27/10/2009

PADI Branded Clothing from Team Purple


Customised PADI Team Clothing

Your company image and brand is what allows customers to associate the service and quality they receive with the name of your business.  Regardless of the size of your company, customer focused branding provide a strong sense of quality and identity to those people seeking your services.

Therefore PADI International Ltd has aligned with Team Purple to bring bespoke PADI branded clothing to PADI Professionals.

Team Purple, the official exclusive manufacturer of PADI Clothing, offers a customised one stop clothing solution for all PADI Professionals seeking a smart and recognisable team image.

Team Purple specialise in supplying your team clothing and adding your logo or branding using different techniques including embroidery, vinyl printing and screen printing. They have more than 35 years experience of applying these methods to technical clothing.

Staff names, certification levels and even membership numbers can be added to branded clothing alongside the PADI logo and your store name / logo.


For further information and to view the PADI Branded range of clothing please click here or contact Emma Fuller at emma@teampurple.co.uk.





15/10/2009

Your very own (and powerful) marketing department

"A good cus­to­mer base is the best mar­ke­ting depart­ment there is."


I need to make a confession, I've become part of the 'big machine' know as 'Marketing'.  Now let me give a little detail on my confession...

As I've matured from my acne ridden teen years, I've come to appreciate such musical greats as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Queen.  In my younger days, music wasn't music to me unless it involved an electric guitar, men with long hair, and lots of teenage angst.

How did I come to find such great songs as 'Paint It Black' or 'Let It Be'?  They were recommended to me by people I trusted and respected, those people that most of us refer to as friends.

Just as with the music industry, there are many aspiring artists (dive centres) who want members of the public to sample their latest tracks (equipment, education and travel), but may struggle to get word out about the latest groove.

Take a leaf out of the music industry marketing book and get people talking about your dive centre, your customer service and your offers by having customers give you testimonials, link to your Facebook/Myspace/Bebo group and share their experiences by word of mouth.

Once your customers know the great experience they've received by visiting your store, sampling your courses and service, they'll not be able to resist telling their friends. Let's face it, we all probably remember the first time someone played Bohemian Rhapsody, and we probably asked 'who is this?' and 'where did you get the album?'.

14/10/2009

Divers Bring Divers

Customising a student business card – Divers bring Divers initiative.

  1. A sheet of business cards (10 cards per sheet) with the dive centres details on them are printed out by the centre with the Students name on them.
  2. At the end of each OW course, each student receives 10 cards with his or her name on them.
  3. They are then told that for every card that is returned to the centre by a friend or family member who in turn signs up and completes an OW course at the centre. They are entitled to receive 10 pounds in credit to be used at the centre.
  4. This Gives them the opportunity with 10 cards to earn 100 pounds that can be spent on equipment or courses.
  5. Nothing is written on the cards to indicate that they will benefit, the reason being, it was found that people are less likely to hand out cards in case it is percieved as a marketing campaign in which they profit.
  6. So the cards are kept as simple as possible, and all benefits are explained by the centre to the student at the end of the course when the cards are issued.
Here is an example of the customised cards, there is a place for your dive centre logo, and contact details.

Click the picture above to download the template and get started with your customised cards.

Are you aware of the changes to DSD?



Read here to see how close your intro dive is to an ISO approved programme and find out how to become a leader in your market 


Follow these simplified DSD guidelines and reap the rewards

Missing a trick?

Do you have enough Open Water Divers? Our most successful centres at diver acquisition are those that have a proactive Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) programme, targeted at securing entry level divers. Thought it was too difficult to run the operation and market the centre at the same time? With two simple options it's actually easier than you think. Time to give it a go! Remember, as occupancy in hotels is lower than usual, the experience you give these precious guests is paramount in developing an entry level certification, so give them the best!
 
Discover Scuba Diving made easy

DSD's can be conducted in a Pool, Confined Open Water and Open Water. The aim is to give the participant an experience they will not forget and hopefully encourage them to complete a PADI entry level course. Review the DSD Instructor Guide in the PADI Instructor Manual for further detailed information if required.

