Ep039: How Canadian Pool Pros Can Thrive During Uncertain Times

 The pool industry in Canada is facing some big challenges—U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, the latest Bank of Canada interest rate cut, and even a new Prime Minister. But with every challenge comes opportunity. 

In this episode, I break down:
 ✅ The back-and-forth tariff battle between Canada and the U.S. and how it’s impacting pool professionals
 ✅ The latest Bank of Canada announcement and what lower interest rates mean for the industry
 ✅ Why mindset plays a key role in how pool pros navigate uncertain times
 ✅ How to market and promote your business effectively—even when the economy is unpredictable
 ✅ Key strategies for making the most of home shows, financing options, and digital marketing 

If you want to stay ahead of the competition and position yourself for success despite the uncertainty, this episode is for you. 

🎧 Listen now and get the insights you need to thrive in 2025.  

Steve Leslie is a Sales and Marketing Manager at Highbury Pools, located just outside London, Ontario, Canada.

Connect with Steve:
Instagram: @steve.leslie.91
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.leslie.52
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-steve-leslie/
Email: promominds@gmail.com

#tariffs #canadiansteel #canadianpools #phtcc #swimmingpools

Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Promobinds podcast. I'm your host, Steve Leslie, and today we got a lot to talk about. We'll be talking about the latest tariffs announcements, which have been going back and forth since the last podcast.

We got the Bank of Canada that just dropped the interest rate again this morning, recording this on March 12th, 2025. And lastly, we got a new prime minister coming in as of Friday. So what's going on with these tariffs? Well, here's the scoop.

We had a real back and forth between the president of the United States, Donald Trump, as well as the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, where Doug Ford announced that he was going to increase the... Well, he was actually going to apply a surcharge on electricity for about 1.5 million people in the states, because Ontario produces electricity for three different states, New York, Minnesota, and Michigan. And so that was coming out, and then Trump announced that he was going to increase the Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, which started today. And this all went down yesterday, so the 11th.

So that was kind of early or midday. And then by the end of the day, all that had been swept aside. Well, I shouldn't say all of it.

The 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum still went ahead, they went in today. And then Ontario, they retracted the surcharge on electricity tomorrow, so Thursday, when this podcast comes out, that's going to be when the premiers are going down to Washington. They're going to have a conversation with the White House and try to figure this out.

I believe they're renegotiating the North American Trade Agreement, the USMCA, formerly known as NAFTA. So the Trump administration had negotiated this in 2019, and they want to renegotiate it again. So that's happened tomorrow, we'll see what comes out of that.

Today the Bank of Canada dropped the overnight interest rate to 2.75%, so they dropped it 25 basis points. Now, that's really good from a consumer standpoint, looking at borrowing more money, or we have a lot of mortgage renewals that are happening this year, so that's a little bit better for them. I guess it takes a little bit longer for the five-year fixed terms to come down, so we'll see about that.

Depends how the bond market goes, I guess. But the variable rates will be pretty much automatically adjusted. So that's been announced.

On top of that, Canada had an election, I guess, not an election, but the Liberals elected a new leader of their party in Mark Carney, who formerly worked for the Bank of Canada back when Harper was in charge. And so we'll see how this plays out with the tariffs and everything going back and forth. The government of Canada also announced yesterday, I believe, that they're going to issue a US dollar global bond.

So I'm not exactly sure on the specifics on that, but it'll be interesting to see how that affects these trade announcements as well. So with this all in mind, with all the tariff talk going on, as we did last week, we were talking about specifics in the swimming pool industry, the Canadian swimming pool industry. And one thing that I had mentioned at that point in time was I had said that what we saw in 2018 is what is essentially happening right now with the 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

And what happened in the short term was prices went down. And then by the end of the year, prices started increasing. And so there were a couple of news articles.

This actually came up prior to my previous podcast episode, but I just found them today. Algoma Steel, so up in Sault Ste. Marie, they had announced the layoffs or temporary layoffs, at least, for at least 20 supervisors and salaried employees.

And they were citing that the US tariffs were affecting steel sales. And there's a temporary blast furnace shutdown. So that came out on March 4th in the Northern Ontario Business news article.

