During the previous webinar – “The secret of how to use a blog to make money is…” we showed you some tips and techniques, and sent you a survey to find out if you were blogging yet.

The overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that they’d like like help with setting up a blog.  During this useful webinar, we’ll be showing you exactly how to do that. You can follow along, and we’ll get you setup blogging in 30 minutes.

We’ll also be sharing our ‘top tips’ for making you look like a pro blogger.

Follow this link to register today: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/961980328

Once a customer has departed our store, often the only way we know if we provided great service is if they return to spend more money.

There are other ways to determine this information, and eSurveys is one useful route to gaining more information about your customers.  This webinar will guide you through the process of creating a customer survey online (for free), and allow you to setup and host multiple surveys for your customers.

We’ll look at;

What makes a great survey

Types of questions you should be asking

When and how to send the surveys

How to collate and interpret results

What to do with the results

You’ll also get access to our free online survey system, with a prebuilt survey to get you started.  You’ll be able to use this straight away, or edit alongside us during the webinar and send it to your next customers.

Signup now to reserve your space on this webinar (*Limited spaces*):

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/988994433

Your training bulletin live…

The PADI organisation has innovated throughout its lifetime; from RDP to Dive Computer, and from book-based learning to online delivery.  PADI is about to lead the industry forward again, with a change to the way PADI Member Forums are delivered.

Traditionally, we’ve headed out to a hotel, setup our projector and waited for people to arrive; some member forums are busy, with hundreds of participants, others consist of smaller groups of individuals.

We’re now moving the PADI Member Forum 2012 online, and making it live!  A panelist of PADI Professionals and PADI Staff will be online to present information from the training bulletin, and answer questions you may have about implementation of standards changes.

These live training bulletins will be replacing the physical PADI Member Forums you would previously have attended, and will be run several times a year to allow review and discussion of standards changes at all stages of the dive season.

We think you’ll see some really useful benefits to the new system of delivering this information;

• No more driving to a hotel in the cold dark night
• Recording and watching the webinar is easy, and you can go back and review again and again.
• Exposure to many staff from the PADI Office, not just the Regional Manager.
• More frequent updates; at least one per quarter.
• The PADI Regional Manager team get to spend the time organising more events for you and your dive centres.

So, when is the first one?  March 1st 2012 sees our first Training Bulletin Live event.  The link to register is below, and we’ve limited the number of spaces for the first event (we’re not sure how many people the system will handle before it slows down!).

So, click the link ,,register today and we’ll see you online for the first event.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/500845928

Richard Howes & John Carlin

PADI Regional Managers

In the last article ‘The secret of how to use a blog to make money is…‘ we teased you with some information about how a business blog can engage your current customers to keep them coming back for more and to bring their friends. In this one explain how you do it!

So in this article we are revealing the 15 things YOU need to know about to use a blog to make money with a toolbox that contains a guide and a recorded presentation (webinar) to make sure you know where to start, how to improve and make sure are not missing out on making extra sales and finding new customers.

Stop writing I can hear you saying give me the good stuff. So click the ‘Business Blog Toolbox‘ link and completing a 60 second eSurvey you will get access to all of these new tools for your business. We look forward to seeing your blogs and reading your posts!

Did you know that companies who have business blogs:

1. Have 55% more website visitors
2. Get 97% more inbound links
3. Have 434% more indexed pages

Simply, by creating a blog for your business, you will have a higher Search Engine ranking and in turn will have  more visitors coming to your website, giving you the opportunity to turn them in to customers and sales.

Where do you start? It is easier than you think and we are going to show you some of the tips and tricks of  how to create and run a blog which will attract new customers to your business, make sales and get them to share articles/posts and links with their friends who will be encouraged/attracted  to try diving as well.

Don’t miss out. We will be running a webinar to explain all on Thursday 16/02/12 (13:30-14:30 GMT). Click the ‘The secret of how to use a blog to make money is… webinar‘ link to join us and find out how to take advantage of blogging for your business.

