Biggest thing killing dive shops?

[runsongas]

if they charge more for the class, they will more likely just end up with less students.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

if they charge more for the class, they will more likely just end up with less students.

Students who you lose money on with OW classes who buy online are not worth having

 

[runsongas]

fewer, more profitable students sounds great except the shop rent is fixed and not based on how many customers/students the shop gets

you could make 500 per student and lose money if there are too few

 

[MichaelMc]

A few people mentioned Dolphin in Sacramento as a good shop that appeared to do well. Their classes are cheap and they also sell BP/W (DiveRite, ScubaPro, Hollis, Mares, and Apeks), plus back inflates and jackets all in a web store They are land locked and do not seem to have a boat. Anyone know how they are doing it? Is it the web store?

Edit: they also give swim classes.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

fewer, more profitable students sounds great except the shop rent is fixed and not based on how many customers/students the shop gets

you could make 500 per student and lose money if there are too few

That's where business savvy comes in.

 

[runsongas]

dolphin is higher volume than most shops and more competitive on price. they have a similar model to DRIS

 

[DevonDiver]

if they charge more for the class, they will more likely just end up with less students.

Exactly!

As my article said... gotta break free of this agency-sponsored infatuation with a volume model.

 

[DevonDiver]

you could make 500 per student and lose money if there are too few

Here's the reality.... desperate dive shops are LOSING MONEY and closing.

That's based on a volume model. They charge little... and STILL don't get enough students.

Because charging little... you need LOTS of students. And there really aren't any...and most of what there is do an EVEN CHEAPER course overseas on holiday.

Charge more... to make profit from smaller volume.... and raise quality to JUSTIFY that cost and show a value to it.

At the moment... the onky answer is to desperately flog kit... which doesn't work in an Internet era...

 

[BDSC]

Free advice is usually worth what you pay. Its really easy to stand on the outside and have brilliant insights into what makes good business practices in a business you know little about running.

I don't disagree with you at all and I would never tell this guy how to run the day to day operation of a dive business cause I know nothing about it. But travel I know.

What started out around 12 years ago as a group of 6 of us going to Belize has grown to where last year a total of 84 of us went on four different trips (Palau, Cozumel, Sea of Cortez twice) and I still had to turn folks away because there was no more room or spaces available. And this isn't even a business for me as I work in the nuclear power industry. Out of those 84 folks I would guess maybe 20 of them came either off of SB or Wetpixel and are a regular part of the group. I've had folks as far away as South Korea join us. Oh, and three in the group are instructors for that very dive shop because they are tired of the shop going to the same old places year after year.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

if they charge more for the class, they will more likely just end up with less students.

I don’t think so. I think if somebody want’s to get certified, especially to dive around here, they will pay it.
But I would be carefull not to hike it too high to fast. But the fact remains that tuition is not keeping up with the cost of doing business.