Episode 92: COVID-19 Coronavirus: Pool Industry Resources with Sabeena, Janay, and Jennifer of PHTA
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In this episode we sat down with Sabeena Hickman, Janay Rickwalder, and Jennifer Hatfield of the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), to discuss their recent efforts in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis. With the number of cases of the coronavirus in the USA increasing, most states have issued some sort of social distancing or shelter in place orders. This has caused a ripple effect that this country has not seen since the world war era and that many were not prepared for. We are all adjusting to changes in some way to the “new normal” of work from home scenarios and at-home learning. Luckily for us, the pool industry has been labeled as an essential service in most areas. Since the beginning, PHTA has been working tirelessly to fight for your right to be deemed an essential business and continues to do so in those areas where that may be unclear.
We discuss their website specifically dedicated to coronavirus updates and resources to help you navigate through these times. On the site, you will see several resource options. 1. State and Local Government Information, here is where you can look for your state and see the most up to date orders. 2. Customer Communications, here you can find customer messaging for essential pool maintenance services with customizable documents. 3. Federal Assistance, here you can find information on the CARES Act among other assistance related resources. 4. Workplace Safeguards, here you can find the CDC recommendations for best practices and the COVID-19 Surface Disinfection Poster. We also dive into some personal and business ideas for you to try and make the most of the situation. This is not your typical coronavirus conversation; this one is tailored to you. You don’t want to miss it!
PHTA (Pool & Hot Tub Alliance) Resources:
coronavirus Covid-19 Resources Mentioned:
Show Notes
[02:08] - Introduction to Sabeena Hickman, Janay Rickwalder, and Jennifer Hatfield of the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance
[05:49] - This is unlike anything we have seen before
[07:30] - How PHTA is making adjustments in their organization
[11:22] - Getting family on schedule become more productive and less stressed
[17:53] - Janay son missing out on his senior year in high school
[19:53] - Exchanging memes for a little comic relief
[22:44] - Pool service is essential and the discussion about health and safety
[31:53] - National Drowning Prevention Association fearful of drownings increasing during these times
[35:42] - CSA document and what qualifies as an essential business
[39:36] - It should be more clear now than ever what PHTA does for the swimming pool industry
[43:07] - How can companies can communicate the Coronavirus message
[45:11] - Template letter written by Sabeena you can send to legislation
[46:58] - If you don’t have emails now is the time to collect them… and this is why
[48:34] - Being proactive by communicating to your city and state
[50:51] - Nurture relationships now and forever. Don’t just ask for guidance when times get difficult
[53:39] - Customizable flyers and more from PHTA on their website
[57:47] - This is what your business can do right now
[59:51] - When things are slow you can updating SOP’s, update your website and more suggestions
[01:02:17] - Opportunities with people staying home and not traveling.
[01:05:52] - Positive mindset during these uncertain times
[01:08:35] - Expand your companies resilience zone statement read by Sabeena
[01:12:00] - Enjoying the pool and backyard with family right now
[01:13:22] - Best way to prepare for this type of event in the future
Transcript:
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Tyler Rasmussen:
Thank you all for taking the time to join us today in episode 92 of the Pool Chasers podcast. As always, our mission is to help educate and inspire in the form of a podcast. Well, these are definitely uncertain and difficult times for all of us. We're all having to adjust our lives in one way or another. The Coronavirus has most of our states on some sort of lockdown and has businesses scrambling a bit to figure out how to survive these times. We've been monitoring the situation very closely so we could put out an episode that would guide you where to get the most up to date information our industry has, as well as provide you with some ideas to try and make the most of the situation. Our three guests today have been working tirelessly to provide updates as quick as possible as they come in from the White House and different government officials around the country. They even created a Web site and Facebook groups specifically designed to provide a go-to platform for the industry since the beginning. They've been fighting for your right to be deemed as an essential business and continue to do so in areas that may be unclear at the moment. On our Web site, you will find links to every resource mentioned in the episode as well as links to some of the other associations around the country fighting for you to. We are blessed in this uncertain time to be deemed an essential business in most places to all of you working hard out in the field. Our thoughts and prayers are with each and every one of you to remain safe out there. We hope you enjoy this episode with Sabeena Hickman, Janay Rickwalder and Jennifer Hatfield of the Pool and hottub Alliance.
Pool Chasers Intro:
Welcome to your go to podcast for the pool and spa industry. My name is Tyler Rassmussen. My name is Greg Villafana and this is the Pool Chasers Podcast.
Tyler Rasmussen:
All right. Well, thank you all for joining us today, we really appreciate you being here. And we know you've all worked really hard over the last few weeks to put together everything we're gonna talk about. So I want to thank you for doing that for the industry and thanks for joining us today. You're welcome. Can you please introduce yourself to listeners and we had Sabeena on before, but maybe you you all can kind of introduce yourselves and how you got into the industry and what your role is with PHTA.
Sabeena Hickman:
I'll start off on Sabena Hickman with the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance. I'm currently the president and CEO.
Sabeena Hickman:
I join the Alliance Association in September. I never thought we would be dealing with a pandemic, but it's a really it's been a very interesting time for all of us. But it really validates the passion and collaboration of this industry, our ability to work together and really advocate for the pool hot tub industry. So although it's been challenging, there are definitely some rewards that have come through this experience.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah, and you can find the landscape industry. So I mean, that's I know you love it, but they're probably going through a lot worse times. And we are right now at least we seem to be deemed essential in most places. So that's good for the industry.
Sabeena Hickman:
They actually just over the weekend were deemed essential.
Sabeena Hickman:
So it's interesting when we talk about collaboration, it's not only what's our sister organizations, the chapter organizations, but we've also reached out to HVAC, Lawn and Landscape Restaurant Association. So you're really seeing the association community come together to to really share strategies to have overcome the pandemic and the impacts of it and really leverage their industries.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Right. How about you?
Janay Rickwalder:
Hi, I'm Janay Rickwalder. I am the vice president of Marketing Communications at PHTA and I've been with the organization since January. It has definitely been quite an interesting ride so far. But as Sabeena had mention, the passion and the commitment that our members have towards building each other up during this time is just something that it's it's not necessarily common to see in associations. And this is it's it's a great example of the unification of our organizations.
Tyler Rasmussen:
What what's your background? Where did you come from before this?
Janay Rickwalder:
Sure. I came actually from a very similar association, the National Pest Management Association. So we represented exterminators, pest management professionals, manufacturers, distributors, and they're going through a similar process as we are as it relates to, you know, defining themselves as essential in this scenario.
Tyler Rasmussen:
And I bet everybody's kind of going through a similar version, but that's cool to hear the association's kind of joining together. That's good. You really need to help each other out in these times. Absolutely.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Jen, Jennifer Hatfield, I lead the government affairs team for PHTA and I guess I'm the old timer of the bunch here since I've been representing the industry in some way or form for since 2006.
Jennifer Hatfield:
So my background before that as I was a committee attorney in the Florida legislature. And so I started doing lobbying advocating for the industry in 06. It's just grown for 14 years and we deal with the legislative side and the regulatory rulemaking side for all 50 states and federal governments. So this is we've been pretty busy for the in response. And even I'll go way back and say I must have just loved the whole industry since I was a little kid because I was a pool rat and I was a lifeguard and a CPO instructor and swim instructor so, there you go. It goes way back. I just love the pool and spa industry.
Greg Villafana:
Does this remind you of any other time in history since you've been doing this?
Jennifer Hatfield:
I mean, this is a first. I was saying to my husband the other night, I said, you know, I guess I can add addressing a pandemic to my resume. I mean, we've had a lot of different issues. I mean, I know back in 06 and 07 when I started, it was all about the section entrapment avoidance issue with Nancy Baker's daughter and that federal act. That was a big, big issue for the industry. But I mean, this affects every aspect of our industry. And it's just, you know, it's a global issue. So it's it's something I've never seen before.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah. It's truly something that is affecting everybody. And if you think it's not even affecting you, it's affecting manufacturing. It's literally everything you can possibly think of. We're definitely all in this together.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Exactly. And that's what's been nice. It's like it's just, you know, the let's come together as a village.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Both our members and our affiliate members, the other associations, non-industry non-members, it's it's all of us working together.