Saint Valentine’s Day, which is now known simply as Valentine’s Day, was originally created to honour a Christian martyr called Saint Valentine. It is a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, gifts and cards. We love you so we thought we would send you an ealry Valentine’s Day present which will help you to make more money.

Now how many of your customers are going to forget about Valentine’s Day and at the last minute struggle to think of a special present for their loved ones?

Well we have a created a template ‘Valentines Day’ email for you to send to your customer database which suggests the PADI Discover SCUBA Diving (DSD) course or other diving gifts as a way for the customer to win brownie points with their loved one and maybe even get a new diving buddy.

Not only that but we have created a BRAND NEW dedicated Email Template Library and a recorded webinar about how to ‘Create Engaging Emails’ – emails that a customer will want to open and then follow a call to action so you can make a sale. To help you get more customers and make more sales please click the following link ‘Creating Engaging Emails Toolbox‘ and after completing a 60 second eSurvey you will get access to all of these new tools for your business. We love you and we know you will love this!

A few days ago, I visited John Forbath, owner of Big Squid (S35557) in Clapham, London. A while back he was visited by the Google Street View Team who were mapping his area and they asked if he would like them to do a Google Street View INSIDE his dive centre!

So after a bit of cool filming, customers can now click on his Google Maps listing and actually see the inside of his dive centre before they come and visit him. To check this out (and it is really, really  cool!) click the ‘inside Big Squid using Google Street View‘ link to see how it in action.

John also showed me an App called ‘Penultimate‘ which is also very cool and he is using this to do digital dive briefings. He is able to load a dive site picture into it and then use different colours to draw over the top to indicate the entry and exit points as well as the dive plan and route. I believe you can even email the picture afterwards to the divers so that they could print it off for their logbooks – now that is cool! Check out John reviewing the App by clicking the ‘Penultimate App Review by John Forbath‘ link.

Emails are a great revenue generator for your business, informing customers of new equipment, courses and trips. Emails are still considered by marketing experts to be the most cost-effective marketing tool and where your customers, on average, are most likely to engage with you online.

The use of email allows you to send messages that won’t interrupt your customer from what they are doing like a phone call does and allows the customer to respond at their leisure. Far from fading away, emails as a form of communication, is not being left behind. In fact we are sending more and more emails every year. According to The New York times we sent over 107 trillion emails to each other in 2010.

To find the tools you need to make sure your messages and promotions that you sending by email are not being ignored and deleted, to effectively communicate with your customers  and to encourage them to respond please join us for the ‘Creating Engaging Emails Webinar‘ by clicking on https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/252214872 link.

I’ve enclosed some photographs below if anyway wants a sneak preview.  We’re working to build a PADI Education area to display materials and courses alongside associated equipment.

A big thanks to Chris, Polly and the whole Christal Seas Team for a big effort in promoting the PADI Brand.

Register for a session now by clicking a date below:

Wed, Jan 18, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM GMT

Wed, Feb 15, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM GMT

Wed, Mar 21, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM GMT

Wed, Apr 18, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, May 16, 2012 1:00 AM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, Jun 20, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, Jul 18, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, Aug 15, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, Sep 19, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, Oct 17, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM BST

Wed, Nov 21, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM GMT

Wed, Dec 19, 2012 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM GMT

Once registered you will receive an email confrming your registraton with informaton you need to join the Webinar.

To register for the webinar, click this link:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/252214872

You’ll need an image editting tool that uses layers (free), so get downloading and installing:

Gimp Photoeditor: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

It makes sense that you download and install this before the webinar in order to follow along with the tutorial.

