An old dog, new tricks.

There is allot to be said about teaching people who think they know about things, but really do not. I have only been an ADI for a couple of years, but i taught scuba diving for 10. The mechanisms for teaching both were very similar.


We all know that the standards check is coming, and some think they coach already, they may will do, but do they really understand how client centred works, it's not just about customer service, as i have just learnt on my recent BTEC3 course with aCCelerate. Its about knowing your pupils needs, helping them understand, and creating safe drivers after the test.

I am not going to go into it too deep as you can do the course yourself. @ aCCelerate

I will be useingmy new skills Iin my driving lessons, in Banbury,  and Daventry. 

Don't take it personally, but look just a little!!

Isn’t it great when things are going the way you want them, but when thing don’t do you as an ADI’s take the time to make sure that the pupil who has just failed was unlucky and had a “moment” during the test, or it was something you should have taught them.

Now I am going to be brave here and admit, that I have just had a couple of pupils fail, and true to form I analysed how I taught them and asked if I could of done anything different.  In fact I do this every time, as I like to tweek things as needed, but looking back in all honesty I did all I could to make them test standard.

There are many reasons to fail, nervs, other road users, or the one you do not wish it to be, is YOUR teaching or lack of knowledge.

Even if you have done everything you can try not to beat yourself up, but do take 5 mins to think about it, and then book them a cancelation.

The point is do not take it personally, sometimes people fail, you are not the one taking the test. And yes you will get a long run of pass’s too to redress the balance.

But do take a moment to analyse it, just make sure you are still in top form. What harm can it do?

Do you self-critique

Do we as Instructors coaches, self-critique, I certainly do, by taking feedback from other ADI’s, pupils, or even video footage from my in car cameras. I do for my driving lessons in Daventry and Banbury. 

I certainly believe that we can evolve as we go, plus taking courses to help us improve. This is not always the case, and I have witnessed comments like, I don’t need to do it different, it has worked for years, why change it now, or something similar, both on social media and in person at my local test centres.

My question is, how would they feel if Mother Nature didn't evolve them, and they we still in animal skins freezing, using flints to make a fire, while the rest of us enjoy the modern things we have learnt to do.

In short, why not give it a go, you never know you discover something that you’ll like.

To post about passes on social media or not to post....

There is allot to be said for great marketing. One that some people forget is posting congratulation about your latest test pass, not only will people who are friends with your pupil see it, you can boost it too.







But for me the most important reason is to publicly congratulate your pupil on all of their hard work over the past weeks. They have invested allot of time and money and it’s nice to say well done

For me it’s not that important to say I have had this many passes over the last months/year, but to acknowledge my pupils achievements. But the kick back is good marketing.

Your fist lessons

"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

Night Driving lessons