On holidays and promotional weekends, the hot tubs at Leisure World Pools and Spas do not stay quietly in the showroom.
Instead, employees move them outdoors and line them up along the South Burlington, Vt., property, sometimes stretching the display from the building to the road. Ahead of Labor Day weekend, President Tod Bessery was preparing to do it again, with more than a dozen spas packaged and waiting outside.
Every car that passes gets the message: Leisure World is open, stocked and very much in the hot tub business.
“You can’t just sit back and wait for people to think about buying a hot tub,” Bessery says. “You have to look like you’re in business and put the idea in front of them.”
That philosophy has guided Leisure World for decades. Selling hot tubs starts with making sure customers see them — and making the dealership difficult to overlook.
Tod Bessery, president, and Eric Bessery, field-customer care, share a laugh at the front counter.
A HOT TUB STORE, TOO
Leisure World Pools and Spas began selling hot tubs in 1982, well before spas became a major part of the backyard market.
The real acceleration, Bessery remembers, didn’t come until the mid to late 1990s, when portable spas became increasingly common on decks and on patios. By then, Leisure World was already displaying them in numbers.
“We were showing at least 25 spas on the floor,” Bessery says.
That kind of inventory required a substantial investment, particularly for a seasonal Vermont business, but it also established hot tubs as a core part of Leisure World rather than an add-on to its pool operation.
Today, approximately 30 hot tubs occupy the showroom floor. Sundance Spas is among the dealership’s primary lines, alongside its private-label Athletic Spa line, which offers compact, hard-to-find sizes suited for home gyms, small porches and other tight spaces.
The mix, Bessery says, is changing.
“What am I seeing from today’s consumer? Price has moved to the front of the conversation,” he says. “Right now, it’s all about price.”
Higher-priced spas have become more difficult to move in his market, particularly models above $15,000. The roughly $5,000 to $8,000 range, meanwhile, has emerged as something of a sweet spot.
So Bessery has adjusted how Leisure World buys.
Instead of tying up capital in one premium spa that could remain on the floor for months, Bessery can put that same money toward several moderately priced units — and potentially reach more customers in the process.
“We don’t need to sell expensive spas,” he says. “We can still make money at the lower price points.”
Bessery views the slowdown as something dealers have to adapt to, not fear.
“I don’t think we all should be afraid of the slowdown,” he says. “I think we all knew it was coming.”
The bigger challenge, he says, is getting people shopping again.
“We just need to get buyers through the doors,” Bessery says. “We will sell them a hot tub — we have every price they need, every size they need. We just need to be able to get them in the door.”
PUTTING THE PRODUCT OUT THERE
Creating that traffic has meant trying a little bit of everything.
Leisure World has increased its social media activity, uses Facebook Marketplace and sends flash-sale promotions through Constant Contact. Behind much of that effort is Milli, Bessery’s future daughter-in-law, whom he credits as the creative force behind the company’s social media content. Bessery also keeps a close eye on the company’s website, which changes frequently and prominently includes pricing.
He does not understand why more spa dealers do not do the same.
“If I want to buy a boat or a camper, I want to know how much it is,” he says. “Shoppers have to go everywhere just to get the price. It’s like pulling teeth.”
Leisure World has also returned to radio, although Bessery no longer sees much value in advertising there yearround. Concentrated campaigns, he says, can still work. In some cases, the dealership has paid for that advertising with inventory instead of cash. After one season left Leisure World with a few odd-size aboveground pools, the company traded them to local radio stations, which auctioned the pools to listeners in exchange for advertising.
“It’s a win-win for both of us,” Bessery says.
Hot tubs have found their way into other local businesses, too.
Leisure World has placed a smaller spa inside a bike shop and another inside a credit union, where it can remain on display for a few months before being picked up or swapped out. The credit union can promote personal loans for purchases such as pools and spas, while Leisure World gets its product in front of another group of potential buyers.
Years ago, Leisure World took the idea even further. The company mounted a fiberglass pool sideways on a specially braced trailer and drove it around town as a moving billboard.
“You have to show the product,” Bessery says.
Eventually, the company decided the mobile pool might be pushing it. The hot tubs by the road, however, are staying put.
WHEN THE DOOR OPENS, IT’S SHOWTIME
The sales experience starts the moment a customer walks into the showroom. Bessery has visited pool and spa stores in other states without being greeted, and he has sent shoppers into competing dealerships where employees struggled to answer basic questions.
“It’s good for me,” he says. “But it’s discouraging for the industry.”
At Leisure World, Bessery expects something different. “When customers hit that door, it’s showtime.”
New employees are not immediately handed spa sales. They spend time alongside experienced staff, listening to customer conversations and watching the sales process before gradually taking on more responsibility. Bessery’s nephews, for example, have expressed interest in selling hot tubs and have shadowed both him and his son Chris.
Occasionally, Bessery puts them — and other members of the family — on the spot.
“I’ll tell them to sell me a tub, and do some roleplay,” he says. “They have to know their stuff.”
Bessery also wants to know what is happening throughout the dealership. Bells throughout the building signal when a customer pulls in, while 13 cameras help him and his family monitor activity around the property and showroom. He calls it keeping a “finger on the pulse” of the business.
There is plenty happening at once.