Instructors and Divemasters at Nemo Classic Diving in Bergen, Norway, wanted to see what they were able to do in case of emergency, and under rough conditions. Some of the instructors are also working at a safety center for the offshore industry, Nosefo Bergen (Norwegian Senter for Offshore-training). Nosefo has a wave pool that is being used for offshore sea-survival training, and instructors and divemasters at Nemo were lucky enough to get to use this pool for a night of very realistic, but controlled practice. The pool can make waves of 90 cm height, and wind reaching a speed of 30 m/s. Temperature of the water were 6 degrees Celsius.  Staff at Nemo were in for a big reality check.

Conditions in the pool were quite similar to what we can get at some of the most used dive sites in Bergen, and instructors and divemasters were looking forward to test them selves.

The group was divided into victim and rescuer, not very different from a regular rescue course. The victim was lying at 2 meters depth, and the rescuer had to swim about 15 meters to get to the victim. After surfacing the victim, the rescuer were to tow the victim 25 meters to shore, and get them onto the dock. The dock was about 40 cm high. Waves were breaking, and 90 cm high.

The rescue training a diver recieves during the Rescue Course, Divemaster Course and also during the Instructor Course is usually given in an area with little or no waves at all, because we have to learn the techniques first. Now we moved from ”driving in the streets, to driving in a rally slope”, and instructors and divemasters found out first hand that doing a rescue in rough conditions was very difficult, and extreamly exhausting.

It didn´t take long before the rescuer concluded that the mask was an item worth keeping, both for the rescuer and for the victim. The waves was constantly breaking and both rescuer and victim felt that drowning could be the result if the mask were lost. Routine steps like getting the dry-suit hose off suddenly was a challenge itself, because protecting the airways and preventing the victim from drowning took all of the rescuers attention. The same could also be said about getting the victim back on land. With the waves splashing around, it took a lot of strength, technique and stamina to get the victim out of the water.

Luckily, every victim was breathing in this case, but if they had not – ventilation in the water would be really difficult under such conditions. All the participating instructors and divemasters felt that in a situation with a lot of wind, low temperature and heavy waves – giving ventilations would not only be very difficult, but would also delay getting the victim out of the water to start CPR.

One of the most important lessons learned this night was that the limits for what instructors and divemasters find acceptable has to be lowerd. Even small waves may be to much in some circumstances. Another point that was reinforced this night was the importance of knowing the equipment we are using – not only your own, but your buddy´s as well. With waves splashing over your head, it is practicly impossible to get a good look at clips and releases, so you have to know where to find them, and how to release them. One of the biggest challenges was actually to get all the equipment of at the same time as the rescuer shold secure the victim in a safe position. And last but not least, if there is an emergency – it is all about choices, what to do in different circumstances, and that every rescuer must find the solution that works for him/her. There is no single right way to do this…

The instructors and divemasters that took part in this ”advanced” rescue training got a new perspective of what a rescue situation like this means, and they all agreed that this was a very valuable experience. Skills and techniques that are easily done in calm water is a completely different scenario when the elements turn against us. After this experience – they are all able to make better decisions if they ever find them selves in a situastion like that.

Christine Hopeland. PADI MI, Nemo Classic Diving. Bergen, Norway

You’ll learn:

• How to implement PADI eLearning in your business for profit
• The top 5 mistakes that PADI Centres make when implementing PADI eLearning
• How to integrate PADI eLearning with social media to drive your business into the 21st century
• How to make money from eLearning referrals, then keep making money when the diver is back home
• The ‘secret ways’ that industry leaders engage their eLearning students, increasing continuing education and equipment sales

Click the link to register for this Webinar: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/496088872

There’s more to going green than simply jumping on the eco bandwagon. Conservation initiatives can reduce your costs while strengthening your brand, especially when you strategically introduce them into your overall business plan. With today’s environmentally conscious consumer, going green can also be a competitive advantage.

