't have a really huge online presence, and so there's no way of seeing, you know, if you know Bill's pool service or splash pool service is doing a good job and if you can kind of cut into their market. But one thing you can do, and this is something that I think is also critical, is people like it when you show up, when you say you're gonna show up for a bid and show up on time, it just shows some respect for the customer's time. You know, if in you're you're the same way, if you're in a waiting room for your doctor or a dentist and you have an 11 a.m. appointment and you're sitting there and it's like 11.30 already, you feel agitated. Not because you're waiting past your appointment time, but I think a lot of that is the fact that you feel like they don't respect your time. Like 30 minutes of your day is wasted waiting for them and they don't care about your time. And that's kind of the same way someone feels when you say, I'll be there at 11 a.m. to do the bid for you, and I'll let you know how much service will be. And it's 1110, 11.15, you're still not there. Now, if you're stuck in traffic, messaging them is fine, you know, I'm gonna be a few minutes late, that's appropriate. I've had vendors do that before, and I've had long-term relationships with people that were late for their appointments, and they let me know they're late for a good reason. But if you are consistently late for appointments, or if you say you're gonna do something for the customer and don't do it, don't follow through at a certain time, that's a problem, and that's a problem that's gonna affect your business because people have people are busy and you have to be a respecter of their time. And so if you're late, it's not the fact that you're busy, it's the fact that you don't respect the other person's time. And companies that say they're gonna be there at 11 and they show up at 11 are the companies that I hire. When I'm when I'm making an appointment for a tenant and they say they're gonna be there at one o'clock, they usually are there at one o'clock because they know that that's what I expect of them to work for me. And the same thing for your pool service. Any kind of thing that you're doing, any kind of appointment you set with the customer, you really should be cognizant of your time and of their time. And if you're late for a bid, you're already off to a bad start. Everything kind of adds up to how they perceive your company, whether you answer your phone, whether you look good or presentable, how your paperwork looks, and if you show up on time. These are all basic things that if you look on Yelp for a plumber electrician, you're gonna see all the reviews of them, and you're gonna see people saying, hey, they didn't make it until like half an hour late, and or they didn't, you know, the invoice I couldn't figure out what they were billing me for. All these things are marked against those companies. And if you do these things correctly, you can really expand and you can basically you know conquer a market in your area just by doing these basic things that other successful companies do in other industries. Like a successful plumber or HVAC company is going to implement all these things I talked about here, and you can do exactly the same thing in your pool service business. If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, swimmingpoollearning.com, on the banner, click on the podcast icon. There'll be a drop-down menu of over 1800 podcasts for you there. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a great rest of your week, and God bless.