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Marcus Sheridan Named Among HG HomeClub’s 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living

By HG HomeClub October 4, 2026 12 min read

The Founder of Marcus Sheridan International and Co-Founder of River Pools is recognized for turning a near-bankruptcy at his own swimming pool company into a content marketing framework now used by more than 100,000 businesses worldwide, for a bestselling book The New York Times credited with earning him the title “web marketing guru,” and for building a digital marketing agency out of the very method that saved his own company.

HG HomeClub has named Marcus Sheridan, Founder of Marcus Sheridan International, Inc. and Co-Founder of River Pools and Spas, to its list of the 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living.

The list, published by HG HomeClub, recognizes 25 leaders who are shaping these three industries in the right way. It spans manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades. It is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical ranking, because the leaders on it exercise influence in fundamentally different ways, and comparing a keynote stage to a distribution network, or a franchise system to a product platform, would flatten what makes each of them consequential.

Sheridan earns his place on it as the rare figure whose influence started with a single small business in crisis and expanded into a framework now used across the trades. He co-founded River Pools and Spas in 2001, straight out of college, in Warsaw, Virginia, a town of roughly 1,400 people. By his own account in his most recent book, the philosophy he developed to save that company has since touched more than 100,000 businesses worldwide, and River Pools itself has grown from three people into a national brand with 26 locations and the most-visited swimming pool website in the world.

Those are the numbers. The story starts at a kitchen table in 2009, with a business that was about to fail.

A Fiberglass Pool Company Built by Three Friends

Sheridan and two partners started a fiberglass swimming pool installation company in Virginia in 2001, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on traditional advertising to keep it growing. The business took off, but it depended entirely on a housing market that was about to collapse.

The Recession That Nearly Ended River Pools

When the real estate crash hit in 2008, Sheridan very nearly lost the company entirely. By his own telling, two consultants told him to file for bankruptcy, clients were canceling contracts, and the company had no marketing budget left to generate new leads. “We were in huge trouble,” Sheridan has said. “We didn’t have any leads coming in, we didn’t have any marketing dollars, and we were very, very close to going out of business. I thought honestly, we were going to go out of business.”

Why He Started Answering Every Question, Including the Ones About Price

In March 2009, rather than retreat, Sheridan sat down and brainstormed every question he had ever been asked about pools, then began addressing them thoroughly and transparently on the company website through articles and video, pricing, competitor comparisons, problems with pools, and every other uncomfortable topic most businesses avoid publishing. He even published an article listing his five biggest competitors without including River Pools on the list, reasoning that prospects had already found those competitors through search anyway. That single pricing article, the one everyone told him not to publish, went on to generate more than $35 million in revenue. Within a year, River Pools became the number one swimming pool website in the world, not just in Virginia.

The Framework Took a Name: They Ask, You Answer

Sheridan distilled the approach into a four-word philosophy: They Ask, You Answer. “If you can’t explain it, if you can’t answer the questions, it’s no good,” Sheridan has said of the underlying principle. Word of the turnaround spread through the marketing world, and The New York Times labeled him a “web marketing guru” for the achievement, a designation that has followed him through his subsequent speaking and consulting career.

Turning a Survival Story Into a National Bestseller

Sheridan’s first book, They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer, published in January 2017, was rated the number one marketing book to read that year by Mashable and listed by Forbes as one of “11 Marketing Books Every CMO Should Read.” A revised edition followed in 2019, and by his own account the book has since sold a couple hundred thousand copies and been translated into multiple languages. He followed it with The Visual Sale, a guide to using video to drive sales and marketing, and in 2025 published Endless Customers: A Proven System to Build Trust, Drive Sales, and Become the Market Leader, a national bestseller and Economist Best Book of 2025 So Far selection that expands the original framework to account for AI’s growing role in the buyer’s journey.

From a Personal Blog to a Digital Marketing Agency

As River Pools recovered, Sheridan‘s own writing about the turnaround started attracting attention from other business owners who wanted him to teach them the same approach. That interest grew into The Sales Lion, a sales and marketing consultancy, which merged with the agency IMPACT in early 2018, building what has become one of the most successful digital sales and marketing agencies in the country. Sheridan remains an owner and partner at IMPACT, which today employs roughly 70 people helping companies worldwide implement the They Ask, You Answer methodology.

A Case Study Taught Far Beyond His Own Industry

River Pools’ turnaround has become a fixture of marketing education well beyond the pool industry, featured in multiple books, publications and university case studies around the world. Sheridan has carried that teaching role directly onto the stage as well, giving more than 70 global keynotes annually through Marcus Sheridan International, Inc. for organizations including Cisco, Microsoft, eBay, Whirlpool and Discover Card, and has been recognized as the #1 LinkedIn Voice for Entrepreneurship.

Why Does Marcus Sheridan Belong Among the 25 Most Influential Leaders in These Industries?

Influence in these industries takes several forms. Some leaders influence through a keynote stage or a book. Some through a franchise system that creates business owners. Some through a distribution network, a software platform, or the price of a pallet.

