DEMA 2005 Wrap up

[JS1scuba]

Your not in competition with a conference that a dealer has to go to for the chance to win a new scooter.

I ran three seminars for Aqua Lung Apeks at DEMA introducing the new APEKS WTX tech line of products and introducing dealers to the entire line of tech products from Aqualung / Apeks / Suunto and these workshops had 25 people in them each time. Now these 90 min workshops were spread out. One at 830 am (perfect time) one at 11 and one was at 1PM --- each was full but that took effort. Fortunatley these were all established dealers who wanted to not only see the line but learn about market share, penetration, and technical diving as a whole. I would have prefered 8:30 am each day so that I could not spend my selling time in a seminar but then ...... wait ... i was selling...... for Aqualung ! (Hired consultant)

So some seminars are worth going to.

But ya know i did not see where I was going to win a free scooter. I know the Haskel guys tied up about 50 people on Friday at 3pm to give away a booster. Interesting thing was as i looked at all those waiting to win one most were industry people and not prospects who would have bought one anyway!

For USIA i would say that your approach now is to focus on consumer shows. You have your military market. There is little you can do to convert a wet-suit dive store mentality to dry suits at this point. With the 500 or so dealers you have the best thing is to support them with Consumer Show displays. Let the consumer drive the demand and no thin out the system with more dealers. The key to understanding marketing in the dive business is that there is no "new" market share. The # of suits sold each year is for the most part finite. What needs to be addressed is shelf space, displacing the other line with a more superior line.

Here in the middle of the desert we dont sell a lot of dry suits but we do our share. We show only USIA. Why? Gee that's simple. They make a GREAT suit at a GREAT value. And, they are fast and dont have "a-t-i-tood" Plus the features and options are second to none. Jerry knows that one of my very dearest friends is the founder of the "other dry suit company" and we just dont sell them. It's not personal - it's business. As a dealer we get unparalleded service from USIA. That passes down to the consumer. I think USIA needs to do a seminar for manufacturers -- " How to Provide Exceptional Customer Service to Dealers"

Now ..... can i win one of those RIB boats of yours if I attend ?

Cheers

JDS

 

[USIA]

Now ..... can i win one of those RIB boats of yours if I attend ?

I doubt I can arrange that, but I'll send you down a batch of shirts and hats.

 

[JS1scuba]

I doubt I can arrange that, but I'll send you down a batch of shirts and hats.

So Jerry, either our lives are emtpy on a sunday afternoon or we are doing customer service.

We have a charter out and i'm here with the kids..... and doing customer service ...... it just takes a little extra effort to make the difference!

Thanks

 

[Natasha]

The show floor should be open from 7 am - 7 pm IMO Conferences and "instructor updates" should be either PRE or POST dema. This may seem like a hard line but its a TRADE show not a WORKSHOP show .......

Anyway ..... my 2 cents ............

Regards,

Hi Joel:

Thanks for stopping by the ScubaBoard booth. I may not have seen you otherwise.

As you know we have seen each other at that last 4 or 5 Demas. While I agree with you, that this should be a trade show, if it wasn't also a workshop, the attendence would be so low, we would all be complaining about that.

So many of the people I talked to were there because they had to do a Course Director update, or such, and the trade part was a bonus for them.

Vegas seemed much busier to me this year then the last time we had it in Vegas. Any comments on that?

 

[ericfine50]

Joel,

You sound like you were sitting in my marketing class last week. I never understood why and LDS would say that they could get any piece of gear from any mfg. As an employee, I knew that was BS. You have your Core lines, and your accessories, and think about attracting that non-diver as well. Some shops do it better than others.

Regarding DS - There are only so many people that are going to buy a drysuit, it is a finite market. As a LDS, you need to find the best suit for your customer base. If its OS Systems, or DUI, or USIA, then go with that. If your customer bases changes - you need to listen to them.

It amazes me how many LDS do not have a business plan. Diving is a business and people need to treat it like one.

Sorry - not sure where this was going..

 

[JS1scuba]

Hi Joel:

Thanks for stopping by the ScubaBoard booth. I may not have seen you otherwise.

As you know we have seen each other at that last 4 or 5 Demas. While I agree with you, that this should be a trade show, if it wasn't also a workshop, the attendence would be so low, we would all be complaining about that.

So many of the people I talked to were there because they had to do a Course Director update, or such, and the trade part was a bonus for them.

Vegas seemed much busier to me this year then the last time we had it in Vegas. Any comments on that?

Of course Vegas was busier this year. It's VEGAS! Plus it was easier for people to get in and out of Vegas and it's a bigger draw for after show activities.

I have no problem with workshops or seminars or updates. They just need to be done during non prime time.

Cheers

 

[JS1scuba]

Joel,

You sound like you were sitting in my marketing class last week. I never understood why and LDS would say that they could get any piece of gear from any mfg. As an employee, I knew that was BS. You have your Core lines, and your accessories, and think about attracting that non-diver as well. Some shops do it better than others.

