Tips for selling safety covers after the pool is built

by Sally Bouorm | August 1, 2012 2:26 pm

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By Mike Preuit

It is estimated less than a quarter of all residential swimming pools in North America are equipped with a safety cover. This means there is a huge opportunity for dealers to sell safety covers to existing pool owners who do not have a cover, or use a tarp and water tubes in the winter, which does not offer any safety benefits.

With the benefits ranging from increased safety (and reduced liability) for children and pets, and cleaner water and simplified spring pool openings to beautification of the backyard during the winter months, there are numerous reasons why homeowners are willing to add a safety cover to their pool.

Pool professionals who regularly work on uncovered pools are in the perfect position to sell safety covers. Unfortunately, many are missing out on these sales opportunities because they do not have a structure in place for selling safety covers on every service call they make. This article will provide some useful sales and marketing tips to help pool professionals sell more safety covers.

Recognizing selling opportunities

When is the best time to sell a safety cover? Everyone assumes safety covers should be sold at the end of the summer, when pools are closed. However, the best time to sell them is in the spring, during pool openings.

Most pool professionals will say they are too busy during the pool opening season and simply do not have time to sell safety covers. What they are actually overlooking, however, are the additional profits that come from the sale and installation of safety covers.

Selling a safety cover in the spring is easy as the swimming pool itself will do most of the selling. When a homeowner can stand beside a pool professional and see the swamp-like conditions of their pool water, this becomes the best time to explain how a safety cover would make opening their pool next spring a lot faster. This also translates into shorter service calls and reduced pool opening costs, not to mention the increased safety benefits.

Installing a new liner

Measuring a pool for a new vinyl liner also provides a great opportunity to sell a safety cover. Service technicians who are on the job site recording measurements for the liner can also take the dimensions for a safety cover. In some cases, the liner dimensions are all that is required. Further, the homeowner will also save money by not having to pay for an additional service call.

Owners and managers of swimming pool retail stores should provide sales training for their service technicians and offer incentives to help them sell safety covers. For example, many manufacturers offer cash rebates to consumers, and additional discounts to pool dealers, if the cover is ordered in the spring and/or a vinyl liner is ordered at the same time. Sharing these savings with the service professional can help motivate them to sell safety covers on future service calls.

Revisiting new pool owners

A safety cover that is not sold at the same time the pool is built often has to do with the homeowner who is enchanted with their new pool and cannot imagine why they would want to cover it during the winter. After a year or two, however, this feeling typically wears off and the reality of pool water maintenance sets in. This becomes the perfect time for pool professionals to revisit these customers, especially if they are not already regularly servicing the pool.

Pioneer Family Pools in Burlington, Ont., for example, provides their customers another chance to order a safety cover in August, shortly before they book their pool closing.

“On average, we sell more than 700 safety covers to existing pool owners through our service department,” says the company’s sales manager, Cameron Brown. “Never overlook the power of your service professional; they are a retailer’s link to the homeowner and are great at selling the benefits of safety covers.

“Additionally, many of those who have purchased a safety cover through our service department have also heard about them in the marketplace or saw one in their neighbor’s backyard.”

Promote additional savings

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Homeowners whose swimming pools are equipped with a safety cover will not only save money on pool openings, but also save on maintenance expenses, as fewer chemicals are required and less time is spent vacuuming to get the water ready for swimming. This reduces the length of service calls and passes the savings along directly to the homeowner.

For example, Jeff Simons with Sandollar Pool & Spa in Brewer, Maine, says he sells safety covers based on the cost savings associated with a covered pool.

“I explain to the pool owner a safety cover will last approximately 10 years and are easy to install and remove, but more importantly, they significantly reduce the time required to open the pool,” says Simons. “We charge $150 an hour to open a pool, and with the old tarp-type covers, it can take at least 30 minutes to simply pump the water off.

“Further, water bags used to hold these tarp covers in place often need to be replaced. So in the end, the annual savings passed onto a homeowner whose pool is equipped with a safety cover can be significant.”

Safety should not be overlooked

Selling safety is still important to consumers; therefore, when onsite, look around the backyard and neighbouring properties to take into account any signs that would support the sale of a safety cover. For example, are there signs of children or pets (e.g. toys or strollers)? Does the backyard have a low fence or no fence at all? Being able to raise the issue of child and pet safety can help start the conversation with the homeowner regarding the importance of safety covers.

“Offering an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) safety cover to a pool owner to protect not only their family but also any neighbouring kids and pets is important,” says Dan Rookard of Rookard Custom Pools in Tri-Cities and Spokane, Wash.

