Question

Topic: Strategy

Need Strateg Selling Hockey Equipment Sanitization

Posted by vance.rollins on 11/14/2011 at 12:21 PM ET 500 Points
Hi there,

I Operate and manage 5 pro-shops in ice rinks across the Ottawa, and greater Ottawa region. We do skate sharpening, and hockey equipment sanitization.

The sanitizing part of the business needs to be doing a minimum of 5 sets of hockey gear per day on weekdays to be profitable. We are currently averaging about 1 per day.
Skate sharpening has been a tough sell but is slowly building. I link it to finding a good barber. Once you find a good one you don't want to go anywhere else.

Perception is everything with skate sharpening. We can put an 18 year old kid behind the counter who's our best sharpening guy and place a retired guy beside him who knows nothing about skate sharpening and most people will want the older guy to sharpen their skates.

When we introduced the sanitizing part of the business we thought that was the ticket. Sales have increased but not near enough to be profitable.

Do any of you play hockey? If yes, have you had your gear sanitized? If not, why?

Here's the interesting part, I have spoken with several Fresh Gear providers in other areas including the United States and they are experiencing the same thing. When I tell them our numbers they're envious. So It's not a local problem.

We have print ads advertising the service when you walk in to the rink, and we give the youth leagues parents’ pamphlets at the beginning of every year advertising the sanitization business.

How would you suggest I promote this service and make it more profitable? Should I call local “buy-used equipment” stores and offer a discount to all those people who buy from them? That was one Idea...But what else can you folks suggest? There are many many hockey players, of all ages around here. The arenas are all packed every hour of every day with players.

The real sell here is not the actual smell of the equipment, but the bacteria and stuff you can catch from wearing unwashed/unsanitized gear!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/14/2011 at 2:01 PM Accepted
    Yes, co-market with existing new/used equipment sales. For used gear, I'd also market to the used stores themselves to have their gear "Guaranteed Fresh" (can you trademark that name in your area?) - it'll be a extra selling point to their clients. What about local teams - can you provide discounts to them at: start of season, mid-season, and end of season? Can you make the invisible (bacteria-laden gear) visible so people can see how bad things are before and better afterwards? Has anyone locally gotten sick from bad gear - can you use them as your spokesperson?
  • Posted on 11/15/2011 at 8:27 PM Accepted
    Use local media effectively. Have a sharpening contest. Do your own "Pepsi" challenge and turn it into a story for your local media. Try using Groupon or similar. Do an event for a local charity.
  • Posted by vance.rollins on 11/15/2011 at 9:23 PM Author
    therealjimlove, thank you.

    The sharpening part of the business is growing.

    We have had some very good write ups about the service (cleaning service) and shortly after every article there is a small "boom" in traffic, but then it dies down.

    Want to hear something funny. We sponsor the Junior A team and 2 local AAA teams. They can get there equipment cleaned and sanitized for FREE. Out of the 16 guys on the team, a total of 3 kids used it.

    On my own kids team (all the parents know about the service) only one other person has used our service. We are not expensive either. $45 dollars gets you a 24 hour guaranteed full equipment clean and a sharpening of the skates.

    We did a groupon, and we sold 250 units...But i'm only making 7$ on each unit! So there's a market for it, but christ, how can I get them?

    Should we do trade shows? I like the "sharpening" contest idea, very good. Jay Hamilton-Roth had amazing advice too!

    Here's an interesting fact, It is never the men who play hockey who bring the bags in for cleaning, and it isn't the kids either...It is 95% of the time the women! The wives and the mothers, who don't want to smell the equipment.

    How can I reach them, or target them?

    I'm open to any ideas no matter how out there they are!
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/16/2011 at 8:16 AM Member
    If 95% of the time it's the women, then that's specifically who you target. The Groupon got you 250 sales, but did you get their contact info at the time of redemption? For kids, focus on the stores that sell the kids gear (if their moms are "in" on the buying decision) and their teams (how about a banner at the rink's entrance/waiting area - "Say goodbye to stinky gear!"). For partners of players, you'll likely want to get their physical address to send them a postcard in the mail, so there's a chance to reach their ladies instead of an email address (which goes to the user of the gear, which isn't your big market). Likewise, if their partners attend games, think banners/sponsorships/flyers (on every seat).
  • Posted by Sher Miller on 11/22/2011 at 5:10 PM Accepted
    You might also consider getting some expert testimony and go the celebrity route. Talk to doctors about the necessity of having clean equipment. If you can get some numbers of chances of infection in clean vs dirty equipment that might help. You might find out some unexpected issues with wearing dirty equipment that you can use to your advantage.

    For instance, Staph and MRSA bacteria are a prevalent problem in most communities, with 30% of people having some kind of infection. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) sports equipment should be sanitized regularly. Why? Well, in 2005 MRSA caused 94,000 infections and 18,500 deaths. You probably wouldn't want to use those numbers, or if you did, you'd want to find the ones that relate directly to sports or hockey, but you could find something about the fact that infections continue to rise or something of that nature. You wouldn't want to scare anyone, but educate them.

    Also, have you considered market expansion, with regard to the sanitizing aspect of your business? You could look into the skiers, football players, even the motorcycle riders, if it won't hurt leather - even if it does, you could still do their helmets.

    With regard to the celebrity route, what I mean is find out if the pros get their gear sanitized and if so, why. If you can tie that in to a local favorite player, all the better. And as Jay mentioned, by ALL means follow up those leads. The ones from Groupon are already qualified.

    Check into sports moms organizations. In the US, we actually have a group called "Hockey Mom." You might also see about sending out an e-newsletter, or maybe write up some short articles on the benefits of sanitizing and get them into some hard copy newsletters or hockey programs/flyers for places that are associated with hockey, like professional hockey programs or used sporting goods stores. I don't know if they do those kinds of things in Canada, but you get the idea.
  • Posted by vance.rollins on 11/22/2011 at 11:16 PM Author
    Yes, great advice. I will be awarding everyone points because honestly they have all helped.

    To answer some questions though...

    Yes I have an e-mail list, of about 2000+ not sure how to approach it thought? Maybe do a "questionnaire" on how good the service was?

    Does anyone know how to ignite a referral program? How can I not only use my list, but the people who come into the store and make them refer my service? What would you do to kick start a referral program?

    I think word of mouth is a good option, but how do you activate that? Any ideas?

    Thank you all!
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