“The pump is the heart of the pool”

Armin Herger has been with SPECK Pumpen since 1988 – from apprentice to managing director. Talking to poolbiz.eu, the 53-year-old explains how a shorter working week led him into the pool industry, why he now prefers persuading to giving orders, and what he would tell young people starting out in the business.

Armin, you’ve been with SPECK since 1988. How did it all begin?

I did my apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at SPECK and later added business administration through further education. I felt at home in the company from the start and gradually took on more responsibility.

But pools weren’t your field from the beginning?

Not at all. At first I was responsible for industrial pumps, mainly sprinkler pumps. Then, in 1995, came a lucky turn: the IG Metall union introduced the 35-hour week – and I wasn’t fully occupied. So I set up my first pool construction business on the side. In the early years we were very successful selling pools by Debes und Wunder. It was an exciting and, above all, very lucrative development.

What was the turning point?

We built pools within a radius of about 50 kilometres, with a few employees who fitted well into the team – often at weekends, too. People were a bit more relaxed about work-life balance back then. But I soon realised my horizon was limited. I wanted to see more of the world, get to know new companies and new people.

When I was offered the position of head of sales, including the European export market, I saw my big chance. I covered a lot of kilometres every year, by car and by plane. Eastern Europe was just opening up after the fall of the Iron Curtain – a fantastic time. We saw a lot of the world and met many wonderful people.

I’m glad I did it. Today, with a five-year-old daughter, I travel less again. It’s simply wonderful to watch your child grow up.

What’s your favourite product in the SPECK range?

Pumps, of course – and they always will be. The pool industry is a broad field. We look left and right a lot and have expanded our range with filters and smart controls. There are many exciting products – but for me, the pump is still the heart of the pool. And that’s where my heart beats, too.

“For me, the pump is still the heart of the pool. And that’s where my heart beats, too.”

– Armin Herger

How would your staff describe your leadership style?

For some, I’m surely a red rag. Basically, I used to be rather authoritarian. But with age and experience – and thanks to the colleagues around me who rein me in now and then – that has softened considerably.

When I have an idea of what works for us, I naturally try to push it through with every argument I have. But above all, I want to convince people and bring everyone along. And by the way, they aren’t staff – they’re colleagues. This approach is more sustainable, it works better – and I believe it’s the right one.

How do you handle wrong decisions or setbacks in the team?

Of course I get a bit worked up at first – that’s only normal. But I firmly believe we all make mistakes. What matters to me is that we learn from them. A mistake should only be made once, and all of us have to learn from it. If that happens and we find a better solution together, I’m quite easy to get along with.

It’s never about the individual. That’s a big theme at SPECK: we’re the big SPECK family – a team of young, experienced and creative people. They have different needs when it comes to working hours and ways of working, and they want to be seen that way. The art of the future is putting people where their strengths lie. We’re very good at that, and I’m proud to work in this young, dynamic and experienced team.

That shows from the outside, too. At events and when working with you, you notice the quality – in the team as much as in the products.

Quality isn’t just the product, it’s also communication. We had to learn there: especially in the period when we hardly saw each other in person, communication through other channels fell by the wayside. We’re catching up on that now.

For the coming years we’ve committed to two principles – with our colleagues as much as with our customers. The first is “Customer First”. The most important thing in our business isn’t our pump, our history or our quality – it’s the customer. The customer has to be satisfied.

The second is “Keep it simple”. It’s not only the product that has to be easy to use, but also complaint handling, delivery tracking – all the little things that sometimes make life difficult. If we stay on it, we’ll implement this quickly and well.

How do customers in Germany differ from those abroad?

You can’t generalise. With our various contacts and subsidiaries, our rule is: every country, every customer, every customer segment wants to be treated individually. Of course there are certain basic attitudes – we Germans tick a little differently from Italians or the French. But in the end, individual support makes the difference. There are no better or worse, friendlier or less friendly customers. We work with people, people are different – and we adapt to that.

What advice would you give young people who want to join the pool industry today?

The pool industry is very interesting. First, it’s extremely diverse. Second, despite economic ups and downs, it’s relatively stable. It grows faster or slower, partly depending on purchasing power. But there are always customers willing to spend money on health, on wellness at home and on fun.

You have to keep an eye on topics like travel and carbon neutrality. Today there are technical solutions to run a pool largely energy- and water-neutral. Energy and water consumption are falling. So even with your own pool you can keep your footprint in check without being seen as a big waster of energy and water. For many people, that’s an argument for building a pool at home.

And the best thing about this job: you make customers’ dreams come true. Who else can say that? Well, the car salesman – but he’s having a hard time at the moment. Fulfilling someone’s dream with a pool at home is fun and deeply rewarding.

And if you look at our industry: we work very hard, but we also party very hard. That’s another reason to say: this industry is exactly right for me.