Greg Villafana:
Very good. Yeah. There's a real sense of community out there, been really proud of the pool industry. And also just humanity in general feel like there's a lot of people out there stepping up to the plate, just doing whatever it takes so that we can get through this and we can help each other and even help people that are less. Fortunate that don't have know computers and different things like that. We just had Noah Structure Studios on and he was donating computers to different schools. There's kids that don't have computers. And now since all the kids are having to stay home and do their online schooling, they need computers. So it's so cool to see everybody stepping up.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Agreed.
Tyler Rasmussen:
How is PHTA been adjusting from working, working from home and what he is. What's the plan?
Sabeena Hickman:
So they just ordered just shelter in place for Maryland. We've got colleagues that reside in in Maryland and Virginia predominantly. Jennifer is based out of Florida. So Maryland's very strict in terms of their sheltering place, meaning their fines associated with that.
Sabeena Hickman:
You can get a $5000 fine or up to a year in jail. Virginia is a little bit more lenient in terms of you can travel to and from work. So we're on a rotational schedule now that can change. The Virginia order is until June 10th, unless otherwise, you know, unless they resend that. So we've had a skeleton crew for quite some time. Five, maybe five in my office with technology. Everybody has a laptop. We're on Microsoft SharePoint. Our phones, we can twin our phones so they ring on our cell phone. Aside from the Colorado office is not able to send out the CPO manuals, but Janay and her team have turned them into a flipbook. So we're making all the adjustments in order to do business as usual as best as we can. Everyone's adjusted well to working remotely. We have Zoom calls were on Microsoft teams where we share screens. So in some ways some of us feel as if some people feel as if they've been more productive. They've been able to tackle some of those nagging projects that they weren't able to get to. We're working on a new Web site. So Janay is going to deploy a plan so folks can start writing content.
Sabeena Hickman:
We're gonna take advantage of this time. The three of us have obviously been heavily immersed in COVID-19. We talk about how we wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about it. And we're just trying to crank out resources. The nice thing is our members are telling us what they need and it's enabling us to create and deploy resources that they need. Yeah, we're make we're making the adjustment. We obviously canceled our board meeting, which was in Florida. We're going to move to a virtual meeting to be determined. We haven't determined a date yet. I told my leadership team, I want you to focus on your business first and then we can focus on the association once things level out a little or we get used to the new norm. And then in terms of our CPO instructors, we've created a new platform for them to teach courses, which is virtual. And then we're going to deploy online testing. So I'm very proud of the team and the adjustments that they've made. And there still may be more to come, lot more collaboration, group thinking, strategizing. But so far where we're adjusting quite well to the remote work environment, that's all really cool.
Greg Villafana:
Thank God for technology. If this were to happen maybe in the 90s or something like that, this would have been a whole nother story.
Sabeena Hickman:
Yeah, absolutely.
Greg Villafana:
I mean, just communicating to people that you need to stay in would not be the same because the way that they're getting a lot of these new laws out in different things is on Twitter and Facebook and email and all these different things. You wouldn't be able to do that. There'd been a lot more fines maybe back in the 90s, $5000 fines going out.
Sabeena Hickman:
Yeah, it's interesting because the first thing I go to is Twitter. When I hear the governor of Virginia is going to address, you can get you can get updates faster on Twitter than anything else unless you get it.
Sabeena Hickman:
PHTA update Web site.
Sabeena Hickman:
There's some pretty timely. Wow.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah.
Tyler Rasmussen:
We're all kind of adjusting to home life. I mean, I know a great year and tons of stories earlier about when you guys are doing, you know, to kind of figure out schedules at home.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah. You know, just like everyone here we're all kind of doing. We've got to do. But we were talking about it's really important to have a nice workspace, home office wherever you can find. You know, you want to find a good place inside your house where you can set up a desk and, you know, you can kind of pull yourself away from everything going on in the house, but also getting your family set up on a good schedule, because if you can get your family on a schedule, you'll be so much more productive and you will be more productive because, you know, you're you have. These five, 10 things you've got to get done in a day and once you've gotten, you know, the kids online schooling done and you've gotten all these other things completed when you get into your task. You have no choice. There is no I think I'll just kind of, you know, stretch for a little bit, maybe watch a little, you know, go down a rabbit hole on YouTube. There is absolutely none of that. When you get to your desk and it's time to knock out those five, ten things on your checklist, you're gonna go right to it. So there's a lot of different things that we can be doing. I know you're doing some workouts doing with my daughters. I'm a highly suggest everybody will put them on our Web site as well. Covid-19 Challenge. And they're doing you know, that's more of the schedule. But as far as a workout plan, I think that's great for little kids and for my daughters anyway. We're doing different agility stuff. Stretching, burpees, her superintend gymnastics. So they're on the gymnastics bars and I'm just wearing their little butts out and they're calling me coach. I felt I felt proud because I was like, hey, don't don't get ahead of me. I said, we're doing this next. And I said, OK, coach.
Greg Villafana:
My wife was like, they just call you coach. I'm. Yeah, I like this. I like this a lot.
Greg Villafana:
So it's a good time in connecting with our families. And also they're learning how to do some things that we haven't had as much time for, like chores. Chores are really important. And I feel like that's kind of going away, but making sure that have a checklist of things that we gotta do every day. One thing I do want to add, because I feel like my daughters are so inquisitive is how is everybody explaining what the Coronavirus is to their children? Because I've had to have this talk and I was a little bit nervous for it. But I'm just curious how you guys have been able to get that message to your family.
Sabeena Hickman:
And Jen want to take that because the Lincolns, the youngest out of all of them.
Janay Rickwalder:
Yes. Yeah. Lincoln's by. Well, first to say, Greg, I agree. I mean, children really need routine. So we've noticed that getting that routine down with time and we're having school hours and time outside and things like that are really helpful and trying to explain to him what is going on.
Janay Rickwalder:
I mean, we tried to trying to just explain that there's a virus out there that can make people sick and that we're trying to be very careful. And I guess in a way to not scare him. We also noted that it's just like my mom lives a mile and half from us. And so we're just saying, hey, you know, being we're trying to be careful for everybody. Actually, older people like grandma, just to kind of explain it in their terms. They understand. And, you know, he seems to get that. And, you know, is that that's why we're doing things differently. And he started to talk to his classmates, though, through through zoom and and face time and all those things, too. So it's interesting, too, because I think I don't know. How about you? How have you been? But we kind of tried to be somewhat limited on our screen time throughout the last few years. You know, always talk about limiting. But now this new reality. Well, he's actually probably getting more screen time, but we're trying to utilize it in a way.
Greg Villafana:
So he's socializing with his friends right now, and that's good. There's got to be a balance to all of it. And, you know, one thing I will say on this, I had to step in and actually help my daughter. That's six how to help her, her teacher, because she didn't know how to do something in Google classrooms. And there were some parents that were just kind of like being more frustrated and not really helping. And I stepped in and kind of took the time to figure it out. But it made me think that everybody needs to have that mindset right now where it's like, you know what, instead of, you know, pointing the finger because nobody saw this coming. You should be able to jump in. That should be the first thought that comes to mind is how can I help this woman? How can I help this family? How can I help anybody? Is there anything that I can do or I know how to do? Or do I have something I can give to somebody to help them through this time? You should step up and do it just like, you know, you guys were, you know, waking up in the middle of night figuring out things to put on your Web site and get that message out, which, you know, we've been glued to the PHTA, a Web site, and figuring out because we're trying to find all these resources and able to, you know, answer the questions that we might have. But and if there's anything that you can do, don't this isn't a time to. That's not my job. Or you should know how to do this. It's just what can I do to help? Let's let's do this and hope that when I need help, that there's somebody there to perhaps help me.
