Shop owners -- What value am I to you?

[TSandM]

I actually asked this question of the owner of my LDS yesterday.

We often talk here about diver retention in the sport, as though it were something desirable. But, from the point of view of a shop owner, how much good is a continuing diver? Once you've gotten past the point of the OW class and maybe AOW and a couple of specialties, bought all your gear, and settled down to active diving, you don't buy much. It's a little here and a little there, and some fills. I doubt it adds much to the bottom line of the average shop; in fact, they may spend MORE tending to their continuing divers than they regain from purchases.

So I wondered, since there are a fair number of shop owners that post here, what your view of your active diving customers is? What good are we?

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Is there any chance you business owners could give a rough idea of revenue and income derived from each group as well? (regulars vs. people who give it up after a few months?)

 

[DiveMaven]

What was the response of your LDS owner, TS&M??

 

[TSandM]

His response was that our major value was word of mouth advertising. He candidly admitted that it's the new diver, taking classes and buying all new gear, that's the bread and butter.

 

[robint]

Wow, this is a tough question. I am not a Shop Owner, but I worked at a shop for 2 yrs and this is one of the reasons I no longer work there.

An ongoing argument between me and the Owner! I believed every person who walked through the door deserved my full attention, whether a diver or not, whether buying $1000 worth of dive gear or just a bottle of defog. I was told over and over that I was wrong.... only big customers deserve my full attention. I was told that I should merely point to the location of small items from behind the counter and that was it. My feeling is that good customer service is what brings people back AFTER their first purchase. If they like you, then you have a leg up on the competition and even if they never step into the shop again, at least you gave them what they needed at that time.

I have been in lots of dive shops, and if a clerk doesn't come out from behind the counter to ask and answer questions, I don't go back. Every dive destination we go to for vacation we visit a few dive shops just to see what they have and take note of what is good and bad about the shop. I must say, most places just point...

robin

 

[DeputyDan]

Referrals

 

[battles2a5]

Once you've gotten past the point of the OW class and maybe AOW and a couple of specialties, bought all your gear, and settled down to active diving, you don't buy much. It's a little here and a little there, and some fills.

I wish that was the case! When I bought my first set of OW gear, I thought I was all set. I bought the best reg (that I knew of), a BP/W, wetsuit, fins, mask, snorkel, and a wetsuit. Whew! All done, w/ about $1k invested.

Now, I drop that much way too often on gear for diving. You always need more tanks, more regs, a new light, etc. If some told me 2 years ago that at some point I would buy new BP/W because I like the way it trims out better, I would have said they are crazy. Not anymore. Then you want a dedicated singles vs. doubles rig. It never ends. And once you acquire all this gear, you have to get your regs services, your tanks VIP'ed, and you are ALWAYS picking up tidbits, bolt snaps, etc.

I do think shops need to be smarter about retaining customers though. When you have so many options on where to buy gear and lots of really good online stores that cater to the tech crowd it becomes a tougher sell for the LDS, especially for commodity items. So I don't know. The market for seasoned, truly active divers is there if the LDS wants to go after them. But I'm sure the new, uneducated (about diving) crowd is a lot easier to serve.

 

[Trixxie]

well, I do not own the shop where I teach, but the owner likes us all to take ownership of the shop. I'm fine with that as long as I don't have to pay the vendor bills when they come in..

The lifeblood of the LDS is the customer. Of course we want everyone to continue their diving education, we always hear that a good diver is always learning. And of course we would prefer to sell you your gear rather than having you buy it off the internet, we have bills to pay just like any other company. We have trips, local and worldwide we want you to go on too, those are just good times and good memories to be made.

You are a value to me because I feel privileged to be able to teach you (or new divers) how to dive, and see the smilies on their faces when they finish their last check out dive or when they come to the store to get their C-Card. I enjoy working with them as they improve on their buoyancy skills and air consumption when we invite them back to the pool the weekend after their checkout dives or anytime we're at the pool, just to practice - no charge!!. The Students and Customers are not just numbers to me, but real people who want to dive and want to learn (I usually end up learning something myself in some way). I want to help them achieve that goal. Some of our students get their gear from us, some already have gear that they bought somewhere else. SO WHAT? I value them each the same.

The shop owner, myself and the other instructors at the shop have made many good friends and dive buddies from students and customers.

YOU are a value to me if you have an interest in diving not based on what or how much you spend in the store....

 

[akscubainst]

In my shop every customer is of huge value.

Even if you are never going to take another class, you do need fills, your gear needs service, you need parts and pieces. You'll replace gear over time hopefully from me and hopefully you are fun to just talk to.

I spend tons of time just shooting the breeze with customers who are just stopping by for air fills. Maybe every 10th time they buy something other than air but maybe on the 100th time, they replace a drysuit or BC.

I enjoy providing the service I provide. If I wanted to get rich, I wouldn't be in this industry.

Dave

 

[Cacia]

He candidly admitted that it's the new diver, taking classes and buying all new gear, that's the bread and butter.

Yea, I was guessing that. I think as an experienced diver, you do better on your own. I nver understood what was in it for me to have loyalty to one shop.
Most operators I know use their regulars to put trips together so they will be free for them.

Of course, the word of mouth thing is hard to quantify though.

oh...I'm not a shop owner, never mind.