DSD in a pool or confined open water

Are you a Divemaster holding the DSD Leader rating, an Assistant Instructor or above? If so, you can do this.
  • DSD participants complete and sign the PADI Discover Scuba Diving Brochure.
  • Have participants complete and sign the Discover Scuba Diving Knowledge and Safety Review. Until incorporated in the revised DSD Brochure, you may download the DSD Knowledge and Safety Review (available as a free download from the PADI Pros site homepage).
  • Conduct briefing
  • Help new divers put on and adjust their scuba equipment.
  • Skill performance requirements are conducted in shallow water before moving to water too deep in which to stand. You may not engage in any other activities, such as taking photographs or video, while supervising participants
  • Demonstrate and have students master Inflation and deflation of a BCD at the surface
  • Directly supervise new divers as they breathe underwater and swim around in shallow water. When comfortable, take them on tours in deeper water as appropriate.
  • Debrief divers
  • Promote your PADI Scuba Diver, PADI Open Water Diver Programme or Scuba Connect Programme
  • Register your DSD participants online
In a nutshell! – Conduct a PADI DSD any time a customer wants to experience diving in a pool or confined body of water. The only required inwater skill relates to BCD use on the surface. There is no maximum or minimum time requirement; this is left to you. How simple is this!

DSD - Open Water Dive

Do this if your DSD's want to do more, or their first experience is conducted from a boat or surface support station.
  • Participants complete and sign the DSD Brochure.
  • Have participants complete and sign the Discover Scuba Diving Knowledge and Safety Review. Until incorporated in the revised DSD Brochure, you may download the DSD Knowledge and Safety Review (available as a free download from the PADI Pros site homepage).
Before the dive a PADI Instructor:
  • Conducts briefing on equipment they'll be using; explain risks of diving, breathing and equalization rules, aquatic life, limits of the programme.
Practice the following skills in shallow water with a PADI Instructor:
  • Inflation and deflation of the BCD at the surface
  • Breathing underwater
  • Regulator clearing and recovery
  • Mask clearing
  • Equalization techniques
  • Hand signals/underwater communication
  • Finally conduct the participants on a tour of the dive site.
Conducting Discover Scuba Diving first experience, from a boat or surface support station.

If conducting the Discover Scuba Diving program in a location where shallow water in not accessible (e.g. off a boat, dock or other surface support station), new divers may learn and practice skills by using a descent line, horizontal bar or platform that is within 2 metres/6 feet of the surface. If using a descent line, the ratio during skill practice is one participant to one PADI Instructor (1:1).

Credit for PADI Scuba Diver and PADI Open Water Diver courses

If your DSD participants have done the Open Water Dive, it can be credited towards the Scuba Diver or Open Water Diver course - A good incentive for your divers to do more! Additionally, you may decide to conduct Confined Water Dive One skills with the participants. In this case you can credit this additional learning towards Confined Water Dive One of the PADI Scuba Diver or PADI Open Water Diver course.

Final Idea – If some of your DSD market have enough time, why not start you regular Open Water Diver Courses following the DSD's programme (Dive Today), and slip in the DSD participants. Conduct the DSD briefing, both Confined and Open Water Dives and let the DSD participants join Academic One. At the end of the day you can explain that after one more day they can become a Scuba Diver!

Review the DSD Instructor Guide in the PADI Instructor Manual for further detail and information. Please note changes incorporated in Training Bulletin Q1.09 and Q4.09.

DSD Facts – why you should use this programme

Want to earn $60 and get a DSD participant diving?

Conducting and registering DSD's also allows your PADI Dive Centre to benefit from the PADI Scuba Connect™, programme. Through Scuba Connect, PADI Dive Centres and Resorts can earn $60 US for each Discover Scuba Diving participant that enrols in the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online. Student divers may choose to complete their training with your facility or, as with a travelling consumer, may complete the inwater portion of the course with a facility closer to home. To get details of the Scuba Connect programme visit PADI Pros site homepage or feel free to visit my blog or contact me for further information.

While the conversion from the DSD Programme to PADI Scuba Diver or PADI Open Water Diver may differ between domestic markets and resort markets, it has been proven (and it's still the case) that the proper conduct of a PADI DSD programme brings new customers.

With the introduction of the new DSD experience in 2002 the conversion has increased to 8.5% new divers in main European markets.

In the resort areas, the conversion is lower at between 2.9 and 5%. The difference being that the actual number of participants is much higher by far when compared to mainland Europe.

