How Can We Keep Divers Diving After Certification?

[Aquabear]

For popularity was scuba diving ever on a top 10 list? There have been shows in the past involving diving but are there statistics truly to support a statement of its popularity now vs earlier?

Right now 2008/2009I think in general, a bad economy, loss of jobs, etc.. people/households have to cut back on everything entertainment, dinners, hell even HBO, vacations including trying (a very expensive sport like) scuba- we all now it aint cheap especially in the beginning.

I know there are less people traveling to exotic destinations so less people to sign up for scuba- unless you are DIE HARD and dive where you live like me in NY as most of you divers on here do. My non diving friends/family have asked me about scuba but ALL want to do it before a warm water vacation other than that its a dead zone.

I know my LDS is hurtin, I dont want to lose them like I lost my orig dive shop Divers Way. I trust them and their quality work shows with every breath I take underwater - I also like the fact that they did not fill up a guys tank who did not show a ccard and his tank was WAYYY over due for inspect.

 

[EDGE245277]

In retail what gets people coming back when they are not so inclined is a deal they just can't pass up. Wal-Mart is great at this in they intentionally are "loss leaders" on items to get people in the door in the hopes that they stay and buy more. Now if the goal is to have people diving enough that they stay involved the "loss leader" has to actually make the person dive. I know a lot of dive shops loose money on air fills but that doesn't cut it.

A class like Dr. Bill mentions would be great, but the way to offer it is not to charge. Offer a qualified teacher free fills and a store discount in return one weekend a month they teach the class at no charge to the students. For the shops that are located by diving this class can include dives do those dives at a break even price. If the shop is healthy enough for free would even be better.

If some one want to try out spear fishing they should get a free training and free/ break even dive or two.

If the location has historic dives could be a wreck or could be fossils have an educational class and free/break even dive associated with it.

For all of the above it gives the diver an opportunity to get "bitten by the bug" where simply diving is not the passion but the activity while diving is the passion.

In cold weather areas how about not charging for dry suit training with a rent to purchase offer on the dry suit.

All shops have group travel, however most of the time what they call "deals" is usually the same price any of us can get on our own and we don't have to travel on there set date for that. It is my understanding that a lot of times they are getting 10 for the price of 9 and an employee of the shop is going free. Well to be honest I do not need an employee of the shop on my vacation. Why not sell 10 spots and divide the savings across all the travelers. I can not get that savings on my own it is a value added for the shop. If the shop wants to send someone buy a spot.

The open water class should have time devoted to staying in diving. This does not have to be long, but telling people about message boards, local dive clubs, and local group events where they can meet more divers, which I find leads to more diving is great. Offer to attend any of the local events with the class to introduce them to the dive community. I think a lot of shop owners do not want to talk about the fall out rate our of fear it will discourage the class, but I say attach it head on early so that you are already training the class not to be on the wrong side of a statistic.

For local dive charters and dive parks they should follow the old subway sandwich stamp card model. Go on "X number of dive the next one is on us".

Obviously a dive shop offering free boat trips that Tgreene mentioned would be great.

 

[Blackwood]

While some people may get a kick out of going down and being able to point at something and say "look, a Flabellina iodinea! That must mean x, y and z about the surrounding ecosystem," many of us won't.

I like to be underwater, and I like to see things underwater, but to me biology classes (like government Welfare) would have an effect opposite the intent. It would chase me away, not draw me in further.



I suspect that the best way tp keep people diving is to figure out what they are interested in and show them where they can see those things. If they like wrecks, take them to local wrecks. If they certain plants or animals, teach them how to find them. Hopefully along the way they'll find other things they want to go see.

 

[gypsyjim]

I know that I drifted away from diving for years, for many reasons: tired of cold water lakes with not a lot to see, cold ocean waters not close enough to reach very often (and then cold, still!), few local diving friends, life, marriage, kids, it's expensive hobby(one of many available), you name it. No one thing caused me to lose interest, but one day I realized I hadn't dived in years.

I still did an occasional dive with my little brother, who I'd gotten interested, when I visited him in CA, where better diving was easier to find than here in upstate NY, but by then all my gear was seriously out-of-date and my skills seriously degraded.

Then, on a vacation I discovered warm Caribbean waters, newer better dive equipment, many more divers, etc.

I got hooked again, got my kids interested too, and did a bunch of retraining. ONLY this time around there are a lot more divers I can share the love of diving with. There are a variety of agencies offering courses that can help keep a diver involved and interested, by offering higher levels of training, specialties, etc. The dive community is much larger and easier to stay in contact now than in the 70's

My first time around was in the years before there was any Internet, like SB forum, to give distant divers a way to stay in tune with each other. For many of us, our horizons were much more limited for the new diver. Except for dreaming over a dive magazine the idea of distant warm water diving, and new dive friends in far off places seemed out of the reach of young divers just getting started.

