Even in an industry like ours — built from the start by family owned businesses — 70 years under the guiding hands of a family team is exceptional.
All Seasons Pools & Spas in Orland Park, Ill., is that special case. They ring in their 70th anniversary this year as a true leader in pool and spa business practices and a thriving backyard living enterprise on Chicago's Southwest Side.
Doug Mayhall is chairman and CEO; he inherited the reins from his father, Gene, who started the company when his son was just six years old in 1954. It began as a franchise of National Pool Equipment Company in Florence, Ala., and a massive delivery of pool and spa retail inventory off a semi truck to the garage of the Mayhall home.
"I helped empty the semi truck, and I was six years old, so I was probably lifting boxes that were 2 pounds or something," recalls Mayhall. "But in my mind, because I was on a big semi, it felt like I unloaded the whole truck myself."
A moment like that is a decision-maker in a young boy's mind. You can pretty much draw a straight line from that moment to an interview with AQUA 68 years later about a life in the pool and spa industry.
A look at the exceptional staff of All Seasons Pools & Spas.
"We started out building swimming pools, and there were very few of them, especially on the South Side. To do service, we had to go up to the North Side all the time, where most of the pools were," Mayhall says. "My dad would do things, and I would just learn from him. But he was learning, too."
What is perhaps most unique about the humble beginnings of All Seasons is the fact that it operated out of the Mayhall garage for its first 11 years. For over a decade, customers would buy their pool chemicals straight off the shelves of the family home.
In 1965, they upgraded to a Sinclair gas station, which actually served the business well for a few years, but the pool and spa business was taking off all across the country, Chicago included. All Seasons soon established its permanent location in Orland Park where it has remained ever since — its branches growing out of that original trunk, so to speak.
But that time marked a turning point in Mayhall's life and career. "My dad died that December [1970]. We were still a pretty small company," he recalls. "It was basically just my mother, me, and two or three other people. But we decided we'd try to keep it running."
As any family that has gone through this kind of loss knows, it's a crossroads. The Mayhalls managed to pull together and keep the business thriving. After expanding the building twice in the 1970s, the company only saw more growth as the years went on. Enter Dan Lenz, who would go on to become one of the brilliant minds in the pool and spa industry. His ideas on all phases of the business, from service, retail and construction through business and labor strategies, have influenced companies for decades. He joined the All Seasons team in 1987, and later became vice president, a position he holds today.
An inviting fire pit welcomes customers to the store — a location the company has occupied since 1968.
"From the beginning of my service career here, it's always been a matter of seizing opportunities," Lenz says. "I walked in the door in 1987, spoke to Doug and mentioned that I was a college student needing some money. He offered me a job breaking concrete in a nearby neighborhood, and I accepted it on the spot."
Despite being a full-time student at ISU at the time, it didn't take long for Lenz to realize where he would rather be.
"I distinctly remember one day driving to junior college, deciding to stop at a pool construction site on the way, and after I looked around a bit, I started working and never even made it to class," Lenz recounts. "This routine became common for me. I enjoyed the business so much I didn't want to go back to school."
By 1989, Lenz was running the service department and turning a former seasonal job into a full-time career. And today? The company has grown significantly with a team of 53 employees — its construction crews and technicians out on the same roads where the Mayhall family started into business 70 years ago.
ADJUSTING TO AN EVER-EVOLVING INDUSTRY
Any company that wants to survive and grow for 70 years has to stick to some basic principles. For Mayhall and Lenz, one of these basic principles is constant adjustment and improvement in order to keep up with an ever-changing business environment.
"When I started, we were building vinyl pools and would construct a few each year," Lenz says. "Most of the work was done by subcontractors for quite a while, until we began building primarily with our in-house staff in the mid-90s, transitioning from basic vinyl pools to very elaborate ones. In those days, a $25,000 vinyl-liner swimming pool was common. Whereas today, we're constructing half-million-dollar backyards."
Few business areas require as much attention as labor, and that has been a focus all along. In an industry where hiring and retaining employees can be a challenge, All Seasons has managed to find a method that works for them — hiring with personality in mind over skill set.
Enchanced product presention, like the working swimming pool above, complete with a stunning water feature, pergola and equipment pad, helps increase sales and customer engagement.
"I say all the time that we can teach people anything they need to know about pools," says Lenz, "but we can't teach them to be caring, to be thorough, to be compassionate. We look for someone you would be comfortable sending to take care of your grandmother — that type of person."
For Mayhall, this sentiment is a critical part of running the business today. "It's a lot of dedication from everybody; a lot of long, long hours," he says. "I have done this my whole life. The biggest key is having a good attitude and having great employees."
But this hasn't resulted in a loss of professionalism within the team; if anything, it has only improved over the years. By emphasizing the importance of good character, All Seasons has managed to foster a team packed with certified professionals. And All Seasons uses a revolutionary compensation system which rewards employees financially for literally every positive contribution they make to the company.
"The majority of our employees are full-time, year-round staff who can afford to put their kids through college, live in nice homes and go on vacations," Lenz shares. "It's exciting and rewarding to see these changes that have occurred over the time I've been around."
Some leading employees at All Seasons: Larry Grening, Nickki Ceh, Mallory Bjekich-Wachowski and Steve Smith.
COMPANY CULTURE
But what really drives All Seasons' success is a unique company culture, in which the company invests as much as it does in financial rewards and bonuses. As just one example, the company closes the office early one day a month for a paid, all-team event.
"Each time we achieve our monthly goals — which we have all year so far — we'll do something. For example, in the month of June, we took everyone to a golf simulator. We rented out a place from 3 to 6 p.m., and we had food, drinks and virtual golf."
By keeping everyone on the clock during the event, the employees were rewarded for participating in something entertaining with everyone — it eliminated any risks for team members, and there are essentially no downsides. Well, if you don't count the trouble of finding a space that can accommodate 50 to 55 people.
"It's not inexpensive. It's not like it breaks the bank either; it's certainly worth the money for what it does for us," Lenz says. "But it's just not easy to find something that would appeal to a lot of people that isn't going to cost us a million dollars and fits around our busy time of the year."
Doug Mayhall, chairman and CEO at All Seasons, started in the pool and spa industry when he was just six years old.
And in return, the monthly employee events come full circle. Not only do they help with company culture, but they aid sales. Lenz knows the importance of transparency with their team, and has seen the impacts of it.
"We want everybody to be able to see how things are progressing. I think that by showing our team, they can reflect on how the company is doing overall. It's the best way to make them feel that they're a part of it. And when they see that every week, we review the goals, where the projections are, and how their contributions matter to the end result."
That's really been All Seasons' secret seasoning for 70 years: keeping the team together and showing them how much they matter. As for the next 70, Mayhall has one wish for the future of All Seasons Pools & Spas: "I think we've come up with a pretty good solution over the years. We just tweak it a little bit each year to keep moving ahead. We're not trying to be the biggest or anything like that. We just want to be the best at what we're doing."
