Everybody Wins

For those of you that don’t know, I recently started working at JTS Pools. We sell pools, pool chemicals, hot tubs, pool tables, and darts. One of the things that the owners wife says, frequently, is “everybody wins,” especially in reference to selling pools. The company wins, because they sell something large, and I’m guessing make a nice chunk of change. The employee wins, because we get commission on everything that we sell over $100. And the customer wins because they have at least 20 years of fun in front of them with a pool. But something still bothers me about her saying “everybody wins.” Everybody can’t win, somebody has to lose. And I’ve realized who loses…wait for it…it’s clever… The customer loses. I haven’t had my first official pool sale yet, but I have sold some high ticket items. I’ve sold them to people that may or may not been able to afford it. But who am I to say what people should spend their money.

As an employee, I’m not supposed to assume that somebody can’t afford something that we have. People know up front that pools are expensive to buy and maintain. But really, what am I supposed to think when you tell me that you have 3 boys at home. I’m either going to think that you make a lot of money (and a prime target for credit card fraud) or you don’t really have enough money for this pool (and this is really just something that would be nice for the family, but nobody has thought about the real consequences.) A pool is a great thing, if you can afford it. But if you can’t afford it, don’t skimp in some areas just so that you can get a pool, it’s really not worth it. Pools are a lot of hard work, expensive, and time consuming. Just like a puppy, except it’s harder to maintain.

I know that a pool is not an impulse buy, but I still get the feeling that people buy them without actually being able to. So who really wins?

~ by jakeneumann on May 5, 2008.