What Would You Do: Before-and-After Photos

Cailley Hammel Headshot
Phonebypool Hed2

A service tech is pushed by his customers to β€œshow his work” with before-and-after photos of pools on his route. Is that a fair request, or are these customers asking too much? Industry pros share their takes:

The Question

Steve Crowley
Crowley Pool Service | Canton, Mass.

β€œDoes anyone else take before-and-after pictures at every cleaning? I have been forced to do this on top of leaving a report at every pool. I’m just trying to determine if I have some tough customers or the cleaning side of the business is like this everywhere. Any advice or input?”

RELATED: What Would You Do: The Lazy Employee

Answers:

Craig Perkins
lightsystems.us | Loxahatchee, Fla.

β€œI would email the report and CC myself each week; it’s a good way to keep a record of what time you were there. Or, if you want to make it easier, you could try iON software. It’ll also attach a weekly bill with the picture, which is a nice opportunity to get paid sooner.”

Jason Gibson
ClearWater Pool & Spa Supplies | Pearcy, Ark.

β€œI have Zubie on my work trucks, $99 a year. If I get a call saying we weren’t there I snapshot the tech’s route, showing how long they were at his house and what time.

"If we took pictures of every pool, I can’t imagine what we’d do with all of them. We’d never be able to tell whose pool was whose by the end of the day, let alone by the end of a week.”

Jen Lydon
Clover Pool Care | Pensacola, Fla.

β€œHere in the South, you do have hard clients. I couldn’t imagine sending a pic to every person. Time to drop those people and replace them with clients that trust you.”

Erik Taylor
Chlorine King Pool Service | Seminole, Fla.

β€œI email a full report after each visit along with a time-stamped photo. Completely eliminates the β€˜did you come today’ and β€˜did you clean my pool’ questions.”

 

 

 

 

Buyer's Guide
Find manufacturers and suppliers in the most extensive searchable database in the industry.
Learn More
Buyer's Guide
Content Library
Dig through our best stories from the magazine, all sorted by category for easy surfing.
Read More
Content Library