Following up on my Alpenglühen: Industry Pro-Forms post, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the whole deal.
The idea of a local rep who rides on the same mountains showing off the latest and greatest from company XYZ is rather out-dated. The number of times I've actually run into a specific company rep on the mountain in the last five years can be counted on one hand. I'm fine with this position disappearing with one caveat; ensure that your authorized retailers have a full line of demo skis (models and sizes) for use. I'm not sure if all local reps do this, but when I was looking at purchasing Volkl's a few seasons ago, the local rep not only knew the skis very very well, but more importantly knew who had them locally (and who to ask about for second opinions). This made a huge difference in my decision to buy anything. This will put more overhead on the ski shops but potentially return the sales to them as well.
In my mind, ending the Pro-Form system as a whole isn't the best idea. As employees on the mountain, the management constantly encourages us engage the customers throughout the day, especially as we directly deal with customers. Often this involves riding a lift as a single with a group of other riders for the day, helping fallen riders, or cleaning up some of the trails. Since a lift ride can be long and boring, it's more fun to talk about something; the riding for the day, or the equipment someone is using. I've never considered myself a sales person for the gear, more an ambassador of the mountain, but I've had on numerous times been quizzed on my gear and my preferences. I've even seen the results of such recommendations, a student or rider coming back days later to complain or thank me for a recommendation.
As of this past season, I've stopped recommending my favorite ski shops to people for a variety of reasons, but mostly because they're too damn expensive. I've printed out little business cards to hand out that have a list of local ski swaps, meets, and used gear retailers. I point out that ski shops are great if you want to be sure of a purchase that day. Outside of that these alternative methods are much cheaper and depending upon your purchase time frame, can be a much more lucrative purchasing option.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Do what you have to do. To each his own. Some people ask for advice but then they go ahead and do the opposite.
I like the local ski shops here in PHX well enough. But here is the deal--I can buy new gear in wrap for half the retail price off of e-bay. If I want to talk shop or check stuff out or whatever, then I go over there. If they have a smokin' deal and a friend hookup, then I buy there.
Ski shops sell to gapers. They make their money off of them. The rest of us know someone in the ski shop or at the resort or buy stuff from friends or on e-bay. And gapers will still roll into Ski-world in their H2's and drop $2k on getting geared up.
As long as the quantities are limited, then let folks resell them. Ebay is going to undercut the local shops anyway and there ain't a thing they can do about it. all pro-forms do is allow folks to buy new gear before the season for the price it will sell for new on e-bay after the season.
Post a Comment