RETAILING continued
for dive travel by attending shows. Many dive retailers rely on wholesale travel packages for dive trips, but may know little about the destination, the staff, or other tour opportunities outside of the package. At shows or other events where destinations or travel companies are present, you can establish contacts who can provide you with additional information that you can use to enhance your future group trips to these areas and create a “Wow” factor that will make your trip stand out. Author Gil Zeimer, of ScubaStoryteller.com, said he checks out the booths and presentations at events to discover potential future dive trips, but that business owners should also network to expand their contact list and create long- term alliances with companies that are a great fit for their business. Besides dive trips, these alliances can also be focused on creating projects or activities that will create opportunities for diver participation and community involvement, such as beach or waterway clean-up events. Your contact could be an association, organization, or government entity that sends out a press release about the clean-up event, co-sponsored by “XYZ Dive Center,” that not only gives your customers an excuse to go diving (and gear/tank rental and sales opportunities
at your dive center), but also a chance to meet and win over other area divers that participate in the event or even community volunteers who observe the divers and think that scuba diving might be a fun sport to take up. And who is there to explain classes? You are. Jeff Cinciripino, Diving Equipment Marketing Association (DEMA) Board member and former owner of Scuba Shack dive center in Rocky Hill, CT, said his dive business was always involved in local dive clubs and their events such as setting up a heated tent during the area’s annual New Year’s Day dive event and serving hot chocolate to participants and donating prizes for the event raffle. Part of his networking plan included giving presentations at local dive clubs and area dive shows, like conducting a “dive computer workshop” at the Boston Sea Rovers show that attracted a lot of divers who weren’t his current customers. “We also networked with the community by doing several coral reef awareness classes at local high schools,” said Cinciripino and those events gen- erated interest among the students about becoming scuba divers. “If you aren’t active in your local community, then you aren’t a player,” said Richard Thomas who owns two locations
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