Michael Kaufman: The Driving Force Behind ProTuff Products’ Success Story

Our correspondent, Daniel Bloom, sat down with Michal Kaufman, the founder of ProTuff Products. Here’s how the conversation unfolded.

We thank Kaufman for sparing some time to discuss ProTuff Products.

1. How did creating a pool cleaning equipment company come to your mind?

ProTuff Products was borne out of frustration with the lack of quality and service within the pool category. Too many companies are simply asking Chinese manufacturers to produce the least expensive product possible to convert durable goods into consumable goods that must be replaced every season.

I don’t like being treated that way, and I know most pool owners feel the same way. So, I decided to do something about it by offering professional-grade tools to the residential pool market with an exceptional warranty and even better service.

It seemed highly likely to me that there were many pool owners who would be willing to pay a premium for products they could count on to perform and a company they could count on to support them when they had a problem.

It turns out, I was right. To date, since 2014, we’ve sold our unlimited free replacement pool cleaning tools to nearly a quarter million customers and have an Amazon 5-star rating for nearly all of them.

2. When did you start the company?

ProTuff Products was founded in 2014.

3. Where are you now? I mean how many workforces are there? How many outlets are there?

At present, we still sell primarily on Amazon.com, although this year will mark a shift toward selling a much greater portion of our products through our corporate website and through retail, brick-and-mortar locations. We have 5 full-time company employees, using Amazon order fulfillment in order to maintain a streamlined workforce.

4. Are you operating in just one state in the whole country or in the whole world?

We currently sell to all of North America.

5. How do you operate? Is it a physical order or online order can also be booked?

All of our orders are currently taken online. We do not have any physical locations.

6. If an online order can also be placed, how do you operate this? Like what is the process of delivery?

Virtually all of our online orders are placed through Amazon.com. We will shift toward funneling more of our sales through our website this year, but, still, the majority of our orders will be shipped from an Amazon FBA warehouse, keeping delivery times down.

7. Why did you choose the place for this purpose? Is it due to your permanent residency or there is any specific reason for establishing the business at this place?

We chose to operate primarily on Amazon up till this point, simply because we had minimal resources to start, and this was the most efficient way to reach as many people as possible with the least amount of investment capital.

8. What are your next five-to-ten-year plans regarding the business?

We anticipate doubling our company sales over the next 12 months with the introduction of half a dozen new products and accessories to our current products, in addition to better inventory availability, a move into brick-and-mortar retail, and a greater push to market the brand off-Amazon via social media and other channels.

Beyond that, there is significant room for expansion into Spain, Australia, and a number of other countries, as well as greater penetration of the commercial user market. We also intend to begin offering a line of pool chemicals and testing tools under our PoolPur sub-brand.

9. What about the pool cleaning industry in the country, region, and the specific place where you are located? Is it thriving or there is much competition?

Many new swimming pools were installed over the course of the Covid pandemic. Those pools are not going anywhere. So, the industry, as a whole, in the USA, has grown significantly. But, most brands selling to pool owners are still offering low-quality items with little to no support.

10. What is the advice for competing in the Pool Cleaning Industry?

My recommendation to anyone looking to compete in this industry is to start thinking differently. Instead of continuing to participate in this “race to the bottom” where everyone is sacrificing quality and service at the altar of lower prices, try catering to the growing subset of pool owners who are sick and tired of replacing their pool tools every single season. Give them something better, with regard to products AND service, and they will be loyal to your brand in ways you can’t imagine.

You can derive questions from this if you have any in mind.

11. How can ProTuff actually afford the terribly high expense related to maintaining such an incredible, unlimited free replacement, warranty?

On the one hand, maintaining such a warranty and providing an outstanding level of service to our customers can be quite costly. BUT, there ARE ways to minimize the expense, and streamline the process for customers and employees alike, and you CAN charge premium prices for such an offering if you market it right and you don’t waiver on your commitment.

First, the more liberal you are with your warranty, the less time and expense that is associated with actually fulfilling the warranty promise. If you don’t force customers to jump through hoops, then you don’t expend as much company resources on setting up and enforcing those hoops. Believe it or not, that saves a lot of time.

We, essentially, honor every single warranty claim — no proof, pictures, explanation, or evidence required (just an order ID), and that is not without its expense. But that also means we can completely automate the warranty registration and claims process for 95% of our customers. That saves a lot of man-hours with regard to back-and-forth customer exchanges and verification of warranty claim details.

We approved about 5,000 warranty claims last year (over 97% of those filed), and we estimate that our automation of the process saved us an average of 20 minutes per claim. That’s a savings of nearly 1700 man-hours in a single year. If you pay a high-quality customer service rep $10 — $15/hour, that’s a savings of $17 — $25K per year right there.

That ALSO means that customers saved all of that time as well. Most warranty claims take a customer no more than a couple minutes to file (even less time if they’ve already registered themselves in our system). Think of just how appreciative our customers are when they realize they have to explain NOTHING, talk to nobody, and spend no more than a couple minutes of their own time to receive a completely free replacement item a couple days later?

