How good does synthetic ice need to be?

It’s inevitable. We begin a discussion with a keen hockey dad or mom and they quickly default to the price. Why? Because they understand price. They can compare price points as cost per square foot or whatever metric that make sense for them.

We see it as our job to educate them on the various options available. A lot of companies only have a single option that they try to make fit for every application. Our approach is that we want to engage in a discussion about your application. We want to know about who the primary users will be, how old are they, what size are you thinking, and where is it going to be located? And as our discussion progresses then that will prompt you to come up with additional questions or concerns such as how should you maintain it or how long can you expect it to last.

Whether or do end up buying the least expensive product or the most expensive product – that does not concern us. What concerns us is knowing that you were informed so that when you get the product you have an experience that closely matches your expectations and more importantly your child’s.

So how good does the synthetic ice product need to be?

If you have high expectations were you want the closest experience to ice then you have to expect to pay a higher price, considerably higher than the least expensive product. But if you tell us that you want the best product but only looking for 100 square feet then we might suggest using a lesser grade simply because you will never really appreciate the skating quality in a relatively small surface – you would be over spending. So this is the kind of discussion we need to have to so we can match you with the best product for your specific requirements.

You can never go wrong buying the best product but you can certainly go wrong buying the cheapest.

Think of your supplier purchase discussion as an “interview”. You are about to drop a lot of money. Write down a check list of points you wish to discuss. Make product quality one of these points and then see how well the company does in answering the question “so based on my application what product do you think is best for me?”

From there may the best supplier win.