Responding quickly to homeowners about their pool service could be the difference between retaining customers or losing their business. “If you know consumers, they like the quick reaction times,” says Chris Cavanaugh, owner of Cavanaugh Pool, Spa & Patio in Kentucky, “and if you get to them quick, typically you will land a sale or…
Chris CavanaughOwner Cavanaugh PoolOwensboro and Madisonville, Kentucky This year, I see the pool service industry continuing to grow like 2020. With COVID still present, I imagine the community still staying safe at home, and we are in the perfect industry to help bring the at-home vacation to them. For us, this year’s biggest challenge includes…
Chris CavanaughOwner Cavanaugh PoolOwensboro and Madisonville, Kentucky After 2020, price increases were inevitable due to supply and demand. Most of our price increases were like a normal year, but there were several that hit harder than normal. Steel vinyl-liner pool kits are continuing to rise, due to lack of raw material and huge demand, and…
Chris CavanaughOwner Cavanaugh PoolOwensboro and Madisonville, Kentucky The 2021 trichlor shortage is on every retailer’s mind. [In 2020] between both of my retail stores, we sold roughly 25,000 pounds of 3-inch tablets. My manufacturer is promising 100% of what I purchased in 2020 to be available to me for 2021. I typically buy 75% of…
Ana Manning Co-owner and COOManning Pool Service Houston, Texas Ana Manning started at Manning Pool Service in 2012, four years after her husband, David Manning, joined the company. She says it was chaotic until she came on. One of the first things she tackled was restructuring the pool routes. Manning worked at Manning Pool Service…
When Ravi Kurani’s father owned a pool company in Riverside, California, he’d tell his son about the frustrations pool owners had when their pool water was out of whack — and the tedium and frustration of water chemistry, logbooks, chemical calculations and follow-ups with pool treatments. Ravi Kurani sought a solution and, in 2015, founded…
In a digitized world, pool companies have found value in digital billboards. Cavanaugh Pool, Spa & Patio in Madisonville, Kentucky, has been using two digital billboards in its newest market — Owensboro, Kentucky — for about three years, owner Chris Cavanaugh says. Traditional billboard advertising still makes up a key piece of the company’s marketing…
Your marketing budget requires planning, flexibility Building a marketing budget can be tedious for pool professionals, but as Ian Schatte, marketing coordinator of Manning Pool Service in Houston, Texas, says, the best-laid plans require funding. Schatte prepares a quarterly budget for each department and a large umbrella marketing budget for the year, assessing its largest…
Chris Cavanaugh 34OwnerCavanaugh Pool, Spa & PatioMadisonville, KentuckyCavanaughPool.com Chris Cavanaugh is a third-generation pool professional. He started helping out in the family business when he was a teenager, installing pools, helping in the store and doing service calls. After college, it didn’t take long for him to return home. “I came back and took over…