Information About Training Updates vs. Members Update
An important update about our training updates and members updates. Find out when to expect both and what the difference is between the two.
Articoli
Having TROUBLE with your REFERRALS?
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’re Part of the Problem
Scuba professionals, you’re part of the problem. Good news is, you’re also part of the solution.
Why Should They Tip Me?
Take a hard look and ask yourself, “What are we doing well, and what can we do better?”
Tools and Resources for Facilities
Often when a new dive center joins the SDI-TDI-ERDI family there is a bit of a learning curve with all the new tools and resources that they now have access to.
Customer Service and Why We Care
Take a moment to look at your business practice and ask if you are listening to your customers as much as you should.
IT Incentive Program
Crossover Instructors NOW and make money doing so!!!
In an effort to make instructor crossovers more profitable to our Course Directors and Instructor Trainers, we have an incentive program allowing a CD/IT to receive a portion of the crossover fee as compensation for conducting the program.
What does this mean to you as a CD or IT? You can get more benefits out of your ratings by using our streamlined crossover process to make money and help grow the agency!
How the Incentive Program Works:
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- The crossover candidate pays the CD/IT for the total crossover fee (contact World HQ for current rates).
- The CD/IT purchases an Instructor Pro Kit (221301G-01) from World HQ at best-level (PC5) pricing.
- Be sure to purchase the kit prior to conducting the in-person session with the candidate.
- Indicate to HQ that the kit is for a crossover and provide the candidate’s name and information. This will ensure you get the appropriate pricing and that the correct elearning code is provided.
- The CD/IT pays the current instructor registration fee upon submission of the candidate’s final paperwork.
- The remainder of the crossover fee is kept as profit by the CD/IT.
Important Reminders:
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- The crossover candidate must have the Instructor Pro Kit and complete the Professional Familiarization eLearning Course before they can attend the in-person/webinar Crossover Session with the CD/IT.
- The current crossover documents and PowerPoint can be accessed in the IT Resources section of your member profile.
- Download these items from the IT Resources each time instead of saving them to your computer to ensure you have the most updated materials every time.
- The Crossover Checklist will outline all information and documentation that needs to be submitted to World HQ for processing at the end of the crossover process.
- For more information, or if it has been a while since you conducted your last crossover, please contact the Training Department for guidance on the process prior to conducting the course.
Pre-Course Considerations
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- Review the Crossover Course standard in the Leadership Standards section for each applicable agency.
- Review the SDI Crossover Equivalency Table to see qualifying agencies for an administrative crossover.
- If the agency is not listed, or the candidate is crossing over to TDI, ERDI, or PFI, please contact the Training Department for equivalency information.
- Candidates requiring evaluation(s) for their crossover will need to work with a qualified Instructor Trainer for those ratings and may need to pay additional fees to the IT for their time involved with the evaluation.
- Instructor courses for upgrades taught in conjunction with a crossover will incur additional registration fees.
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Communicate with the regional representative for the candidate’s home territory so they are aware of the new member crossing in their region and can provide any necessary support.
What are you waiting for? Start crossing over new members today and make money doing it!
Not a Course Director or Instructor Trainer yet? International Training World HQ is hosting their next Instructor Trainer Workshop soon.
Instructor Trainers outside of the Americas please contact your regional office.
5 Tips From 5 Dive Shop Owners About Customer Experience
We asked five SDI-TDI dive centers what they did that made a difference in keeping up with their customers’ needs and expectations. Reading through them all, the answer was pretty easy – it is about keeping the customer satisfied, happy and involved. Long term business isn’t just about the sale, but about the relationships.
We feel the same way.
“Sense of community”
Dive Addicts has tried to increase a “sense of community” through club meetings, socials, dive-a-longs, photo contests, free seminars, and lots of trips. We strive to make diving a lifestyle decision and not just a “once a year on vacation” type of activity. In this day and age of on-line super stores grabbing a substantial amount of equipment sales, we feel it is important for the local dive retailer to establish this personal connection with the local diver in order to survive what will surely become an increasingly more difficult market. When divers feel a connection through personal relationships with their LDS (local dive shop), pricing becomes less and less of an issue and it becomes more and more about where the customer feels comfortable, and how he or she wants to spend their time.
At the end of the day, it’s not about money. It’s about how people spend their time!
-Randy Thornton. Dive Addicts, Utah USA
www.diveaddicts.com
“Customer loyalty – gaining it and maintaining it”
Success in business is not just about the sales and profit gains. One of the most important gains of good business is gaining your customers loyalty. A loyal customer goes out and sells you and the center and will generate more customers for you. Reef Shepherd’s principle objective has always been to win over the customer first through excellent customer service which has allowed us to continue successfully competing in the market for the last 10 years.
