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Marketing Made Simple

A pool cleaning business entrepreneur always struggles with two questions.

• How do I market my new pool business effectively with my skimpy budget?

• How do I make my pool service company different from my competitors in order to boost my income?

To answer these two questions I share the wildly successful low cost way that Karen, from Houston, Texas grew her business.

As a 26-year old, her pool-cleaning story is her own, but it does have significance if you're about to start your own pool cleaning undertaking.

Pool Cleaning Business Marketing: What NOT to Do

In the beginning your first temptation is to make a brochure on the cheap, get plain (and unremarkable) business cards printed and, of course, place an ad in the local newspaper.

Then you’re ready for customers to start rolling in.

You begin to doubt your decisions. You just spent about $450 or so (the newspaper ad is expensive) and your cell phone remains silent.

So the moral of your failed marketing effort is simple: don’t market your company this way. It simply will not work.

Pool Cleaning Business Marketing: What DOES Work

Karen says, being aggressive in her pool cleaning business, taking the initiative and meeting one-on-one with prospective clients, pool equipment/supply distributors and others was the key to her initial success.

Here is what worked for Karen.

• A friend designed a 4-color brochure and high-end attractive business cards. Her experience: first impressions seal the deal.

• She passed out her cards to everyone she came in contact with and gave them a 5 to 10 second (no more) intro to her company and it’s benefit to the potential client. (Everyone means the postman, the baker and the candlestick maker…everyone.) You never know where your card will end up.

• Karen met in person with every pool contractor and pool seller she could find. She wanted to make a good first impression and to show her commitment to the thoroughness of cleaning pools the right way.

• Initially, she looked around to see if she could buy a pool-cleaning route because this is one way to build a customer base from which to grow. However, none were available.

• She visited the building permit office to obtain the addresses where in ground pools had been built during the last 5 years.

• She even searched Google Earth making notes where pools existed in her community.

• At the local Library Branch she offered a pool maintenance class to build credibility and to obtain leads. Karen found that pool owners want to know what’s involved in pool maintenance but have little inclination to do it themselves.

How to Differentiate Your Company from your Competitors

Nothing works better in any business than relationship building with your customers.

I don’t mean just sending them periodic notes in the mail, although this may be part of your effort.

Relationship building is personal.

Karen had a real knack for this.

She contacted each customer multiple times a year. This consisted of in-person visits and follow-up telephone calls after a customer’s pool was cared for.

I hope you found Karen’s marketing experiences helpful.

I thank you for visiting Pool Clean Business Marketing Made Simple.

Helpful Professional Resources

Association of Pool & Spa Professionals

U. S. Small Business Administration

Additional Small Business Ideas