Choosing a Local Dive Shop

[boulderjohn]

I am certified with NAUI, PADI, and SSI. I’ve also instructed for PADI and SSI. I’ve never felt pressured to buy gear or to push students to buy gear.

It ultimately comes down to the decision of the owner of the individual shop. The agency can't force anything, but it can certainly recommend it.

The dive shop where I worked 11 years ago had someone come in and do a week-long workshop on scuba marketing. I still have the workshop materials. He made a bunch of recommendations designed to increase the bottom line, some of which I will summarize here. His goal was to get the shop to switch to his dive agency, and when they did switch, they implemented each of the strategies I am describing below. His name was Doug McNeese, President and (then) sole owner of SSI.

• Identify specific models of gear (fins, wetsuits, BCDs, regulators, computers) on which to focus sales efforts. The more you sell of a specific model, the greater the discount you get from the maker, thus increasing your markup. My shop identified Aqualung Slingshot fins, Seaquest Balance BCDs, Atomic regulators, Atomic SS1 alternate air sources, Suunto Cobra III computers, and Henderson wetsuits, and all instructors and retail employees were to do everything they could to steer customers to those specific products.
• Instructors were to purchase (at a discount) the above products and use them whenever they were in the presence of customers, telling them that as instructors, they demand only the best, and they had personally decided that those items were the best. This was the shop's "scuba uniform," which he likened to the uniform a McDonald's emoployee would be required to wear. As a tech diver, I did not want any of those items, and everything I did use when diving could be purchased through the shop and was on display, but I could not say that. When I complained about being required to lie, I was told it wasn't lying, because those were all good items, so it was OK for customers to buy them. (The logic escaped me.)
• Instructors were to use a variety of techniques to get students to make gear purchases before they were done with (or, better yet, before they started) confined water training. A friend of mine was let go after years as an instructor because his students were not buying gear.
• There was a host of other more subtle ways to get customers to buy what was wanted; I could add many more bullets.

I quit before having to do all that.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

[*]Instructors were to purchase (at a discount) the above products and use them whenever they were in the presence of customers,

This has been a requirement at the shops where I've taught and appears to be at virtually all other shops in my area.

Instructors are to be walking billboards.

Nothing unique here.

 

[boulderjohn]

This has been a requirement at the shops where I've taught and appears to be at virtually all other shops in my area.

Instructors are to be walking billboards.

Nothing unique here.

It was a big change for that shop.

In the pool, we used to use the same rental gear the students had, and there was no pretense that it was what we used in our personal diving. During the OW class, I took the students around the shop to show them different kinds of gear and describing the pros and cons of each. For example, I showed them jacket BCDs, back inflate BCDs, and BP/Ws, explaining to them why I personally preferred the BP/W.

Under the new philosophy, that was not allowed. If I had stayed, I would have had to tell them that I preferred the gear they had forced me to purchase and used it in my personal diving, and that would have been a flat out lie. There are not many fins I would hate more then the Aqualung Slingshots I would have had to buy and promote.

I have no problem with the idea that an instructor use gear the store sells. When I became the tech instructor for the shop I went to next, the owner decided that he would make Hollis the store's tech brand, since they were already selling Oceanic. Fine. I became a Hollis billboard, and that was OK with me. If they had had several tech brands, I could have had my choice, but they just had Hollis. That is very different from telling me that I must use specific models and lie to my students by telling them that I had selected those models personally, even though the real reason was that it had the biggest profit margin for the shop.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@boulderjohn

As you said here: Post-pandemic comeback? Not yet! The dive industry is still crashing.

Once again, it all comes down to the shop level to control things. If the shop owner has no incentive to do the right thing, then the right thing will not be done.

I won't accuse you of agency bashing here. All of what you describe from SSI is basically marketing practices spelled out. There is nothing new here. I can't speak about percentages, but I see many dive shops being run by someone that loves diving, but don't have a strong business background. SSI here is acting like a business consultant.

Now from a number of posts I have made, there is no "best" this or that, as it depends on criteria. In my area, the most commonly used fins are Hollis F1s and ScubaPro Jetfins. Are they the best? Not for the tropical diver in Guam who doesn't wear any exposure protection as they will be foot heavy guaranteed. But for round bottomed steel twinset drysuit divers who need heavy fins, they certainly fit the bill, hence their use.

I have seen those practices being put in place in every shop I've taught. I was scolded by one shop owner for steering people towards Shearwater, despite their dominance in the area, reputation, customer service, it was what the customer wanted, for the reason that Shearwaters didn't have the same margin as some other POS that he was trying to sell (which I wouldn't have used even if it was free).

