After a poor spa service experience, Bill Long decided he wanted to try to provide a better option in his community. But he took it a step further, not only providing great service, but also accumulating several sales awards along the way. How does Long, whose boat business is his real bread and butter, manage to stay on top?
“I’m literally personally there at the shows,” Long says. “We’ve been in every home show you can get into, state fairs, county fairs, everything. It’s starting to change now, but that’s kind of what’s done it for us the last three years. I really like that part of it; I enjoy meeting new people. But that’s really the secret; I’m just at every show.”
Doing all the events is one of the reasons Long says SpaScapes is still around. Another was buying smart.
“Back in ’08 when everybody was going out of business in the recession, I was buying spas from the banks, GE and Textron. Just terrific deals,” Long says. “And we’re one of the last guys standing because of that.”
Because of his other business, having the right employees in the store when Long can’t be there is incredibly important. And he thinks he’s found the best.
“We have two guys that run the service department that are just amazing — I cannot give them enough accolades,” Long says. “I tried for about a year-and-a-half to get somebody to run the service side; that’s the hardest part. But Cancio [Picazo-Soto] and Jason [Sietz] are just unbelievable; they’re the best in the world. I don’t have to do anything at the store, ever.”
Picazo-Soto was building gazebos when Long discovered him. He runs the service department but also tries to help out with other things as much as possible.
“This year we started doing a lot more online, trying to get in touch with people,” Picazo-Soto says. “We have our own Facebook setup now. You add us on that and you get a huge discount.” They also can help with any spa question posted to the Facebook page as well. “We have a pretty good customer service basis. We try to work with people over the phone before we send out a technician and most problems are handled over the phone.”
Picazo-Soto says it’s nice to work with guys who have been in the business for a long time and know their stuff. “They’ve been in it longer than I’ve been alive,” he says about their sales staff. “They’re really knowledgeable.”