Sabeena Hickman:
And that's a great point. I mean, you have to think about some of the lessons learned through this and you talk about social media. There are so many funny names coming out. But one that really resonated with me was, you know, all of our kids have been involved in youth sports. And it said. Think about the pizza guy who supported your team. Now it's time for you to support them.
Sabeena Hickman:
So as much as, you know, we're at home and we're cooking. We've been doing a lot of carry out and we're looking at old baseball shirts and saying, oh, Paisanos sponsored our team. So let's let's go get carry out. And I make my kids go in and say, hey, we chose you because you supported West Springfield Little League. So the little things that you can do and lessons that you can teach your kids, I think is really important through this. I want to pivot to Janay because she's actually got a really interesting scenario, cause she's got a high school senior. And so many folks are talking about how COVID-19 has taken away all those special months, some closures as you closed a chapter in high school. So, Janay, how's the how how are you and Jack dealing with this?
Janay Rickwalder:
I think it is finally beginning to hit that, you know, school is effectively over for his senior year and that is, you know, it's it's sad, but he is actually he's taken it in stride. He realizes that, you know, there's nothing, absolutely nothing we can do to change this scenario. So we have to embrace the new normal. And what does that look like? You know, I think that he has his perspective is, listen, this is high school is great at this graduation. You know, it is fine. It's a stepping stone. What I'm really looking forward to is the next graduation, when I graduate college and start my, you know, my my my real life, so to speak. So it's it's been quite a. It's not fun. It's it's not a great situation. But we're making the best of it. You have to I mean, in this day and age, with the times that we're facing right now, you just have to realize that there's nothing you can do that changes the spread of this disease. And other than, you know, washing your hands and teaching your kids how to wash your hands every day and, you know, staying, you know, following the directives as far as social distancing. And if we can, as a as a society follow those rules, then hopefully we can have an impact to maybe, maybe, maybe be allowed to talk to people face to face in the future. You know, I think that, you know, with like we were saying with with seniors and everything, it's it's unfortunate. It's bittersweet, but it is what it is. You had a really cool thing, though, that I learned there's a great way to show kids how to do why it's important to wash your hands and you basically take a dish of water and you put a whole bunch of pepper in it and you take your finger in some dish detergent, put your finger in the dish and all the pepper goes away. So the pepper aren't the germs and the soap is what's keeping them away from you. And it's a really kind of a very cool visual for a little ones.
Greg Villafana:
All that is super awesome. You guys really have just opened the point to the degree.
Greg Villafana:
You know, one thing I will say. Not everybody will agree with this, but this I read this quote and I share with you. It's more of a meme. But this kind of put things into perspective a little bit, a little bit raw. But here says your grandparents were called to fight in world wars. You're being called to wash your hands and sit on the couch.
Greg Villafana:
Don't fuck this up to me.
Greg Villafana:
It doesn't make any of this easier for anybody. But just. Think in like the history of events, that this could also be worse. Imagine going through a draft and having to go to another country and having to literally having no choice. That's a pretty play. That's a pretty bad place to be in. Now, now we have to maybe stay in our homes and do these different things. It's still extremely difficult because we are in a time where we're used to being social and it's out of our normal just. It could always be worse. I think sometimes that's a best way to think about it, is that, you know, I'd much rather go through this than go through some of the other things that have happened in history.
Sabeena Hickman:
I can be something really funny because I'm telling you, Jim and I get through this by exchanging Mayme. And one of my favorite ones was my mom always told me I wouldn't amount to anything lain on the sofa. And yet here I am saving the world.
Tyler Rasmussen:
So, yeah, that's a good. Well, that is.
Sabeena Hickman:
Yeah. So we're gonna give anyone some money.
Sabeena Hickman:
Im going to throw Janay under the bus it said I'm excited that the phrase get the F away from me is no longer rude, but a public service announcement.
Greg Villafana:
That's so true. So I'll say a little comic relief.
Greg Villafana:
Yes, we need that. We need that. Thank you so much. Appreciate the.
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Tyler Rasmussen:
All right, so let's let's kind of jump into what you guys been working on, you know, so consistently there's a lot of information out there and what we hopefully want to accomplish today is to create a clear vision on how pool companies can handle what's going on now and how to be prepared for something like this in the future. So Sabena, the overall message seems to be with the industry that when it comes to health and safety, that we are essential. Correct?
Sabeena Hickman:
That's absolutely correct. Pools need to be treated. Otherwise, they turn green. They become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. West Nile, malaria. The list goes on. So we're really talking about the safety and health aspects of maintaining and servicing your pool. We've created some customizable documents, tools that our members can share with their customers in terms of the importance of maintaining your pool. We kicked off this whole Covid-19 campaign when the CDC issued the statement that there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted through pools and hot tubs. That was kind of the springboard for us to kick off the campaign. I know that was that statement was met with a lot of enthusiasm. And from there, we've just been we've been building. I know that not treating pools turns pools from blue to green. And and there is a safety concern in terms of increased drowning. So we really just want to protect the industry, protect the swimmers, obviously. Drowning is a is a huge focus for us. So we're enjoying this. This isn't a selfish act. This is a right thing to do. We don't want to cause more, more issues that this nation needs to focus on because pools and hot tubs are nonessential.
Sabeena Hickman:
So something that we're continuing to advocate for.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Right. Back when the housing stuff happened, Arizona was a really bad market for poor housing. So there is thousands and thousands of homes that were not being lived in anymore and thousands of pools were being treated.
Tyler Rasmussen:
So it was a really big issue out here with mosquitoes. And the government was paying people to go take care of that, like they were reaching out to pool companies and hiring pool companies, the government and the banks to treat these pools, because it was such a big issue that, you know, they weren't being able to handle it without without us. So I think that's something that we really want to avoid in this scenario. I don't have a lot of people outside the industry remember that, but we definitely do remember taking care of pools during that time and having to go flip pools from being sometimes brown. I mean, there were worst in green. Sometimes you have to take heavy actions in getting rid of those nasty things. So, you know, it wasn't it was a bad time back then. And we really want to advocate to these legislations and to our customers and to everybody that we don't want that to happen again.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Tyler, this is Jan. I remember that time when I was already in the industry then, and that's where what led to PHC than a PSP and other trade associations putting out those abandoned pool fire information. So we've got actually we've gone back and found the one that we used to use back then and are updating it to get it out now, although we are hoping to your point, we don't get there. Right. We've been deemed essential. We want to keep the pools maintained, but recognizing there may be some that don't. We are going to also prepare for making sure people understand that they've got to fix up those abandoned pools, that hopefully they'll be very small percentage of that.
Greg Villafana:
You know, and it's such a critical time. You know, any pool service and repair company owners out there making sure that you are discussing this openly with your team so that your team understands the severity of all of this, like limit yourself from going inside of gas stations, don't go into restaurants, don't do any of that. We're going from pool to pool B. And when we're there, more than ever, we are laser focused on what the water chemistry is and what needs to be done at each one of these pools, because, you know, you are to some degree under the microscope, but you also want to make sure that that pool is in much better shape than you left it. And also, you're being proactive. It's starting to warm up a little bit. So you want to make sure that we're being proactive and making sure that the chemistry is in perfect balance. There's no leaks. There's no issues. Don't give any other homeowners any reason to discontinue service. So I think that's something I didn't quite think about until right the second. But, you know, there's a lot of owners that listen to this, but that is critical in communicating that information to every single person on your team and how, you know, you should be responsible when you're out there in the field.
Sabeena Hickman:
Jen and I were also talking about, you know, lessons learned. And we really. If you're in service or, you know, in maintenance, we really need to stress that they're there for the health and safety of your pool. We know we're like, do we change the title instead of a service professional or is it a health and safety service professional?
Sabeena Hickman:
Because that point is very understated and that could really help. There there are there so that the pool is safe and it remains healthy.
Sabeena Hickman:
And that's something moving forward that he will probably stress more in terms of when we talk about career paths and, you know, vital positions in the service industry.
