Think outside the box....

[Genesis]

Ok....

There are dive shop owners, including Mike, who argue that those of us who buy from LP and DiveInn are helping the SPs and Aqualungs of the world force down the training bar and generally destroy the state of the art.

To which I say, "hogwash!"

When faced with a barrel of lemons, what 'ya gonna do Mike?

Add some sugar, squeeze, and make lemonade!

Mike, you say you can't service SP and other brands of regs because your insurance prohibits it - but you CAN get parts.

Well, so what?

Why not do to the guy down the street what he's trying to do to you - but be more effective and trash HIS business!

How?

Here's a free idea....

Go on over to Peterbilt and order up a set of the special tools for each of the popular regulator types, plus a few of the common ones that cross brands (e.g. the inline poppet adjuster and IP gauges)

Now order up a few copies of Vance Harlow's book on reg repair.

Next, order up some parts kits for the various regulators - or at least get the channel open so you can get them when you need them on short notice.

Now become "Taylor Rental Center" for scuba gear, plus the "Autozone" for the parts and Vance's book - just like Autozone sells Chilton's and Clymer's manuals!

Blow apart the LIE that servicing these things is HARD or COMPLEX. You and I both know that its not Mike.

Why do this?

A bunch of reasons;

1. You can make a nice buck off renting the specialized tools. Just like Taylor does for the post-hole digger for your fence posts.

2. You make a decent profit on the parts kits.

3. You DESTROY the other guy's value in his "captive markup", and suddenly, he has nothing left to sell on to the local marketplace. His hardware business all departs for LP and DiveInn! You yank the rug out from under the price-fixing model - decisevely and with finality. It WILL collapse if this tactic was to catch on nationally, because without dealer support it simply can't survive.

4. Your promotional material simply shows the economics of the deal. Examples are simple to come up with, and would pretty conclusively show that the economics work for the average diver. Even better, you can easily make the case that "nobody cares more about your reg working right than YOU - CERTAINLY not some guy getting paid $15/hour! Fix your OWN, check it in the pool before you go. No shop tech will take your place on the bottom in 100' of water if HE screws up!" Nothing like the truth to underline your point!

5. If you can teach an "equipment maintenance" course now under your insurance, teach it and make it a REAL maintenance course. Buttressed with the access to the tools and parts, your customers are now INFORMED consumers, you have a captive audience for the tool rentals and parts sales, and you avoid the insurance issue of working on "non-dealership" hardware.

Best of all, you stop the other guys in town from debasing your training value, since their ability to sell hardware at double LP's price is completely destroyed. Their argument about warranties and the other scare tactics now are met with laughs and "the bird" rather than somber extractions of the VISA card by their prospective customers - at least among those who YOUR marketing materials have reached....

As word of mouth spreads, nobody around you (probably including you) will sell hardware. So? You will sell what you WANT to sell, which is training, and at its actual value in the market. You will make an honest profit retailing parts and renting tools.

Finally, your clients will know that they're not being bamboozled.

When it comes to loyalty, it will have been earned.

Something to think about....

 

[notabob]

that would send this idea down the drain popped into my head when I read it. I could be completely wrong about this, I'm no expert, but it just jumped out at me in my head when I read it.

Insurance

It may be pretty hard to get under these conditions. Think of the liability involved in teaching someone to service a reg, that reg failing, the diver getting hurt or worse, them or theirs going after the poor guy that taught the unfortunate diver to service their own reg in the 1st place.

-Roman.

 

[Genesis]

the "equipment maintenance" specialty courses from being taught now.

The rental of the tools and parts sales shouldn't even show up on the radar. Autozone sells brake parts, and Taylor will rent you darn near anything.

I don't see the issue here, unless your insurance currently barfs on the "equipment maintenance" speciality course - if it DOES, then omit it.

Harlow's book (and access to the parts and tools) is, quite frankly, all you really need if you have a moderate level of intelligence.

 

[Jarhead]

notabob once bubbled...

Insurance

-Roman.

Insurance is only half the problem. The other half is:

LAWYERS trying to get the insurance money.

 

[Butch103]

I understand Geneisi's thoughts and ideas...so where is the flaw....????....Not being a LDS owner, where are the liabilities to his idea?? I am sure there is something out there to screw up the idea....Or is it just not practicle ????:boom:

 

[Jarhead]

Butch103 once bubbled...
I understand Geneisi's thoughts and ideas...so where is the flaw....????....Not being a LDS owner, where are the liabilities to his idea?? I am sure there is something out there to screw up the idea....Or is it just not practicle ????:boom:

If you sell someone a cup of hot coffee and they spill it in their lap, IT'S YOUR FAULT. Ask McDonald's.

 

[Scubaroo]

Isn't sourcing the parts kits the brickwall that prevents a lot of people servicing their own regs? The only online source for Apeks parts I knew of (DiveInn) dried up. If I can strip and rebuild a Datsun engine (admittedly, the same one three times but I was a crazy 18yo driver back then), I'm thinking a regulator wouldn't be much of a challenge with the right tools.

 

[Genesis]

they'd take care of the supply problem

They seem to be able to do so with all the hardware... anything that drives their volume - and the prospect of them tossing many other LDSs cookies on hardware sales would be a big one for them - would certainly be an incentive.

 

[joens]

In this country there is no law against going to the local Auto Zone or whatever and buying any part for your car .also buying or renting any tool you need .regardless of your ability as a mechanic .doing so does not impact your car insurance nor does it make the parts store liable if you perform a faulty repair and wreck into a school bus as a result. rebuilding a reg is much easier than repairing automobiles .I know ,I do both .I would never allow anyone other than myself to repair my regs .If I cant get parts I will use regs I can get parts for . I think the retailers and the manufacturers have the right to expect divers to take training to rebuild thier gear but they have the responsibility to offer that training and make parts available .

joens

 

[MikeFerrara]

Interesting idea. The potential liability hitch would be selling parts. I would be selling parts for regs I can't sell and nobody is authorized to sell the parts. Parts are not sold period. I can sell the book and rent the tools but the parts would clearly fall under the list of things that the insurance company forbids. BTW, I don't consider the insurance company my freing either.

We do teach an equipment class and in the class I am required by standards to tell students that the class does not qualify them to fix their regs.

The repair classes offered by manufacturers are a joke. Most of the time the sales rep takes one sample of the product line apart and puts it back together. Maybe they let you do it if there is time. They deliver the repair manual and give you a certificate stating that you are an authorized tech.

I teach more about how equipment functions in my class but I'm not allowed to tell students that.