Do you think that, maybe, they’ll want to buy other products from us? Do you think that, maybe, they’ll want to buy every single product that we sell? Do you think that, given such an uncommonly positive experience, our customers will be particularly enthused about leaving us a 5-star review EVERYWHERE they can? If so, you’d be right on all counts.

Our customers LOVE us. They will bend over backward to help us — because they know that we’ll bend over backward to help them. That generates an incredible amount of goodwill and referrals (all free sales that we didn’t have to spend advertising dollars on). How much does that save on the marketing side? A LOT!

Such a warranty also forces you to think outside the box when it comes to product development. You become more sustainable as a company, by necessity. You see if you sell a product that is intended to fail in a year or two, with no warranty coverage, so that you can sell another cheap widget all over again, you don’t worry about designing with sustainability in mind.

But, if the cost of replacing the item falls on YOU, you start looking for ways to reduce that expense, and the best way to do so is to design in a more “modular” way and with durability in mind. You figure out which parts tend to fail soonest, and you design them better and stronger so that they last longer.

You also design the product so that you can replace smaller parts, instead of replacing the entire unit. Not only does this reduce the trash that ends up in the landfills, but it also also reduces the cost of warranty claims fulfillment. Parts cost less, and they are smaller, so there is less shipping cost (AND, a reduced carbon footprint associated with each shipment).

Designing your products with greater quality and in such a modular way could save you tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in warranty claims fulfillment.

So, how about pricing? There is STILL a cost associated with such a high claim approval/fulfillment rate. How do you account for it? You charge a higher price, of course. Listen, there is a certain subset of customers that will ALWAYS buy the lower-priced product, but that is NOT your customer if you decide to offer a warranty like this.

YOUR customer is the one who recognizes and evaluates ROI for every purchase they make, and they are perfectly willing to spend more for a product that makes their life easier. Moreover, if you can make their life easier AND have a positive impact on the environment (with less landfill waste and a lower carbon footprint), that’s worth even more to that customer.

So, if you build better features into your product, build it in a more durable way, design it in a more modular way, and market the “whole package” properly, you can often sell your product for 3–5X what the competition is selling for.

What does that mean? Greater profit margins. Thus, you can make more money on fewer transactions, meaning, fewer customers to take care of. So, whatever amount of time you were spending on customer service previously, if you have half the customers, you can devote twice as much time and care to each customer with no additional expense to you. Or, more realistically, you can give each customer 50% more time and attention at a LOWER cost to you, raising profits even further.

Are you starting to see how these snowballs, if you’re willing to look at the big picture and focus on the long-term viability of your brand as opposed to the short-term profits that are generated by cheap, crappy, disposable products and crappy customer service?

There’s even an additional bonus that I haven’t even discussed, which applies to MANY industries (sometimes for different reasons). A large percentage of your customers will never take advantage of your generous warranty. And, even the ones that do, oftentimes, will feel guilty about making a claim on multiple occasions. Eventually, they’ll just buy the item again, simply because they like your company so much and feel bad about “taking advantage” of your generosity. This happens MUCH more frequently than you might think.

Part of the reason is that you’re dealing with a higher-quality customer. Let’s face it, a customer who purchases in a rational manner, paying attention to the full ROI of their purchase, tends to be a very honest and responsible individual who truly values integrity and quality. That type of person tends not to want to take advantage of anyone, especially someone (or some company) that has treated them so well. That kind of person will eventually order again just simply to support your company and what you’re doing.

But, back to that idea of certain industries and certain types of products having an advantage over others. If you are selling in an industry like fitness, where people tend to make commitments to start regularly working out, and they purchase products to help them do that, you’ve got a golden opportunity. They fully INTEND to work out numerous times per week for years to come. So, when they purchase your unlimited free replacement item, they assuredly expect to receive many replacements over the years, which will justify the premium price they choose to pay.

However, we all know that, unfortunately, a very high percentage of those customers will store those fitness items in a closet within about 4 weeks of purchasing them, and will never take them out again. How many replacements do you think you’re going to send that customer? Exactly. Zero.

It sounds terrible, but it’s the nature of that industry (and many others), and there is little you can do about it. Moreover, you have no way of knowing which customers will be the ones that stick with it and which ones won’t. You can even do everything within your power to try and help your customers “stay the course”, because, of course, we want all of them to lead healthier, happier lives. But, in the end, no matter what you do, a large percentage will stop working out and will cost you nothing with regard to warranty claims.

Fortunately, on the bright side, not only does that protect your profit margins, but it also leaves you with a great many more resources to support your “other” customers (the ones that DO stick with it) with a level of service they have NEVER seen before from any other company.

It is THOSE customers that will end up being your brand ambassadors and will leave glowing reviews everywhere they go. “This company replaced my Strength Widget after 7 years, no questions asked, and they had it on my doorstep 2 days later. I don’t care what they sell, I want it, and you should too!” That is, literally, the type of review we receive every single day for every single one of our products on Amazon, and you could too, if you offered quality and service like we offer.

And remember, these people are leaving these glowing reviews for a product that they paid MANY TIMES more for. The price doesn’t matter to them. The quality, the convenience, and the service DO. Nail that and they’ll pay, almost, any price you want to charge.