What do you want or wish you had from your LDS? All good, all bad...

[WantSomeScuba?]

This may be, and probably is, the wrong place to post this. But it is as close as I can guess at. Please feel free to push it elsewhere.

Anyway, for all divers, new or experienced, what's something you wish your LDS told you, tells, you, or let's you you know about?

If you ran the perfect dive shop, in your opinion, what's important to you? What would make you loyal to a specific shop in the age of the internet and a near over-saturation of dive shops?

I don't want to beg the question by saying my shop price-matches based on online prices, but we will bend over backwards to accommodate students and their schedule, and generally offers free pool make-up sessions as long as the student is flexible. We're generally cheaper, more thorough, and more customer-service based than most of the dive shops I've ever worked at.

But what do YOU look for as a diver? Price, experience, having a shop dog to play with your when you're bored--what would your ideal shop look like? Amigos out in High Springs is pretty close to perfect in my book. 24/7 service, all day, every day, But that's tricky in Alaska, thanks to meth and heroin swinging by after hours.

What does your dive shop do good or bad that you wish you could promote or discourage? Any input here is beneficial, whether it be good or bad.

I'm open to suggestions and brainstorms. Fire em at me, and if you ever make it up this far North, feel free to swipe a free t-shirt off the rack. Practically, were trying to take care of everybody who cones through the door, even if that means sending them somewhere else. But, what's your ideal view of a LDS? What do you expect, what classifies one shop as better than another in your head? I'd love to hear your opinion.

Cheers!

Ron
Dive Alaska

 

[taimen]

Sell only gear that fits or replace it until it fits. Try to force customers try their new equipment in pool with you so that both of you will be sure their new gear fits. Give out free beer after these pool sessions if needed to make people come. In the long run, I think fitting gear is the only way you can compete against buying online. Even then, you can't beat the convenience of ordering stuff online lying on a coach.
Make sure people know they will get the best fitting drysuits from your shop. Don't sell a harness without fitting it correcly (in full dive gear).
This will make your customers enjoy their diving more and in the long run that makes them return.

 

[icechip]

What I want (and what I get) from my LDS is them being open, accessible, friendly and helpful.

 

[Wookie]

Y’all are talking about the things that a new diver wants. I’m not the most experienced diver on the board by a long shot, but I have 6,000 dives in a little over 20 years in diving. I work in the dive industry, and my wife works in a dive shop. I can’t go in a shop without buying something. Now, you show me something better than I have, I’m likely to buy one, but you still have to get me in the door. The most successful shops I’ve ever seen have a lounge area, a beer fridge (bring your own) and good conversation. If you give folks a reason to come in, they will surely spend money.

 

[Bobby]

Honesty, if you don't know say so and work to find the right answer. Be positive and don't bad mouth other shops or gear you don't carry. If you don't have it and you know another store that does, pick up the phone and call the other store for the customer. You may loose one sale however you will most likely gain a customer for life. Be nice to your customers, if they are wearing another shops shirt don't comment on it. Would a Chevy store give a customer a hard time if they came in wearing a Ford shirt? It is an opportunity to earn their business.

Only do what you can continue to do. What I mean by this is that if you give in to a pressure moment and give too big of a discount you set an expectation, in the customers mind, that you can't live up to. If your price has to be higher than explain why, such as having a brick and mortar store, customer service, etc. and be positive if the customer decides it is worth going somewhere else over price. This knife cuts both ways though, be willing to fire a customer. If a certain customer comes in, spends a lot of time with staff getting educated, then repeatedly goes online or elsewhere to save a buck, then fire them, however do it nicely and don't bad mouth them.

When two shops were not getting along, years ago, one owner bad mouthed the other every chance they had. The other owner would only say that they "wished we could all get along". I have the most respect for the second owner.

Admit mistakes and apologize. I make mistakes all the time, no matter how hard I try not to. My experience is that 99% of the people are understanding and will give you a chance, however you have to own up to the mistake, an apology goes a long way and costs you nothing.

Have a genuine interest in your customer, even if they aren't buying. I've moved around a lot and have experience with a lot of shops. I make it a point to be low key when I enter a new shop and I also only go in a shop if I have a need. I also have more gear than many of the shops that I go into. Most of the time it is a simple need such being out of aqua seal or something small like that. Most people in shops loose complete interest in me when they know I'm only looking for something simple and inexpensive. They seem more interested in selling classes and gear packages. There is a shop, in cave country, that almost always has the simple things I need, will work to find it for me if they don't, and go the extra mile for me even though I spend little money with them every year. Whenever I'm in that area that is the only shop I deal with simply because of their service regardless of how much I'm spending. Our last trip I needed neoprene cement for a quick repair and didn't have any in my save a dive kit. I drove 1.5 hours to get it from them and the first one was dried up, they didn't bat an eye, apologized, and told me to grab another one off the shelf without even asking to look at the first one. That is service.

