Question For The Pool Guys...

GunitePoolGuy

Whats the best form of advertising for a gunite pool business? (Besides word of mouth).

It is my Grandfathers company and I will be inheriting the business soon. We are located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I have been learning the ropes and working in the field for about 6 years now. Now, instead of being a construction worker i need to begin being a business man. The past couple years have been slow for us. Id like to put together a marketing/advertising plan for the new year and really kickstart the business. Any advice/ideas would be of great help.

ruskent

What advertising to use, all depends on what type of clients you are going after. Are you doing production pools (Like A&S) are you doing more high end work?


First step to advertising is figure out who you are trying to reach.

GunitePoolGuy

Thanks for the response Rusk.

We build new in ground gunite pools and also do renovation work.

We are trying to reach people with pools who need repair/remodeling work and people who want new pools. Obviously, people who can afford to spend $40,000 plus.

Any ideas on how to go about doing that?

ruskent

Market to new constructions homes as soon as the people move in.

POOLMANinCT

production pools can earn you some nice piles of money..... and btw I've
seen som incredible a&s work... I think they dissolved in ct about 15 yrs ago????

ray

__________________
......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

dirt diggler

oh Ray - be serious

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Thanks in advance!!!

POOLMANinCT

always am,
don't get me wrong I'm a hater at heart.

__________________
......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

joasis

Ok...what is A&S?

In spite of dirt and ray, I am going to learn to build pools.....

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GunitePoolGuy

What do you mean by "production pools?"

Ruskent:

Thanks. Youve been a lot of help. About the new home construction: Would it be better if I sent out some info/direct mail to the home builders?

I was going to send out some direct mail advertising to GC's/home builders in my area. Is that wise or just a waste?

user20594

what is gunite is that some sort of coating or is it what you tell your wife before bed...gun ite I worked to hard today. I coat pools help me out

ruskent

Skip the home builders and GCs.

In my area we have alot of big devlopments going up, or we did. I would drive through them every few weeks and when i saw a new mailbox go up i'd mail them a letter. I signed jobs up to 100k with this method.

GunitePoolGuy

Thats a great idea Rusk. Thanks. What did you mail them? Postcards? Brochures? What do you think works best?

ruskent

I mail a well written letter (i had someone edit it for me), on nice letter head in a nice Rusk envlope, with a Rusk business card enclosed. It shows i mean business.


IF anything i think it sells your company better then a postcard.

Cascade

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread.

I get all my work from word of mouth. I started doing mostly renovations and moved on to more new construction.

Develop relationships with local maintenance companies. DO NOT combine a service and construction company until you are building enough new pools to grow your own maintenance division. Until that time the maintenance companies are your best source of renovation clients. Think about it, some of the larger companies in my area see thousands of pools a month, lots of these need tile and plaster. Make nice with them and give them a big pile of your business cards to give to their clients. Do good work for them and it'll pay off big time.

Next, to gain more new construction clients, target the big and high end builders in your area with personal calls to the decision makers. Push yourself in with requests to just have an opportunity to quote their work. Many of these companies automatically call their regular subs and would welcome a chance to "price check" them. Keep on them, it'll pay off. Sending impersonal generic letters to these companies doesn't work. They end up in the garbage can. I know the ones I receive do.

Bulk mail and yellow page advertising can be effective if you have a lot of time to deal with tire kickers. Personally I don't.

Just my $.02

bf1024

Really... this is 2010, the worse depression we've seen since the Great One...people are holding on to their money not foolishly throwing away 40 grand a pop. Banks are holding their money too...I know , our economy has crashed in construction since the housing bust, it's getting tougher and the economists are lying, gas is on the rise, so is every thing else. New pool construction don't generate repeat business. Remodels are the way to go at this time, more profitable and in most cases no permits to pull (unless major renovation). Last i checked..shy towns been hit pretty hard as well...good luck.

If we all knew how to reach tons of people willing to give us 40 grand a pop in this economy we'd all be doing great right now...fact is were not.