How to help consumers pick the right auto cleaner

by arslan_ahmed | December 28, 2022 7:00 am

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By Guy Erlich

The need for pool vacuums and cleaners has increased as consumers seek to keep their new investment clean. As a result, retailers need to help new pool and spa owners find the cleaner that is best suited for their pool, spa, or swim spa. These state-of-the-art water maintenance tools help keep consumers happy with their backyard investment.

Positioning pool and spa cleaners

One popular category on the market is automated pool cleaners. The most successful retailers focus on selling battery-operated and robotic cleaners as a technological tool, providing the latest and greatest automation and the best and easiest solution for maintenance. Retailers who place emphasis on the new features offered by today’s cleaners will set themselves apart from their competitors and help them to avoid competing on price alone.

As specialty retailers must set up their customers up with everything they need for success, battery-operated, hand-held pool and spa vacuums as well as robotic cleaners are key products to ensuring this happens. Therefore, savvy retailers need to start the conversation with their clients about pool maintenance quickly and explain how these high-tech vac cleaners can increase the enjoyment of pool and spa ownership. Many consumers today are looking for technological solutions throughout their home and, fortunately, the latest pool and spa cleaners provide another piece to build a completely automated home.

Providing the latest and greatest

Many retailers have found promoting battery-operated, hand-held vacuums or the latest robotic cleaner as “the best money can buy” is appealing to those customers, especially those who only want top-rated products—whether it be the best car, the best barbecue, or, in this case, the best pool or spa cleaner. In fact, many customers will buy the “best” cleaner just because it is referred to it as such.

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Further, many consumers assume the latest and greatest equipment will ensure they do not miss out on any of the “need” and “nice-to-have” technologies. As a result, retailers who capitalize on this line of thinking will find it easier to sell robotic pool cleaners.

Building customer loyalty

To make successful sales, retailers know they need to make sure the customer finds their pool and/or spa easy to maintain, without any stress or hassles. Therefore, when it comes to pool and spa cleaners—especially automated cleaners—the technology built into these products is designed to make things easier for the homeowner—not just ease of use, but also pool maintenance. In fact, some pool builders include a robotic cleaner or battery-operated vac into the price of every pool or spa sale for this very reason.

Retailers should start the conversation with their customers about pool cleaning and, in doing so, provide real-life personal experiences to help validate the benefits of a technologically advanced pool or spa cleaner. Some compare these cleaners to having a dishwasher in their kitchen. A customer could wash the dishes manually, but why would they want to when they have a dishwasher instead? Similarly, retailers should tell their customers they should keep a robotic cleaner in their pool or a battery-operated cleaner nearby to make it much easier to keep them tidy before getting into the water.

Customer loyalty is one of the main reasons so many retailers promote these products. In fact, even service technicians are having success in selling them to their customers just so they can use them to keep their pool and/or spa clean between service calls.

Display the technology

In-store displays are the best way to show these cleaners in action. Retailers who have a display pool or spa in their store should have a robotic cleaner continuously moving throughout the pool and a hand-held, battery-operated cleaner leaning against the display to make it easy to be able to demonstrate how they operate. This not only allows customers to see how well they work and how easy they are to use, but also provides the opportunity for the customer to try it themselves.

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Even if there is no room for a full pool display, a large, clear fish tank with rocks and sand at the bottom will provide the necessary hands-on-display experience to make it easy to sell cleaners. For some retailers, this can make all the difference because it allows them to not only touch and feel the product, but also see how easy it is for them to lift and use the cleaner.

Once the consumer is holding the pool or spa cleaner, it provides the perfect chance for sales staff to educate them about filtration and circulation, which opens up an opportunity to discuss general pool and spa cleaning and the benefits of having a pool and/or spa cleaner. In some cases, a robotic cleaner might help remedy a water quality problem more so than if the client were to use an aggressive chemical treatment.

Keeping these cleaners readily available on the show floor gets some customers really excited about these technological products once they learn more about them. By keeping them in-stock and easily accessible to the customer, they can seize on this moment of excitement by picking one up from the display area, make the purchase, and take it home with them immediately.

Many pool and spa retailers also sell many of these products simply because the homeowner has seen their service technicians using them when cleaning their pool steps. This area almost always collects the most debris and, as a result, a hand-held, battery-powered cleaner is the perfect tool that allows homeowners to easily perform some spot cleaning in their pool between weekly maintenance visits.

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This has also made selling robotic cleaners more commonplace, too, as once a pool owner sees their service technician simply plug it in and toss it into their pool, it becomes appealing for those who want to keep their pool as clean as possible between maintenance visits. This being said, many retailers find most of their robotic pool cleaner sales come from their existing customer base.

Capitalizing on new pool and spa ownership

Retailers should embrace the recent surge in pool construction by selling highly profitable robotic and hand-held, battery-powered cleaners to new pool owners. Retailers who sell these products as a tool which provides the latest and greatest in technological automation and the best and easiest solution for customers to maintain their pools and spas.

Author

Guy Erlich is the founder and president of Water Tech Corp., a manufacturer of pool and hot tub cleaners in East Brunswick, N.J. He can be reached via email at guy@watertechcorp.com.

Source URL: https://www.poolspamarketing.com/trade/features/how-to-help-consumers-pick-the-right-auto-cleaner/

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