Lisa Newton of Splash Pools in Wenatchee, Wash., agrees and says safety is still central to their selling program as well.

“I remind customers traditional winter covers not only collect water and debris but also present a safety hazard for children and pets,” says Newton. “In fact, I recently had a customer ask me to install a safety cover on her 2.1- x 2.7-m (7- x 9-ft) swim spa to ensure her cat would not fall in during the winter as it often walks around the area.”

Esthetics is important too

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Safety covers can also be sold as way of beautifying the backyard. They can give the swimming pool area an attractive look as well as a clean and organized appearance when the pool is not being used.

Simmons finds it easy to entice pool owners about the idea of installing a safety cover simply by explaining their virtues and how their backyard will look great when the pool is closed. Having a custom-fit pool cover that will make the pool area safer and more attractive are huge selling features.

“Selling beauty is key to our safety cover sales,” adds Simons. “In areas where swimming pools are closed and covered up to eight months of the year, homeowners want the pool area to look nice during that time. ‘Tarp-type’ winter covers aren’t particularly attractive as they become a basin of leaves and water, which makes the area appear untidy.”

Brown agrees and says Pioneer Family Pools has noticed an increase in safety cover sales with esthetics being the key reason.

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“This is due to the fact swimming pools are open only five months of the year in most parts of Canada,” he explains. “Therefore, an increasing number of pool owners are interested in safety covers because they will be looking at the closed pool in their backyard for many months and they want it to look as attractive as possible.

“In fact, the more people see their neighbour’s backyard with an attractive safety cover, the more requests for safety covers we receive.”

Further, some safety cover manufacturers provide a wide selection of custom fabric colours, which allows the homeowner to select one that will complement their backyard décor.

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“There is a definite trend towards homeowners customizing the colour of their safety covers to co-ordinate with their home and backyard,” says Newton. “For instance, we started offering black safety covers when they were popular a few years ago, but now I am often suggesting tan and/or grey fabrics because they co-ordinate nicely with a lot of the stone-finished water features that are being built on today’s pools.”

The Internet has also changed the way safety covers are being sold. By having a before/after portfolio showing swimming pools equipped with various coloured safety covers not only helps retailers up-sell colour options but also allow the homeowner to envision how their backyard will appear. Further, offering safety covers with unique colours also gives retailers a discussion point and helps to distinguish them from the competition.

“The Internet has worked really well for us in selling safety cover colour options,” says Nicolas White of Cascade Pools in Lake Oswego, Ore. “After seeing photos of pools with the new colour options available, consumers then come to us inquiring about them. We recommend grey and tan the most not only because they co-ordinate well in the backyard but also because they hold up better to ultraviolet (UV) light, don’t show dirt and generally look better in most backyards.

“Also, charging the customer an extra 10 per cent for these custom colours is generally not an issue—they just want a colour that makes their backyard look good.”

Finally, add it into the contract

Most pool professionals use a contract when building, renovating or servicing a swimming pool. These contracts should always have a line allowing customers to accept or decline the addition of a safety cover. This not only makes it seem normal to include a safety cover with every pool but also gives the pool professional some liability protection—similar to the extra coverage offered on a car rental agreement. And, just as rental agencies require clients to initial the line showing extra coverage has been declined, the same should be done for safety covers.

Including this line item can also help to increase safety cover sales as it makes it easier to initiate a discussion with the homeowner about their benefits, whether the pool professional is there for a new pool installation, existing pool renovation, or simply a service call.

Pioneer Family Pools, for example, employs this method and incorporates a standard, lock-in vinyl winter cover into every pool installation contract.

“If a customer doesn’t want to spend the extra money on a safety cover at the time their new pool is installed, we completely understand,” says Brown. “However, we remind them several months after they have paid for their pool and give them a final chance to upgrade to a safety cover by offering a special deal if they do so within the first year.

“Should the client purchase a safety cover, we credit them the cost of the standard vinyl cover, which was included in the original contract. This makes it easier for the homeowner to upgrade (typically an additional $1,500 investment) months after their original purchase.”

 

 

Mike Preuit is the national sales manager for Plastimayd LLC’s CoverLogix^® brand of safety covers. He started with the Oregon City, Ore.-based company in 1998 in inside sales and customer service and has been working as the company’s western region outside sales manager for 12 years. He can be reached via e-mail at mikep@coverlogix.com[6].

Source URL: https://www.poolspamarketing.com/trade/tips-for-selling-safety-covers-after-the-pool-is-built/

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