The next one was the Canadian Metal Processing Group, MPG Canada. And this group, which includes Ivaco Rolling Mills, Civico, and Infisco, they announced layoffs of about 140 employees across Ontario and Quebec. And again, the company cited anticipated declines in demand and production related to tariff threats and trade uncertainty.

And that came out in February 25th. It was an article on the Steel Market Update website. So as I said, very similar to 2018.

And how this all played out was obviously there was a drop in demand. So the Canadian steel manufacturers were oversupplied, they had overramped their production. So they had to lay people off and kind of balance things out, look for new markets to go into, because the US was obviously not a good choice at that point.

So that's kind of what played out. On top of that, as I stated in last week's podcast, is the trickle effect with these tariffs is that it starts to affect trade routes. So because of the animosity built up between Canada and the US, and Mexico and the US, I believe Canada and Mexico are looking at possibly doing more trade with each other.

And potentially, that could lead to completely bypassing the states altogether. So there may be shipments that come in through the Atlantic, all the way up the St. Lawrence into maybe a port in Montreal. That's obviously a little bit down the road.

It takes a long time for these trade routes to be formed. And so if there's going to be some disconnect there and some new ones formed, it's not something that just pops up overnight. These could take years to set up.

So with what has gone on between the broken relationship between Canada and the states, I mean, this could be affecting them for more than as long as these tariffs are in place. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I'm not too sure how to predict the future right now.

All I can say is with what we saw in 2018, we could very well see the same thing play out again today. So regardless, what I want to talk about today is how to promote through uncertain times. Because whether it's... We go through cycles all the time, right? We go through good cycles, bad cycles.

But at the end of the day, it's all about who can work the hardest, who can promote. And so I found lately talking with many different people in the swimming pool industry, trying to gain some perspective on, I guess, a little bit of mindsets going into the home shows, going into this year. And I found that there's a mix of people.

So on one hand, there's people that they have their whole year pretty much lined up or most of the year pretty much lined up. And you wouldn't know that there's uncertain times right now. On the other hand, there are those who it's maybe not as fruitful.

And so the mindset there, just talking between them, seems to be that coming from a scarcity mindset really affects the undermining sales. And it's very evident. I could not go through all the various studies or all the kind of hypotheticals on how this connects.

But I will say that there's a clear... There's something there between those that have an abundance mindset and those that may have a more scarcity mindset. Even if they don't have a scarcity mindset per se, if they're leaning on that way, it can affect how their bottom line. And again, I don't know how to explain it, but that's just something that I have noticed.

So as we go through this year, as we're coming into this year, I should say, I want to give a little bit of insight as to how we can go about promoting business for this year. Because obviously, regardless of the circumstances, there's opportunities in everything. So where are the opportunities? And as I mentioned last week, one thing that we're definitely seeing a lot more of is the fact that Canadians want to support Canadian companies.

It's becoming more and more evident every single day. Not just Canadian companies, they want to support Canadian-made products. And so a lot of the questions that I've been getting asked is, okay, well, where do we get our liners from? For Highbury Pools, where do we get our liners? Well, the majority of them come from CGT, which is right out of Cambridge, Ontario.

Our steel comes from Hamilton. And doing a little research over the weekend, Canada can source most of that raw material domestically. There are a few things that have to come in, that have to be imported, whether it's through the US, through Australia, China, there are a few raw materials that have to come in.

But the majority of them are sourced domestically, which is amazing because that means that they're not going to be affected by the tariffs for one, and another, or for the most part, will be affected. And another is that it's promoting not just the Canadian pool companies, but it's also promoting other Canadian industries and businesses and Canadian families. So that was really good to find out.

So I'm happy to say that we support a lot of Canadian families all throughout the nation, which is amazing. So with that, having a focus on local and Canadian made products, you can use phrases like proudly using Canadian manufactured materials, supporting local businesses, reducing supply chain delays. There are certain things that you can speak on that is very prominent in the consumer's mind, at least today.

Who knows what this will bring next week, or even next month. But right now, this is certainly something that is present in the consumer's minds. And as I mentioned last week, there have been a lot of instances already where people have walked in, they've looked at products, and they see that it comes from the States, and they say, I'm not buying this.

