That is a rhetorical question. The answer is, of course, most definitely yes. Most “dive professionals” (I use that term very loosely) are absolutely fucking horrible at any form of communication, follow-up or follow through. Your average 12-year old kid selling pre-mixed minute maid lemonade at a cardboard stand for 50 cents has more business sense and integrity than most dive shop owners and instructors.
This post is not geared towards a specific vendor, business or instructor although there are plenty of specific examples that I could name and badmouth. I’ll save that for another post. This is merely just a generic rant about the state of communication and professionalism in the dive industry. An absolute pet peeve of mine is lack of communication, email or telephone. Literally almost any response will satisfy me even if it’s a simple no.
Not acknowledging or returning phone calls or emails means I will never buy from you or recommend you. I know you probably don’t care but I will also make sure to tell everyone that you suck at communication and not recommend your shop/business/etc. I realize I am a single individual and I’m not going to make or break your business but at the same time I often use small orders as a sort of litmus test before I place a larger order or spent more money with someone. If you can’t be bothered to help me with a small order then why would I bother spending even more money with you? My wife thinks I am ridiculous but why would I reward someone for bad behavior?
Perhaps it’s in my petty nature but if anyone asks me about your business I will make sure to explicitly tell them that your communication is poor and recommend they do not to business with you because of my experience. To be clear, I’m not going to go around badmouthing or trashing you unsolicited but if someone asks me for advice I will make my opinion loud and known.
I truly feel like my expectations are not really that high. Typically I email someone or I leave a voicemail when they don’t answer. It’s not like I expect an instant reply either but maybe 3 to 5 business days later a response would be nice. I feel I am always super polite. I am not a jerk nor am I demanding. I am not asking for a discount or anything free. Even a reply couple weeks later is still a win in my book. I realize people are busy and they get sidetracked.
Am I just expecting too much here?
I would say it’s amazing how these people stay in business but I know most of them are ticking timebombs of Chapter 11s before they burn out, go bankrupt, or move onto another more gullible industry that they can suck at or hobby they can do equally poorly while pretending to play “industry professional.”
Honestly, even if the response was “I am sorry I do not have XYZ item in-stock” or “I’m sorry I am not available those dates” would do a lot to satisfy my communication requirement than a complete lack of response. Also – I don’t know the answer, I don’t have or sell that product, or I am not available earns a lot more respect to me than a lack of response.
I feel like the dive industry in general is extraordinarily bad at communication. Lots of people get into the diving industry because they love scuba. Unfortunately that does not make them very smart or savvy business people.
I recently had a conversation with a somewhat popular instructor friend of mine and they said that half the reason they have so many students is because the perspective student told them “you are the only one that answered my email or returned my call.” This is also a reason why certain online dive retail stores are super popular. They actually answer emails/phone calls, have good customer service and have actual real inventory in-stock! What a novel concept! A business that actually has products and answers emails. What an amazing business model!
My humble request to anyone in the dive industry – Do better.
Maybe you don’t need or want new business. That is completely fine but that may not always be the case. A simple $100 order or product inquiry could turn into a $3000 or $10,000 order in the future. A simple inquiry regarding class availability or scheduling could turn into thousands of dollars in future classes or lots of new perspective student referrals. Something to consider maybe?
Rant over..
HI, michael, how are you? Michael, I read your article carefully and I feel sorry, man, that you have such a bad experience. But I must say, that my experience dealing with two local and two out-of-state dive shops, was always positive (in regards of responding to any inquiries) every time I call, text or send an email, I always got a response, and most of the time, within the same day. Cheers
Hi Timur, It’s not every business but there are a lot of them unfortunately. I personally try to support any dive business that returns my calls or emails. I will purposely go out of my way to buy from them if I have a good experience.