The SpaRetailer Podcast

Oops — missed last weeks release due to the Pool | Spa | Patio Expo. Paul Madden Sr. and Paul Madden Jr. of Water By Design join the podcast to talk about their company’s 40th anniversary. The father-son duo bring an admirable respect and deference to the family business.

Don Elkington, the now retired founder of Coast Spas, joins the podcast to tell his hot tub history. Elkington shares how he got the business started and the unique challenges he faced being a hot tub manufacturer in Canada.

Patio Pleasures in Madison, Wisconsin, is the latest hot tub retailer to convert to an employee stock ownership plan. One of the former owners, Rene Huston, joins us on the podcast to talk through their ESOP process.

As the managing partner and successor president at REGENERATION, Elle Hansen has worked with 100s of companies as they work through their succession plans. Hansen joins the podcast to talk about her experiences and some of the common pitfalls she sees. Hansen joined us on several succession planning webinars, which you can watch here. Join Hansen in Dallas November 11, 2024, for an in-person succession planning workshop.

After 49 years in the hot tub industry, Craig Ecelbarger sold his The Recreational Warehouse to Watson’s in March. With a pathway to retirement, Ecelbarger shares how he started the business and grew it to the spa sales behemoth it is today.

You may have heard that SpaRetailer has launched a sales training program for the industry. Today on the podcast, Steve Hasenmueller joins us to talk about that program. He explains why sales training doesn’t often doesn’t improve results and how this program breaks that narrative.

Listen to the amazing history of a 70-year-old family business with current mother-daughter business partners Kara Weed and Rita Rowlen. Sponsored by Watkins Wellness

Ron Perkins joined Seven Seas Pools and Spas intending to own the business eventually. COVID fast-forwarded that plan and Perkins outlines how he and his boss developed a purchase plan that benefited them both. Read more > Brought to you by:

Hot tubs get their first robotic cleaner, the SpaBot from Polaris. Sarah Martin joins us to talk about what it does and why you should sell it in your store.

Mario Maichel, dealer development manager at Watkins Wellness, is passionate about store design. As an addendum to our recent feature on the topic, Maichel chats about the biggest mistakes he sees hot tub retailers make, why he thinks design is so important and the No. 1 habit he says will improve your store. Brought to you by SpaBot