By Guy Erlich
Savvy pool maintenance companies can increase their revenue streams by having their technicians take some time to look around the client’s backyard for additional sales opportunities. Rather than waiting for something to break, maintenance professionals should look for ways to enhance their client’s pool experience and, as a result, earn more income by selling them products such as pool cleaning tools or replacing incandescent and fibreoptic lighting with new light-emitting diode (LED) lights. That said, one way to gain a little more time in the backyard is to incorporate robotic and battery-powered pool cleaners into daily maintenance routines. By doing so, this equipment can give a maintenance technician an additional five to 10 minutes in a client’s backyard to look around for supplementary sales opportunities.
Getting started
A client will typically pay a set fee when they sign up for a maintenance program which usually includes cleaning the pool, checking the water chemistry, and ensuring all of the equipment is working properly. The success of these programs are generally gauged by the number of pool owners that sign-up for them with the goal being to maximize the number of pools serviced per day.
The ability to obtain as many clients as possible in a tight geographic area is not only one of the best ways to optimize the use of time by maintenance crews, but also one of the easiest ways to maximize a maintenance professional’s revenue per hour. That said, clever maintenance technicians also realize the importance of not rushing through a service call as other potential revenue opportunities could be missed—especially if there is not enough time to look around the pool.
Time is money
Robotic pool cleaners are a perfect example of a technological advancement that can buy time for maintenance professionals. Rather than spending an excessive amount of time removing debris from the pool floor and scrubbing other surfaces, a robotic cleaner can be used instead, which frees up time to check on the equipment and other essential components.
Many maintenance professionals also carry hand-held battery-powered cleaners in their trucks to spot clean specific areas of the pool where dirt often accumulates (e.g. steps and cuddle coves).
“Most of the pools we service are near the beach and are always filled with sand,” says Chris Morelli of South Strand Pool Maintenance in Surfside Beach, SC. “We have a staff of six and five of them regularly use a commercial-grade, battery-powered pool vacuum as they work well to get sand out of pools.”
Using this type of vacuum not only saves the service crew time, but also allows them to clean more pools, faster.
“This is especially important for our business since most of the pools we service are summer rental homes and we clean the pools between renters. As a result, we may end up servicing one pool three or four times in one week,” says Morelli. “Once we started using these vacuums, we had a lot more opportunity to pursue other business. We spend at least 20 per cent less time per pool when using this equipment as opposed to a traditional vacuum with hose, which also takes a lot of time to set-up and put away.”
