Episode 155: How the Manufacturer's Role Should go Beyond Just Supplying Product with Brad Parker and Donny Cislo of Fluidra
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Episode Summary
Since its founding in 1969, Fluidra has grown into a well-respected multinational group in the pool and wellness industry, operating in more than 45 countries through its subsidiaries with a team of over 6000 employees. Fluidra’s portfolio includes a number of prestigious brands such as Jandy®, AstralPool®, Polaris®, Cepex®, Zodiac®, CTX Professional®, and Gre®.
Joining us today are Fluidra’s North America’s Vice President of Marketing Brad Parker, and Director of Trade Marketing & Sales Ops Donny Cislo. After a brief introduction to Donny and his professional journey, we talk about the overall response to Fluidra’s rollout of Jandy® quitting the internet (a topic which we discussed at length with Brad back in Episode 31) as well as the merger between Fluidra and Zodiac.
The rest of our conversation with Brad and Donny revolves around what all goes into being a manufacturer, such as product development, quality processes, and improving existing products. We also discuss why a manufacturer should strive to become a good partner to its dealers, as well as how they can stay accountable as the first mover in the supply chain.
Lastly, we touch on communication as being key when looking to retain consumers, especially as demand begins to go up and how the manufacturer’s alongside pool companies have a responsibility to create products and experiences that will allow customers to capture those poolside memories that last a lifetime.
Topics Discussed
01:13 - An introduction to Donny Cislo
08:18 - What Brad Parker has been up to
11:20 - The Response to Jandy quitting the internet
12:50 - What qualifies as a violation of the policy
14:31 - Breakdown of the Fluidra and Zodiac Merger
19:45 - How Fluidra develops new products by using market research
26:30 - Fluidra’s approach to product development
30:03 - Fluidra’s robust quality process
31:52 - How Fluidra improves upon an existing product
36:22 - The importance of having systems and processes in place
43:17 - Distinguishing “manufacturer”, “distributor”, and “dealer” and how they work together
54:20 - Why Fluidra is focused on forming close partnerships with its dealers
59:48 - Delivering trackable leads to dealers and helping them grow
1:05:35 - How Fluidra relays regional priorities between their different locations
1:12:04 - Illustrating the evolution of the pool industry to consumers
1:22:45 - How Fluidra keeps up with communication with dealers amid the pandemic
1:26:40 - What’s next for Fluidra?
Key Quotes From Episode
How can we make our dealers win in the marketplace? When they do, we win, too. ~Donny
We don’t win if our customers don’t win. ~Brad
We are supporting our dealers’ vision of what the industry could be. It’s about hearing what they need; hearing their pain points. ~Donny
It’s tough to operate on an ad hoc basis where everything is a judgment call, during the moment. You have to develop teams and processes to help automate the decision-making. ~Brad
To be doing our job right—whether it’s just from the perspective of peer responsiveness, or future product development, or just general brand engagement on a base marketing level—we need to be actively listening to all those points of feedback. ~Donny
We want to make sure that our number one conversion tool is the way in which we support our dealers—through transparency, through supporting them, and through having a very high-quality sales team. ~Donny
