Tell Dive Store Owners How You Feel

[jbomb001]

hmmm
its a shame that so many folks have had such poor luck with their shops i have had no such issue with mine i got my ow there and bought all my gear online and not one person gave me crap there for doing so they even tested my regs and bc for me for no charge. i get most of my fills there and it only takes a few min for an air fill 24hr for a mix of any kind i have sense taken four other classes there and i do do all my gear shoping there now being that they do sell top notch gear and treat there customers great
only complaint i have is they are not open on SUNDAY cumon get with it this is a service industry i and lots of other divers are off on sunday not wed at 8 am

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've been thinking about this thread and trying to really think what would realistically make a shop better taking into account their constraints and what it takes to run a shop and what they're up against.
I guess there is not really too much they can do about MSRP. Maybe they can shave off a little for a better customer. They could initiate some sort of member discount card or for a customer that spends a certain amount in a month or quarter they could give discounts as incentive to keep them loyal.
I understand the argument that they can't always match internet prices. I know that certain companies hold them to MAP prices and if they want to keep selling the stuff they cant deviate from the pricing structure.
They are only going to get a certain amount of local business. If they drop their prices (on the stuff they can) to match online pricing they may not necessarily gain enough local business to make up for the discounted prices. In fact they will probably lose money in the long run. They would never be able to match those prices when they take into account something like sales tax, which here is now between 8 and 9 percent and at one point almost 10 percent.

What they need to do is set themselves apart from every other LDS.
Some ways they could do that would be to follow the internet and get interested in the going trends as sfar as what people are using.
I'm seeing stuff on the internet now that dive shops don't even have a clue about. They need to get clued in.
Some of the new light technology is one thing.
BP/W (regardless where you stand on the issue) is another phenomenon that is here to stay and something they will need to reckon with.
I like to see some oddball and interesting gear that I don't see everywhere.
They need to move forward in time and break lose from the frozen past and the generic state they are in now. The way it is now in 99% of the shops I walk into is there is nothing in there that sparks my interest. For a beginner they are great because they have nothing so everything is new.
I could walk into any shop in California and all I see is the same stuff hanging on the walls. They are either an Aqualung shop or a Scubapro shop. Some others are unaffiliated and carry a few things like Oceanic and then some off brand stuff to fill their line. All of them are about the same in price at full MSRP. The fin display is mostly all the latest split fins and a few paddles. The mask display is pretty general.
The wetsuits are all generic with no options.
Regs are all full bore prices. The BC's all look the same to me, there's about 5 or 6 models out and they are all overstuffed weight integrated units either Aqualung or SP. That's just the way it is.
So if all shops are going to subscribe to the same retail model then they will have to do something more in addition to stand above the rest.

For veterans it takes more than that. They need atmosphere and an environment that welcomes them and gives them a place of interest.
Some of that is how active the shop is in the community.
People like shops that put on dives and have clubs, not just a place that takes your money and doesn't want you there if you don't spend any.
I like to be greeted with a smile and asked honestly "Hey! how have you been, been diving lately, tell me about it?".
People also like staff that actually dives. In some shops the staff dives very little or not at all anymore.
For once I would like to walk into a local shop and have one of the staff tell me a bout a great local dive site that I never considered.

If an LDS wants to be successful despite not being able or willing to get around MSRP then they need to do something different, because what they're doing now isn't working.

 

[yarik83]

A lot of people already covered basic consumer needs so it is a bit more challenging not to repeat what others said. So IN ADDITION to what others said here are some of my other notes:


#1 Aspiring divers know as much about dive agencies as most people know about astrophysics. They do not know which agency is better because they do not know that there are agencies. To them its like learning to drive the car. There is only one way. What should be VERY apparent, however is that for already certified folks...dive shop asks "what agency were you certified with" before leading them on a 15 minute conversation only to tell customer their needs can not be met because we do not support that agency.