-Santiago Estrada. Reef Shepherd, Colombia
www.reef-shepherd-divers.com
“Empower our customers”
We make the customer feel like part of the Water Quest Family. In the store we have a hang out area with couches. Many of our regulars come in daily and hang out. In this area most of our dive trips are born, not only by us, but by the customers themselves. Recently, we planned a trip to Utila in just 10 minutes notice for one of my favorite groups. We made reservations and off we will go next week to Utila. You might say it is crazy to cater to customers on a whim, but it is easier to sell a trip that has passion behind it than one that is planned for months ahead.
-Bill Schoeningh. Waterquest, Guatemala
www.Waterquest.com.gt
“Be friendly and smile”
If you really want to build loyal customers then you have to be friendly. Step one in being friendly is to start with a smile. This goes for when the customer enters the shop upon greeting, as well as when you answer the phone. If you smile while talking on the phone then it will come across in your attitude and will be perceived on the other side as “these people are nice and I want to give them my business.”
-Greg Kobrin. New England Dive Center, Connecticut USA
www.nedive.com
“Get noticed and keep it fun”
Change the look of things, try walking into the centre and look at it from a customer’s perspective. Make it fun. Keep your centre pumping, have lots of things going on. Customers’ perception is one key to success! While doing this, make sure your staff and yourself are happy, if your customer thinks it is a chore then they will go somewhere else.
-Kel Bradley. St George Underwater, Australia
www.stgeorgeunderwater.com.au
Students Take a Jump to Become Professional Divers
Scuba diving is an incredible hobby that opens up new worlds as you explore the aquatic realm – either locally or traveling to some exotic destination. Divers often find themselves wanting to take their training several steps further with advanced courses in continuing education and often in technical level courses as well.
It is not unusual for divers to want more out of this sport. They want to be a part of it. They want to be professionals as well as ambassadors of scuba to their “land-loving” friends. The reasons may vary greatly, but a common theme is that divers want to “give back” the experiences they had with their instructors and share those moments with other new divers. Many of these divers pursuing professional levels, regardless of age, look at scuba as a career of sorts, sometimes as a full time position. Others see it as a part-time gig.
“Working hard and hardly working, a divemaster is one of the best jobs in the world.”
– Taylor Rabbitt from SDI World Headquarters
The entry levels for a scuba diving professional begin with the Divemaster program and continue with the Assistant Instructor rating. These courses can be taught by any active SDI Open Water Instructor in good standing.
The SDI Divemaster Course is the first professional level certification. During this course, DM candidates will be challenged and learn what it is like to work with divers as they experience the underwater world for the first time. Candidates will also learn how to lead already certified divers and show them some of their favorite critters or dive sites. As an SDI Instructor, you will also teach them how to manage divers, work the dive deck of a boat, and conduct safe and enjoyable dives, along with further knowledge in physics and physiology, and how it is applied to everyday scuba.
The SDI Assistant instructor course is designed toward practical teaching experience with an active SDI Instructor or Instructor Trainer. Candidates may help an Instructor teach an Open Water Scuba Diver course, Advanced Diver Course, and Rescue Diver Courses, as well as preparation in lesson plans, academic presentations and general dive management techniques.
Upon completion of the course, assistant instructors may now be a part of that magical moment and instruct as well as certify Skin Divers, conduct the Inactive Diver Program, and conduct the knowledge Quest review in the Open Water Diver Course. With some additional training, an SDI Assistant Instructor could go on to teach the following SDI courses:
- Altitude Diver
- Boat Diver
- Computer Diver
- Equipment Specialist
- Marine Ecosystems Awareness Diver
- Shore/Beach Diver
- Underwater Photographer Diver
- Underwater Video Diver
- Visual Inspection Procedures
- CPROX Administrator
- CPR1st Administrator
So what are you waiting for? Let your divers know that you are able to take them on their first step toward becoming a professional in scuba diving. Increase your revenues and promote your professional level courses today. Start creating quality professional members who will share the same enthusiasm with their up and coming divers as you do. Both classes have the academics available online so students can work on much of the classroom work at their own pace in preparation for their classes. Get them involved and working toward their next step: becoming an SDI Open Water Scuba Instructor. One of the biggest benefits of being a professional is making a diver’s day with a safe, incredible experiences that will make them want to get back in the water as soon as their dive computers allows!
Contact SDI TDI and ERDI
If you would like more information, please contact our World Headquarters or your Regional Office.
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: https://www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SDITDI