Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
by Dennis DiPaolo
Looking back on old newsletters on our website, I am struck by the expensive places we have sent people for winter training: Mexico, San Diego, Oregon, New Jersey, Orlando, Tennessee, Chicago, Las Vegas, Buffalo (well, that one wasn’t too bad). The new economy has us doing way more training on the web, and closer to home.
Here’s an example: when Victor and Paul trained with the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals, (APSP) it was a week in a hotel. This year, we got the APSP to come to us, with a promise of enough students to make it worth their while. That meant we only had to pay the hotel and expenses of the teacher on top of the $300 each, tuition. So that’s what we did.
Joe, Paul, Trina, Victor, Mia, and Stephanie all took the class, studied hard, and passed their exams to be APSP Certified Pool Operators. That allows them to be responsible for the operation of a public swimming pool in liberal states like Massachusetts where the government regulates pools. The CPO class uses a 280 page textbook, and is very intense, especially in calculating hydraulics. Congratulations to them all – that is a highly respected certification in our industry.
That’s not all the training we did this winter. Mia spent a day in Connecticut on specialized chemical training; receiving a Certified Stain Specialist diploma.
Pat, Victor, Seth and I did a one-day Customer Service seminar taught by Doug Fleener in Massachusetts. Mia and Stephanie are scheduled for a Road Trip with Target Pool Supplies the first week of April. That’s where we put people from different stores into a limousine for a day to visit and analyze different pool stores. They also make contacts in other stores so they can call each other for advice. Pat, Victor and Seth have been on previous Road Trips with Target, and I have dinner with other owners monthly. Of course, there were lots of other classes by various people in equipment repair, chemical problem-solving, and more.
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