Have you been Avoiding the Truth, the Whole Truth, of your Pool Scheduling?

Most people believe they can handle the truth, though they don't usually ask for "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." If they did, they might start avoiding it!

In business, knowing the whole truth is incredibly empowering. Even if it is hard to hear, and even if a lot of changes need to be made after hearing it, understanding the whole truth of your business is imperative to your continued success. 

When you think about your scheduling, do you think you know the whole truth of the matter?

I read an inspiring story in Aquatics International Magazine this morning that made me rethink all the things I thought I knew. I'd recommend reading "Scheduling Nightmare", a lesson learned by Farhad Madani of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department. 

I don't think it is unusual for decision makers to base their decisions on well reasoned opinions about their target markets. Some businesses are better than others about surveying their clients and getting detailed results about their wants and needs, but that process can be difficult, expensive and scary. 

Asking your customers to tell you what they really think about you is a daunting task. If you can find out though, even if the response is negative, it will put you in a position to improve your services and customer relationships.

In the article I mentioned above, a parks and recreation department was consistently getting complaints about their scheduling, so they took the drastic measure of getting their community involved. This was risky and time consuming and challenging, but it paid off. They were able to reduce their complaints by 99%!

After reading the article, how certain are you that the schedule you have created for your community is appropriate? Would you be willing to go to such depths to make amends with your customers and work towards a more inclusive scheduling system?

What if it could lead to having your community raising funds to keep your doors open longer? Undoubtedly, learning the whole truth is still an intimidating prospect, but it now has a much brighter silver lining!

The article got me thinking about how much I think I know, and how little I probably do know, about what you - the Commercial Pool Operator - want to learn about and are interested in reading about. I spend a good portion of my time each day trying to share relevant information with you, and I am not entirely certain I know the whole truth of what you find relevant. I'd like to ask for your help, so that I can better help you. I have created a short 5 question survey, and if you could take a minute or two to fill it out, it would be extremely helpful. With your feedback, I can better tailor the blog posts and emails I write so that you always find them useful and interesting! Thank you, in advance, for your participation!