Marcus Sheridan influences through a single idea, born out of desperation at a kitchen table, that has since reshaped how tens of thousands of home services and home improvement businesses talk to their customers online. He took a fiberglass pool company on the brink of bankruptcy and, by answering every uncomfortable question his competitors avoided, built the most-visited swimming pool website in the world, then turned that survival story into a bestselling framework, a national speaking career and a digital marketing agency serving businesses across the trades. That combination of operator’s proof and teacher’s reach is exactly the kind of influence this list was created to recognize.

About HG HomeClub

HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services and outdoor living industries. Created to champion media back to its original purpose of informed transparency, HG HomeClub curates the top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations across the industry and presents them in one consolidated, easily consumable destination, helping both homeowners and professionals make better-informed decisions. More information is available at hghomeclub.com.

About Marcus Sheridan

Marcus Sheridan, based in Virginia, is the founder of Marcus Sheridan International, Inc., a global keynote speaking company, and co-founder of River Pools and Spas, the fiberglass pool company whose 2008 turnaround became the foundation of his They Ask, You Answer methodology. He is a partner and owner at IMPACT, the digital sales and marketing agency formed through the 2018 merger of his consultancy, The Sales Lion, and the author of They Ask, You Answer, The Visual Sale, and Endless Customers. More information is available at marcussheridan.com.

The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living

Presented alphabetically. There is no numerical ranking; each leader is recognized for influence exercised in a distinct way.

Frequently Asked Questions About Marcus Sheridan and This Recognition

  1. What is HG HomeClub, and what is this list?

HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services, and outdoor living industries. It was created to return media to its original purpose of informed transparency, curating the industry’s top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations in one place for both homeowners and professionals. The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living is one of HG HomeClub’s editorial rankings, recognizing the people shaping these industries in the right way across manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades.

  1. Is the list ranked from one to 25?

No. The list is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical order. The leaders recognized exercise influence in genuinely different ways, through enterprise scale, growth, product innovation, franchising, capital, authorship, keynote stages, advocacy and media, and HG HomeClub declined to impose a hierarchy on work that is not comparable. Every leader on the list is recognized equally.

  1. Who is Marcus Sheridan?

Marcus Sheridan is the founder of Marcus Sheridan International, Inc., a global keynote speaking company, and co-founder of River Pools and Spas, which he started with two partners in 2001. After nearly losing the company during the 2008 financial crisis, he developed the “They Ask, You Answer” content marketing framework, which has since been credited with saving the business and earned him the designation “web marketing guru” from The New York Times.

 

  1. Why was Marcus Sheridan selected for this list?

Because he turned a near-bankruptcy at his own pool company into a content marketing framework now used by more than 100,000 businesses worldwide, wrote a series of bestselling books documenting the methodology, built a national speaking career giving more than 70 keynotes annually, and co-built a digital marketing agency, IMPACT, that helps companies across the trades implement the same approach.

  1. What is the “They Ask, You Answer” framework?

They Ask, You Answer is a content marketing philosophy Sheridan developed in 2009, built on the principle of transparently and thoroughly answering every question a customer might have, including uncomfortable topics like pricing and direct competitor comparisons, through articles and video on a company’s own website. Applying the approach at River Pools took the company from near-bankruptcy to the most-visited swimming pool website in the world within about a year.

  1. What books has Marcus Sheridan written?

Sheridan is the author of They Ask, You Answer, published in January 2017 and revised in 2019, which has sold a couple hundred thousand copies and been translated into multiple languages; The Visual Sale, focused on using video in sales and marketing; and Endless Customers, published in 2025, a national bestseller that expands his original framework to address AI’s growing role in the buyer’s journey.

  1. What is IMPACT, and what is Marcus Sheridan’s role there?

IMPACT is a digital sales and marketing agency formed in early 2018 when The Sales Lion, the consultancy Sheridan built to teach the They Ask, You Answer methodology to other businesses, merged with the agency Impact. Sheridan remains an owner and partner at IMPACT, which employs roughly 70 people helping companies worldwide implement the methodology.

  1. How large is River Pools and Spas today?

River Pools and Spas has grown from a three-person startup founded in 2001 into a national brand with 26 locations and the most-visited swimming pool website in the world, expanding over the years into manufacturing with dealers across the country. Sheridan remains a co-founder and partner in the business.

  1. What recognition has Marcus Sheridan received as a speaker and author?

Sheridan has been named the #1 LinkedIn Voice for Entrepreneurship, delivers more than 70 global keynotes annually through Marcus Sheridan International, Inc. for organizations including Cisco, Microsoft, eBay, Whirlpool and Discover Card, and has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur, among other major publications. The River Pools turnaround story has also been featured in multiple books, publications and university case studies around the world.

About HG HomeClub

HG Homeclub is the premier source for home improvement industry intelligence, covering the leaders, innovations, and strategic developments shaping the future of residential and commercial building markets. Our analysis helps industry professionals understand the forces driving transformation across the home improvement ecosystem.

This analysis reflects HG Homeclub's perspective on industry developments and is based on publicly available information. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from expectations.

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