Greg Villafana:
Right. And also to get a pool to turn green. I will say the pool will turn green overnight here in Arizona in the summertime. And that is so dangerous for so many other reasons than just mosquitoes. And that's enough for things like that, is that if, say, unfortunately, someone were to fall into a pool that was green, you can't see the bottom of the pool. You can't see anything in what would have been a clear pool. And you could have maybe, you know, just dove into the pool and got somebody out right away when you have a green pool, cause, you know, the green pools look like out here, you're screwed. Like you can't see anything. You don't know what's going on in that pool. And it is extremely expensive for a lot of pools to bring back to blue. So if you're just letting it go, you're damaging your filter, you're damaging your pump, you're damaging the surface, you're you're damaging so many things. And it's going to cost you a lot more money than it was to just stay on with service. So a lot of that is back to the communication that you do have with with your customers.
Jennifer Hatfield:
You know, on that note, that reminds me, too, because we're just getting so much the backyard pool and of course, that health and safety of the homeowner. Are the first aspects.
Jennifer Hatfield:
But to your point about the cost, that's another aspect. We're talking about the public pools, too, because put out a fact sheet last week providing information on why. Yes. We understand that public swimming facilities are not opening to patrons right now, but they should still be opened and taken care of and maintained because of all the health and safety reasons we just discussed. But to your point also, because if they don't, they're going to have more costly fix down the road. And so that's what's also important as much as you're discussing the backyard pool, obviously. Also, because there's a lot more backyard pools and we're hoping that that's giving homeowners a chance to a place to be together right now outside with their families. But we also need to keep the public pools maintained as well.
Greg Villafana:
Right. That I mean, commercial pools you nailed. And that's the right thing to do is being aggressive with it in that space, because that's all on a whole nother level. When you get into commercial pools or you know, what you're just talking to recreational pools is because that's going to become an eyesore in the community.
Greg Villafana:
That's going to be much more expensive. That's a great way, especially for those types of pools to being proactive and really going above and beyond and taking this time when nobody is actually using the pool to be able to actually make some adjustments, do some repairs, go through that checklist and make sure that every little thing is taken care of so that when it comes time to open it up, you know, for pool season or when we get through all of this, that it's in no way better shape than it was before.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah, I've seen some you know, we have some buddies in that service, commercial pools in Dustin, who was just on a couple episodes ago. You know, I talked to him about what they're kind of doing. And it seems that they are as far as their market, allowing them to, you know, continue to service them, most of them. You know, a lot of these you know, what we're seeing, though, is a little bit of cutting back on maybe the amount of trips a week that are being taken. I know like a lot of recommendation is to turn the heaters off. The water's not being heated and costing more chemical and things like that. So there's a lot of adjustments that are being made. But hopefully, you know, they're seeing that their work is still being there because, Lisa, from who I talked to, it seems that they're still keeping those contracts as of now. So hopefully that continues.
Sabeena Hickman:
Yeah, that's good to hear. We had a call yesterday with the National Drowning Prevention Association, and they are fearful that drownings are going to be increased this year with those opening earlier and enjoy now. Jen, Jen, you might want to elaborate on this as we look to leverage our position to be listed as essential. We'll get to that part of the podcast.
Sabeena Hickman:
We want pools to be listed in there, and that's something that we're focused on this week.
Sabeena Hickman:
So we are going to form coalitions to support our position with Water Safety USA and NDPA because we we don't want to throw curve at 19. We obviously don't want drowning to be on the rise. So they're really looking to PHTA to take that leadership role and they will support us through the coalition, but really use the grassroots that we have with members all across the country to really carry that message.
Tyler Rasmussen:
And I think that's an opportunity to for a service companies to talk to their customers about the importance of it. And, you know, if if customers have been resigned, resentful to fixing Gates or fixing, you know, areas that lead to the pool, this gives you an opportunity to fix those. And, you know, I know that's a big issue with a lot of service companies. Some people don't think that that is a big deal. We appreciate it is. And I know that's. A more popular message for homeowners now, but a lot of times they don't think a gate that doesn't latch is a big deal, but it is, and especially now if people working from home and their kids are home and they may they're not keeping an eye on them as well as they should be. Sometimes all that stuff becomes way more important. And that's a good opportunity, I think, for service companies to relay that message.
Greg Villafana:
And I want to say this, because I'm thinking of it doesn't have to do with this, but find opportunities in talking to even like urban neighborhoods, trailer parks and different things like that for, you know, what their pool safety requirements are.
Greg Villafana:
Because I keep I look at this every day and I'm seeing more and more drownings happen in places that we're not looking at all the time. Like yesterday was in a mobile home park. A two year old was unattended and somehow got to a pool and drowned. And to us, that's the Fregon. That's the saddest thing that can possibly happen. This is a 2 year old that doesn't know anything, doesn't know their boundaries, doesn't know what consequences are. Doesn't know what any of that is. And a lot of that's happening in places like that, that there's a community pool or something. So, you know, if you're a professional and you live in an area where there is a recreational pool at a mobile home park or K.O.A. Or whatever the heck it is like stop in there and see if there's an opportunity to put up some signage or to fix a gate, fix a fence or put up a gate or fence. Let's find opportunities in other places as well.
Janay Rickwalder:
I. And I think to just to make everyone aware, we created a Facebook group last week for our members covered it. It's a subgroup of PHTA Facebook page, of course. But the intent there is to provide our members an opportunity to talk to each other and see what issues they're facing and to identify maybe potential solutions that other members are using across the country where we're working to gain some traction on that. But we are definitely hoping that the community spirit that we were referencing earlier will will thrive within this page.
Greg Villafana:
We'll put that on the page post, too. So we'll put like a screenshot of the Facebook group so people can click through and join it or whatever. Perfect.
Tyler Rasmussen:
So we're talking about essential workers there. C.I.s, a release document talking about that. Can you touch base on what your interpretation is of that document and what qualifies as essential?
Jennifer Hatfield:
For Tyler. Well, first off, with that document, it is guidance, it's federal guidance. The CSA guidance is they're calling it the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure, a security agency.
Jennifer Hatfield:
That guidance some states are referring to in total in their state orders, some are taking it and attaching it or has some different interpretations. So they're not I just want to be clear that the states and localities are not required to follow the guidance that most are using, which is good, just a good thing for us, because that March 19th guidance, there were multiple provisions there that are applicable to showing that we and the industry are essential. First off, there were provisions under public health and manufacturing and chemical that was pretty clear that chemical manufacturers are key for disinfection, sanitation, retail and distribution. And that is, you know, essential. And then there was also a section in there under public works that talked about how workers such as plumbers, electricians and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation and essential operations of residents are essential. And we felt pretty clear that we fell under that. You know, that's where the postal service, etc.. Now, what I will tell you is that late Saturday, that guidance was updated. So there is now a March 28 version. And as to being out, we did see this earlier. What they did and this updated guidance in that specific section I was just talking about under public works is they added builders, contractors, HB, AC and landscaping. They also expanded it to not just residents, but businesses and buildings such as hospitals and senior living facilities. Now, our feeling on this was that we were already covered on the 19th guidance because again, we dealt with sanitation, safety. If someone's residents with them with the pool, where is I think talking to our friends at HBC and the landscapers, if they really felt like they wasn't very clear for them.
Jennifer Hatfield:
But having said that, we are actually working this week trying to reach out to DHS, Department of Homeland Security ourselves. Just to say, hey, is it possible, though, that you can just simply list the pollings, find a street under there? Because that would make it a lot clearer, of course. But I will also note that the state orders right now, most of them came out before that updated guidance. So they're still referencing the 19th. But we think that obviously they're going to start to get word of a new one and utilize that. So, you know, is this to be had noted, I guess, to wrap this up as first off, CDC said properly maintained poll, there's no evidence of Cauvin spreading. The World Health Organization has said it's necessary to maintain the guidance, says it's necessary to maintain. We feel like everything has provided us to say we are essential, but we're going to work with their industries and work to make sure we can get more clarity, because I think it'll just help us. But state orders and localities that are still I mean, we're getting some questions and some place, some places it seems clear we're doing we're doing while others, you know, like Pennsylvania has said, service is essential maintaining the pool, but retail is not. So we've got to fix that, for example. So, you know, that's in a nutshell where there's a lot of difference. They wants us to this. But I think it I think it bodes well for our industry overall, everything that's come out. But we're obviously trying to do everything we can to continue making sure we're essential.
