RETAILING Keeping Divers Diving by Selling the Big Three – by Jeff Cinciripino, JeffCinciripino.com, Former Owner of Scuba Shack, Rocky Hill, CT
I can remember when I was younger the big three meant the three big names in the auto industry - GM, Ford and Chrysler. Well, today we have a lot more than three big names producing cars around the world with a lot of choices.
a diver, centering around the three key pieces of equipment. With the stage set, our discussion would then be about my reasons and then addressing specifically what they would ultimately purchase and the timing. Let’s start with the practical reasons for divers to make the investment in this specific equipment. These divers have made a commitment to your shop. Most have purchased their personal gear (mask, snorkel, fins and boots), pro- cured their electronic learning, and paid their tuition for your open water class. As they progress through their train- ing, we’ve reinforced the elements of safety, comfort and confidence in the water. Having this baseline, we can now have a meaningful discussion on the value of the big three. Starting with the regulator, our open water training tells us that the most important feature of a scuba regulator is ease of breathing. There is a whole lot more information that needs to be provided. First, the scuba regulator is the most intimate piece of dive gear that we use. Owning their own regulator means that they know who was the last per-
When it comes to diving, I have an opinion on the big three. In my last article on the balanced scorecard, I introduced a KPI centered around selling the big three - a regulator, the buoyancy compensator and the dive computer. Let’s drill down a little more on this idea. As dive professionals and dive retailers we all inevitably get the question from our students and customers about what piece of dive gear should they buy first. There are many different opinions on this topic with valid reasoning. Over time, I crafted my answer. I would tell my students and customers that I really couldn’t tell them what they should buy first but I could tell them what they need to be
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