From your quote that is italicized above, I agree that a lack of ethnics is a problem with dive shops. This is a human nature problem, and I don't see that getting fixed anytime soon. Ever really.

 

[boulderjohn]

I won't accuse you of agency bashing here.

Of course, not, because it is not agency bashing.

Agency bashing is when you make vague, fact-free attacks that appeal to emotions rather than reason.

• Agency ABCD is only out to get your money.
• Agency ABCD is leading a continuous spiral to the bottom.
• Agency ABCD keeps dumbing down instruction.

It is perfectly permissable to discuss agency actions by citing specific facts and policies. For example, in recent months I have made a number of critical comments on the way PADI teaches the CESA. I cited specific policies and spelled out what I thought was wrong with them.

In this thread, I spoke of precise recommendations made by their leader, Doug McNeese. I described their intent. I explained specifically why I objected to them.

You say they are all standard. I have never seen them anywhere else. The shop I was in when they changed did not do anything like that before they switched to SSI. The shop I was in later did not do anything like it even after they switched to SSI.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Of course, not, because it is not agency bashing.

Agency bashing is when you make vague, fact-free attacks that appeal to emotions rather than reason.

• Agency ABCD is only out to get your money.

That is the tone of your commentary though. "That evil agency SSI is giving marketing/business practice advice to get your money!"

How is that different from any business?

 

[Pressurehead]

"No Names No Court-martial", I did see this with a local dive shop some years ago when they changed to [let's call it xyz], as boulderjohn posted above.

In the pool, we used to use the same rental gear the students had, and there was no pretense that it was what we used in our personal diving. During the OW class, I took the students around the shop to show them different kinds of gear and describing the pros and cons of each. For example, I showed them jacket BCDs, back inflate BCDs, and BP/Ws, explaining to them why I personally preferred the BP/W.

I did not crossover to xyz , and stayed with the Agency I was teaching with at the time, and I have crossed over twice.

I did a dive trip with their "club" [named after a metal] not long ago, and 2 of us stood out like the proverbial as not 'club members', we made the trip as they were short on numbers and are on their mailing list.
All the same brand of fins, all the same brand of regulator, same brand of BCDs, etc, etc, Clones.
So the model worked, but not for me.

 

[boulderjohn]

That is the tone of your commentary though. "That evil agency SSI is giving marketing/business practice advice to get your money!"

No, I just wrote facts. You made the interpretation of those facts yourself.

 

[Pressurehead]

The "Club" rules:
MAINTAINING/ RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP

1. TO MAINTAIN/ RENEW YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP YOU MUST ONLY USE REGULATORS, BCs, INFORMATION SYSTEM*, WETSUITS AND DRYSUITS PURCHASED AT ***** ***** AT THE RRP ALL YEAR ROUND.

*A COMPUTER IS MANDATORY TO PURCHASE. HOWEVER, IF YOU CHOOSE TO PURCHASE GAUGES OR A TRANSMITTER, IT IS A REQUIREMENT TO PURCHASE THESE THROUGH ***** ***** AT THE RRP.

THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS FOR EQUIPMENT THAT WAS GIVEN TO YOU AS A PRESENT, YOU FOUND OR YOU’VE HAD BEFORE YOU JOINED THE "Metal" CLUB.

THE ABOVE IS STRICTLY NON-NEGOTIABLE.

And required courses per years 1,2,3,4 and 5, and the list goes on!!

Names changed to * and Metal

PM me if you want the full list.

 

[Polarorbit]

The "Club" rules:
MAINTAINING/ RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP

1. TO MAINTAIN/ RENEW YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP YOU MUST ONLY USE REGULATORS, BCs, INFORMATION SYSTEM*, WETSUITS AND DRYSUITS PURCHASED AT ***** ***** AT THE RRP ALL YEAR ROUND.

*A COMPUTER IS MANDATORY TO PURCHASE. HOWEVER, IF YOU CHOOSE TO PURCHASE GAUGES OR A TRANSMITTER, IT IS A REQUIREMENT TO PURCHASE THESE THROUGH ***** ***** AT THE RRP.

THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS FOR EQUIPMENT THAT WAS GIVEN TO YOU AS A PRESENT, YOU FOUND OR YOU’VE HAD BEFORE YOU JOINED THE "Metal" CLUB.

THE ABOVE IS STRICTLY NON-NEGOTIABLE.

And required courses per years 1,2,3,4 and 5, and the list goes on!!

Names changed to * and Metal

PM me if you want the full list.

I would have gone elsewhere too.