The LDS of the future

[molina67]

Here is the link to the trip they were charging $250 for, if I did it on my own it's $40. Show me justification! That's the bottom line up front

https://www.manateeswimtours.com/tourb/book.html

 

[Wookie]

.....

 

[Wookie]

Here is the link to the trip they were charging $250 for, if I did it on my own it's $40. Show me justification! That's the bottom line up front

https://www.manateeswimtours.com/tourb/book.html

So, I looked online for any dive shop near you with a trip to Crystal River. Didn't see much, but then I noticed that Crystal River isn't that far from you. So I'm guessing (without knowing) that the extra $210 might include a van to the site, and perhaps a night in the hotel. What I'd really like is the link to the organizers site for a more direct comparison. Yup, it seems up front that $40 is less than $250, but what else does that $250 come with?

 

[scubadada]

I don't know . . . I think we are already seeing at least a few "LDS of the future" shops. ScubaToys is one, Dive Right In Scuba is another. Both have embraced the internet as a sales and marketing tool, and are concentrating on providing customer service that brings people back.

I would like to see dive training priced where it could be thorough and dive professionals could make reasonable money, but I have to admit that, had an OW class cost $1000 when I got certified, I would not have done it. A $275 class (plus personal gear) got me into the sport, where I have proceeded to spend a GREAT deal of money over the last six years. Not all of it benefited the original LDS, but it benefited SOMEBODY.

Where will you get your service, training, gas? Will all of these be independent of a LDS but remain easy, quick, and convenient?

 

[scubadada]

The dive shop of the future will sell equipment strictly over the internent, reducing inventory, storefront and employee costs. They will run their training as a separate cost center ... charging appropriately to maintain a profitable business. Classes will be offered via internet, with staff sufficient only for in-water work. Fills will be done by mobile fill stations that can go to where the divers are. All three of these business units can either be part of the same business, or operate independent of each other.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Mobile fill stations wherever, whenever and reliably available? I'm skeptical.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Where will you get your service, training, gas? Will all of these be independent of a LDS but remain easy, quick, and convenient?

I don't think it needs to be mutually exclusive. I have a great relationship with several local dive shops in our area. One frequently rents me pool time when I need it at very reasonable rates. Another either loans me gear or rents it to me at very low rates as needed for classes. Both shops are very successful, even in today's environment. They are, in part, because the owners don't see me ... the independent instructor ... as "competition". Instead they see me as a potential revenue source ... producing students who consistently continue diving and need to purchase equipment and services I don't offer. And because of our mutual business relationships, the chances of them getting some or all of those student's future purchases is reasonably good.

I'd like to see both of those shops continue well into the future ... and, frankly, their chances of doing so are pretty good.

Dive shops are often their own worst enemy when it comes to business transactions ... not so much because of price, but because this is an industry where people running dive businesses frequently eat their own. The dive shop of the future will be the one who doesn't see independents or online retailers as competitors so much as potential business partners ... their real competitors are other recreational activities that vie for the discretionary dollars of their customers.

Right now ... in my area ... the dive shops who are consistently doing well in a difficult environment are the ones who create an environment that welcomes partnerships, offers value-added services like free seminars on topics of interest, and seeks out mutually-beneficial partnerships with other scuba operations like independent instructors, charter businesses, and other dive shops. Those who have taken a "divide and conquer" approach, or who insist on "loyalty" from their customers are not doing so well ... I can think of a couple locally that are, frankly, on the verge of going out of business because that attitude tends to make their potential customer base go elsewhere.

The dive shop of the future ... perhaps it's the dive shop of the present who seeks out ways to make people want to do business with them in spite of all the obstacles thrown in their way. I think as long as people are spending money on scuba, those shops will always be around ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Mobile fill stations wherever, whenever and reliably available? I'm skeptical.

Depends on the locale ... it would work well at places where people dive regularly. I can think of a few in my area where such an operation could make a pretty penny every week-end.

There's a fill station at Casino Point (Catalina Island) that seems to do pretty well ... as I recall, it's run out of a trailer ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[orlandoscuba]

The LDS is never going to keep the diver who is only concerned with price. The internet shops will almost always have a cheaper price and more variety. The internet shops are already taking a big chunk of the market and they have not started trying yet. If a few of these internet shops put together and promoted an international list of independent instructors they could take the most profitable segment of the market away from the LDS. Then they just need to inform people of the many other places to get tanks filled. The last part of this process would be the availability of equipment that a diver can service himself and that has already started. The successful LDS of the future will understand that no matter how many products he carries and what the prices are he only has two things to sell, quality and service.

Being a future independent instructor I am already making a online database where people can search for instructors that are verifed with their agencies. I hope to have this site finished by febuary and will be posting Later January where instructors can signup for free.

The reason why I am doing this, I feel this will give people a chance to see that there are other options.

 

[scubadada]

I don't think it needs to be mutually exclusive. I have a great relationship with several local dive shops in our area. One frequently rents me pool time when I need it at very reasonable rates. Another either loans me gear or rents it to me at very low rates as needed for classes. Both shops are very successful, even in today's environment. They are, in part, because the owners don't see me ... the independent instructor ... as "competition". Instead they see me as a potential revenue source ... producing students who consistently continue diving and need to purchase equipment and services I don't offer. And because of our mutual business relationships, the chances of them getting some or all of those student's future purchases is reasonably good.

I'd like to see both of those shops continue well into the future ... and, frankly, their chances of doing so are pretty good.

Dive shops are often their own worst enemy when it comes to business transactions ... not so much because of price, but because this is an industry where people running dive businesses frequently eat their own. The dive shop of the future will be the one who doesn't see independents or online retailers as competitors so much as potential business partners ... their real competitors are other recreational activities that vie for the discretionary dollars of their customers.

Right now ... in my area ... the dive shops who are consistently doing well in a difficult environment are the ones who create an environment that welcomes partnerships, offers value-added services like free seminars on topics of interest, and seeks out mutually-beneficial partnerships with other scuba operations like independent instructors, charter businesses, and other dive shops. Those who have taken a "divide and conquer" approach, or who insist on "loyalty" from their customers are not doing so well ... I can think of a couple locally that are, frankly, on the verge of going out of business because that attitude tends to make their potential customer base go elsewhere.

The dive shop of the future ... perhaps it's the dive shop of the present who seeks out ways to make people want to do business with them in spite of all the obstacles thrown in their way. I think as long as people are spending money on scuba, those shops will always be around ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks Bob, very thoughtful reply.

Good diving, Craig

 

[flots am]

Being a future independent instructor I am already making a online database where people can search for instructors that are verifed with their agencies.

I'm not sure I get the point. Wouldn't it be better to just put up links to the various agencies?

How would you ever keep it up-to-date?

Terry