Operational Survey -- Dive Retailers and Discounting For retailers, the practice of discounting products and services is perhaps one of the most important areas of business consideration. In major retail operations like Sears, discounting doesn't apply at the store management level because the price is the price. At smaller independent retailers discounting is discretionary, and the way it's handled effects, either positively or negatively, sales levels, profitability and customer relations... . . . keep reading Dive Retailers and Social Media Marketing - Survey 2010 Social networking has been around as a marketing device in the dive industry for less than two years. As with everything new and novel, especially with marketing technology, questions surround the applications, effectiveness and future of the "Facebooks" and "Twitters" of today and tomorrow in the marketing of diving's business. . . . keep reading How Stable is Diving's Retail Base? Dive retail health is an important measure for the diving industry; much of the industry's business is connected there, and dive stores create most of the industry's customers. This industry has few economic gauges, including no reliable way to know how dive retailers are doing in any short-term measure, but one long-term gauge is retail stability. . . . keep reading In an Economic Downturn, How Do You Spell Relief? It Might Be 'R-E-N-E-G-O-T-I-A-T-E Y-O-U-R L-E-A-S-E' You've heeded Franklin D. Roosevelt's advice, recognizing as he did that, "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." You've already dulled your sharpest paring knife; staff is at a minimum; inventory is threadbare; marketing (hah!). Still, a graph of recent revenues shows that after they flatlined, they went over a cliff. Not so good, but hopeless? Too many tenants believe that putting their heads in the sand will solve all their problems, and they always seem to find out too late that an unflattering negotiating posture yields little value. So why not just ask your landlord for some help? Before you do, however, take a deep breath and remember that your landlord is your business partner, not your adversary. . . . keep reading Showroom Aquatics -- Considerations for an In-Store Aquarium Walk into many dive stores today and you're in kind of a typical retail environment. Customers see dive equipment, accessories, maintenance and training area, an airfill station … but we are not really selling those things. We're selling diving; both the experience and the dream. The other things follow. So what should your customers see and feel when they come into your store? . . . keep reading Operational Survey November/December 2009 -- Retail Confidence Survey... Retailers Look at This Year and Next -- The mood at dive retail The confidence survey for this year speaks for itself. In fact this survey put alongside the one in 2008 speaks for the economy, which entered the recession toward the end of 2007. The confidence survey for this year speaks for itself. In fact this survey put alongside the one in 2008 speaks for the economy, which entered the recession toward the end of 2007. . . . keep reading Retail Perspectives on Internet Competition (2009 Operational Survey) A continuing issue facing diving's retailers is the sale of dive equipment over the Internet. The Internet is basically a low-priced competitor, the same as it is for retailers everywhere, and it is here to stay. The questions are how big of a factor is it, how do retailers cope and what will it represent in the future? . . . keep reading Diving Divas: Getting Women Into Your Store and Into Diving When I began teaching (a while ago), this was definitely a sport dominated by men. I lived just outside Minneapolis, and the local newspaper ran a half-page article on me, the woman in town making a career of teaching scuba diving. I was a minority of one in the area. There are still fewer women than men in the sport, but not by so much. According to DEMA's 2006 Survey (Profile of the Most Active Divers in the U.S.: Lifestyle and Demographic Study), 34 percent of active divers are women. Surveys by our sister publication, Dive Training, indicate that women make up 40 percent of new divers. . . . keep reading Student Counts: The Most Important Numbers in Dive Retailing If a typical strip center retail store is one animal, a dive store is a different breed. Dive stores occupy an unusual place in the retail model because you don't just sell product off shelves. Dive retail is more complex. Nothing starts until customers are sold on diving, and then extensively trained to dive. It evolves into standard retail with the sale of gear, but branches off again into selling travel, taking them traveling, pumping air, and repairing gear. It's retail on steroids, where the owner and staff have to be proficient at and doing lots of different things. It's a juggling act and can't begin until the first pin is thrown into the air. . . . keep reading Is Fast Always Best? Rethinking Diver Education Recently, I've read two articles about why our industry continues to flounder in the doldrums, and both authors had a similar thesis. They laid the blame squarely on what many call the "short course." Their arguments are compelling because since the early 1980s our industry has pursued the idea of lowering barriers to entry by reducing the time and complexity of training as the panacea for our lackluster growth. Well, here we are in the 21st century, so if this idea had any merit it seems we would certainly have seen some results by now. But the reality is that diving is, at best, no better off and, at worst, even more stagnant than before the mantra to "make it easier" became the rallying cry for the majority of the industry. . . . keep reading The Four Types of Customers: Effective Selling Requires Matching Your Approach to Your Customer's Personality This article addresses different aspects of selling or, perhaps better put, different parts of the "Selling skill." This installment involves one of the most important parts of the selling skill, understanding your customers -- specifically the four different personality types -- and adapting your approach accordingly.It's probably safe to say that one of the most difficult aspects of dive retailing is selling. People have vastly different sales abilities and levels of comfort. You may be good at selling but others in your store may not be. Or it might be the other way around. Another part of the difficulty is that you can teach employees to do a lot of things; it's hard to teach someone how to sell. . . . keep reading Give Me a Sign... Signals That Your Customer is About to Buy It's probably safe to say that one of the most difficult aspects of dive retailing is selling. People have vastly different sales abilities and levels of comfort. You may be good at selling but others in your store may not be. Or it might be the other way around. In diving many of the retailers and the people who work for them consider themselves educators first, teaching diving is their primary business motivation or goal. Selling is considered a different animal. Another part of the difficulty is that you can teach employees to do a lot of things; it's harder to teach someone how to sell. Then there is the negative image that some employees might have of themselves as salespeople. If that's in your mind, selling can also be uncomfortable. We'll get into the psychological aspects of selling in a future issue. For now your job in sales is best considered and approached as the act of providing what you know people need and want. There is also the pervasive belief that either you are born a salesperson, or you're not. In fact, selling is a skill that can be developed. And in a way it's like many of the diving skills that you teach -- it can be broken down into separate parts that should be understood and can be practiced. Combining the selling skill parts should make you good at it. Articles on this site will discuss different aspects of selling or, perhaps better put, different parts of the "selling" skill. For this installment we'll start with one of the easier parts: recognizing when people are ready to buy. . . . keep reading More