Years ago a beginning tech student expressed dissatisfaction with his current gear. He had bought all of the gear when he got OW certified, and everything he had bought had been recommended to him by the shop where he had bought it. They told him every piece was the best you could buy, and now he was not happy with what he had. He started to tell me what he had, and I stopped him and then told him what the rest of his gear was.
He was amazed. How could I know?
Well, I was with that shop until they switched to the agency mentioned in my previous post. I talked earlier about the strategy of getting OW students to buy all their gear before finishing their OW instruction. Another part of that strategy was to identify specific gear that would be part of that purchase. You were to tell the student that each piece was the best you could buy, but the real reason for the choice was to get the maximum markup. The idea was to identify specific items that had good markups to begin with, and if you maximized the number of purchases of those items, the company would give a further dealer discount and thus increase the markup per item.
The shop had just completed identifying the specific items when I left. If I had stayed, I would have been required to purchase those specific items and wear them when I instructed, telling the students that I had selected those items because as an instructor, I wanted only the best.
He was amazed. How could I know?
Well, I was with that shop until they switched to the agency mentioned in my previous post. I talked earlier about the strategy of getting OW students to buy all their gear before finishing their OW instruction. Another part of that strategy was to identify specific gear that would be part of that purchase. You were to tell the student that each piece was the best you could buy, but the real reason for the choice was to get the maximum markup. The idea was to identify specific items that had good markups to begin with, and if you maximized the number of purchases of those items, the company would give a further dealer discount and thus increase the markup per item.
The shop had just completed identifying the specific items when I left. If I had stayed, I would have been required to purchase those specific items and wear them when I instructed, telling the students that I had selected those items because as an instructor, I wanted only the best.