Success in the pool industry is a unique journey for each company, marked by a commitment to continuous improvement and strategic optimization. While the roadmaps may differ, one commonality among thriving pool companies is their dedication to fine-tuning their processes and promoting excellence within their teams. By focusing on recruiting top talent, leveraging education, and maintaining high standards, these companies achieve significant growth and customer satisfaction.
How One Pool Company Optimized For Growth
To gain insights into how optimization drives performance, we spoke with Jacob Durand, co-founder of J&M Pools in Senoia, GA. Ranked #12 on the 2023 PSN Top 50 list, J&M Pools is renowned for its luxury pool and outdoor living projects, consistently earning awards for design and craftsmanship.
Intelligently Scaling
The firm Jacob started with his brother Mike, was initially focused on cleaning and maintenance. The brothers however soon recognized the need to put together a robust team that could support future growth. By hiring skilled professionals, they could focus on brand building and marketing to attract more customers.
“What we did is we hired and tried to find the best talent in our area at the time. We ended up recruiting our first technician and then it wasn’t too long before we recruited a maintenance manager too. Then it was the same deal with new pool construction. It was a only matter of time before we got sick of saying no to the phone calls and hired a construction manager to expand that business. All that growth came from necessity,” said Durand.
Attracting The Right Clients
The transition from a maintenance-focused firm to a builder of award-winning pools brought its own challenges. However, Jacob emphasized that these obstacles were opportunities for learning and growth.
“I would say the challenges never stop. Sometimes with the higher-end projects, you would love for everything to just be faster,” said Durand, “the problem with anything higher-end is speed is not necessarily of utmost importance, or at least it shouldn’t be. It should be the quality and the craftsmanship. We’ve been heavily involved with WaterShape and Genesis education, but always making sure that if we were going to do something, we were going to do it right. Not because we thought it was right, but because we knew it was right, because we were educated on the topic through the best in the industry,” he explained.
For high-end projects, managing client expectations is crucial. Consequently, Durand said their organization focuses on educating clients about the importance of quality over speed.
“A big challenge is really fine-tuning and explaining to the client saying hey, if you want something to this level, just don’t expect it to be fast. But when we’re done, you’re going to be glad we didn’t do it so quickly because you’re going to love it for many years to come,” Durand noted.
Allowing The Work To Sell Itself
One of the greatest lessons Durand found out about the pool sales process came with understanding the importance of showcasing their work through high-quality video and photography. He says it does a lot to help attract customers, however an in-person pool tour is his key to sealing the deal.
“We do so many fun projects. Whenever we have that client that really trusts us and we can incorporate fire elements, the furniture, the masonry, pebble interiors, landscaping, the outdoor lighting, the surround sound, when you get that full ambiance, there’s just no photo equal to the task. We win a lot of awards off of great photography. Jimi Smith is one of our photographers,” Durand shared.
“He is the premier pool photography guy. But you could take a thousand photos of this pool. You could video this pool. Nothing even comes close to going out there and experiencing it. Because when you’re in sensory overload and everything is creating a positive vibe with each other, there’s no image or video that comes close. You just have to be there in person,” confided Durand.
“I’d love to just take every potential client out and show them our top 20 to 30 pools because there’s nothing like it. With local people, we can do that and that’s huge. When someone says, Hey, why are you $30,000 or $40,000 more than your competitor? The product is the exact same. They’re so uneducated when they make a statement like that. It’s not their fault. They just don’t know any better until they see the work first-hand,” said Durand.
Leveraging Financing
Optimizing around new channels for financing has also been a cornerstone for J&M’s success, enabling them to undertake larger projects. Something Jacob noted has been critical in the face of changing economic conditions.
“Financing is huge for us for a number of reasons. Not everybody is going to have anywhere from $80,000 to $250,000 just freely disposable to spend on a swimming pool. What they need to do is they want to break that up into a monthly payment. We’ve had an awesome partner in Viking Capital. Even if they’re not financing the entire pool project, they can come in and serve as a reflection of us with the same quality for that client to help them through that financing side, which allows us to have much larger projects than we would have,” explained Durand.
Optimizing Your Pool Business: Trimming The Fat
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted many industries, and the pool construction sector was no exception. As people sought ways to enhance their homes and outdoor living spaces, demand for pool services skyrocketed. This surge in demand attracted numerous new players to the market, leading to an oversaturation of pool builders, cleaners, and technicians.
“You had a lot of pool builders come into the market after 2021. In a sense, the industry became oversaturated with pool builders, pool cleaners, as well as techs. People were really doing poor quality work,” said Durand.
Durand explained how the scenario, while challenging, also created an opportunity for J&M Pools. “We were able to come in during that slow down and trim a lot of fat from our company. Anyone who didn’t meet the standards that we expect out of the J&M brand, we were able to let them go and then really strengthen the core,” explained Durand.
J&M Pools’ success stems from their intelligent scaling, attracting clients who value quality, letting their exceptional work speak for itself, leveraging financing options, and trimming inefficiencies. By focusing on these strategies, they have maintained high standards, navigated economic fluctuations, and achieved sustained growth. Their approach serves as a blueprint for other pool companies aiming for long-term success amidst changing market conditions.
Ready to Take a Deeper Dive?
Listen to our entire interview with Jacob Durand on the Pool Magazine podcast.
Photo Credits: Jimi Smith Photography
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