"The old way is not always best"!

One thing I have learnt over the past 10/12 years is know your clientele. In the diving industry it was simple, give them 2/3 fantastic dives and a good time in-between and they will come back year after year.

In the last two years, I have been an ADI, and it seems it is a similar story here, but unlike tourism, some people think it is best left to the old ways. This is how I do it, if you don’t like it go someplace else, now maybe twenty years ago fear enough, but in the brief two years I have been in the industry, there is an awful lot of competition.

Now there is allot to be said about recommendations, and this is one thing that will not change, but people’s shopping habits have changed, they want more for their buck.

As for pricing, I do not give my services for free, and charge accordingly, but with clever marketing you can offer great deals without losing too much profit in the short term.

At the moment I franchise and this works for me for now. I also have my own website, to which I change some of the content on a monthly basis, plus dynamic features like videos. My pupils also have their own pages, which works well too.

 I also have a Facebook page and use it to thank, praise my pupils on their achievements, and promote my business. My Facebook account is also linked to my twitter and LinkedIn accounts. In my opinion social media is the way forward for advertising, but alas some disagree.

In the car I also use technology; I use a TAB for my lesson plans, plus in car video. My pupils love the tab idea and I get great feedback for all of it.

Guys it’s not rocket science, and I am not being a tech geek, ask yourself what is the average age of your pupils, am I or am I not teaching on their own level, and not coming over as an old fart with a couple of pictures.

Another trick is to adapt to them, but it sounds as if most ADI’s already do this, from reading comments on forums. I for one like to learn from these as well as my own experiences.

I for one, is looking forward to emerging technologies to help me, plus adapting some of the old techniques too. As long as I do this and listen to most of my peers, I am looking forward to a good career as an Approved Driving Instructor