Progressive design: how to tap into the budget-conscious aboveground market—and still make pool owners' dreams affordable

Pool & Spa News, Sept 3, 2004 by Amyjo Brown

Scott Rolenc is not the usual aboveground-pool salesperson. When customers shopping for an aboveground pool come into his retail store, Rolenc sizes them up--and turns down a good majority of them.

"If all they're about is price, then they're not my customers," says Rolenc, owner of Aqua Palace in Council Bluffs, Iowa. "There is always someone down the street who can sell a dollar cheaper."

Instead, he hand-selects his customers, looking for the ones who are dreaming big, but don't know where to start. He then spends an average of two hours per customer talking about the benefits of pool ownership. As he delves into what they're looking for, he makes sketches and discusses all the elements that will make their backyard design complete--decking, fencing, landscaping and the like.

That amount of detail with a customer on an initial sales pitch is not unusual for most inground-pool builders. But an aboveground-pool retailer?

"Most pool builders have associated aboveground-pool customers with cheap customers," Rolenc says. "But the market has changed. A lot of people put a stigma on me, thinking I sell low-income pools. But I do higher-dollar projects than what some of the inground builders do."

His successful strategy? A progressive design concept: Create a master plan for customers' backyards that can be completed over the course of several years. In the first season, he'll install the pool. After that, he'll return the next spring and add a deck, barbecues and other landscaping to create the finished product.

The plan in action

When people come in looking for a pool, Rolenc says his first act is to sit down and listen to them, which is not something many aboveground-pool dealers tend to do at great length. That's because most dealers sell the pool package and then leave the installation to either the new pool owner or to another pool professional.

These detailed conversations help Rolenc start the design process. "I ask them, 'Where are you putting it?' Then they tell me about their backyard, and I get a mental picture. If there is a hill, [I'll suggest putting in] a rock retaining wall. One thing leads to another," he says.

With the scope of the project on paper, Rolenc maps out how much work can be done the first year, and what can be saved for the future.

"By sitting down and planning in advance, we get a good scope for what the customers want and can divide up the project," he adds. "I'm looking at: 'What can we do for you? How much can you bite off this year?' Then that's my budget for this year. A lot of times we'll go back the second, third or even the fourth year. We just make it into smaller chunks."

That can't be done as easily with inground clients because an inground poolscape pretty much has to be done all the same year, says Rolenc. "It would be like buying a big house and not baying furniture," he says. Aboveground pools, on the other hand, can go without a deck or extensive landscaping for a year and not look so neglected.

It works to break things up because even though the customer spends a significant amount of money over time, Rolenc isn't immediately hitting them with a $50,000 bill.

A different way of thinking

Rolenc readily acknowledges that his philosophy challenges the traditional approach taken with aboveground-pool sales--the "get them in, move them out" idea. His discussions on the topic take other builders by surprise, he says. Indeed, builders are both baffled and intrigued by his sales technique.

"I don't know that we have anyone where we went back a season or two later," says Dennis Marunde, president of Arvidson Pools & Spas in Crystal Lake, Ill. "It isn't really so much a matter of not wanting to pursue it, but I guess you go for the low-hanging fruit [when you're dealing with aboveground sales]."

Rolenc is OK with being different. "When I'm pitching the customer, I'm really just trying to get them in water," he says. "Then we have to find the right vehicle."

Most people want the inground look; they just don't necessarily want the inground pool, he notes. That's where the aboveground-pool market has tremendous potential, if more aboveground dealers were to add landscaping capabilities to their offerings and work on designs with customers, the number of people buying these pools would grow substantially, Rolenc believes.

Jim Ornce, retail director of Pettis Pools and Patio in Hilton, N.Y., does work with landscaping and decking companies. However, the idea of doing it in-house didn't seem to make a lot of sense at first.

"It's a very competitive market in this area, in the landscaping business, and aboveground customers will typically do it themselves," Ornce explains. "I think the thing with the abovegrounds is, they are bought by people who are very budget-conscious, but the installers are also very time-conscious. To add the time to do the landscaping, we wouldn't be able to it."

But then as the idea sank in, Ornce began pondering the possibilities: Retailers could gain some financial advantages by creating various design package options geared toward these pools. And during the later landscaping work, the crew could throw out ideas for aftermarket sales, from toys and accessories to additional chemicals and maintenance items.