Is it time to kill DSDs and go back to the drawing board?

[drrich2]

There does seem to be a line between vacation divers and local divers, I hate to say it.

Easy to understand and probably not unique to diving. I'm not a hunter, but I come from a family of hunters. Most of their adult lives, my parents have lived in a rural area. So should the wild urge hit, barring any reason not to go, they could head out one morning and hunt deer. Or Dad could hunt squirrel. They didn't have to plan weeks or months in advance and take time off work. Similarly, if fishing for you means shore fishing for bream in a local pond, that's easy. If it means an hour's drive pulling a bass boat to be on the water at the crack of dawn, that's more daunting.

Similarly, if you live near shore diving, as many coastal California residents do, or even near good dive boat op.s there or coastal Florida, you've got more spontaneous options. And you can dive one day; you don't need to get a 5 days vacation time from work approved so you can take a 1-week trip to make the expenditure worthwhile.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I believe that playing computer games is being considered to be an Olympic sport in the near future too.

My 19yr old loves Rocket League, not so fussed on diving. He's been paid $7500 this year while he's at Uni, plus given a new computer just to play for a higher mid level team

Made me STFU about sitting on backside playing computer games..

 

[Marie13]

Very much agree with @Eric Sedletzky about the difference between local (regional) divers and the vacation divers. The warm water only folks are finicky and picky.

 

[Jafo19D]

DSD is how I got into diving. Went with my gf and we had very different experiences. After spending a lot of extra 1 on 1 time with the DM in the pool my gf decided to give it a shot in OW.

On the boat there were also normal divers and some doing AOW so there were a number of different groups.

Our DM briefed us and said that our group would consist of him, another female who would turn out to be his daughter, myself and my gf. I was the first one in my group and they told me to go down the line and wait. Once at the bottom and we started the dove I was a bit confused because we had 1 person missing so it seemed to me that it was just me and my gf with the DM.

Had a great time and during the dive I grabbed my gf’s butt and legs a few times - or so I thought. Near the end of the dive I realized that it wasn’t my gf. Once on the surface I apologized profusely and was told not to worry about it.

As it turned out my gf freaked out descending and wanted to call the dive. One of the DMs tried to force her to keep on going so at around 5m she ripped off her regulator and went for the surface.

On almost all of my dives I see discovery divers and I feel that when they’re around that perhaps we miss out on some cool sites but it is nice seeing them go off on how awesome it was when you’re back on the boat.

 

[Jafo19D]

The dive industry really sucks at marketing. Going back to my own Discovery Dive experience the DC (and I guess PADI) had all my contact info , address, age, dob, email, phone number etc. That info is gold and not once after the dive was I contacted again. People who buy your service and then quit are considered churn and marketers should devote resources to discourage churn and win back those who did churn. That DC really should have hit me up for an up sell (OW cert) right away.

 

[tursiops]

That DC really should have hit me up for an up sell (OW cert) right away.

Right. and then you would have complained about that. It is always something.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

The dive industry really sucks at marketing. Going back to my own Discovery Dive experience the DC (and I guess PADI) had all my contact info , address, age, dob, email, phone number etc. That info is gold and not once after the dive was I contacted again. People who buy your service and then quit are considered churn and marketers should devote resources to discourage churn and win back those who did churn. That DC really should have hit me up for an up sell (OW cert) right away.

That's the dive center's fault. A common element is that I see that dive centers are opened by divers and most do not have any sort of business background. I've worked in a variety of sized companies, none as a startup. But co-workers and friends of mine who have emphasize the importance of marketing and customer engagements. Dive centers should attempt to have a conversation with people immediately after their introductory scuba experiences to see what their interests are, or if they can follow up later, but without being annoying. That's the dive center's owner/manager who is missing the opportunities that introductory scuba experiences provide.

 

[Jafo19D]

Right. and then you would have complained about that. It is always something.

As a good business practice they definitely should reach out but not all people have the ability to understand that. Acquiring a new customer is the most expensive part of a company’s relationship with a customer. It’s a sin to let them go once acquired with very few exceptions.

 

[Jafo19D]

That's the dive center's fault. A common element is that I see that dive centers are opened by divers and most do not have any sort of business background. I've worked in a variety of sized companies, none as a startup. But co-workers and friends of mine who have emphasize the importance of marketing and customer engagements. Dive centers should attempt to have a conversation with people immediately after their introductory scuba experiences to see what their interests are, or if they can follow up later, but without being annoying. That's the dive center's owner/manager who is missing the opportunities that introductory scuba experiences provide.

Agree. Does PADI get a cut when someone dies a discovery dive ? If so it’s definitely PADI’s fault as well.

 

[Jafo19D]

Agree. Does PADI get a cut when someone dies a discovery dive ? If so it’s definitely PADI’s fault as well.

Ooops. Meant “does” not “dies”.