I read all the comments about how bad, greedy, etc the agencies and lds' are, these days, and how hard it is to keep new diver involved, BUT I look around and I see an awful lot more involved divers, a lot more chances to upgrade your training, and or pursue interesting "specialties", and a lot better communications throughout this sport (ie ScubaBoard), than I saw 30 some years ago.

From where I stand there have been a lot of changes that help keep divers involved.

 

[SCUBASailor]

You are fortunate, indeed, to have access to such a great LDS. Nothing wrong with ours, but it's a very small shop, and just doesn't have the kind of resources to host those kinds of activities.

 

[RJP]

Acquiring the RIGHT folks!?! How the heck does one do that?

Current Model...

10 try scuba, 9 leave, 1 stays

New Model

1 try scuba, 1 stays

Now you have lost income on the 9 that would have paid to try something they did not like, so IOW's you have lost money.

This approach makes no sense to me.

Why do you assume you couldn't have a class composed of 10 people who stand a "better than current chance" of sticking with it? I never said we should limit the number of people who COME IN, but rather skew the recruitment efforts to focus on getting the same number of the RIGHT PEOPLE coming in.

Think about it...if you could get a group of 10 composed of the following people...

• 2 who would for-sure stay with it
• 2 who would be 50-50 given the right variables
• 2 who have a 25% likelihood of staying with it
• 4 who are in the current "1-in-10 chance of staying with it" camp

At the end of THAT course you'd have 4x as many divers than the current "1 in 10" shotgun approach.

 

[RJP]

In retail what gets people coming back when they are not so inclined is a deal they just can't pass up.

Think that'll work in diving?

LDS: "Why'd you quit diving?"
Diver: "I just really didn't enjoy it."
LDS: "I'll give you 30% off a BCD and Computer..."
Diver; "OH YEAH - sign me up!"

I hate Salmon. Offer me 50% off Salmon? I still ain't buying Salmon.

Loss leaders work because the items in question are commodity items that everyone buys - detergent, toothpaste, underwear, etc - and provides a reason to buy those things and then OTHER things at Wal-Mart instead of K-Mart. Loss leaders are not intended - nor are they effective - in getting you to buy something that you DON'T WANT.

 

[ptyx]

The overwhelming marketing message of the dive industry is that the goal of a class is to get a card. Classes are formatted to deliver cards in the shortest possible amount of time, and instructors are not encouraged to promote experimentation or digressions during their teaching. Some do (to their credit), but for most the response to a buoyancy question during a Nitrox class will be a one liner with a pointer to a 'peak performance buoyancy' class.

Even AOW, which evolved merely to a bunch of guided dives, is done too often as a race along a wreck with 10 minutes bottom time and no pause to enjoy the dives.

An OW diver will be out of class which was rushed, not that fun, and left with the option to go diving alone - and he's not prepared either technically or mentally for that - or take another class - which will be rushed and not that fun as well.

Of course in the mean time he bought some gear. So I guess economically it makes sense.

But if the goal is to keep new divers diving, the message and the content need to change to deliver more fun and less stress. Dive training should be a privileged moment with an expert, valuable even if it's not part of an agency cursus and doesn't deliver a card. Not a required rite of passage. After that, it's up to a diver to know if he prefers juggling with deco bottles, do macrame with cave line or study fish behavior with Dr. Bill.

(These type of 'classes' exist already: photography boats, some advanced tech classes, survey/cleaning projects, or just dives with very experienced dive guides like you find in Lembeh - but mostly they are targeted at very experienced divers so don't help retention much).

 

[Teamcasa]

How Can We Keep Divers Diving After Certification?

They say the diving industry is in decline. I hope not. However, we have all heard the stories about the individual who gets OW SCUBA certified because they are taking a trip to some great dive location, but then they stop diving afterwards. Or the ones who take it up and just get "bored" in a few months.

Just like any other recreational activity, people need to afford it.

Keeping the interest level up is not training or certification issues, it's finding a way to make it social, fun and accessible. The desire for additional training follows the initial interest.

Start, participate or support clubs, groups or other SCUBA related activities.
Be a mentor new divers.
Stop denigrating new divers here on ScubaBoard, lay off the negative split-fin and poodle jacket remarks in the New Divers and Basic Scuba Forums.
Make diving and the discussing of it more fun.
Organize dive trips that include social time.
Encourage non-divers to try it out.
When meeting non-divers at dive sites, be open, friendly and willing to answer their questions.
Come to Catalina and dive with me, my lovely bride and Dr.Bill!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Stop denigrating new divers here on ScubaBoard, lay off the negative split-fin and poodle jacket remarks in the New Divers and Basic Scuba Forums.
Make diving and the discussing of it more fun.

As big as SB is, this will only affect a very small portion of the diving community around the world. I am not saying these are not good things to do however I am saying that this is not why people are not continuing to dive after certification.