The PADI Regional Manager team is running a special Webinar to bring you up to speed with this exciting new rating, and to help you find out about the application process.  Click the following link to register for the webinar: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/450117897

Now, PADI offer have a powerful tool to assist your organization and implementation of an environmental conservation program in your dive center or resort: The PADI Green Star Award. The award helps you identify practical actions you can take to protect and preserve the environment and support your bottom line. With the PADI Green Star Award, you choose the specific actions you’d like to implement, which means the award is completely customized based on your dive center or resort. This award not only helps you identify specific actions you can take to preserve and protect the environment; it also challenges you to continue reducing your environmental footprint.

Click the link now to start your comittment to a greener future, and gain the beneifts of the PADI Green Star Award recognition: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/450117897

Come and catch up with over 100 of your colleagues, peers and fellow instructors and learn what is going on in your Diving World at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Warwickshire. (Approx 20 minutes drive from Stoney Cove).

All you have to do is register for your FREE Conference Ticket.

Alternatively just email roz@tumc.co.uk or call 07973 117 862

How to become a PADI Rebreather Instructor Trainer

PADI Rebreather Instructor Trainers teach the PADI Rebreather Instructor Courses on the specific unit they qualify on.

1. Before you can be an Instructor Trainer you will need to qualify as a PADI Rebreather Instructor on the rebreather you want to become a PADI Rebreather Instructor Trainer for.

2. Teaching Status PADI Course Director or TecRec Instructor Trainer

3. Current diving medical clearance signed by a physician

4. Contact the manufacturer to make sure you meet any additional manufacturer requirements

5. Sign up for a PADI Rebreather Instructor Trainer Course. Visitwww.padi.com/tecrecblog for the latest venues or contactrebreather@padi.com

6. Gain additional experience. As an Instructor Trainer you will need to have a minimum of 150 logged rebreather dives

7. Have certified at least 5 PADI Rebreather Divers and 5 PADI Advanced Rebreather Divers including at least 4 certifications on the specific unit. (equivalents may apply – please contactrebreather@padi.com for further information)

For more information on PADI Rebreather Courses please contactrebreather@padi.com

Rather than rewrite what has already been written, check out this useful article on all you need to know about Google’s latest addition to its growing social network:

http://socialstrand.com/2011/11/08/7-things-to-know-about-google-pages-for-brands/

Can YOU afford not to be ready for Christmas?

Why? Because research has shown that whilst many of us were still dragging barbeques out of sheds, a growing number of people were compiling their Christmas Wish List. Evidence also shows that people who browse early are looking to spread the costs of bigger items over a period of several months.

Christmas is fast approaching as I write this guide, and if we are not careful we will end up with socks and shower gel (and other types of toiletry) from our friends and family who are unsure what to buy us.

But fear not! If we are organised we could send out our ‘Wish List’ to our loved ones with items big and small, and they could get us exactly what we want. This is a great opportunity to do the same for our customers who want to do more courses, buy more shiny dive gear and book on to trips to use their new skills and equipment.

How?

We have already written an information document about running a ‘Wish List’ which has a digital toolbox that includes promotional posters, emails to send to your customer and a Wish List form. You can read all about this by clicking onto the following link – ‘How to Guide’ for running Wish Lists.

To put a Christmas spin on this we have designed an email template for you to use/customise and send out to your customers to advertise that you are running a Christmas Wish List.

Once they have come in to see you and created their ‘Wish List’ they then need to tell their loved ones where it is. To help, we have designed an email template which you give them so they can send it to their friends and family, to let them know that the Wish List is with you.

We have also created a fantastic ePoster to advertise the presence of your customers’ Wish List which can be sent to the customer so they can text from THEIR smart phones to their friends and family or post on Facebook for the entire world to see!

Christmas Discover Scuba Diving DVD box sets

There are posters designed for you to put up to advertise both the Christmas Wish List but also advertise Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) as a unique Christmas present – a present that they will remember for the rest of their lives. To add real value to this we have designed a Christmas DSD DVD cover which can be used in conjunction with a Go Dive DVD (82069UK) and the Christmas DSD voucher template.

