While completing this book one set of threads kept coming to mind. Time after time we’ve seen threads where a TFP user attempted to introduce TFPC to another pool owner. The TFP user would have amazingly clear water while the other owner would be stuck with the green monster. Despite the results the pool owner resists the changes for numourus reasons. Fear of damaging their pool. Test kit is too expensive. Who should I believe a website or just about every pool store in the area? Despite how hard the TFP user tries the owner fights back.
As we worked on this this idea stuck in my head. If I could only get the user who was resisting to read the first couple of articles they’d see the light. If I could somehow simplify the “sale” of TFPC more pool owners would be open to trying this method. Now the TFP user is able to simply mention “this book is where I learned all from, give it a read.” That sale is ALOT easier than other starting points we’ve got in place now. That sale is made ALOT easier if it’s even free.
I’m not sure just what our options are at this point to push Amazon to lower the price. It may have to stay, I don’t know as it’s out of our full control. I agree a buck is worth it but I also know how much easier a free download is to push on a user pushing back. At this point I’ve got some issues getting published on Amazon as they rejected our book last night (kinda funny after the headaches with the App). Turns out the content is free elsewhere on the website.
and they wanna make sure we own the rights. I’m gonna respond today to get this sorted and see what options are next.
I've been evangelizing TFPC since I joined, and have run into the exact resistance you describe. I wrote about it, too, elsewhere. You can lead them to water, but you can't make 'em TFP! And, I have to admit, this notion of even 99¢ being an obstacle can be true. So many times I'll read app reviews with something like "A bit expensive..." in reference to an app that might be three bucks!! Seriously? We live in a consumer society which has no idea what it takes to provide quality goods and services! They just want the cheapest!!
I haven't read the book yet, nor completed Pool School. Do you provide testimonials anywhere? They can be convincing to some. Or real-world case studies for people to read (with before and afters, of course)? Or what about cost comparisons? I don't love the idea of having to do something to or for my pool every day, or even every few days. It was great to think for X a month I don't have to think about my pool. But when the realities of what the local pool service companies were doing to my pool smacked me in the face, forcing me to learn how to take care of my pool myself, I am now able to better rationalize the extra work this is going to be by doing a little quick math. For my likely future scenario, if I kept my pool guy:
Service fees: 30 years (how long I'll hopefully be around) x 12 (months) x $130 (monthly service fee not counting chems) = $46,800!
Maintenance: Acid washes and tile cleaning (due to poor water chemistry): $900 + $900 * 5 (every 5 or six years over 30 years) = $9,000
Replacement: New plaster (at least twice more,
not counting the $9000 I just spent) $9000 * 2 = $18,000
Subtotal + inflation = 46,800 + 9,000 + 18,000 = $73,800 * 109.76% (2.5% inflation over 30 years) = $154,800
$154,800!
That's the cost of a
couple of really nice pools! Or two or three luxury cars!! Vacations! Uh, food!! Hmmm, I'm thinking, maybe testing my own water isn't such a chore. Not to mention, what's the calculation for the ROI of 155K on 99¢!!
I didn't factor in equipment repair/replacement, because it'd be hard to quantify how TFPC would affect longevity. And I'm sure I'm not considering any number of other costs. I was just doing the math on what letting someone else take care of my water might cost me.
Point was (other than seeing these number for myself!): what incentives are you leveraging to bring people to the fold other than the promise of nice looking water? And I'm not assuming that's all you're doing, that's just what I've heard the most since I've joined. "Better water." "Sparkling clear." Etc. Before TFP, my water generally looked great, at least to my untrained eye, so I might have been a hard sell myself on that alone. I had no idea what insidiousness was going on chemically, all those years, until my plaster literally fell off my pool walls (on a six-year-old pool!). I hated the calcium scale, but had no idea that could have been avoided. How does one convince others of the existence of this invisible foe? I couldn't even convince my son-in-laws dad, whose pool is green with blistering plaster, who's using the
same guy that ruined my pool, that there's a better way. He just wants to pay someone else to do it, and shrugs at the thought of replastering next spring. All his wife had to say was "I don't want to have to brush the pool!" I had to give up.
Other than this forum, do you have another web presence? Something of a digital brochure in nature? Not the nitty gritty of TFP, but a marketing piece that conveys all the various incentives to get involved with TFP, in a more digestible way? Let's face it, reading in any form, let alone forum posts and threads, is going to make the average person glaze right over. Bullet points, testimonials, videos and pictures might be useful in bringing them in. Ever considered something along those lines? Maybe something I could help with...
(Dirk I am going to get with you about the links file so you can help me learn how to "share" it when I post the set of links.)
