MAKING A SPLASH

Poolwerx franchisee: three stores, seven awards.

P“What we find now is the pool is becoming an extension of the lounge room. It’s no longer about a rumpus room, it’s more the pool in the backyard.”

Even in Australia's colder climes, such as in Melbourne, pools are a welcome addition to the house and garden and can add to property values. But for many in warmer places like Queensland, they’re an essential part of life.

“In our industry, it will always be a relevant but important part of the house so people will spend money on it.”

Peter operates in three Brisbane suburbs: Kenmore, Chapel Hill and Indooroopilly.

“The popular perception that retail is dying – it’s not true at all. The retail store is doing quite well in our industry because people come to us for advice, not necessarily to buy, but it results in a purchase. Our customers have a very different driver and motivation

“As retailers, we need to understand the interaction rather than the transaction.

It’s the knowledge and experience that is more important than just dispensing good customer service.

“If you think about it, there is already something wrong, something has happened to their pool, when they come in. It’s about being delicate when dispensing advice. And hopefully that results in a transaction.”

The specific hub and spoke business model employed by Poolwerx gives retailers the opportunity to also operate a mobile pool care service. Each of Peter’s three stores has a different ratio of business: an even split at Kenmore; at Indooroopilly it’s about 65/35 service/retail; while the income at Chapel Hill is almost entirely sourced from retail.

It all depends on the local demographics, as Peter explains.

“Chapel Hill has a very strong DIY population of older folks. Their attitude is ‘I don’t need help until I need help’.

“Somewhere with high-end demographics like Indooropilly, people are time-short and they want to come home to enjoy the pool.

“Kenmore is a high traffic retail area, the last suburb with a large commercial base between Brisbane and Ipswich. There are 30 kilometres of small suburbs without big commercial hubs. Shoppers buy big because they are not local.”

Three Poolwerx stores, seven awards … life is good for ex-IT executive Peter Vogel.

HOW PETER BUILT HIS BUSINESS

“I bought an existing store with a good solid customer base. It was relatively fresh but the owners didn’t put much effort into it. We put a rocket into it to drive business.”

Peter came to the Poolwerx network with a high-powered background in IT senior management in the Asia-Pacific.

“My wife and I reached a point when we came back from Asia, we wanted to work together, to do something we both understand, that we could comfortably work in and take time off too.

“That’s still a wish,” he laughs.

The couple set strict search criteria: it had to be a clean environment and a product that helped people.

“We used to own pools and I saw it become a more important decision to have a clean pool. I looked at the independents and realised they were overcapitalised and banks were not prepared to loan.”

As he researched the market Peter saw independent pool shops had no economies of scale, no growth, and nowhere to go.

What the pair saw in Poolwerx convinced them there was a good alignment with their requirements.

But it wasn’t as easy as they’d hoped to get set up. Their first choice was to live and work on the Gold Coast but there was nothing available.

Poolwerx came up with alternatives, offering a different location with an existing business. The message was “you need to be in the business, they need what you have, we need what you have. That will be a really good union,” says Peter.

The numbers stacked up, there was good support and Peter liked the way Poolwerx matched the business skills with their business.

“They could have offered anything that fitted my budget but they sensed a real opportunity, that’s what I like.

“I’m part of the advisory committee, I get to meet new franchise partners and discover what they can bring other than a chequebook. How do they grow? How do they add value to me if they buy a store next door? Do I get customers who are happy?

“My wife and I bought large geographic territories, split into three. They were severely underdeveloped for business.”

The region had high pool ownership and an equivalent need for retail and service and renovations of old pools.

They doubled the business then hit the wall.

“We inherited a very large footprint in the western corridor of Brisbane. So I knew we needed to invest and grow, and I also had a contractual obligation to develop the area.

“I knew I had to do it while the iron was hot, otherwise inertia sets in. The next store at Chapel Hill is in a small commercial area. I approached a local business there and someone was moving on so sub-division created an opportunity for us.”

From there the Kenmore business was destined to be theirs. Peter recently stepped in to take over from a dedicated business owner who had run the store for more than 30 years and was running out of steam. The business was slowly reversing its fortunes.

“He was in love with the business – it had been his life. Selling it to us had little to do with money: he was asking, will you take over my staff, will you look after customers, will you preserve what we have built?

“We could show we would do that, and do more. Then his eyes lit up. ‘This is what I wanted to do,’ he said.”

There will now be a complete renovation of the store, which was acquired in October 2019. And Peter is already ahead of the financial plan.

“Typically the business we bought is in

PRIZE WINNERS' AWARDS

2 x innovation entrepreneurial excellence Rising star

New retail salesperson

Retail store of year

Retail sales, 2019

Outstanding team contribution (pairing with new franchise partners at beginning) “We’re hoping for highest turnover this year. That would be a pretty significant win.”

TIPS FOR FRANCHISE BUYERS

Research your franchisor. Understand who your future partner is going to be. What are their expectations of you? They are the old tanker – it’s long and arduous for them to move.

Ask yourself: is this something I want, can be part of? Or is this going to grate very quickly?

You really need to spend time instore, researching, meeting franchisees on their own ground.

Ask the franchisor: what are you going to do for me that will help me become successful, to upskill? How will you help me when I hit a rough patch, who will you send, who will hold my hand?

THE POOL CLIMATE

Weather is a crucial player in this business, whether there is drought, or rain, as franchisee Peter Vogel knows only too well.

“If it’s really really dry, evaporation is the biggest issue; it upsets the water’s chemical balance. Because evaporation is so rapid, the pump runs dry and overheats. When it rains, the equipment runs more. A green pool messes up the chemical mix.”

Peter wants his clients to adopt the pool like a family member.

“It’s not something to visit when you feel like it, because you’ll pay the price. It’s breathing and living. It needs the right food and treatment.”

CHALLENGES IN THE POOL BUSINESS

A pool retailer needs great customer service to be successful. However, at Poolwerx there’s an extra demand on staff and mobile technicians: technical knowledge.

Technicians need to pass police checks as they are visiting homes. They also need to be able to deliver white-collar expectations on blue-collar pay, says Peter.

“They need to be technically capable but able to hold an advisory conversation with a customer. They have to package the technical failure in a system in a way that inspires the customer to order a replacement, rather than want to go elsewhere.

“We don’t sell: we help customers make the right buying decision.”