Christmas Cards – Paper and Electronic

What about that last minute customer who hasn’t even bought a card yet? We have designed a Christmas card template which you can print out and then include in either the Christmas DSD voucher and/or Christmas DSD DVD box set.

For the diving customer who loves his smart phone we have made a Christmas eCard which they can send via email and allows you to attach an electronic version of the Christmas DSD voucher for their loved one and potential new diving buddy!

Can you afford not to start marketing now?

So with Christmas just round the corner, can you afford not to start marketing now? Click on the ‘Christmas digital tool box’ link, answer a 60 second eSurvey and we will then send you the links to download the good stuff.

P.S. Don’t forget to make your own Wish List and send it out to your friends and family before it is too late!

A concern that is often expressed by dive centres and independent instructors is that of low course prices.

Many centres say that they have to set their price at a sum because their opposition have set a different total which is often lower. If potential customers are shopping around, they will go for the cheaper option, which is a statement that I agree with. However; do you know why your course needs to be more expensive, and what differentiates your offering from your competitor’s? In the eyes of your customers they are getting the same certification.

Maybe your gear is state of the art, new and regularly maintained. Perhaps you pay your staff to go for their annual medical examinations? Your dive centre may be warm and inviting with a good selection of diving equipment, books and accessories. Your classroom may have comfortable seating with tables and all of the appropriate training aids and videos with state of the art presentation equipment. You would therefore need a higher return than your competitor who just does not care about their image.

By letting your competitor set your course price, you may be losing money without realising it. I would recommend that you do a full pricing workshop before you decide how much you want to charge for a course. Simply ask your Regional Manager or local PADI office as the tools are available to help.

Now, many will argue that if you charge a higher price, your competition will gain all of your business; people like to shop around before committing to parting with their hard earned money. You have probably called around yourself for the best price when purchasing new items. To make your clients’ experience memorable and enjoyable, you need to charge the appropriate fee, and this could mean a course price that is higher than your competitor is charging.

You are probably asking yourself, ‘Am I going to lose business if I do this?’ My answer is that you are going to lose money if you don’t! How can you possibly make a profit if you are undercharging for the services you provide? I am usually amazed to hear dive centres say they have to charge what their competitors are selling courses for, as there are many centres that charge more money for greater returns. Here is a rough guide only; at the time of writing, in the South of England the course price averaged between 30 dive centres is £256.00. InSouth Africathe average course price inJohannesburgis around R1,500.00. (Incidentally, inCape Townthe average is now R2,500.00. In the past,Cape Townused to have the cheapest courses inSouth Africa).

Several dive centres that I have interviewed in preparation for this article, told me that since increasing their course prices or by always having higher course prices, they tend to sell more soft gear (masks, fins, snorkels, wetsuits and weight belts) on their entry level courses and hard gear (BCD, regulator, alternate air source, gauges, tanks and dive computers) on their continued education courses. Not to mention most of their patrons signing up for continued education and dive travel! Our top ten centres have an average conversion rate of 99.98% continued education (Our top centre having 411%!). Bear in mind that some divers do more than one course.

A great example illustrating the benefit of increasing course price is from a dive centre located in theUK. They used to charge £199.00 for the PADI Open Water Diver course and now charge £325.00 and report far higher returns on profit, equipment sales and continued education per client.

The top ten dive centres in all countries I service have several things in common; they charge the most for the courses in their area, they have a professional looking shop (probably because they are making a profit) and they are friendly and professional in their manner and image, as well as having decent stock levels in their facilities. Our bottom ten dive centres have the cheapest course prices in town. Many centres need to carry more stock and also improve the visual image of their facility. So in my opinion, the argument about having to charge less for your courses must be inaccurate. If this were not the case, why do our entire top ten dive centres continue to stay at the pinnacle?

Let’s compare scuba diving with other activities: (For my example, I am going to use the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA) for my pricing comparison. I have randomly called three operators of other activities around the country to get an average price).

