By Marcelle Dibrell
Congratulations, pool and spa service professionals: According to a recent Service Industry News poll of our readers, you are one seriously educated group.
This April, Service Industry News conducted a survey in an attempt to get a picture of the industry-related educational levels of our readers. To be honest, the results didn’t surprise us when we learned that 71 percent of those responding to our survey had obtained some level of certification, with more than 50 percent of these reporting CPO certification.
A significant portion of business owners require their employees obtain certification as well:36 percent of those responding said their employees must seek certification, which certainly raises the professionalism of the industry as a whole.
We also learned that that you are actively participating in industry events and trade shows across the country — a whopping 87 percent said they attended at least one trade show in 2022-2023. This is significant because regional trade shows are among the best ways to stay up on to date on the latest chemicals, products, and equipment, as well as
Service Industry News readers answered a short survey in April and the results indicate that 71% of respondants have obtained pool and spa certification and/or hold a state contractors license. attend educational seminars on water chemistry and equipment repair. It’s clear that those responding to our survey are eager to stay informed.
Those surveyed are also regular readers of industry publications, with 96 percent of respondents indicating that they regularly read the trade publications available to pool service professionals.
We also wanted to get a sense of what types of topics our readers may be interested in for further reading. Unsurprisingly, the top contenders include water chemistry and equipment repair. However, many respondents also expressed interest in business topics such as financial training, pricing, business software, leadership training, and business growth. We also saw a strong interest in exposure to new products, chemicals, and technologies.
When we began publishing Service Industry News in 1987, one of the goals we set out was to provide our readers with greater opportunities to become more educated and to add to the level of professionalism throughout the pool and spa service industry.
Although we cannot definitively trace the growth of education over the past 36 years, we can say that today our readers display a sophistication that does much to reflect on the professionalism of our industry.
Thank you to the service professionals who took the time to participate in our April survey.
