Instantly Make Your Swimming Pool Competition Irrelevant
Never Compete in a Red Ocean
A red ocean is created when there are MANY companies competing for the same client. Like hundreds of sharks in a frenzy trying to take a tiny bite of the one fish they all happened to come across. I only operate in the blue ocean. I want to be the only shark in the ocean and I want the fish to be plentiful. This way I can take my time…eat when I choose…and on my terms. Most recently, I have been using the ZeroChlor Pool System to create my blue ocean and it has been laughably easy. The ZeroChlor gives me the ability to use the logic of the client and the arrogance of my competitor to make them pretty much irrelevant. For example, The prospect will interview three pool companies to do the work on their pool and, like clockwork…all three pool companies will pull out their red ocean playbook and say something like “Salt is Brand New Technology and it’s amazing!” The second guy will ask what the first guy offered and then offer $200 off of his salt system…after all they are selling the exact same thing. The third guy will ask what the second guy offered and then offer $400 off of his salt system…after all they are selling the exact same thing. Then I show up! I tell the prospect I stopped selling salt systems many years ago because of all the damage that salt causes to the pool components and structure and I just couldn’t sleep at night knowing I was doing that to people. The prospect immediately retorts, “but three other RESPECTED companies told me they have never seen salt damage to a swimming pool. I knew they would say this before I even rang the doorbell…in fact, I was counting on it. Then I text the prospect a link to a photo gallery featuring over 2 thousand photos of salt damage to heaters, pumps, filters, liner, plaster, ladder and handrail anchors, lights and light niches, and even coping (especially if there is a sheer descent above the coping). They look shocked…they always do. I am telling them the exact opposite of what my competitors are saying and the bloody water of the ocean is taking on a very blue color. But the prospect isn’t sold yet…I mean those pictures could have been chlorine pools…right? Maybe it’s a bait and switch. Or maybe the damage is being exaggerated. I whip out three actual warranty cards from the three biggest salt system manufacturers and point to the BIG BOLD LETTERS that say something to the effect of “NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY SALT”. I then innocently ask, “Out of curiosity, did the other pool pros mention this to you during their meetings?”. The answer is always the same…”NO…they conveniently failed to mention that!” Wow, this water is looking really blue now! But I like to feast in really deep blue crystal clear oceans, so I might as well keep going and make sure the meal is scrumptious. I give them a quick speech about how it’s hard to teach old dogs new tricks and how most pool pros don’t have the time or motivation to keep up with technological advances in the market. Never bad mouth your competition! Then I let the prospect know that I have personally sold hundreds of these systems all over the state of Georgia over the past five years and that we have never had a system returned or had a complaint about the system’s performance. I then pull up Google and show them the perfect five-star rating. This is just getting fun now. The prospect is usually excited by this point and they start asking questions…like “Does it really eliminate ALL the liner color fading?” or “Can it REALLY reverse the plaster scale on my pool?” At this point, all I really need to do is answer the questions and go over the details of how the system works without the use of salt, chlorine, or ozone. This one simple process has allowed me to scale my companies into the millions with relative ease. The only fear I have is that other pool companies will start offering ZeroChlor technology, but after five years of installing these systems in the Atlanta market, there are only seven or eight companies who have started competing with me head to head with ZeroChlor as the marketing centerpiece. Once ZeroChlor becomes a red ocean…I will move on to something else to create another blue ocean strategy and once again render my competition irrelevant.