Regarding DS - There are only so many people that are going to buy a drysuit, it is a finite market. As a LDS, you need to find the best suit for your customer base. If its OS Systems, or DUI, or USIA, then go with that. If your customer bases changes - you need to listen to them.

It amazes me how many LDS do not have a business plan. Diving is a business and people need to treat it like one.

Sorry - not sure where this was going..

Eric, where you were going is down the road of understanding the needs of a professional retailer. I'm in a unique position. For the most part I have it all. A small manufacturing company, a distribution system, a retail operation, a training division, and a travel division. As a RETAILER I have the opportunity to sell ANY line that exists. There is not one that is closed off to me should i want it. We however in our PDC have embraced certain very specific lines because of the needs of our customers and the quality we as professionals want to sell. For our retail operation we embraced the Aqua Lung family of products because of warranties, quality, service, customer relationships etc. Will we add in Scuba Pro for our retail operation ? Possibly but there is no reason now to do so.

LDS has a plan .... it's called the Book of Mormon. You folks have to stop calling them Local Dive Stores ... because the way most refer to LDS it means Lousy Dive Sales .

When you refer to it as a PDC it must rise to the level of a professional center. PDCs have plans we call them business plans and customer aquisition and retention plans. But they cost money to develop and keep up. It takes research and management to make it a PDC. Anyone can have an LDS .....

OK i rambled -- back to you .....

jds

 

[mdb]

Hi Joel:
While I agree with you, that this should be a trade show, if it wasn't also a workshop, the attendence would be so low, we would all be complaining about that.

So many of the people I talked to were there because they had to do a Course Director update, or such, and the trade part was a bonus for them.

Vegas seemed much busier to me this year then the last time we had it in Vegas. Any comments on that?

Of course Vegas was a busy show, people can bring their RV'S, stay @ hotels for 69.99 eat at the buffets, etc. The show itself has evolved into travel, training, and trinkets, seminars, parties etc. A true buyers market place could do with far less attendance and a lot more buying. As pointed out by several posters the show is an expensive undertaking even with modest sized exhibits. I've been told that a healthy ratio for a trade show is 4 buyers to every exhibitor. I would think that DEMA is now the opposite of that. A true market place allows the buyer to look at all the products before they commit to large scale orders. The current industry "booking program" schedules attempt to take up all the dealers "open to buy" money before the show. It is in the best interest of the SCUBA retailer to have a buying market before they spend their hard earned money. The current DEMA show does not provide that. A nice industry party, perhaps, but not a true market place for SCUBA equipment.

 

[The Chairman]

The paradigms are changing. Travel agents are almost a thing of the past. There are still a few, but they have had to adapt to an increasingly connected consumer. They are no longer content with the canned packages that they are presented with. They would rather do the research online and even make their own connections.

It's the same with the Dive Manufacturer and LDS/PDC. It's no longer economically feasible for a mom and pop shop to make it in this business environment. Going the traditional route, they are paying more to make smaller profits. The successful entrepreneur is going to have to GET CONNECTED and stay that way. This means making buying and marketing decisions on the internet and not necessarily in person. Most of the traditional aspects of DEMA can now be accomplished online.

As it is, it seems that many retailers need an excuse to come to DEMA. If the dive professional will not make it to DEMA then we have to entice them to come. Houston was a wake up call in that respect. There was very little in Houston to draw in the average dive retailer. Add to that a few key pull outs by various manufacturers and we have a very slow show. Vegas and Orlando provide lots to do, and I imagine we will see more families come to the Orlando show because of all the attractions. While this gets people in the door, it is also a major distraction. We won't have their full attention while they are here.

However, if you can't entice them to come, you have to reach them somehow. Fuel cost is going to make airfare go sky high (pardon the pun) so traveling is becoming increasingly difficult. I think you are going to see the Internet play an increasingly large role in manufacturer to retailer communications as well as in the marketing of goods to the consumer on all levels. It's incredibly cheap, and the reach is phenomenal. Relying ONLY on print or on a trade show will put a business at a decided disadvantage now and in the coming years. Yes, the industry has been SLOW to catch on to this, but as I said in my first sentence, attitudes are changing. Instead of people rolling their eyes when I discussed advertising on the internet, I had people coming up to me instead. To say the least, I appreciated the marked change.

As executives discover the value of the internet, the value of the trade show will diminish. Add to that, exorbitant costs that seem to have little or no ROI and it appears that the Trade Shows are engraving their own epitaphs: [color=blue="What happened?" [/color]

Personally? I loved the two DEMAs that I have attended. I learned a lot about this industry and made quite a few deals. I am definitely looking forward to having the next two in my backyard, and will be paying those same exorbitant fees all over again.

 

[ericfine50]

It is sad that is has taken DEMA and some of the mfg so long to look to the internet as a tool, not a hinderence. The consumer is very smart - we/they are going to do their homework before buying an item. Gone are the days, when joe diver walked into a dive store and the line of BS from an employee was believed hook , line, and sinker. Yes - people will still go to a LDS/PDC, but the store needs to know its market, its brands, and that the customer has a clue.

Eric