Before I head out to take my dad to lunch I wanted to address a few items in this thread.
1. Will LDS's exist? Yes. PROVIDED they are able to adapt and not rely on old outdated methods and business practices. One area of special interest to me is independent instructors. Shutting us out only hurts them. Relying solely on "staff" instructors may work for some but in areas where there are independents it's incredibly stupid to do. I have not gotten one student from a shop. Every one I have certified was due my own efforts at advertising in some fashion such as here on SB, having my own website which is hopefully better than others, actual footwork, and now by reputation and word of mouth. I use LDS's for air fills and gear rentals. Those that work with me that is. Those who choose not to, freeze me out, or give my students a hard time do not get recommended for anything, if they even get mentioned at all.
Someone mentioned club based activities centered around a shop. In my experience this is the worst type of club to be a member. A club I was a member of locally was glad to take my dues, accept donations for prizes, and have me do a presentation or two until I began to offer my services to club members at rates that were competitive to the shop that was "associated" (read ran the club) with it. I had a few students from the club meetings I went to who began to get treated like crap by the shop when they bought gear somewhere else that the shop did not sell. I myself was promised a keyman deal by 4th element on some items but I had to go thru this shop to get it. I do not call 15% off retail keyman. Then when I was offered a chance to sell HOG and Edge Gear as an independent instructor and took it they stopped all contact with me. No more emails about club activities, meetings, etc. Funny thing is that 95% of my business is one line. I was not competing with them and frankly had no desire to. I was offering items they did not have.
It's why I am now a member of the Ohio Council of Skin and Scuba and heartily recommend and endorse them. They are made up of clubs that may have shops as members but the shops do not run the clubs and when they try they go bye bye. I am as welcome as anyone at Council events, they are greatful for my donations, and have no problem with me advertising my classes. I now work with two other shops that not only see the value in having an independent instructor affiliated with them but are really happy that I bring them business they otherwise would not see in the way of sales, air fills, and yes courses that I do not yet or never plan to offer. I toyed with the idea of starting my own club based on that model of cooperation rather than competition but don't have the time or energy to do it. Dive shop based clubs tend to be cliquish and exclude a number of people simply by their attitudes. There may be some that do not but I've yet to run into one.
2. Air fills. Rich has cited this link a couple times as sources for fills:
PHMSA - Cylinders - Authorized DOT Cylinder Retesters: Domestic .
In my area none of these provide fills of grade e or better air. They mostly only do hydros. So there is a need for a source of air fills and in this area due to it seemingly to be less than ideal for a dedicated fill station to open that means the LDS. Some divers who have connections at local fire depts may also be able to get fills there as well as a few that own compressors. I would not be able to set up a fill station and have it pay off unless I was able to offer something the LDS's do not such as fills at any time, banked nitrox cheap, or trimix. One shop in this area offers trimix but I will not deal with them for business and personal reasons. I have three shops now that will give me fills at free or reduced rates and unless I get really swamped and can afford my own compressor I will continue to use them not only for fills but to refer students for certain items of gearI can't get or don't want to carry. Even as a retailer I see the need to cooperate in that area. Someone really wants a scubapro reg or henderson wetsuit. I will tell them where to get it instead of trying to assume they are stupid and try to convince them to go in another direction.
3. Equipment sales. I carry a line I think is damn good for many reasons. That line is limited in some areas. I'm cool with that. I am now carrying a small inventory but I am not able to stock every item. So in some cases a customer may need to wait a couple extra days. I hope that my prices and service make up for that and so far they seem to. When they cannot the mfg will drop ship or I will go to one of my local shops or another on line vendor to get the item or tell my customer to go there. Not having to rely on this to make a living takes the pressure of making every sale off of me. And it allows me to better serve my customers by supporting other dealers and shops.
I deal with Piranha Dive a lot! They help me to serve my customers and I bring them business they otherwise would not see through sales to my people. Dive Right In Scuba is also a frequent place I refer people to for items I don't have. In addition I also send a great deal of business to my local shops THAT WORK WITH ME and treat me and my students/customers well. They see the value of perhaps not selling a reg to one of my students that I have sold one to but end up selling them 2 or 3 tanks, a wetsuit, and a computer that I do not carry. Again cooperation rather than competition. I also help them by offering them a place to sell items they may be overstocked on or used gear by putting it on the specials page on my website since they do not have on line shops to do this with. they sell the gear, I get a small percentage, and the customers gets what they want. Everybody wins.
4. Training. The smart LDS will use independents that can bring something new and unique to the table. Stupid ones will try to be all things to all people. They will trash other instructors and courses. They will offer specialties that they may be authorized to teach but not really experts in. I send people to those instructors that can offer them value for their money and not just a piece of plastic. I used to have three people I referred divers to for UW photo. I now have 4. Of those 2 are actually scuba instructors and two are not. All of them have been published, sold their work, and are really good at it. There are four LDS's in the area that offer an UW photo course but they do not have any track record of selling pics. But they did attend workshops that taught them how to SELL a course (to me that's selling snake oil). I don't care about UW photo so I do not even try to offer it.
5. Gear sales and training. I sell gear and training. But neither is dependent on the other. I see them as two very separate entities and try to keep them that way. If someone really wants the Mask Snorkel and Fins I sell will sell to them. But I would never try to push them on any of my students. The shop whose pool I use gets first crack at selling them personal gear and any other gear. If they still want mine the shop gets a cut of the sale out of fairness. If they buy the shops gear I get a percentage or credit towards pool time. Again most of my sales are on line. So I do not lose anything really when they buy from the shop. But I gain enormously. I get the goodwill of the owner, credit towards pool time, and/or a cut of the sale. Again everybody wins.
6. Service. I get sales and students because I try offer a higher level of personal service. I take calls and answer emails 7 days a week. I refer people to the best sources for whatever they want and don't try to pretend I can take care of their every need.
7. Manufacturer support. I get great support because the mfg I represent has a unique outlook on who he should be supporting as do a handful of others in the industry today. While his dealers and associates are necessary for him to stay in business they could not do that if the heart of the industry was not taken care of. Contrary to what many say the LDS IS NOT THE HEART OF THE INDUSTRY.
THE INDIVIDUAL DIVER IS! An LDS is nothing and little more than worthless to anyone if they do not take care of the lone diver or dive buddy pair that comes to them for service. Some manufacturers appear to deliberately make that impossible for the LDs to do. Huge initial orders, large subsequent orders, penalty like policies for ordering a special item, and Minimum Selling Prices (NOT MIMIMUM ADVERTISED PRICES) make it very hard for a small LDS to survive and thrive. Antiquated business models that do not allow the dealer to compete on a private basis such as offering a long time customer 30% off instead of the mfg DICTATED 10% are what's hurting many LDS's in this economy. To those mfg I say -"Keep it up! Your policies are great for my business!"
Finally and I have to run those shops that do not cooperate, freeze out independents, pay their staff shiite wages, use DM's as slaves and free labor, and do not provide the level of service customers expect should fail. The industry will not suffer. I see instead a rasing of the bar for quality and value. Rather than the degradation we have now of so many aspects. I have more to say but really need to get to my dad's so maybe later.
Happy New Year everyone.
