Good for DIR? UTD’s Venture into Equipment Sales

If you haven’t seen it by now, Unified Team Diving (UTD) has entered the direct and wholesale market for scuba diving equipment. As I watched Andrew’s video blog, I wasn’t getting a warm and fuzzy feeling I normally get when I listen to him. As I listened, the more concerned I got. I just kept thinking, how will this help the UTD “brand”.

Do What You Do Best

I’m really not close with Andrew Georgitsis. I’ve talked to him a few times and shared emails with him. So I cannot say with any amount of certainty what AG has in mind for the future of UTD. I’ve always had, and will continue to have, the highest respect for Andrew and what he has given the diving education community. To be successful in business, you have to do something very well and continue to do it well. Andrew was successful in GUE (arguably). That is where I feel Andrew excels. His extreme passion for producing high quality divers really comes out when you talk to him or take one of his classes. He prides himself on the quality of student that he, and UTD, can produce. In my opinion, this is where AG should focus his efforts on. His diving knowledge is unprecedented.

Andrew has never focused his efforts on selling diving equipment. Sure, he is successful with the X-Scooter and Red Sea Explorers. But selling dive gear is different.

Hurting the UTD Brand

UTD is still a very young organization. They have only been in business for just over a year. I feel that the jump into selling dive gear has come too soon. I feel that Andrew needs more time to grow the UTD brand. Sure, it has AG’s name behind it for credibility, but when competing against a behemoth like GUE, UTD needs a little more time for it’s instructors to gain that “world wide” reputation that you don’t normally get from a new organization.

I guess that the problem I have with AG’s venture into dive equipment is that he tied the UTD name to it. Would Halcyon have been as successful if the name had been GUE? Would GUE be successful if Halcyon shared the same name? I don’t think so. I feel that the education provided by UTD and GUE can be harmed by dealers who only care about making $$$ at any cost.

All it’s going to take is for one or two of the “Leisure Pro” type dealers to permanently damage the UTD brand that Andrew and Jeff have worked hard for. I can think of a couple dive stores that would love to jump on the DIR bandwagon just to sell to DIR divers. Even though they could care less about DIR and the UTD philosophy. They will try to build credibility by association rather than in business or dive training practices.

For UTD to be successful, they will need to tread carefully and scrutinize their potential dealers. When someone becomes a dealer of UTD equipment products, there will be that assumption that they are tied to the UTD training organization in some shape or form. If these dealers truly do not share the same philosophy as AG and continue to conduct their training/business with less than the optimum quality that UTD is known for, the UTD brand can become damaged. If a Halcyon dealer doesn’t share the same philosophy as GUE, only the Halcyon brand gets damaged. GUE stills stays a higher quality “product”.

One last thing that bothers me slightly about this, is that in Andrew’s video blog, he mentioned that UTD instructors, who helped evaluate the gear, had to pay for the prototype equipment to evaluate. Then make recommendations for improvements to it. That’s like NASCAR champion Jimmy Johnson (no relation) paying Chevy to drive their cars. If I’m expected to give my feedback to improve a product, then either give me the product or let me borrow it (I’ll ship it back) and compensate me for my time evaluating it. After all, my expertise is worth something if you are requesting my feedback.

In the End

In the end, I hope Andrew is successful with this new endeavor. Competition in the scuba diving industry is a good thing. Perhaps he can do something new that GUE/Halcyon hasn’t/can’t do. Perhaps he can give the diving community a new equipment option for high quality diving gear. Andrew is a very smart and driven individual. I have no doubt that he will find a way to make this endeavor successful. I wish nothing but the best for Andrew and the UTD Signature Series equipment line.

Dive Safe,
Duane
Precision Diving