Memphis Pool

water testing in our stores,” Reed explains. “You bring a water sample in, we test it, and make recommendations based on what the water balance is. We’d noticed over the last few years that we had an inordinate amount of people testing water who’d never purchased anything from us. They were doing all their business online or through the big-box stores. We’re doing around 45,000 tests per year and these tests are not cheap. When you calculate the reagents that are used and the employee’s time, we figure it costs us between $5.00 and $7.00 for each test. What we instituted last year—which we’ve never done before and I don’t think anybody else around is doing—is we’re charging for those water tests but giving their money back if they make a purchase. We launched a customer loyalty program that we call Splash Rewards. The customer signs up for a card at the water lab and when they pay $5.00 for the water test, we give them a $5.00 credit on their account. We’ve noticed a huge decline in freeloading at the water lab. That allows us to take more time to service our loyal shoppers.” For years, Reed hesitated to implement the program out of concern for the customer experience, but ultimately decided it was the best way to adapt to competition with the bigger retailers and online outfits. “You don’t want to make anybody mad,” admits Reed. “But now, with the availability of these things online and in the big-box stores, it’s not personal, it’s just business. We’ve got a sign in our store that compares our prices on our chemical line, and what the concentrations of the chemicals are, with those of six other retail chains and franchise pool companies. You might save a couple of dollars on that box of shock that you bought at Home Depot, but what you bought was something that’s a third of the concentration of what we sell. In the long term, you’re spending more money doing that. You can explain it to people, but they have a hard time getting out of that mentality.” With its attention to the art of customer