When Bachmann’s Pools, Spas and Saunas won the Locksin-Thompson Dealer of the Year Award at the annual Watkins Wellness conference, Fred Bachmann was stunned. The honor recognizes dealers who have shown excellence, leadership and pretty darn good sales.
“I was not expecting it,” Bachmann says. “I was surprised and so unprepared.”
From the stage, fellow dealers cheered him on — proof that Bachmann’s success has been noticed well beyond his home base in Wisconsin.
From builder to dealer
Bachmann never planned on selling spas. His family ran Bachmann Construction, founded by his father in 1954. But a 1984 job for a salon that wanted private soaking rooms introduced him to hot tubs.
A persistent Watkins rep persuaded him to become a dealer, even finding him a storefront lease. Still, it wasn’t until a decade later that Bachmann truly committed. At a Watkins marketing seminar, he learned the power of truckload sales and promptly sold 60 hot tubs in a single weekend. “That was the turning point,” he says.
Training and growth
Bachmann attributes his company’s steady growth to strong margins, aggressive marketing and training. Six of his salespeople are graduates of Watkins’ Top Gun program. “It’s not a coincidence we sell a lot of hot tubs,” he says. “ That is a lot of the reason I think we’re winning when others might be flat.”
When it comes to marketing, Bachmann often leans into the meaning of his last name. “My sister found on Ancestry.com that Bachmann means ‘Man who lives by or stands by water,’ ” he says. “So, one of my evergreen advertising messages is telling people that’s what our name stands for — and that I’ll stand by the quality products we sell. That message has gone over really well. It’s memorable.”
The wellness focus
While hot tubs still drive over 70% of sales, Bachmann has embraced the broader wellness movement with enthusiasm. His showrooms now highlight complete wellness suites — hot tubs paired with saunas and cold plunges.
“I’ve been a cold plunge fan for nearly 20 years,” Bachmann says. “At first, it’s miserable, but then it becomes euphoric.”
He is such a believer that before Hot Spring came out with its cold plunge model, the company built and sold their own version out of a rotomold hot tub and a chiller, which Bachmann used in his backyard for years.
He’s found that bundling is becoming the norm rather than the exception. “The triple header — a hot tub, sauna and cold plunge — is common these days,” he says. Some of those packages now top six figures.
Bachmann believes the trend has staying power. “I love it — and now customers are discovering that too,” he says.
Looking ahead
Bachmann’s next ambition is building a high-end, custom swimming pool with a vanishing edge acrylic wall. “I want to start with one at my retirement home,” he says.
Even as new projects take shape, hot tubs remain central. “Hot tubs still make the world go round for us,” Bachmann says. “Everything else — pools, saunas, wellness — builds from that.”