And so I will point out that I did have a conversation after the podcast last week, where I promoted the Sandy Mark products, and I got confirmation that there's, I believe, 5% raw material that's imported from the States. There are other raw materials that are also imported, but not from the States. And it's manufactured in Ontario and Quebec.

So that's a really good product line for chemicals if you're looking for a Canadian made, Canadian manufactured product for chemicals. So check out Sandy Mark. I'm not getting anything for mentioning them on the show, so just keep that in mind.

Now, next up is talking about the long term value, not just the price. As I mentioned before, with what we saw in 2018, you can pretty much, at this point, at least, you next year, right? So for those who are kind of looking at putting a pool in the backyard, they're not too sure if they want to pull the trigger or not this year, well, just to say to them like, look, this is the best year to buy. Why? Because we know that prices are going to go up next year, or we have a very good assumption that they're going to be up next year.

So you're going to get the cheapest price this year. For the next couple of years, you're likely going to get the cheapest price this year. And with the avoidance of travel to the States, it's looking like we could see a return to the backyard oasis like we saw during the pandemic.

So rather than spending your dollars elsewhere, why not spend it locally, support local businesses, support your family, and you can walk right out your door into your own backyard oasis and have the true Canadian vacation right in your own backyard, right? On top of that, a little plug here, the steel pools and vinyl liners. We actually put out a post on this recently about how the steel pools are actually built to withstand the Canadian winter. So something to keep in mind as you're looking at swimming pool products, definitely something to keep in mind.

And specifically, I'll point to the footing, right? With all the houses that we build, we have to go four feet to get below the frost line, right? We pour a footing, we build the house on top of that. And that's to avoid any sort of movement or shifting or anything like that. And so that's what we incorporate into our steel pools for the in grounds.

So something to keep in mind when it comes to the fiberglass pools, not exactly sure how they are held into the ground with that movement. So definitely a question to be asked. Now this year, maybe there's looking at offering more flexible payment plans or different forms of financing.

See how people can, see how you can make a deal, right? Is it possible? Well, okay. Is it possible to put it in this year and have payments for the next several years? How does that work with your company and maybe your banks, right? Something to definitely look into for those that are looking to put a pool in, right? Just offer a little bit more flexible plans if you can, right? And makes it a little bit easier for customers to commit. And yeah, especially with interest rates coming back down.

The next one is leveraging customer testimonials and social proof. And this comes down to your reviews on Google My Business. You can have it on your website, on your social media, get pictures taken with satisfied customers, get them to send in a short video to you.

Anything that you can use to promote your business and your skillset is going to come in handy because the majority of people will do some form of online research before they even reach out to you for a quote, right? That's just consumer data over the last couple of years. And so if you're focusing a lot more on the digital side of things, especially this year, to build that trust, to instill that you're an expert in your customer's mind so when they go looking for a contractor or a builder, they know that, hey, this person here, this company here is pretty reputable. So let's get them in to at least offer us a quote.

So definitely take advantage of that because that is huge. I still see pool companies out there today that they barely have a website and the website that they do have is kind of shoddy. So it's worth the investment to show up, build your brand up online, and it'll help attract those customers to you.

It looks much more professional and if someone's going to drop 50,000 to 150,000 in their backyard and they want to trust you with it, the least you could do is show up like a professional. The next one is seasonal promotions, limited time offers. There's obviously looking at offering deals throughout the summer where you can, even just creating some urgency with the tariffs that are in place, saying, hey, we could see a price increase coming up and so we should be, if you order it now, you avoid that.

You know it's going to be going up, say 10%, something like that. I'm just throwing numbers out. And therefore, if you bought something right now and it increases in value 10% by next year, well, it's a 10% ROI.

From a consumer standpoint, you're saving 10% by buying it now. So there's a little bit of urgency that you can create just through the tariffs alone. And on top of that, obviously look for offering some seasonal promotions.

What can you offer that will start the conversation? I've seen people having great luck with offering a kind of summer discount on a select pool or a couple of different variations of pools. And it just gets that conversation going, gets the customer in the door. And once they start seeing all the other great products and they start visualizing, oh, well, instead of this size pool, maybe I want something bigger.

Maybe I want a lounge. Maybe I want some vinyl overstairs. Anything like that to kind of up the dream, so to speak.

