To say 2020 was a rough year for businesses is an understatement. In some ways, 2021 is proving to be even more of a challenge. COVID-19 created unprecedented events in our world that we will feel the effects of for…
Your scuba course offerings are filling well. You and the rest of your instructional staff are teaching every weekend and some weeknights. You aren’t complaining, but lightening the teaching load on the existing staff would prevent the dreaded instructor burnout.…
Once upon a time I worked at a dive center that had a sign stapled to the pegboard wall above the equipment repair bench that read, “The floggings will continue until morale improves.” Sure, it was meant to be a…
As the diving season approaches, many dive centers ramp-up their staff to handle the influx of classes taught, retail sales, dive trips and dive travel excursions. Unfortunately, hiring the right people can be a challenging process. In our dive industry…
Back when I ran a retail chain we spent an awful lot of time trying to figure out why store A did well, while store C did not. We knew that the answer held the key. The frustration was that…
As we discussed a few weeks back, your customers’ experience is clearly the #1 driver of loyalty and sales in your dive store. But, what is the #1 driver of their experience? Your people. Your staff is responsible for executing virtually…
THE GUY NAMED T HAD BEEN THE MANAGER AT THE DIVE STORE FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. Always quick with a joke, welcoming of any sort of conversation with his customers, encyclopedic in his product knowledge and happy to…
You may have seen CBS television’s “Undercover Boss,” a “reality” television show based on the premise of a top-ranking officer of a major corporation, who infiltrates his own company’s workforce incognito. The show relies on employees not recognizing the boss…
Let’s think about what makes your dive center what it is. Is it the brands of dive gear you sell? Or is it the training agency you certify your students through? Or your store’s location and the sign out front?…
It isn't a stretch of imagination for dive operators to justify in their minds classifying instructors as independent contractors, particularly if their only relationship with the dive store is to teach students. The problem is, it is difficult - if…