Marketing: Are we ok, or do we need help?

[tekkydiver]

My .02 FWIW. The way the industry is going, here is where I believe more and more dive shops will be advertising

Dive Shops For Sale

 

[Trace Malinowski]

From the PADI website:

Q: How long does it take to get certified?
A: It’s possible to complete your confined and open water dives in as few as three or four days ...

Q: How much does it cost to take scuba lessons?
A: Compared with getting started in other popular adventure sports and outdoor activities, learning to scuba dive isn’t expensive. For example, you can expect to pay about the same as you would for:

• a full day of surfing lessons
• a weekend of rock climbing lessons
• a weekend of kayaking lessons
• a weekend of fly-fishing lessons
• about three hours of private golf lessons
• about three hours of private water skiing lessons
• one amazing night out at the pub!

An entire scuba certification course (3 to 4 days in the PADI world) sold for less than these other activities? So, if you run a 4 day PADI class as a PADI instructor you can expect to make less money than:

• a surf instructor in one day
• a rock climbing instructor in a weekend
• a kayaking instructor in a weekend
• a fly-fishing instructor in 2 days
• a golf pro in 3 hours
• a water skiing instructor in 3 hours
• a bartender in one shift from one customer

Seriously? I mean ...

Not bashing PADI instructors, but it's easy to see why the people in the trenches struggle while a corporation thrives. When you are valued as a dive educator like the fry cook at a fast food chain ... I mean ... seriously?

But, you'll make more money if the class is full right? Same principle. Is it easier to fill an entire OW class or get one golf student for 3 hours?

 

[SeaHorse81]

I think this may reveal an essential issue: In order to maintain the infrastructure (boats, dive sites, training facilities, gear manufacturers, educators, etc.) that makes it possible for us all to dive with the freedom and access that we enjoy, we must have a lot of divers. However, diving doesn't hold a strong enough attraction to a high enough number of people to allow for instructors to charge what they're really worth.

You make diving attractive to more of the masses you need to attract by cheapening it, in multiple senses of the word. If dive professionals could earn what they rightfully should, there would be far fewer incoming divers and no "industry" in any real sense of the word. Those of you who do this for a living get paid at the miserable level you do because that's all the market will bear. It's not fair, it just is.

 

[crosshairs]

My girlfriend is a professional figure skater with an amazing physique and barely enough body fat to sustain health.

having met them both at Atlantis Aquatics dive shop a few months back, I can say that he is telling the truth...(your girl was trying on fins)

not sure if you remember, but I'm the guy who has a house right up the road from you...

I'm in Mexico for the winter, but maybe Ill see you at Dutch again this summer....

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I think this may reveal an essential issue: In order to maintain the infrastructure (boats, dive sites, training facilities, gear manufacturers, educators, etc.) that makes it possible for us all to dive with the freedom and access that we enjoy, we must have a lot of divers. However, diving doesn't hold a strong enough attraction to a high enough number of people to allow for instructors to charge what they're really worth.

You make diving attractive to more of the masses you need to attract by cheapening it, in multiple senses of the word. If dive professionals could earn what they rightfully should, there would be far fewer incoming divers and no "industry" in any real sense of the word. Those of you who do this for a living get paid at the miserable level you do because that's all the market will bear. It's not fair, it just is.

So, how much would you charge me as a life coach so I can get out of diving and find a different way of life that will still allow me to be happy and fulfilled doing what I love and pay my bills?

---------- Post added December 29th, 2013 at 04:36 PM ----------

having met them both at Atlantis Aquatics dive shop a few months back, I can say that he is telling the truth...(your girl was trying on fins)

not sure if you remember, but I'm the guy who has a house right up the road from you...

I'm in Mexico for the winter, but maybe Ill see you at Dutch again this summer....

LOL! Awesome! I'll trade you a a figure skater with an awesome body for a winter in Mexico. Or, would you like to move from DM to instructor and rake in the big bucks?

BTW, remember I bought the used IDI fins for my girlfriend because nothing else in the shop met the equipment requirements for DIR/Tech/Cave diving? I'm so outta shops in my area I need to open my own.

 

[Wookie]

LOL! Awesome! I'll trade you a a figure skater with an awesome body for a winter in Mexico. Or, would you like to move from DM to instructor and rake in the big bucks?

BTW, remember I bought the used IDI fins for my girlfriend because nothing else in the shop met the equipment requirements for DIR/Tech/Cave diving? I'm so outta shops in my area I need to open my own.

So, how much would you charge me as a life coach so I can get out of diving and find a different way of life that will still allow me to be happy and fulfilled doing what I love and pay my bills?

Does the GF with the awesome body know you're trading her away?

This life coach will tell you that opening a dive shop in your area will in no way lead to happiness, fulfillment, or paying your bills. If you think I'm wrong, wanna buy a nice tech diving boat?

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Maybe I'll stick with the figure skating coach who makes $30 for 30 minutes and is going into real estate like her mother.

And, find another career. Any suggestions for an English major with 25 years experience in the diving industry with the prospects of the gunfighters in The Magnificent Seven?

 

[crosshairs]

LOL! Awesome! I'll trade you a a figure skater with an awesome body for a winter in Mexico. Or, would you like to move from DM to instructor and rake in the big bucks?

BTW, remember I bought the used IDI fins for my girlfriend because nothing else in the shop met the equipment requirements for DIR/Tech/Cave diving? I'm so outta shops in my area I need to open my own.

I would trade in a minute, not sure my girl would let me though...

I do remember you buying the IDI fins....it seems nobody stocks anything but rec gear around our area...if you want tec gear your SOL...
and I actually am an instructor..I just never updated my avatar....I cant afford too...

 

[RJP]

However, diving doesn't hold a strong enough attraction to a high enough number of people to allow for instructors to charge what they're really worth.

Diving instructors are only "really worth" what people are willing to pay, irrespective of how many divers there are.

 

[Akimbo]

…. When you are valued as a dive educator like the fry cook at a fast food chain ... I mean ... seriously?
…

Pay scales for both are determined by competition. The price rises when there aren’t enough people standing in line to do the job.

The low level of requirements for instructors is just as much a part of the equation as the abysmal requirements for divers and merit badge system. Getting people to become instructors for the “prestige”, love of diving, and small equipment discounts insures a steady supply of cheap labor to compete against other instructors who would like to make it a profession.

What percentage of dive shops promotes the quality of their instructors and completeness of their class rather than selling the cards? Golf and tennis pros nurture a reputation that enhances their value. How many dive students even know the name of the instructor before class starts?

Dive shops have little incentive to care if you are diving’s equivalent of a fry cook or a celebrity chef. Why should a dive shop pay for a chef and why should a student pay more if all they think they will get is the same crappy hamburger?