By conducting and registering your participants of PADI Discover Scuba Diving you will enable PADI to communicate to these participents and encourage them to take up a PADI certification programme.

What needs to be considered:
  • A DSD experience is the most successful programme to generate new customers, especially if the centres are using freshly certified divers to share their experience at the end of the DSD. It's within PADI standards to have a PADI Open Water or Advanced Open Water Diver helping with the logistics of organizing equipment and other materials used in the programme, motivation and registration at the end of the DSD experience. (They can't supervise, be used as a certified assistant or in any way conduct the experience or any of its elements.) The registration ratio is very often close to 80% if the emphasis is well positioned (end of the programme).
  • A closer analysis of German Dive Centres in 2006 has confirmed that the DSD is crucial for the good health of a business. Centres who conducted the DSD experience and actively promoted the Open Water Diver course during the experience found a significant uplift in their business.
  • In a resort environment, sometimes the programme is only conducted as a fast "benefit" and there is no follow-up being done at the end of the experience. In resorts where the conversion effort is made not only during the experience but also at the end of the programme, the registration into a PADI Scuba Diver or PADI Open Water Diver course is close to 70%.

Have fun, and by using the programme correctly you will create new divers and potentially reaps great rewards. Please ensure you read the "Revised Discover Scuba Diving Materials" article to obtain information on the newly revised DSD materials.

12/10/2009

Connecting Discover Scuba Divers with local Dive Centres



CUSTOMISE, PRODUCE, DELIVER, PROFIT

Produce your own Scuba Connect Cards with your centres details and reap the rewards.

By using the attached artwork you can now add your centres details to the Scuba Connect cards and either print them off yourself or take them to a local printer for mass production. Read about the benefits of Scuba Connect for your business below………

Did you know that 80 percent of Discover Scuba Divers intend on becoming certified, but only seven percent ever actually do?

PADI Scuba Connect™, a new worldwide program, is connecting Discover Scuba Diving participants with their local PADI Dive Centres to assist PADI Resorts and Retailers in converting these one-time participants into active customers.

All PADI Resort and Retail Members have the opportunity to earn $60 US per person by registering your Discover Scuba Divers and encouraging them to become certified. In addition, similar to a traditional open water diver referral, PADI Scuba Connect will act as a reverse referral by encouraging resort Discover Scuba Diving participants to affiliate with a local dive centre once they’re home to complete their inwater training.

How does PADI Scuba Connect work?
  1. Your customers complete the Discover Scuba Diving experience
  2. Register them using the current Discover Scuba Diving registration system
  3. Give them a customised Scuba Connect card (click here, to download the artwork) with;
    • Your PADI Dive Centre or Resort name
    • A customised promo code – which is the same as your dive centre or resort numbe
    • The promotional website
  4. Encourage them to register for the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online using your customised promotional code.
  5. When they register for the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online program, you receive $60 US from your PADI Office.
  6. If they took their Discover Scuba Diving experience at a resort location, they will be treated as a reverse referral and prompted to affiliate and communicate with a local dive centre during their registration process to:
    • Purchase equipment
    • Purchase an Enhancement-Pak or a Crew-Pak
    • Complete their confined and open water dives

Scuba Connect FAQ

How do you benefit? Here’s one example:

A couple takes a Discover Scuba Diving experience. The instructor registers them online through the PADI Discover Scuba Diving Registration system and encourages them to continue diving by taking the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online. They are not ready to register for the PADI Open Water Diver course that day, but want to continue diving at a later date. Their instructor provides them with a PADI Scuba Connect card and advises them to log on to the PADI Scuba Connect website as listed on the card when they get home.

The couple signs up for the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online using the promo code from their PADI Scuba Connect card. The dive centre or resort that initiated the conversion from Discover Scuba Diving to PADI Open Water Diver now earns $120 US ($60 US per person) just for registering the couple as Discover Scuba Diving participants and encouraging the couple to sign up with PADI eLearning. At the current rate of exchange this would be approximately £72.

Who benefits if the Discover Scuba Diving experience happened on holiday at a resort?

Both the PADI Resort and Retailer. If the couple took their Discover Scuba Diving experience with a PADI Resort they are treated as reverse referrals. When they register for the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online, they are prompted to affiliate with a local dive centre so they can complete their confined and open water dives, as well as purchase equipment.

