New Year - New Answers Needed ..but What?

[DJForbes]

the site i play at always asks the punters if they mind us joining in. a quick phone call the night befor and am there. one thing i notice is when were there the players always enquire about our markers etc. when on the feild we encourage them to make the plays rather then us. at the end of the day 90% want to come back and several have now got there own gear and play often.

most of the guys in our team have played around 6 months. we play for fun not serious like the tourney boys. i guess thats why people play its for fun and i think the tourneys if taken to seriously aint fun

 

[Fisz]

The Key is to enforce a positive atmosphere...This can be done several ways, separating the groups is one, enforcing a certain behaviour on the field is another one.

 

[Missy-Q]

50 cal.
Once the industry accepts 50cal all of the other problems will go away, paintball will be practically free, and everyone involved will be 30% better off!!


(your experience may differ)

 

[Missy-Q]

I totally agree and I can't see a huge shift in the way these types of site's operate. Most of the venues who offer cheap paintballs are going to struggle to see that raising their prices and seperating out their groups is going to be beneficial to them.

I suppose any "new answer" or new thinking is going to be hard to implement and probably nothing more than wishful thinking.

I put prices up 10% for the first time about 7 years ago (UK Field). I did more business. I put them up again the next year, and did even more business.
People are afraid to do it, but even if your prices go up 10%, and you do 10% less people, you still make more money. Its not the price, its the value that's the important variable. You can be more expensive than the guy down the street so long as you're offering a better experience.

 

[Robbo]

50 cal.
Once the industry accepts 50cal all of the other problems will go away, paintball will be practically free, and everyone involved will be 30% better off!!


(your experience may differ)

Missy, whether or not there is any truth in what you say, I don't see a queue of people lining up with alternates ..... in fact Missy, I don't see anybody anywhere with anything .... at all.

 

[Missy-Q]

Missy, whether or not there is any truth in what you say, I don't see a queue of people lining up with alternates ..... in fact Missy, I don't see anybody anywhere with anything .... at all.

Exactly Pete, and thats part of the problem too.
I believe paintball is closing out a cycle, and as such there's nothing that can be done about it, other than tighten your belt and wait for it to become more popular again.
I've seen this industry downturn happen once before, followed by a boom. Granted, it wasn't compounded by the greatest recession in living memory, but the cycle is still recognisable.

Now, for those that have not seen it before, there will be some panic. If a man is starving in the desert, and the only thing to eat is a **** sandwich, then he's going to try to eat it. if course it will poison him, and he'll die even sooner, but desperate people do desperate things, right?

Now the camel would not eat the ****-sandwich, he's prepared and has preserved his food. he'll be alive when the ****-eaters are all gone, and he'll wait until his regular diet becomes available again.

People need to be camels in this climate, not eaters of ****.


Wait - does this make any sense at all, because the Christmas weed I got turned out to be a bit stronger than I expected...

 

[Dusty]

Woodsball Tournaments at local fields, where pub teams etc can enter.

 

[tiffyman]

But Having quality at every level will cost site Owners more money, and 95% of field owers are in paintball for the moola, not the growth of the sport.

upgrading a site with all the latest equipment would make no sence at all, i mean it would look nice to you an i who play on a regular, but to the people that go once in a blue moon, pfft not really. its the atmosphere that does it for me at outdoor and in door site not the equipment.

 

[DJForbes]

it needs national teams. i would watch and support scotland at any sport even if watching paint dry was a sport lol.

 

[Mario]

As a business stick it out on your own. Charge a fair price for what you sell to facilitate the growth of your business. But at the same time offer value for money. It's not rocket science.

It's not just paintball thats in decline. Nearly every business type is in decline. Paintball is not alone in this. Unfortuanately people have less expendable money to spend and look for better value in what they do choose to spend their money on.


Thats what will reverse the decline. When the wider economy picks up so will paintball. There is no magic fix.