 

[Neilwood]

I have a number of dive shops that have had my business over the two years I have dived:
1) The nearest shop which is about 30 mins away in Edinburgh. The shop is not that well laid out (you have to walk past the compressor bank with cylinders stacked around it to get to the stock), they have no web presence to speak off and I find them a bit stand-offish. The prices are also quite high, they don't have a dive school (they one they "affiliate" to is one of the most expensive I have found at about 30-50% more expensive than others).
2) The next nearest is a one man business ran out of an industrial unit - he is great to deal with but always busy. His prices are good (low overheads help) but his shop is a combination of sales/workshop.
3) Another one is in Glasgow - the only time I have been there it felt like I was only there to get my wallet opened and for them to take as much as they could out of it. Rather than sell the right thing (with a couple of days delivery time) they try to get you to buy what is there
4) Another one is in Newcastle - (not local to me as it is 2 1/2Hr drive there) has both a good on line presence (on-line shop, facebook & regular email updates) as well as being a bricks and mortar shop and dive school. They have regular nights out with staff and customers and a number of trips each year (both here and abroad). If I take the trip down and go in, I get a coffee and a chat with the staff without any pressure. If I want a purchase without making the trip down I can email them or phone them (to get advice etc) and it is with me 2 days later. If it wasn't for being busy I would be diving with them next weekend.

Look at it another way - why does it have to be LDS or internet? Take the best bits of both models and work that way. That is the way my favourite shop in Newcastle operates (as you might have guessed from my comments above). If I need gear, I will normally phone them first instead of trying the others.

As Bobby says above, don't just look at the +/- from a cost point of view. Make it worth coming for other reasons - trips, chat, coffees etc

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

A relatively large, deep (at least 16 feet), pool capable of use year round and available for customer use at least one evening a week. And since you asked, rinse tanks as well....

Jay

 

[Oldbear]

A few weeks ago we celebrated first year as a LDS owner in the Marshall Islands. We set up the Margaritaville machine, put on Jimmy's music, and served Margaritas at 5 O'Clock. Sales were good, friends were great, and everyone had a awesome time.

 

[SNS-Mike]

FWIW, I don't mind paying a little bit more to support my LDS over Amazon.

 

[txgoose]

Now, you show me something better than I have, I’m likely to buy one, but you still have to get me in the door. The most successful shops I’ve ever seen have a lounge area, a beer fridge (bring your own) and good conversation. If you give folks a reason to come in, they will surely spend money.

This!!!

Back when I considered myself a decent cyclist, we had a bike shop manager that wanted a cycling community. He brought in couches. He put stools along a bar that faced the mechanics. A geek like me could get a bike hankerin' on the drive home from work, or maybe just at a random hour on a Saturday afternoon. I could stop in the shop and gab with other cyclists there, or the mechanics, or the manager or no one. Cyclists started going and hanging out simply to be around bike stuff/people.

Benefits to the shop:
*Yeah, I bought stuff. A lot.
*The community actually formed and grew. Guess what, those other customers bought crap too.
*The shop was a stand-up place. It was common for a non-cyclist or new cyclist to be in the shop asking questions. The sales people would give their opinion and then holler at someone hanging out, "Hey, txgoose, come tell us what you think." So now this potential customer hears a story from the sales folk. Then they hear a story from the person just hanging out. The customer can asses the slightly different points of view and make a decision. BECAUSE the shop wasn't trying to con anyone, the stories usually were similar-ish and so the customer knew quickly that they weren't being sold a line of whooie from a commissioned sales person. The manager moved and it has never been the same since. I miss it.
*I learned a ton about mechanicing. I rarely bought service there anymore but I bought a crap ton of supplies from them.
*Usually after the mechanics helped me work through a new issue, I'd bring in beer right before closing. The store sold me supplies and their mechanics got a free bonus.

In reality, I don't know if our local dive population is big enough to do something equivalent. But heck, it would just be cool to feel like hanging out at the shop was encouraged. As it is now, the workshop portion is all closed off (I assume to protect the mystique of "Well this is your life support system, you better let us save you."). The sales floor for my local shop probably isn't big enough for much seating. The sale people are good. And they are passionate. But I've always felt a bit awkward after I hang around for any length of time. I am working on trim and am spending more and more time in their pool. Maybe it will come with time.