In this case, the local retailer receives two new customers and the resort receives a financial incentive ($120 US) for converting these Discover Scuba Diving participants to open water divers through PADI Scuba Connect.

The Scuba Connect Card Artwork can be downloaded directly here, you can customise and print as many of these as you need to supply to your Discover Scuba Diving Participants today, before they head home to continue their diving.

Are you getting your share?




PADI has paid more than $1.6 million to dive centers and resorts for their share of eLearning fees and by the end of the year, we anticipate that reaching more than $2 million.

By placing a PADI eLearning banner on your dive centres website you are taking the first step to insure you join other successful PADI members who are sharing the rewards attributed to embracing the PADI eLearning programmes.

The eLearning banners are available for download from the eLearning Toolbox in the PADI Pros Area, “IRRA Members” section; they are listed under the “Tools” heading by following the “Adding PADI eLearning Links to your website” link.

03/10/2009

New PADI Tec Diving Materials - Tec 40, 45 and 50 - Now Available


Only the instructor-level products have been revised.
Any student-level materials you may have on-hand are still current.

NEW ITEMS

Tec Diver Course Instructor Guide
(includes newly-revised instructor guide and instructor appendix CD-ROM)
- replaces 70407 Tec Deep Inst. Guide
Product no 70605

Tec 40-45-50 Instructor Slates Set
Newly-revised 19 slate set, coil-bound and printed on "wet notes."
- replaces 60204 Tec Deep Inst. Cue Cards
Product no. 60420

Tec Diver Course Lesson Guides CD-ROM
This product is not available yet, ETA mid-October 2009.
- replaces 70838 Tec Deep Lesson Guides
Product no 70913

Tec Trimix Instructor Guide
(includes instructor guide and tec trimix 65 addendum)
If you already own the Tec Trimix Instructor Guide, please contact PADI Training regarding the revisions: +44 (0) 117 300 7234 ext. 7347.
Product no 70430

EXAMS
Tec 40 student exam (product no 71040)
Tec 45 student exam (product no 71045)
Tec 50 student exam (product no 71050)

Blank answer sheets and answer keys are in the Tec Diver Instructor Guide and will be available soon on the PADI Pros site.

Instructor-level exams have changed. If you are a TecRec Instructor Trainer (course director) please call PADI training for details. +44 (0)117 300 7234 ext. 7347.

UN-CHANGED ITEMS

None of the student materials have changed for any of the courses. In other words, whatever student materials you have in stock are current.

No changes to the Equipment Set-Up DVD.

Gas Blender
None of the Gas Blender materials have changed.We put the instructor guide in a new binder so it would match the other guides, but that's it.

Tec Trimix
There have been a few changes to the Tec Trimix instructor guide. Please contact PADI Training for details +44 (0)117 300 7234 ext. 7347.

Students use the Tec Trimix student exam for "Tec 65."

Instructors continue to use the same Trimix Lesson Guides.

If you have any questions about implementing these new course, the changes that have taken place, or becoming a PADI TecRec Instructor or diver, contact your PADI Regional Manager (Graham.owen@padi.co.uk / Richard.howes@padi.co.uk) or a PADI Training Consultant (training@padi.co.uk).

02/10/2009

Get the latest PADI Regional News straight to your desktop


If like me, your life is hectic, you probably don't have time to read page after page of news, bulletins, updates, product profiles, reviews, ideas...blah blah blah.

RSS (Rich Site Summary) feeds are bite sized condensed chunks of information delivered to your desktop reader program.  The desktop reader (known as an aggregator) can be standalone, part of your existing web browser, or even integrated into your email programme.

This blog, along with the associated calendar (scroll to the bottom if you haven't spotted it yet!), has the ability to provide an RSS feed directly to your choosen reader programme.  Therefore if you don't have time to open your browser and navigate to this blog, you can receive bite sized chunks straight to your desktop, PDA, or even iPhone.



A list of popular feed readers can be found here: http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Internet/Clients/WWW/Feed_Readers/Windows/ and many popular internet portals (Yahoo!, Google, AOL) include free desktop reader programs (sometimes referred to as 'widgets'), which also provide the same functionality, but in a more compact and unobtrusive package.  My personal favourite being the 'NewStand' widget from Yahoo! Widgets (http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/newsstand)

The URL for this blog's feed is : http://padi-islands.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

The URL for this blog's PADI Calendar is: http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/richard.howes%40padi.co.uk/public/basic

Add these to your favourite RSS reader now, and get the latest PADI Information straight to your desktop, how much simpler could it be!