Greg Villafana:
Right. And thank you so much. I think it's never been more clear as to what PHTA stands for and what it does for the people in the pool industry. And it is very clear that you guys are actively you girls right now are actively, you know, fighting for us in, you know, finding out what the facts are, you know, going to bat for everybody to make sure that we are essential and we are able to be in the backyards and do what we need to do so that we can keep our businesses afloat. And there's not too much of a disruption in our in our work lives. So thank you very much. But just wanted to say that in all the things that you're doing, it's so clear and this is just one piece of what you will do. You know, we really appreciate it because I'm kind of curious and because I was going to ask for it to be a central like what exactly did you all do to make that happen or how does that work? Who had to speak up?
Jennifer Hatfield:
Well, I think in some ways I would just say that some of it was that, like I said, the initial guidance and what the state orders had. And then it was just speaking up to say, hey, we clearly follow. We we fall under this. We're essential because we're.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Providing sanitization and disinfecting, and that's where we came up with some of those flyers to show for people to have in their tribe. Michaux officials. But then what's happened is sometimes we're talking to the governor's offices or lawmakers offices just to say, hey, this is why we're getting the hang of it. I say to another. Some of that what we're doing is we're noticing if they're taking the guidance, we're not seeing issues. It's great. We're having. It's more than get involved when somebody says, well, wait a minute, we think this is OK, but not this. And that's where we just we work with our our industry locally, too. For any lawmaker connections they have and anybody in the governor's office. And we just reach out and say, explain to them if they were questioning why we weren't essential. We clearly explained why we are. And and I said, I think when it comes to the service maintaining and the retail stores side of it, I think where we've got a pretty good one record right now of it, it's very clear some of the issues that have come up lately have been more related to construction. And now that's another thing I just wanted the least mentioned as you're having to speak up and explain how work in progress active construction sites also need to be addressed. For all the reasons we discussed earlier, plus just, you know, pill-popping at certain parts of the country or, you know, different kind of construction hazards that that can exist.
Greg Villafana:
Right. And we have a lot of listeners that are, you know, in construction as well, obviously, because they're building pools, they're remodeling pools. And a lot of them have use subcontractors because they're doing electrical and they're plumbers. They're doing depends on the complexity of the pool. They've got a lot of different types of contractors in the backyard. So I'm curious what at this point in time, what can they do and what does everybody need to do in order to communicate?
Greg Villafana:
Where do they communicate these things to and how they can operate day to day?
Jennifer Hatfield:
Well, first off, I mean, we have on our Web site. Just because I think what you're touching on to is practicing social, social distancing like this best place practices for workplace safeguards for our member companies to be aware of it, making sure their employees are aware of.
Jennifer Hatfield:
I just saw before this podcast how one of our pool builders in Texas had provided a go to meeting kind of information on all the best practices they should be doing, including like their subs, like we're going to limit one worker per vehicle. Let's make sure we provide that 6 feet, you know, or more social distance. We're seeing retail companies adapt to curbside and delivery kind of thing. So we're looking at it. First of all, of that all of that information and best practices is on our Web site, along with the CDC surface disinfection. So I guess I think the point was, is just making sure our members are providing them tools so they are communicating to their staff on best practices. So they're doing there in the field, working within the restrictions of what these state localities have provided. Right. Like New York said, hey, we're only one person can go out there just, I guess, works for for lack of a better term.
Greg Villafana:
Right.
Sabeena Hickman:
And other angle that way we're taking as well with the CSA document is when we talk to the gentleman who runs the government affairs program for the Lawn and Landscape Association.
Sabeena Hickman:
He had also said and our members have started asking for it, the economical impact of shutting down whole businesses.
Sabeena Hickman:
And we obviously want to keep the workers working and the economy going. So she has done a great job of engaging in annual reports on the economic impact and those are being highly requested and engine using that as another strategy and putting that into some of our correspondence with the elected officials, because not only is the safety and the deaths that are going on with this and that much important, also workers and businesses and and the nation's economy. So we're also leveraging those datas, those surveys as data points to share with elected officials the impact of shutting down pool service companies.
Tyler Rasmussen:
You guys have a letter, right, that you've written for people to kind of share with legislations on your Web site.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Yes. Yes. There's a Web site, there's a letter that was from Sabena to all elected officials that any of our members can utilize. Plus there's a template that they can then tailor themselves and utilize. So that's all available on the Web site.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Plus, we're working with some of our chapters to create maybe a, you know, a chapter or a letter that they can provide. Because one of the things we do want to be careful on is making sure we're speaking with one voice and someone maybe contacting an elected official with a question that maybe is it could be confusing. And then they come back with an answer we don't like. So I know we're just working with our with our affiliate NESPA. Just yesterday on some questions, we wanted to ask for New York's position to provide some clarity. But all that's available on the Web site, along with updated state orders and locality information that gets updated daily.
Janay Rickwalder:
We are trying to make it as turnkey as possible for that for anybody visiting our site so you can literally copy and paste that. Our letter. You can. You know, we've given you the links to the folks that you should send them to. It's we want to make it as easy as possible for our members to advocate on behalf of themselves.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yes. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you for brining all that. I think that's awesome. I've seen I've seen in some Facebook groups, you know, I'm in Florida and other places, people advocating for the industry and using those. So that's been cool to see. And like you mentioned with NESPA, but Dominick's generally good job of kind of updating these YouTube updates on those four states that he monitors with. You guys spent a lot of good information that's been delivered and people are paying attention. There's there's definitely ways to be active and help out, you know, where you can.
Greg Villafana:
But now is the time to understand, because there's a lot of people that don't collect emails. They don't do social media. They don't do a lot of that stuff. More important, you should understand that you need to have every single client's email, phone number, address your suppliers, everybody that you deal with. You need to have their emails and all these different things so that when it comes time to put your message out on social media or you've got a newsletter that has to go out and e-mail and keeping people updated, that you have that because it. What are you going to do? You going to pick up the phone and call every single person? Or are you going to leave a note on their door like that? Just that just doesn't work. So if you don't have those things, it's never too late. Now would be a great time in collecting that information from as many people as possible.
Janay Rickwalder:
Good point. So I'll make a statement. I think it's really important for our service providers to be able to show their leadership to their customers and to their clients and let their homeowners know that and their other clients know that they are looking out for them and looking out for their families, security and safety. And and just, you know, reinforcing their value.
Greg Villafana:
All right. How do you guys recommend in companies taking action to communicate this message to their local legislation?
Greg Villafana:
I know we talked about meeting this stuff to the home owners terms of, you know, if you're a builder, a service company, how can we be proactive as a whole and communicate this stuff to our specific city and state?
Jennifer Hatfield:
Well, I think that's where it depends on your state, the trend. For example, in Florida, there's no statewide order style.
Jennifer Hatfield:
So it's all county by county. And I know that AFSPA has done a great job reaching out to the various counties just to say, hey, we're essential. I mean, you're providing those tools as well and hopefully complementing the work they're doing here in Florida. So in Florida, I guess my point is it's gonna be more your local county administrator, city council, county councilman. What's good about Florida is using that as example, you know, Bovard and Miami, Broward, excuse me, and Miami Dade came out with their ordinances, specified that Pool's and spas are essential. We're seeing others follow. I mean, this is a large, full state that uses all your rounds, similar to Arizona and other part, you know, other Sunbelt states. But then you have other states where it's a statewide order. So let me I, you know, use New York p._a. Michigan and Wisconsin, where we're working through the governor's office or some states actually even have a agency in the government that are asking for you to provide all questions and applications to be deemed essential through there. And so that so as mentioned earlier, we're working with some of our chapters, like this Georgia chapter was putting a letter in through that process.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Georgia, at this point, it seems to be not having any issues for being deemed essential. But they were doing being proactive. They're doing the same in Wisconsin with our Midwest chapter, et cetera.
