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Jason Hughes, co-owner of River Pools, a nationally recognized installer, is now manufacturing his own brand.
Photo by Corey Miller
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River Pools Videographer Patrick Willard and Cristian Shirilla, Host of River Pools’ Youtube series “Two Minutes in the Pool” and “How Fiberglass Pools are Made” work on their next episode.
Photo by Corey Miller
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Lazareth Tschantre trims excess fiberglass and prepares pool for shipping.
Photo by Corey Miller
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Samuel Gaskins presses resin into woven fiberglass strengthening the pools’ structure.
Photo by Corey Miller
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The finished product. A Williamsburg couple enjoys this turn key project by River Pools featuring a 32’ model from their D-Series.
Surely you know the Field of Dreams was the setting for the 1989 film starring Kevin Costner as a struggling Iowa farmer who hears a voice that tells him, “If you build it, he will come.” After he builds a baseball field amid his corn fields, the ghosts of great players to include disgraced famed ballplayer “Shoeless” Joe Jackson come to play baseball.
But let’s face it. If you’re surrounded by corn fields on a summer day that feels like you’re being baked, roasted and seared in a convection oven, would you rather play baseball or take a dip in not one, or even two or three for that matter, but four tantalizingly cool and refreshing in-ground fiberglass swimming pools?
You’ll take the pools, you say? That’s what we thought. And what the folks at River Pools on Selftown Road think as well with their four pools on prominent display at their headquarters and manufacturing plant amid the corn fields. The pools serve double duty for customers to see the real thing and for employees and their families to enjoy a perk of employment.
While Field of Dreams was a hit on the big screen, River Pools fills millions of smaller screens on computers, laptops and smartphones, not to mention the top of online search engines, with its “2 Minutes in the Pool” marketing videos. The consumer education videos have moved River Pools to a leading position in the in-ground pool industry by answering customers’ questions. Even Cristian Shirilla, a Northern Neck native and River Pools’ marketing manager who joined the company in April 2017, remembers being amazed by the company’s success with its revolutionary marketing strategy and quality products and customer service.
“I just couldn’t believe this much was happening behind the corn fields in Warsaw,” he said.
In the last 12 months, River Pools has had 2.5 million visitors to its website. “It’s all education,” Shirilla said. “The consumer is finding value in everything we write and film.”
River Pools was founded in 2001 by homebuilder Jim Spiess and Jason Hughes, who was working for Spiess. The two were building homes before deciding to enter the pool business. Since then, River Pools has become a nationwide distributor of in-ground pools manufactured at its facility in Warsaw.
After starting their pool business, Hughes and Spiess soon opened a retail store in Warsaw. To run it they hired Marcus Sheridan, a recent college graduate who had returned to the Northern Neck looking for work. Within six months Sheridan became a partner with Hughes and Spiess.
By 2008, River Pools was thriving, selling hundreds of hot tubs, above-ground pools and fiberglass pools across the Northern Neck and in metropolitan Richmond. But the Great Recession hit them hard that year and nearly wiped them out, with bankruptcy a serious threat.
“They literally were within hours of having to close the business,” Shirilla said.
That’s when Hughes, Spiess and Sheridan made two critical decisions that shepherded them through economic straits and gained them fame and credibility in the industry and with customers. They decided to focus on building high-quality fiberglass pools and they prioritized internet marketing.
Their internet marketing strategy revolved around honesty, educating the customer and answering their questions in a sort of “If they ask you answer” moment.
By 2013, River Pools’ remarkable rebound and successful marketing that drew millions of people to their website and blog and social media posts attracted the attention of national media. River Pools was featured in The New York Times, with Sheridan interviewed Q&A style in an article titled, “A
Revolutionary Marketing Strategy: Answer Customers’ Questions.”
Sheridan was quoted as saying businesses don’t get great search results because they don’t want to give answers.
“So, I realized that if I was willing to answer all these questions that people have about fiberglass pools, we might have a chance to pull this out,” Sheridan told the Times.
Fast forward to summer 2019. Sheridan is no longer involved in day-to-day business at River Pools. He’s a sales and marketing guru who writes books and conducts workshops and is a sought-after speaker. The company is rolling—growing revenue and ranked among the top 50 pool building companies for sales and customer service in America —after making what Hughes describes as a “leap of faith” in 2013 by taking its fiberglass pool manufacturing in-house.
River Pools installs pools throughout eastern Virginia and southern Maryland and now manufactures 24 pools of varying shapes, styles, lengths, widths, and depths. River Pools also has tanning ledge and spa add-ons, and even eight different fiberglass pool colors ranging from the standard deep “Maya Blue” to a sandy “Sandstone Shimmer.” This year, River Pools added franchises in Knoxville and Salt Lake City to its nationwide network of authorized dealers.
“We’ve hit some speed bumps along the way,” Hughes said.But speed bumps are a part of any entrepreneurial undertaking. River Pools leaders learn from each speed bump and they’ve never diminished River Pools’ drive to be a leader in the industry.
“We’re passionate about what we do,” Hughes said. “Our product is really gaining market share and we’re positioned as a thought leader in the in-ground pool segment.”
For Hughes, the River Pools journey is much more than succeeding in business. He points to River Pools’ mission statement posted on its office wall: bringing joy to families, providing the opportunity for financial peace for all team members, improving the swimming pool industry and making a positive difference in their community and world.
The company has 55 workers in Warsaw in a rural region where good jobs can be scarce.
“We’ve got great people and we believe in them,” Hughes said. “If you can empower someone, they’ll take ownership.”
Hughes said another of River Pools’ goals is to bring integrity to the industry. River Pools is focused on bringing respectability to the industry by focusing on the customer and building a good product, he said.
For prospective River Pools customers, something to keep in mind is that fall and winter are the best time to buy a swimming pool, Hughes said. “It gives the customer plenty of time to have the pool installed and still have landscaping and other peripheral items completed and ready to open the pool in the spring. The biggest mistake people often make is waiting until March or April to begin the buying process. By then pool companies have already filled their schedule.”
Shirilla, for one, is sold on River Pools. “It’s a fantastic, family-oriented company to work for,” he said.
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