Allan Curtis

Organic Marketing: a Guide to Definining Your Certain Way Allan Curtis

Publisher Marketing: It was 20 years ago when Al Curtis, "Ask the Pool Guy," became owner of a swimming pool construction/service company. At the age of 26, Al already had seven years of experience in the business and was technically skilled at the work, but was woefully unequipped to handle the business end of things. By sheer grit and determination, Al said "yes" to most anything, handling every lead and trying to turn every phone call into revenue. Customer service was disorganized, and the crews ran from job to job based on who was complaining the loudest. It was no way to run a business, let alone create long term satisfaction. A few years in and Al had managed to put together some solid and friendly crews, and the business was doing okay. But there was something lacking; there was no "special something" that set Al's company apart from any other competitor in his market. After nearly a decade of this, Al was ready to let it go and try something new. Around this same time, I came in as a partner, through a series of coincidences that seem improbable in hindsight. We continued to work to grow the company for a few years, then decided to step away from the pool business for a while and create Insights Group, a business networking community of like-minded people all focused on finding "a better way" to work, to live and to be happy. Then something funny happened. Turning our attention away from the pool business allowed Al to set aside everything he knew and felt about it. And he found that he truly did love the work he was doing; he just needed to find a new way that would be more manageable, more profitable and, yes, more fun. So we began asking ourselves: WHAT IF? What if we could build a company strictly doing the work we love to do? We decided that was the path we would take. We didn't have a map, so we invented one. Through our process that came to be known as Organic Marketing we began to discover how all the pieces of this new way of doing business could work together. We started with our Why followed the path as our Guide to Defining Our Certain Way. This book you are reading outlines the journey." Contributor Bio:  Curtis, Allan Allan Curtis is a strategic research professor at Charles Sturt University and the foundation director of the Institute for Land, Water & Society at CSU. Contributor Bio:  Maki, Sandi Al Curtis aka Ask the Pool Guy Ask the Pool Guy was created in 2012 by Al Curtis (the inspiration), and Sandi Maki (the marketing guru), through a series of synchronistic events. Al had a knack for knowing swimming pools. Ever since his college days of his summer job with a local pool company, he lived, breathed, and dreamed swimming pools. In 2004, Sandi joined the pool company and began working on the brand for the future. Her desire to be online (before it was cool), began to shape the message within the company for amazing online success. Al and Sandi believed that the philosophy of the company should be a fun approach to pools. Sure, the summer hours are long and hard, but with fun at every turn, it keeps the energy going. Customers began connecting on the website and cool photos of projects began showing up everywhere. It wasn't long before Al became the go in the local market for his unique construction of pools including the hybrid process that he has pioneered (www. LegendaryEscapes.com), and online with answers to questions about just about everything swimming pool. Ask the Pool Guy was born. Today the Pool Guy travels the country in search of great new product ideas and innovation. He blogs, does video, and live web events for the pool loving public. His sidekick Sandi also makes sure they stay on track with the latest web content. The online reach of Ask the Pool Guy continues to grow. Ask the Pool Guy and he will tell you the industry has come a long way since 1988, his early days in the business. Al has exciting plans for the future and is ready to spread new and interesting pool content into the online realm. www. AskthePoolGuy.com