News
Scuba University: going back to school with SSI
I was offered the opportunity to attend Scuba University (or Scuba U for short) at the weekend. What is this all about, I hear you ask? Well, it is a 3 day course that the CEO of SSI, Doug McNeese, offers to dive shop owners to help them improve their business. Doug is an inspirational speaker who has been helping business owners for more than 20 years, by passing on his own advice that has been collected over the last 40 years of being in the scuba industry and owning his own dive centres in the USA. Think of him as the Mary Portas of dive centres!
This event, and the 2 previous Scuba University events, have been organised by the Mares/SSI UK team and have been offered to dive centre owners and their staff, with the ambition of boosting their customer acquisition, training and shop sales and also to keep existing divers active within the sport. This is a key part of the SSI philosophy to offer a business partnership rather than just a training agency. On my course, we had one dive shop owner taking the course for a second time in 4 months, this time bringing along 2 additional staff members, as the results he is seeing in his shop are so good, they are a real testament to this training course.
Whilst I do not own a dive centre, I thought that there must be information that was going to be relevant to my underwater photography business and so went along eager to learn some tips and tricks to boost my sales and business. The course is a full on 3 days, which for my course was held over Friday to Sunday (9-5pm) in a hotel conference room in the North-West. The Mares team also ensured that the social side of the course was provided for, so that people could talk through the topics of each day with Doug and the rest of those attending over dinner each evening.
Each day, we would work through the course material Doug has clearly worked hard to perfect over the years. There were some real “light bulb” moments for me, where an idea might be so obvious once you are told about it, but you see that this will really change the way you will do business in the future and can see immediately how it will improve both yours and your customer’s experience. Whilst I cannot give away the course material here, I can tell you that Doug is much more generous and sends you away at the end of the course with a thumb drive with business plan documents, all the information from the course, further reading ideas and everything you need to go away and implement your new plan. Even though the course is completely focused on dive centre owners, I came away with loads of ideas and new systems to put into place, and I was armed with existing spreadsheets and documents to make it easy to get started right away.
The next Scuba University courses will not be until 2016, but I can only advise those of you reading this who have a dive business to try to book a place. Doug will be coming back over in the summer to visit the dive centres that have taken part to see the changes taking place and to give further advice. Over the last 20 years of teaching this course, he has seen 17-38% increases in dive centre profits for those that have taken the course and, more importantly, implemented Doug’s advice and ideas. This course is a game changer.
One of my co-attendees, Shereen, had this to say:
“As the Manager of a PADI 5* IDC, I was initially quite sceptical about how much I would actually gain from attending Scuba U; a 3 day event hosted by SSI and Mares. However, I am very glad I attended with an open mind. The content was informative and professionally delivered. The sessions provided a fresh view of dive centre operation, making delegates really consider and evaluate what is actually important in running a successful Dive Centre. I am glad I attended and have taken a lot of good ideas away with me.”
At the very end of the course, we got an interactive demonstration of the SSI app, and this has re-ignited my enthusiasm to log my dives, with the ability to add photos of the site and buddy and create a permanent dive log in the cloud! Check out the app for yourself at www.divessi.com/app.
For further information contact:
SSI United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 20 – 3287 3988
eMail: gbr@divessi.com
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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