01/10/2009

Business Quick Review - Customer Contact

The saying goes that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.  With most customers that is a phone call to your business. When a customer calls for information, it's important to create a positive first impression. How do you and your staff answer the phone?

Here are a few things to consider when answering the phone:

1. Answer in the first two rings with a smile on your face.
The person on the other end of the phone can hear if you
are flustered, angry or busy.

2. Indentify your business and yourself by name.
The person calling can now identify you by name and can now begin the relationship.

3. Ask for the caller's name.
Write this down. Be sure to use it during the conversation.

4. Ask questions probing for the types of things they are looking for.
This is a great opportunity to ask if they have a group, like eLearning, have a time restriction.

5. Answer any questions they have enthusiastically.
Engage in the conversation and invite them into the store for a visit.

6. Ask for contact information and offer to send information to support the conversation.
Ask if email or snail mail is preferred, get the information, and follow up.

7. Thank the customer for calling.

It's a good idea to have a sheet to capture this information for future entry into EVE or a list of things to cover near the phone to ensure you capture what you need. If you store all of this information, you can use it for future communications and mailings.

About the Year Behind Us and the Year Ahead

Video from Drew Richardson
About the Year Behind Us and the Year Ahead



The video above is a message from Drew to the PADI Members worldwide. It runs about 9 minutes and features some familiar PADI faces.

Drew talks about PADI's promotional efforts over the last year, gives an overview of our new programs and talks about some new options for individual members.

PADI eLearning; Not just a time advantage for your business...


PADI eLearning

Back in the late 1990’s I was working for a company called GKN Westland (if this means nothing to you, try a Google search on 'Lynx Helicopter'), producing Computer Based Training programmes for flight engineers.

Computer Based Training at the time consisted of a software programme that would show students information via schematics and ask them a series of questions to test their knowledge retention. The training would assist the engineers to fault find aircraft, and carry out maintenance duties without ever setting foot near a real life aircraft. This would ensure that flight engineers has a good foundation understanding of the airframe on which they’d be working prior to being let loose in the hanger with a set of spanners!

At the time, we all thought this was cutting edge technology, and to an extent it was. However, as we’ve all witnessed, technology has moved on and innovations in the military field will ripple through to civilian life, (how many of us now have a digital camera or GPS system?).

So, history has taught us that eLearning is good enough for military application. Is it good enough for civilian application also?

In August 2009 the US Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov) concluded a study into Online Learning that has taken place between 1996 and July 2008. The study was verbosely titled: Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies (phew!).

Regardless of such a lengthy title, the results of this study are extremely interesting to us as Dive Centre Owners and Dive Educators. In particular, there are two specific conclusions that bear direct relation to our industry and those people who are taking instruction to participate in our sport.

“Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.”

“Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.”

In a nutshell, online learning results are better than traditional classroom sessions, and combining online learning with face-to-face beats all of them hands down.
 This has some significant effects for implementing PADI eLearning in our business, we already know of the several benefits:

  • Increase overall diver acquisition? Yes
  • Bring you new customers? Yes
  • Increase your PADI buying level without carrying stock? Yes
  • Increase access to entry level divers willing to pay premium price? Yes
  • Reduce costs associated with classroom time? Yes
Now add to this the empirical evidence that online learning (eLearning) combined with face-to-face learning (confined and open water) produces better results than traditional methods and we have some added benefits to this approach:

More opportunity to promote continuing education course
You'll have more time to spend with the student, discussing dive equipment, the upcoming dives, and the great offers currently available on equipment at your store.

Better prepared divers
Because the learning process is 'student centred', the student is fully prepared with the knowledge they need to apply to the confined and open water sessions.

Lower risk for the instructor and dive centre
More understanding of the subject at hand means a reduced likelyhood of making a mistake or not being able to apply the information to diving.

If you require assistance with eLearning, or implementing it at your PADI Dive Centre, please contact your Regional Manager (graham.owen@padi.co.uk or richard.howes@padi.co.uk).

Sources:

http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf(PDF Format)
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.doc (Microsoft Word Format)
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html (Reports Page)