Spreading the Good Word...About TFP

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ashtonfitzgerald

ashtonfitzgerald

0
Sep 27, 2016
279
Oshawa, ON, Canada
Pool Size
9500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I'm interested to hear how others have presented the TFP approach to other pool owners not yet in the know. As they say: everyone wants to buy, nobody wants to be sold.

So far I've been looking at it from the perspective of "Taking control of your pool through education", though some may focus on the low-intensity daily maintenance angle. I've also considered the avenue "know what's in your pool, and what you're putting in your pool".

How would you present a 30 second "pitch" to garner interest in a discussion about the TFP approach?
 
If I bring it up to fellow pool owners, they mostly aren't that receptive. I feel like until they have a problem and go looking for the solution many folks aren''t as receptive to it as I would hope?

Beats me why? Cost savings, much nicer water, few to no algae issues....what's NOT to strive for?!?!

You can lead a horse to the clean water in the pool....but you can't make him swim. <rut roh>

Maddie :flower:
 
tim5055 said:
I'll be watching this with interest. Almost everyone I talk to gets that glazed over look in their eyes and says that theirs i fine, just a little algae now and then.....
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I actually did get someone on this side. A friend at work bought a house with an AG pool that quickly turned green on him. I know what kind of person he is and immediately thought he'd appreciate knowing about this site. Within a couple of days he asked about borrowing my TF-100. Pretty sure he never got pool stored. But as others will say, he was the exception not the rule. Most just look at me like I'm the crazy one and tell me about the ease of using pucks and shocking once a week. Ugh.
 
If a person owns a pool and it's just marginally ok, they will live with it's mediocrity because most will assume that "that's just the way pools are..." and anything else will just wind up costing them more time and money. Most people are not DIY by nature and would rather have someone else fix their problems even if the cost of doing so is marginally higher. And then, of course, there's the old adage, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks..." which simply speaks to the intellectual laziness most people tend to fall into.

So, typically it takes a crisis-point to change people's attitude, i.e., green swamp before a major party, broken equipment that could cost a lot to fix, etc. That's the point where a TFP'er has the most impact.

Most of my neighbors have pools. I am the only one who takes care of my pool myself and they all know that I'm a DIY'er. They all think I'm nuts - "you spend all that time on your pool??" or "well, it's easy when you don't have a chlorine pool because salt pools are easier..." (I love that last one!!). But I have to wonder who's nuts - the TFP'er who spends about $300 per year on chemical costs for his pool or the neighbor that spends well over $1,000 per year on a service and still has to go to the pool store to spend hundreds more on chemicals and bad advice.... :crazy:
 
Having worked in an industry offering non-conventional (and even controversial) services for the last 15 years I am somewhat used to the look you get from some people. I have an old saying I picked up somewhere that "There are three types of people in the world: those that will see it, those that won't, and those that don't want to."

In my business, talk is cheap and results are how we position ourselves. Our work and our clients speak for us. Word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool imaginable.

Too bad we can't parade our pools around and show off that sparkly, crystal clear water--and by the way, did I mention this costs me pennies a day in chemicals? Cheaper than my life insurance!
 
I know it's been posted and mentioned elsewhere today but this thread is a great reminder to consider donating to TFP. This site is run entirely by volunteers and on only donations, no advertisers.
 

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I'm still in my first year, so people I've told about this method mark it down as a newbie being overly enthusiastic, naive or a combination of the two. They say things like, just wait and see how it won't work once it gets hotter, or once the newness wears off you won't want to manually add liquid chlorine each day and realize how easier it is to just use pucks.

At this point, I just don't want to debate it with them until I can show my method has worked over time. Also, I quickly learned that saying I use bleach will spark a lecture on how I can't do that. So now, I just say liquid chlorine to avoid that debate.
 
ashtonfitzgerald said:
I have an old saying I picked up somewhere that "There are three types of people in the world: those that will see it, those that won't, and those that don't want to."
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So true! My Dad used to say "Half the world screws up stuff and the other half fixes it". I'm pretty sure TFPr's (us) are on the fix it side and PS's are on the screw it up side.
 
It's just like when I quit eating bread and pasta and lost 50 lbs in 6 months. Everyone said how did you do that? I quit eating bread and pasta. Oh, no way, you're crazy. They watched it happen every day for months and still don't believe it. Now, years later it is still off and they say how'd you keep that 50 lbs off? I quit eating bread and pasta. Oh, no way, you're crazy. Which is exactly what I said before I quit eating bread and pasta and lost 50 lbs. :)
 
This is easy. I haven't done a write-up, but I should. Just listen very carefully to the way I inform people. Take notes if you can, record me if you must. The details are important - you want to get this right. Look closely at how I approach people and then do the complete flipping opposite, because no-one listens to a word I say.

At this rate, if I were a fireman people would be running into burning buildings all over town.
 
pooldv said:
It's just like when I quit eating bread and pasta and lost 50 lbs in 6 months. Everyone said how did you do that? I quit eating bread and pasta. Oh, no way, you're crazy.
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JoyfulNoise said:
Your flippin' crazy!!!

(Written as I munch on my morning bagel with cream cheese)
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Yeah... I don't really get it either. I'm Italian, how in the world could I give up pasta?!?!

(Written as I eat my 12 grain toast with peanut butter this morning)
 
Rollercoastr said:
This is easy. I haven't done a write-up, but I should. Just listen very carefully to the way I inform people. Take notes if you can, record me if you must. The details are important - you want to get this right. Look closely at how I approach people and then do the complete flipping opposite, because no-one listens to a word I say.

At this rate, if I were a fireman people would be running into burning buildings all over town.
Click to expand...


:laughblue::laughblue::laughblue: OMG!!! That's exactly how I feel! I admit, I don't know many people who have a pool, but the 5 or 6 I've talked to just give me that blank stare. I keep trying to accept I'm not persuasive and never have been. If I were in sales, I would starve!!! Still, when I come across someone complaining of green water, I can't stop myself. There I go wasting my energy and words. I keep hoping that someday, just someday someone will look at me and say, "Tell me more about this magical process that is kept so hidden from other pool owners!" Siggghhhhhh....

I also agree with everyone above. More than likely, it's not me, it's them.
 
It is contrary to how it should be. If we want our house roofed we call a roofer, need electricity call an electrician, car broke call a mechanic. Yes, there are good and bad in all of those, but you keep looking until you find a good one who does a good job and you trust. It seems logical that you would go to the pool store to take care of your pool. How in the wide, wide world of sports so many of them got it so wrong is beyond me.
 

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