Jennifer Hatfield:
But I guess I point out that it's it's really more a executive branch outreach and targeting. Whether that being so is your governor's office, the agencies or at the local level, it's your city and county councilmen. However, lawmakers, your own your state reps and senators are still key because that's where if you if we run into any trouble, those relationships you build with them can help you because you can say, hey, we're having an issue where someone in the governor's office has interpret us as nonessential. And so that's where I say that our members leverage the relationships you have with your elected officials and have them see if they can help us get that rescinded, for example.
Jennifer Hatfield:
So that's kind of the processes we're taking right now.
Sabeena Hickman:
And one of the lessons learned also is nurture and develop those relationships throughout the year. Don't don't reach out to your elected official. When a crisis hits, you need to maintain those relationships and visit them at their local office. Talk to them about your business and the industry, because you never know when you're going to need them. And that's something this industry will embrace because it's somebody met Jan and her team are going to drive. We've talked about joint legislative down the Hill. But as it as an industry, we really want to nurture those relationships. It's intimidating, but we're going to equip our members on how to develop those relationships, how to talk about the pool and hot tub industry and the economic impact and the importance of R J one visa. So you will see this association doing more of that. And that's something that we talked about when I first came on board. Our desire to be more actively engaged locally and federally with with government if they are. So a lesson learned for the listeners, nurture those relationships with the elected officials.
Sabeena Hickman:
Tell them what your company does, what they provide to the community, how many people you employ, how and how important you know, what issues you need them to focus on. Just support your businesses.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah, I think that goes a really long way with educating all the customers that we talk of all the time, educating the outside world on what we do and how important it is, and helps with allowing us to price ourselves correctly, you know, doing what age companies do, what plumbing unions do, things like that that are that this industry has been lacking for a while, you know, building relationships with government officials and keeping those relationships and making more people aware of what we do and why we do. It is very important for those lines of communication.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah. And I think, you know, some of these references, the PDA cronies page for customer communications and things like that is gonna be great because, you know, even if you're sharing with the home owner what you're doing about the Corona virus, you're gonna be looked at as a professional that's doing things, you know, correctly. And they're not just seeing you as a poolboy in Flip-Flops as we discuss. That doesn't take things serious, but you're actively either a part of Puja or you're paying close attention to how it's affecting your business and that you're just you're really paying close attention. So I was kind of curious how, you know, people can actually use you have, you know, to customer customizable fliers and other things like that. Can you share with us some of the things you have in how people can use them?
Janay Rickwalder:
Sure. We actually have. We have a couple of different customizable flyers, one that includes builders and service professionals. The other is all three units, including the retailers. And our intent was to offer them up to our members to be able to add their contact, the company contact information to company logo customizable. You can make them make pretty much make them completely your own. We've seen we've seen a lot of our Facebook users and social media followers posting them on their sites to their customers. So just, you know, something to keep in mind. Sure. This is why we're important. You know, we protect your community healthy, you know, protect public health, you know, keep your family safe. So there's a there's a couple of different ways that we are seeing people use them. I think primarily they're sending obvious a socialist right now. And but we also wanted to make sure that they can use them as part of their mailers or, you know, they can include them in, you know, as a when they drop when they can conduct a service, they can drop them off at the homeowner, you know, directly or maybe not directly, so to speak, anymore, but they can include them in their behinds. So just if anyone has any other creative ways that they're seeing, then be used. We would love to hear it because we want to make sure that we share best practices from a marketing communications perspective to like what's working within your pool company, how you're educating your clients about the value of that fear of maintaining your pool and what is all in the flier exactly.
Greg Villafana:
We'll say for pool service, for instance. What what exactly is in it? I know you can customize it with your company information, but what else is on the flyer includes content that's focused on our key talking points.
Janay Rickwalder:
So essentially why maintaining your pool is important to public health for the community, why it's important to your family's public health, your family's health and well-being? Why? You know, especially as polls open earlier in the season this year, why it's important to just stay on top of maintaining the safety and security of your pool. We also stress the public safety hazard component of abandoned pools. Why you should not stop construction on a pool that you're maybe currently building. So just various points like that.
Greg Villafana:
That's all really good stuff. I mean, that's something that you should. Facebook, Twitter. I know those, too. You can actually pin that to the top of your page, but that should be sort of a staple within your social media presence where people are visiting your page. And it's the first thing they see that this is, you know, these are some of the things that you need to know about our services and why you need to keep us around. Pretty much so. Excellent stuff. And I think if you're using Instagram as too and you have customers on there, it's something you can send even through direct message along with a link going back to any page because you can send links through there as well. So they'd be a great place to be able to do that. Thank you for putting that all together. Absolutely.
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Greg Villafana:
So, Jennifer. What can pool business owners be putting into place right now?
Jennifer Hatfield:
So right now they need to obviously be following the social distancing when they're in the backyard. So for them, you know, that's one of the things the owner should be making sure other employees are doing. So, you know, when when the maintenance and service side of the industry, that's pretty normal. Right. And there's usually one person in the backyard, even in the construction side, the builders making sure that there's more than one of them.
Jennifer Hatfield:
And the site they're having that six feet or more social distancing, they are limiting one worker per vehicle. So that may mean having to take more vehicles to the worksite. There are active construction, but it's important that they're practicing all these best practices to follow what the CDC and others have. We're also seeing from the retail side a lot more companies offering curbside service. I know we'll call Leslie's. A lot of other different groups are doing so also home delivery. So people are not having to walk into the store. You know, we also encourage companies to download the CDC surface disinfection posters that they're showing. You know what posting that they're showing that the consumers who may be there or coming into their store for something or their employees, they're following these guidelines on proper surface disinfection, as I should say. Now we have all the workplace safeguards on the Web site available to the members along with that poster that I mentioned. I think that, you know, like I said, it's our member company making sure they're following these practices, getting the word out to their employees to make sure their employees feel confident and that and go into work every day. And we've had a lot of member companies that put signs up, say, hey, you know, we're closing our business to the public, but we're here working actively. You can reach us via these other means, for example. So that's some of what they can do. And I think what we're seeing them do it for those who haven't, that's what we'd encourage them to put in place.
Greg Villafana:
Very good. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. And I know you guys were even talking about some of the things that you're doing. It's hard to say that you might have any downtime but be able to put together, you know, different maybe workflows or S&Ps and different things like that. Do you think that this is a really good time to kind of be proactive and do some things that you might not have had time to do before even updating the Web site and all those things?
Sabeena Hickman:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that from an association perspective, that's something that we're embracing, taking the time to work on our S.O.P. And where we find me, the integration through the unification as well as a launch, a new Web site, Janay did a great job with the mini site for the crna update and you'll see more of that with Wagon and the rest of the rest of the Web site.
Sabeena Hickman:
So we are going to take the opportunity while we're at home working remotely and the fans and quieted down a bit as our members are really focused on on their adjustments that they're making in their business. So we'll most certainly take advantage of that. Janay mentioned that the Covid Facebook page where we have a positivity post and some of our members are doing really cool things. Rich Garbi is with JLI pool products. They really wanted to show the community how they can play a role in supporting hospitals and COVID-19. And so their plan is making cotton masks and they're hiring people to show who've been laid off to create these mass to help out in the hospitals. Andy Levinsohn is with Jet Line and and he's up in the northeast and he's gotten calls from hospitals to donate goggles and swim mats to serve as a subsidy. Shoot for rhythm, as in you hear. You've heard of Tesla and Ford and some of the car manufacturers doing the same thing. So those are you know, I said to them, when we come out at the other end, you guys are really good that you're going to make a lasting impression as as leaders in the in the community. So we've seen a lot of that.