#2 I strongly feel that education is very very weak. I honestly do. Diving is a responsibility and most dive shops I have been to do not emphasize that enough. You would not believe how many times I heard stories of a brand new certified diver doing an advanced open water dive. No new diver should be allowed beyond 60 feet until they have at least 20 open water dives under belt. No diver should be allowed to dive to 140 feet unless they have at least 50 60-90 feet dives logged and stamped. Likewise no new diver should be allowed to dive in caverns beyond level of their training. In other words for all the gun hoe people... their wings need to be CLIPPED until they develop dive maturity.


#3 The only store I felt comfortable walking into was Divers Direct. It was big, had lots of things and 10 or so store assistants who were very knowledgeble about gear. Every single dive shop I have been to that does not have on-site diving... (ie Devil's Den, Blue Grotto)... always tries to make you feel very guilty about not buying gear in THEIR store. My patronage extends to limits of my patience level. I do not want to be guilt tripped into buying anything at any time anywhere.


#4 It is absolutely shameful that dive shops constantly run out of gear. I can see how you may not have a fancy shmancy cave dive reel or a pony bottle bracket whatchamacallit... but when you run out of masks.... Every little store I have been to almost always runs out of masks especially if they have purge. MAYBE instead of stocking 20 ISI single window masks your dive shop should carry good old purge mask collection... perhaps?!


#5 DO NOT sell anything BUT scuba equipment. I am not walking into sports authority or dicks sporting goods. If I wanted to shop for a cross section of different stuff... I would go there first.


#6 An employee that always complains about store being busy. Do not tell me that you are having a difficult time. We all have problems. Most people have real problems like solving multimillion dollar contracts or risking lives at work. If your store is empty 90% of the time and busy 10% of the time do not complain that you are overwhelmed.


#7 I want every person in the store capable of making decisions. I do not want to wait for someone so that you could get permission to do something like negotiate on the price. You work there... you should be allowed to negotiate.


#8 We all dread getting our equipment serviced. If I walk into your shop on Friday and come back next Friday and my gear has not moved an inch... I will be very upset. If I come back a week after that and my gear still sits where I last saw it... trust me I will be pissed. If 3 weeks later you finally service my gear and screw it up... I will be taking my business elsewhere.


#9 It should be an easy concept. Why does it take IMMEDIATELY to get my fills at the dock and it takes a week to get fills done at your dive shop. I want my fills now... not next week. Only exception is if I drop them off on Friday and we all go diving on Saturday. But by Saturday I expect YOU the dive organizer to fill all tanks. Do not stiff me on nitrox fills either. What is this iffy 29% fill? If I paid for a 32% then I want to get as close to... If I paid for a 36% then I definitely want to get as close to.


#10 I do not want to hear a peep... not one peep about you trashing other dive stores or guilt tripping people over buying online. Do not... even for one second... mention that you can order something from the catalogue. If I wanted to buy something you do not have... I would have ordered it from the internet. Besides... by ordering from the catalogue you will charge me more than it would cost me to order it myself so shush be gone with your catalogue. There is no requirement in the industry that dive gear and dive training should be sold in one place. If you get a new diver who purchased gear elsewhere walk into your store seeking training... do not you dare not even for one second deny them classes.


And finally... I always measure dive shop success by their come back ratio. If 90% of your customers never dive with your dive shop... there is probably a very good reason why and it is not them so do the math.

 

[FlyingSquid]

Trace,

Those are great questions!

I can answer number 1 and 6 in spite of very little experience because I see it as a general principle of relationship-based long-term sales of anything, that any business should have in mind.

I prefer stores where employees put the client's needs before the drive to sell. Where they ask questions to understand what the client needs, inform, and suggest just that, even if the products have the lowest margins, and even if the suggestion is for the client to shop somewhere else. Excellent, reliable salespeople are simply excellent, reliable procurement advisors. Then, if they are partners with some agency or not, I don't care.

Also, the combination of instructors who don't sell equipment and sales shop that don't instruct makes less room for twisted incentives.