{"id":12010,"date":"2025-02-03T02:54:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T02:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/?p=12010"},"modified":"2025-02-03T02:54:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T02:54:01","slug":"what-i-learned-about-sales-from-a-pool-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/what-i-learned-about-sales-from-a-pool-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"What I learned about sales from a pool shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last two summers, I worked as a sales associate at Flohr Pools – a local pool supply store. While I didn\u2019t sell pools and hot tubs, I did sell chemicals and equipment for commission. I also tested water chemicals, answered the phone, and helped customers resolve pool-related issues. Many customers came in frustrated\u2014either because their pool equipment wasn\u2019t working or due to the high costs of maintenance. Working here provided me with some invaluable skills that I will carry with me for the rest of my career.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To start, I learned how to help a customer even when I didn\u2019t know the answer. When I first began working at Flohr Pools, I didn\u2019t know anything about water chemistry, pool equipment, or retail sales. However, I was forced to learn quickly because customers would come in and expect me to have the answers. I learned that if I didn\u2019t know the solution and couldn\u2019t find it for them, the best way to handle the situation was to be honest about that and inform them that I was going to grab someone that could better help them. When I was upfront with customers about everything, they always responded better than if I acted like I knew how to help them and actually didn\u2019t. After working there long enough, I eventually learned what I needed to know and struggled with this less.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also learned to trust in the value of the product rather than trying to persuade customers. The chemicals at Flohr Pools are generally more expensive than other dealers, such as Walmart, and customers sometimes complain about that or ask what the difference is. As a salesman, my job is to help the customer make the best decision for them. When I have that perspective, I don\u2019t have to work to persuade them, I just tell them the truth. The chemicals are more expensive because of superior quality assurance, and more consistent potency and shelf life. They are also beneficial because we are able to recommend the exact dosage for the chemicals and always be here with support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, I learned the importance of asking for business. During a sales meeting, the owner of the store told us that after water tests we should ask the customer if we can take them back and show them what they need. After we showed them, we were told to ask them if they\u2019d like to purchase that product. I found that after I started implementing this, there were significantly more sales attributed to my water tests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what have I learned about sales from my job at the pool store? Number one: if you don\u2019t know the answer, be honest and find someone who does. Number two: trust in the value of the product instead of being pushy. Number three: ask for the business if it\u2019s going well.<\/span><\/p>\n


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For the last two summers, I worked as a sales associate at Flohr Pools – a local pool supply store. While I didn\u2019t sell pools and hot tubs, I did sell chemicals and equipment for commission. I also tested water chemicals, answered the phone, and helped customers resolve pool-related issues. Many customers came in frustrated\u2014either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12011,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010\/revisions\/12011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}