Sabeena Hickman:
And what agenda's mentioned to a lot of our members are being very creative in how they're adjusting, how they service their members. And again, we want to share that so other folks can embrace some of those creative ways of continuing to do business.
Greg Villafana:
Right now, that's all good stuff. And this is how crazy is this? I actually owned a face mask company that I started a face mask company like six, seven years ago. Longer than that. But I might have been too too early. Maybe would have done better this day and age. But I think that's all really good. And I think, you know, we talk a lot about this, that this is actually an opportunity for a lot of, you know, service companies to think outside of the box, because with all this going on, people aren't going to be flying and traveling and doing all these things quite as much. They're going to want to be in their homes, are going to want to be in their backyard. So they're going to need pools built. They're going to need pools to be taken care of. They're going to want to buy, you know, the you know, the chase chairs and the table sets and different games and toys. And why not you be the provider of selling these items to them. And there's a lot of different things that you can do, everything from having an online store and making sure that they get a newsletter that shows the different, you know, things that you sell to even having a delivery service, you know, of chemicals, you know, and letting them know that you're buying the best product from distribution.
Greg Villafana:
It's not going to be from anywhere else. You're going to actually be providing chemicals from distribution. So if any homeowners are thinking about cutting your service, there's a lot of different opportunities where you can teach pool school or, you know, charge for chemicals on a on a monthly, you know, almost like a subscription model, you know, and that's why we do what we do and service, because you have that, you know, residual income, it's not quite as much, but, you know, you can provide some kind of subscription model through even selling chemicals. And we still do O-rings and pump baskets and filter cleans and all these different things. So there's other ways to to make money. I don't think we've ever done a very good job in selling furniture. And, you know, goggles and, you know, pool floats and all those different things, you know, it would be a good time to start thinking about how you can build relationships with these manufacturers that make kids toys and goggles and all these different things and how you can get wholesale pricing and able to actually sell these items. And the cool thing is that you can have a lot you can have a lot more fun with that on social media.
Greg Villafana:
So if you do start selling, you know, ledge lounger, furniture, chairs, things like that, they have a lot of assets that you can use that are really fun to plug in your social media if you want to. So, you know, like fun-boy floats, they have floats. You know, they're in the shape of a pizza or a swan or whatever emoji you can think of, you know, building those relationships, going to a whole nother level of this stuff, especially through I think these times. A lot of economists are talking about where this is a lot different, where automation is is going to become bigger than we ever thought because of the way that we manufacture products and cars and things like that. And people are now a lot of people are out of that equation. They want more robots and they want more different things like that. And now that we're able to do Xoom conference calls and we're relying on social media, it's a good time to think about, you know, you can probably hook up an Amazon Alexa to their pool equipment. You can talk to them about how your pool can be smart and turn the lights on without actually going to the equipment and flipping a switch. Because now through these times, automation is is is heavy.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah. I think what are also we talk about a lot is is like a good positive mindset. You know, a lot of the stuff going on right now is negative. There's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of things.
Tyler Rasmussen:
But really, if you keep a positive mindset, you know, whenever you reflect within your business and to your customers, that's going to rub off on them. You know, that composure will rub off on your employees. If you're negative all the time, it's gonna have a negative situation. They're gonna be negative to the customers. You've got to try your best to really take a bad thing, you know, and make it a good thing and try to find ways within this to to shine. You know, it's your opportunity to rise above kind of other people and rise above and show your true professionalism to these two customers, but also to your team. And, you know, be there for them and take care of them and be the one to be the leader. You're not you're supposed to be.
Greg Villafana:
But, you know, you should be thinking, why do they need my services? And you should be utilizing all the resources that we're talking about today, where you should use this template email, you should use this poster, you should use all these different assets and go create a mailchimp Macao and put all your emails in it and send that message out every week or twice a week or whatever it may be so that they understand right away. I know exactly why I need them. Because there's a lot of service providers out there that are not doing that. And when it comes down to, you know, trimming the fat or cutting companies out, don't you want to be the company that. Made the homeowner understand what they're doing in the backyard and how professional they are and everything that is is going on, so it's just gonna it's just gonna make you better if you start thinking about those things. And everybody is extremely lucky in this time to have our podcast in a team like PGA in really doing a lot of the heavy lifting to where you're really just kind of downloading stuff and copying pasting it and, you know, plugging in your logo and doing a lot of different things like that. But hey, we signed up for this and you know, we enjoy what we do, but don't be a fool and utilize these resources.
Greg Villafana:
I mean, at this point, it's pretty easy. And if you don't know what to do or how to communicate with homeowners for sure, you can reach out to us anytime and you can definitely reach out to P.H., T-A and I know all of us would love to help everybody that we possibly can because we get through this. This is a I don't want to say as is the worst taking yet, but this is some some tricky times right now. And if you can really power through it and make the best of it, I think there's not a lot that you won't be able to do in the future.
Sabeena Hickman:
There is an article that I read that your colleagues share on our social. It's how to expand your companies resilience zone through this coronavirus. And it talks about there's something in there. I'm actually going to read it because it really resonated.
Sabeena Hickman:
It didn't provide next level value to customers, listen intently to customer needs and be part of their plan as they also navigate through uncertain times. Customers may have unusual requirements, address them as an opportunity, and demonstrate concern. Care and kindness. Rather than trying to maximize sales focused on enhancing the customer's quality of life, creating value in crisis is a win win win. And that resonates so well with what the and hot tub industry does when you talk about quality of life and P. J is using it as a platform. So we're a new organization in the sense to really show them that we are work compassionate. We want to serve our members. We want to provide them tools. So I would encourage members and, you know, either even non-members, your listeners that are part of this industry to use this as an opportunity to really communicate often to their customers about who they are, how how things are going for them, if they're if their businesses are or some parts of the businesses have been suspended, when they will re-engage in just over communicate.
Sabeena Hickman:
I really thought that was that really resonated with me in terms of servicing the pool and hot tub industry. I thought it was a great opportunity to really show your customers who you are and what your company is all about.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah, that's perfect. I mean, the swimming pool. We don't talk about it enough, but the swimming pool is seriously a sanctuary for a lot of people. It's very therapeutic. There's so many different benefits to it and being able to share with those experience look like and how. Now there obviously are different things you might need to buy, but even from putting together a playlist for your customers and how to enjoy, you know, lift listening to a Spotify playlist that your company put together for them to listen to, you know, by the pool, you have time. Watch this documentary. It's called Fish People. And it's about people that actually they're they're sharing their story about their connection to the water, whether it's the ocean or whether it's their taken photos, you know, the waves crashing down underneath the water, different things like that. But when you hear it's just a beautiful documentary about people expressing themselves in what water actually is to them. And I think people might have a different idea of what it truly is like to have a pool, because I think a lot of people don't have swimming pools, don't use them, might not know what that is. But in a time when it's so crazy in the world, it's so cool that we get to be a part of maintaining and taking care of that little sanctuary in somebodies backyard. And I think that's the way that we all need to think about it, is, you know, everything might be going crazy, but let's make sure that when they get to be in their pool, that they can just they can block out all those worries and just be, you know, one with the water and truly enjoy life with their family and, you know, loved ones and things like that.
Sabeena Hickman:
That's great fish people put it on our watch list.
Janay Rickwalder:
Yeah, I and I have to say, as somebody who has a backyard pool, I mean, it's been definitely Oasis for my family and I.
Janay Rickwalder:
The last few weeks. I mean, we've utilized it so much just to kind of get away and not be thinking about everything that's changed and what we're dealing with. So I agree.
Greg Villafana:
That's awesome when you're just sitting out there. Or is it warm enough? Are you hitting the pool?
Janay Rickwalder:
We are using we warmed it up. We have a pool heater. So I turned it on actually about three weeks ago. And water is 78 degrees and we are loving it. I mean, it's great for my son. Get some energy out like we talked about earlier. That also for me, I mean, after a long day, just to sit in there and kind of float away.