“You could be talking to someone who wants a $150,000 inground pool one minute and then turn around and sell a $10 bag of shock or a $4 O-ring,” Bessery says. “Then you have a whole family coming in on their one day off to shop for an aboveground pool.”
That constant awareness comes with a cost.
“It’s exhausting,” Bessery says.
Chris Bessery, pictured above, serves as general manager and is taking on more responsibility as he prepares to eventually lead the family business.
THE SALE IS THE BEGINNING
For Leisure World, selling the hot tub is only the start.
A hot tub sale includes full delivery and setup, followed by what the dealership calls “spa school.” Before the team leaves, customers are shown how the equipment works, how to program the spa and what they need to know to operate it.
From there, the relationship continues.
Leisure World services virtually any brand of hot tub, not just the products it sells.
“We don’t know how to say no,” Bessery jokes.
Supporting that level of service requires an investment in both parts and people. The dealership keeps a substantial inventory of spa parts on hand, and lead hot tub service technician Eric has worked with Bessery for more than three decades.
In Vermont, service does not stop when temperatures fall.
Technicians head into the field with heaters and tents when necessary. Residential customers may call when something breaks and expect service within a day or two, while others have Leisure World professionally winterize and reopen their spas to reduce the risk of freeze damage.
Ski resorts, condominium communities and vacation properties add another layer to the business. Leisure World makes regular winter deliveries to ski resorts and repairs spas at properties where day-to-day care may fall to an onsite management company.
That can complicate a service call. A chemistry mistake made onsite, for example, can damage equipment — and the resulting problem may still land in Leisure World’s hands.
The dealership also works to keep residential spa owners connected between service calls. Leisure World contacts customers regularly and offers local delivery on qualifying purchases of chemicals and supplies.
The reason is simple: Amazon exists.
“If you don’t go the extra mile, they’re gonna buy it on Amazon,” Bessery says. “It’s not the consumer’s fault. It’s just how we’re all trained now.”
For Leisure World, competing with that convenience means offering some of its own — while remaining the place customers can call when they need more than a box delivered to the doorstep.
Tod and Elaine Bessery, pictured outside Leisure World Pools and Spas in South Burlington, Vt., beside their own 10-by-16-foot Champlain Plunge Pool design.
LEARNING THE BUSINESS EARLY
Bessery learned that kind of commitment long before he was president.
His parents, Raymond and Linda Bessery, founded Leisure World in 1970, when residential swimming pools were still relatively new to Vermont. Raymond had been involved in several businesses, and Bessery says no one expected the seasonal pool operation to become the one that endured.
It did.
Tod was still a child when his father died, leaving his mother to lead the company. By his teenage years, he was opening and closing pools, learning equipment and spending much of his time at Leisure World. Later, he would do college homework there between customers.
Bessery describes his mother as funny, formidable and unwilling to be pushed around, especially at a time when a woman running a business could still surprise customers and salesmen.
One story has clearly survived the decades.
A salesman once walked into Linda’s office while she was on the phone and made an unwelcome comment about her having a “bad hair day.”
She pointed her pencil toward the door.
“Out, out, out.”
Bessery laughs retelling it.
“She was funny, but then she led with an iron fist.”
Tod says his own management style has softened over the years. He listens more, works more collaboratively and has learned to give people room to grow.
That has become especially important as the next generation takes on more responsibility at Leisure World.
A SEAT AT THE TABLE
Chris Bessery has worked in the family business for roughly 17 years, beginning when he was just a teenager.
Tod makes no attempt to polish those early years into a perfect succession story.
There were growing pains. Chris quit. He was fired. He came back. But over time, he learned the business by doing it.
Today, Chris sells spas, follows up with customers and can also strap on a tool belt, get into a truck and repair something himself. If a customer needs a chemical delivery or a small repair and nobody else can get there quickly enough, Bessery says his son will often handle it on his way to or from work.
That combination of sales and service is important to Tod. So is something seemingly much smaller. Chris had previously worked from a desk in the showroom, where Tod thought there were too many distractions. Eventually, Tod decided he needed an office of his own. So he gave him his.
The effect was almost immediate.
“He grew up immensely,” Bessery says. “And I did not go far.”
Today, Tod’s desk is a roughly 30-inch round plastic outdoor table nearby. He says he could get something nicer. He doesn’t want to.
The original idea was to spend less time behind a desk and instead float through the operation, helping wherever he was needed. But staying close to Chris has created another benefit. His son hears how he handles customer calls, can ask questions throughout the day and gets guidance in real time.
“I think if I just would have put him in the office and vanished, what good would that have done?” Bessery says.
Tod is not at the dealership yearround. He spends part of the year at his home in coastal North Carolina, operating remotely during the off-season while Chris handles the day-to-day operation in Vermont. In that sense, Chris is already getting stretches of time to lead without his father physically beside him.
For now, though, Tod and Elaine continue to run the business while supporting Chris, with Elaine handling all of the company’s office administration. There is no artificial finish line attached to the transition.
And perhaps that fits Leisure World.
For all of Bessery’s talk around business operations, much of his approach comes back to being present: putting the spas where people can see them, having knowledgeable employees ready when customers walk through the door and sending technicians into the field when someone needs help.
The same goes for the next generation.
Tod gave his son the office. Then he pulled up a plastic table and stayed close.