So something to take a look at and to be aware of. The next thing is to educate your customers with content marketing. And this is something that I've talked a lot in the last year is video marketing with social media.

And I'll say this again, for answering frequently asked questions through video, like a one-on-one video, it will create a lot of traffic for you because those are the types of questions that people are typing in to their search engines. So if you're creating a video around things that you should be aware of when opening your pool or things that you should be doing at the start of the year, questions you should be asking, what's the difference between these two different products or multiple different products, and just kind of educating them to give them a perspective or to help them to be able to ask the sort of questions that are needed in order to feel more confident going into hiring a contractor, honestly, it's so underutilized, right? Because there's a lot of people that they have frequently asked questions on their websites, and it has nothing to do with questions that are actually asked by customers, right? So what do you think people are going to be typing into their search engines when they're looking for a contractor or they're looking for help, right? If you can enter that conversation that's going on in their head, then you automatically build rapport because you understand them, right? So take advantage of that and start putting content out there, especially on your YouTube page because it's the second largest search engine next to Google, also owned by Google. And by doing that, it helps to build that traffic.

One more plug for YouTube, YouTube to me is one of the best social media platforms that a business can be using because on an Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat, any of these, you put out content one day, it's gone a few minutes later, right? It's old news. You can put out a piece of content on YouTube and 10 years later, people can still find it and it's still relevant, right? So it's huge, it's free, definitely a resource that needs to be used. Lastly, I'll say is emphasize your expertise and personalized service, right? When we're going through uncertain times, and this relates back to what I said about the difference with people having an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset, it's those who are willing to say that this is not, what's going on in the world doesn't really matter to me, it's how hard am I going to work in order to hit the targets that I've set for myself and my company, right? So these are uncertain times, which means a lot of people are going to be scared, but that's also where the advantage is, because if you can press forward while other people pull back, you're going to take over that market share.

Case in point, if you go and you look at any of the digital copies of the Pool & Spa marketing magazine from like 2008, 2009, you'll find they did a segment where they asked how these retailers and pool companies were able to have successful years, despite having one of the worst recessions ever take place in the world. And the answer was that they didn't pull back on their marketing. And in fact, they poured more into their marketing and they saw the effects of that.

This is right out of the Amazon playbook. It makes so much sense. It's right out of Warren Buffett's playbook, you know, be greedy when people are fearful and be fearful when people are greedy.

So my advice to you is this is going to be an uncertain market, right? And if you can press on and you can outwork the others, invest more into your marketing and to step up to the plate, right, put yourself out there and to get known in your space, people are going to trust you more, right? Because there's still people out there looking to put pools in. There's still people out there looking to have liners replaced. There's still people out there that need service done to their equipment.

And if they don't know you, then it's hard for them to do business with you. So your job is to get promoting for you and your business. And I'll leave you on this.

I've had multiple conversations from different dealers in different parts of the country. And they've invested money to be at a home show. And I asked them, because I think it's amazing that, you know, when you invest in going to a home show and you invest, excuse me, you invest in going to a home show and you invest in creating a booth to be memorable and, you know, to draw people in.

It's amazing. That's an investment in yourself. That says, I believe in me.

But I asked them, what are you doing to promote yourself being at this show? Why would I, aka a consumer or someone who's looking at putting a pool in, why would I want to go see you at that show? Because 99% of all dealers and landscapers, construction workers, when they're going to a show, what I see them put out is come see us at the home show booth. This is the booth number, right? Why would I want to go? What do you have to offer that will get me to get in that car, drive to that Coliseum or drive to that event center, pay the money to go in and talk to you, right? And if you can figure out how to do that, you're going to have an advantage over the rest because even if you start putting things out there, like I said, the video marketing, putting your face out there, even if nobody interacts with your posts, they see it. They recognize you.

And I'll go back to the very first podcast that I ever put out and I talked about a clip. I've shared this with many people since then. There's a clip on YouTube.

You can look it up. It's from Club Shea Shea, Shannon Sharp, where he's interviewing Steve Harvey and Steve Harvey shares a story about him and Denzel Washington going to a party together. And Denzel turns to him and he says, okay, I want you to look, I want you to pay attention to how people act with me and how they act with you.