Let’s make the table more interesting by dividing the total number of hours taken to provide the activity, assuming that each working day is 8 hours, into the course price. I will then rank the activities according to price in sterling.

Example: Activity; scuba diving, 4 days x 8 hours = 32 hours. £256 ÷ 32 hours = £8.00 per hour. (Sky Diving is calculated as three hours total experience flight and instruction)

Please note that the figures listed below do not take into effect any expenses whatsoever, so the figure listed below will not be net profit!

This proves that when comparing average course price of a variety of activities, scuba diving is by far the cheapest to learn!

Another argument that I have heard is that independent instructors are killing the market by offering cheaper course prices than dive centres. Yet again, in many instances I disagree, as our top certifying independent instructors also charge more than their competitors, in fact in many cases more than the average dive centre! Independent diving instructors also have overheads to meet and in some cases their costs for putting a course together are higher than that of a dive centre. Ultimately, make sure you do the maths by working out exactly how much it costs to run a course.

I would really recommend that you re-assess your pricing policy, and in some cases mend it! Yes, it is broken if you are charging less than your costs. How can you afford to pay your instructors affordable wages if you do not charge the appropriate pricing for your course, let alone stay in business? Well, you may say that you use the courses as a loss leader in order to sell your potential customer diving equipment. In reality, if customers are shopping around for the cheapest course price, they will do the same for equipment, which they could potentially purchase from your competitor!

To come back to a previous statement, what do you do with the customer that is calling around for the best price? To answer this question would take a series of articles as there are many books written on that particular subject. My advice would be to educate yourself on your current outlook. One way you could do this is by ordering our business and marketing guides Advanced Strategies for Recruiting Divers, which has a dedicated section to a customer calling around for the best price and how to handle this situation. Positive Approach Selling could possibly teach you how to close the sale when your potential customer has come to visit you, or indeed even called you. You can also call on advice from your Regional Manager and also take advantage of PADI’s business seminars and webinars. Many of our successful dive centres are already using ideas from these resources. How do we know they are working? They have fixed their prices and business ideas and they are the top ten dive centres in your country!

PADI Your Partner in Business

 
If you are unable to attend the presentations at DEMA, an opportunity has arisen for you to attend four mini seminars in the UK during November.

PADI will be conducting seminars from the core presentation group during the UK Diving Trade Show and Christmas Party, being held on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th November 2011 at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth,Warwickshire,United Kingdom, CV8 2LD.

If you want to get ahead of the game, make sure you pre-book your place at the seminars of your choice. Any two seminars attended lead to one credit towards your professional development with PADI.

Date: Sunday 27^th November 2011
Time: 11.00 – 12.00
Subject: Power Up With Proven Business Practices
Speaker:Simon Chance, Manager, PADI Retailer and Resort Associations

Click here to register for this seminar now

Time: 13.00 – 14.00
Subject: Pricing Strategies – Pricing with Confidence
Speaker:James Rogers, Director, Sales,Marketing and Field Services

Click here to register for this seminar now

Date: Monday 28^th November 2011
Time: 11.00 – 12.00
Subject: Is Your Website Working for You?
Speaker: Richard Howes, PADI Regional Manager -UK North,Cyprus andMalta

Click here to register for this seminar now

Time: 14.00 – 15.00
Subject: Engage Your Network – Social Media Strategies 101
Speaker: John Carlin, PADI Regional Manager – UK South and allIreland

Click here to register for this seminar now

Register for the Seminars

To ensure your place at the Business Academy Seminars, please register your interest online using the individual seminar links above. Please be aware that you must also have tickets for the Trade Show to gain entry to the PADI seminars.

To Attend the UK Diving Trade Show & Christmas Party

For full information and Free tickets to attend the UK Diving Trade Show click here to register online or contact the show organiser, Roz Lunn: email roz@tumc.co.uk or call 07973 117 862.

We look forward to seeing you there!