Having TROUBLE with your REFERRALS?
Here is what you can do and what we can do to help!
Are your SDI OW students requesting a referral to someplace “special” to complete their training? As a professional, you want to make sure your customers get the same kind of outstanding treatment that you give them. You also want to make sure that their training is completed smoothly, without hiccups and surprises.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Additional fees, additional training, and extra class time are sometimes surprises that your students may encounter once they have already arrived at their selected destination far away from you and home!
When sending your students to a Referral Center, it is always best to send them to a destination that you already know. This way, you can let them know in advance what to expect. However, sometimes it is out of your hands.
Here are a few friendly tips to help you with referrals.
Call ahead.
Let the referral Dive Center know who you are and what your students need. Find out what their primary training agency is, let them know what your students have completed, and what they have yet to complete. Always speak to the Training Director or Lead Instructor of the facility and get his or her name.
A copy of the student record folder serves as their referral form as well as their temporary card once their training is complete. Explain this to the facility where your student is going. Ask them if they personally have any issue with the global referral. Reinforce the fact that you want the customers to have a great experience and that you would be happy to continue to send customers their way if things work out well. After all, who wouldn’t want additional business at times like these?
If you encounter a dive center that does not fully grasp the concept of global referral and you feel like you are hitting a brick wall – call us. Our staff at HQ would be more than happy to give the referral center a call and explain the benefits of global referral. Our training department staff, and our national and international sales team, are familiar with many agency’s standards and requirements and can assist you and your customer to ensure a positive scuba experience. In most cases, these instructors you may be sending your referrals to just want to make sure they aren’t doing anything wrong.
In the rare event that the facility in question still does not want to accept the global referral, we will be more than happy to try to locate an SDI Facility in the area that can take care of your customers so they can have a positive scuba experience rather than one filled with frustration due to miscommunication, additional time lost, extra training, and hidden fees.
Remember, as a member in good standing with our family of agencies we are always happy to help you. After all, for us to do well you MUST do well!
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