Janay Rickwalder:
It's very good for the mind.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah, sounds perfect. We're talking to this is a great opportunity to talk to homeowners about, you know, if they have a heater and some different options and getting a heater or even fixing their heater, maybe they have one, but hasn't worked in a while. This is a great time to do that because we're all most of our families are we're all kind of stuck at home. So you do have a swimming pool. It's a great time to get that thing heated up because we're kind of in a funny time where it's not going to be heated by the sun for another couple of months or so.
Greg Villafana:
So good time for that.
Greg Villafana:
So let's shift gears a bit inevitable that things will affect your business at some point in time. And, you know, no one really saw this virus coming. But economies go up. They go down for a lot of different reasons. How do you think businesses can plan for their future during this time and be ready for whatever event comes next?
Sabeena Hickman:
Preparing for something like this. There's a document we're going to send out, a business planning guide. It's kind of FEMA actually authored it. We're going to put some specifics for the pool and hot tub industry.
Sabeena Hickman:
But it's a ways that you can prepare for this.
Sabeena Hickman:
I mean, sheltering in place. How do you communicate to your your staff members, your customers? Do you turn off the electricity? You know, your vendors who are accustomed to delivering goods and services, GEO. So we have we have a kit that we will will include in the collateral that we send out to your listeners after this podcast. I know from our perspective from p_h_d_ Jay, we have really relied a lot on our our legal counsel.
Sabeena Hickman:
Our attorney is a gentleman by the name of Steve gets off and he is a godsend whether he is helping us from an association perspective or our state associations or individual members. He is in the trenches and I think he's probably averaging one hour, two hours a night of sleep because he, too, has Koven on the brain. But he's been a tremendous resource for me. The organization as a whole and individually. We've we've also touch our insurance brokers looking at your insurance policies. There's something called business disruption insurance. But some brokers are saying that's for a national disaster, not for a pandemic. So it's also a time to look at how you are insured. Lessons from leaders as well. Reach out to your colleagues, whether they're competitors or their, you know, folks that you've man at the Bay Annual Convention, reach out to them as well and see what they're doing. And if you're involved, not only MPH D.A., but Chamber of Commerce is putting out some really good information. Small SBA, Small Business Administration, they're putting out Care's Act. And some of the benefits that you could take advantage of through the care, is that so? Leverage as much as you can.
Sabeena Hickman:
We will be doing a webinar and posting and on our our Web site in terms of how you can take advantage of the loans. Some of them cover up to two months of payroll, rent and utilities. So there's a lot to glean. There's a lot of information out there. We're going to take what's being promoted through some of the federal agencies and replicate that on our Web site, but specify it for for our industry. Again, those relationships I know a lot of our members are talking to bankers. What they're saying today is we don't now the Kahrizak was passed, but we're still waiting to see how you apply it. Some people may have five under phase two, but now that they have to reapply under phase three. So it's just really being diligent about that and staying on top of it. I have I have an active group of association professionals and some board members. And any information we get, we're just sharing with one another. So keep that networking and those contacts and those relationships open because you can learn from one another.
Greg Villafana:
That's all really good stuff. Everybody should be paying close attention to. And we've talked a lot about, you know, even cash flow more than ever to make sure that you are putting money aside so that when these things happen, you do have sort of a reserve so that when things do happen, you do have cash.
Greg Villafana:
But everybody should be really learning, too, that you should not be wasteful of anything, because I do know that when we had a pool service company, there was a lot of times that we would maybe, you know, dose a pool of a very expensive chemical and the homeowner might not have gotten charged for it or, you know, anything like that, even inside of the office, internally in the warehouse, wherever it may be. It's a really good time to not be wasteful of a single thing, because it's a time to be lean in every and every way imaginable.
Greg Villafana:
So a lot of that is back to educating the guys that are doing the work the day to day work. You know, the technicians or some of the subcontractors that are utilizing your supplies, make sure that they are doing it in a responsible way so that, you know, you're not leaving money on the table.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah, I think it's an opportunity for you to really take a look at the business and see where you've overspent. Keep track of your finances a lot closer. And like you said, figure out how to have a savings account. Figure out ways. That you're hurting right now. Look at the ways you're hurting right now and then figure out how a fix for the future would would fix that and kind of make those adjustments. I know when we ran our company there was a of times we had conversations about a lot of these important aspects, but we didn't have a time person to work on them like this is the time to work on them if you're home or you're in your office. You know a lot more now. Now is the time to really take a really outside perspective. Look at your business and see where these holes have been, where these pain points have been. And look at them and say, how do I fix this for the future? Those are really what you're looking for. You know what's really hurt the most? And then what can you put in place? Fix that in the future?
Greg Villafana:
Right. Yeah. Think about if you're going to turn your business into a franchise or you're going to sell it tomorrow, what would you need to do in order to package that up to be able to do that? I heard that in a lot of different places and that really puts things into perspective. Is that. Oh, yeah. I would need to have this. I would. There have to be job descriptions or it have to be all these recipes that add.
Greg Villafana:
So it's a good way to look at it. Absolutely.
Tyler Rasmussen:
We appreciate you all really joining and diving into all that. All the efforts you've made, I think it's really we talked about this earlier. Greg and I. That for people that don't know what she does, this is a big piece of it. And for people questioning, you know, whether or not to be a member or what the membership includes, like these people are fighting for you, they're fighting for you every day, fighting for their rights, for the whole industry. This is a piece that goes unnoticed a lot. You know, on the day to day. But it's a really big, important piece. So thank you all for your hard work. Really appreciate everything you're doing for the industry and you guys as well.
Sabeena Hickman:
You guys do a great job of keeping your your listeners informed and educated man in a very fun light and in very a great way that really resonates.
Sabeena Hickman:
So we appreciate you guys squeezing us into your schedule. Now people wait in line to be part of your podcast. So thank you for including us, all three of us.
Greg Villafana:
You're very welcome. It's been an honor.
Jennifer Hatfield:
Yes. Thanks a lot, guys. It is a great opportunity. Absolutely. Thank you.
Tyler Rasmussen:
And Janay, I don't want to forget, you know, we talked about lots of resources here. And can you mentioned the Web site again and kind of the social platform for PHTA and what those are.
Sabeena Hickman:
Sure. Yeah. We utilize four primary channels. We utilize Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. And obviously there's different posts that we share, vis-a-vis, all of those different channels. But the Web site is 100 percent PHTA Corona updates dot com. It is updated daily. It's updated almost hourly sometimes with all the information that's that flows through our staff, through our chapters and everything. I also think that it's really important to just reiterate how how our members need to to tell their story and they can use all of the resources that we're creating to make that happen. But it's got to be their story, because if there is a void of information, their customers are going to create their own stories. So if they can use our resources and use the information and intelligence that we are gathering from the membership to help them help themselves, that's 100 percent success for us as an industry for sure.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah. And we will be sharing, you know, all of the issues, resources, links on our Web episode, Web site page, as well as some of the other associations. I know generally a great job of his p-a CBSA. Dominic Nesbo know Texas Coalition. There's been a lot of joint efforts in this and wildlings links to a lot of that stuff on our episode web page so that listeners can go there and get everything you need in one spot. So once again, we really want to thank you guys for for being here and spending time with us today on the podcast. Thank you, guys.
Sabeena Hickman:
It's been fun. You guys make it easy. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks for checking out this episode. If you want to find out more about our guest or the sponsors of the show, you can check them out on the links we have provided in the rightit below. We also provide a link to our social media platform, so please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Our tag is Pool Chasers. The podcast brought you any value. Please do what you can to support us through our patron page by going to Patreon on dot com forward slash pool chasers. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast to be updated each time a new episode is released. One last thing if you're not yet in our Facebook group, join in today to be surrounded by like minded individuals who are all trying to better the industry. Thank you all for the support. We appreciate your time and your ear. See you out there, Pool Chasers.
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