What Can The Industry Do To Help Independent Instructors?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

After Divemasters, the second group in the entire scuba industry that I feel the most sympathy for is the free-lance scuba instructor who teaches independently of shops. I am not talking about the “visiting” instructor who teaches at a shop for his cut but the totally independent instructor who is on his own. Some of the best instructors I had were in this category and what made them the best was the freedom to dictate their own pace and encourage their own gear preferences without enforced schedules and sales pressure etc.

I have also had some very good instructors who were shop affiliated but overall teaching process was cookie cutter one. Example:

When I was doing my drysuit course I was in a BCD because that is what the shop had in its rental inventory. My drysuit instructor told me that this is not the best for drysuit and I should actually be diving in a back-plate and wing. She also told me not to mention this to the LDS owner because they do not sell BP-wings and she did not want to look like she was advertising things outside of what the shop sold. So, I finished the course in a jacket BCD which my instructor and I both felt was not the most optimum set up. I ended up purchasing the wing over internet because the LDS believed it was “Technical diving” gear. This is an example of a great instructor crippled by shop enforced rules.

I was wondering what can the industry do to assist free-lance scuba instructors who break away from shops? So far the trend is to discourage or punish instructors breaking away from a shop. Many certification agencies (SSI and SDI) state that in order to become an instructor you have to be affiliated with a shop which should have compressor and carry at least three major brands. Most basement instructors cant do that.

There are a few independent instructors in my area but the LDS would not even rent them four tanks to train their class. The LDS sees them as competition and will restrict them in anyway it can. Agencies do not want them to exist and insurance is high as well plus they have to invest in a small rental inventory (possibly a compressor) to be in business.

I was wondering what can we do to help this guy. LDS is in trouble anyway due to internet sale. The only thing in the entire LDS that internet can not deliver is this guy. In order to save him, do we really need to save the LDS? A few rescue ideas come to mind and I would like to hear comments on the benefit and feasibility of each:

Manufacturers like Hog, Dive Rite could adopt instructors in different areas in order to liberate them from the (middleman) shop. That way that instructor will also be the sales person / distributor for that brand. A part of me says this is the problem we are trying to run away from in the first place as we are trying to create a teaching environment free of market pressures. Yet becoming a slave to the manufacturer may actually be could be more liberating for the instructor than becoming a slave to the middle-man. If instructor can create future customers in the area without being affiliated with the shop then the brand should back him up.

An association of free-lance instructors which will collectively purchase teaching gear for all member instructors at a discounted price. It can also help with other things like setting up local support chapters that offer airfills / compressor services and assist in advertising and promotions.

In the end, LDS is already in trouble. If internet sales could meet free-lance instructor outside somewhere in a back alley or in someone’s basement then we may have a business model that is more sustainable than the strictly structured “shop.”

There are agencies that have achieved something similar to the above. GUE and UTD support freelance instructors and have been able to establish graduating standards that are higher than the agencies that sponsor “resorts” in the Caribbean. They also sell gear (GUE promotes Halcyon and UTD has its own brand). I am unsure what kind of benefit this will have for the instructor who is teaches through them. Do UTD instructors get UTD branded inventory at a reduced rate? Don’t know.

I am just thinking loud so any ideas, thoughts, suggestions welcome.

 

[tbone1004]

you hit the nail on the head. to encourage independent instructors, you have to get rid of the traditional dive shop model. The industry won't do that, because they won't make as much money. Technical instructors are the exception, but you have to change the whole industry in order to help the indy instructors. Look at what a fuss Hog created, and what bigger fuss Deep 6 is going to create by not having dealers. That is what you need to promote independent instructors, and the big manufacturers and agencies won't do that. Deep 6 will have a business model that will promote this, but only time will tell what that will do with the industry

 

[decompression]

My 2PSI,

PADI has decent support for independents, as much as a huge international can. But I really have to hand it to the smaller agencies, namely UTD. Support for all levels is excellent. Multi- levels of contact, personal assistance, some really good products and especially, the owners really like to dive. All divers input is valued towards programs, standards and equipment. Again, more like a community than a company. There are discounts, which make it easier to trial gear and see what works best.

Not sure what the "industry" could do but there are those in the industry that are making things worthwhile.

 

[EFX]

PADI supports independent instructors (II). I know of one course director who teaches classes at a quarry. The quarry which is not affiliated with any dive agency sells and rents equipment. I don't know why your LDS would not rent tanks to that II. It seems pretty stupid to me. Maybe, the shop needed the tanks for its own classes and could not rent them out. I doubt sending the II away empty handed would discourage him. If anything he'll send the student to another LDS to rent equipment and your local just lost some income.

As to your dry suit example I see the instructor giving you some free advice. Most LDS's cater to divers who wear BCD's so if they don't have an instructor familiar with BP/wings they may want you in that BCD. Time is money so why should a shop instructor spend time getting your rig adjusted just right, getting your trim right, when they should be spending time on teaching dry suit. If you've been diving with a BP/wing and have all that dialed in I don't see any issue with the dry suit course.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was an independent instructor for most of my 12 years of teaching. Some of what you say applied ... some dive shops did view me as "competition". And a couple of those shops would do dumb things like badmouth me to their students, or try to undersell classes to mine. It rarely worked out to their benefit. But I also had some great relationships with some of my local area shops. They understood that I was not their competitor ... that would be the guys selling ski equipment, bike shops, golfing outfits, and anyone else vying for the customer's discretionary dollars. I was not in the business of selling dive equipment, which is their primary source of income ... most shops don't make money selling scuba classes, it's used as a way to get people in the door so they can sell them gear ... and I had to send my students somewhere for equipment purchases. Why not to them? In that sense, we were "partners" ... providing complementary services. Whenever I taught a class that required use of a pool I would call around to my "partner" shops to see who was renting a pool that month. My deal was to split the cost of pool time with them ... a win-win for both of us, since there was plenty of space for both classes and it cost them less to share it with me. It also familiarized my students with that shop's personnel, and made it more likely that when my students would need to rent or buy gear, they'd think of that shop. A couple shops would even offer discounts on rental gear to my students, which usually ended up with those students making major equipment purchases at some point. It worked well for all parties, and I still have great relationships with those store owners.

The problem isn't the industry, really ... or even the agencies. Some agencies do support their independent instructors quite nicely. Others don't allow it, and that's something that the instructor needs to consider when they decide who to get their instructor training from. The problem really stems from the fact that a lot of shop owners aren't really business people, and don't look at things from a business perspective. They're divers who wanted to earn a living through diving, and thought buying and running a dive shop would do that for them. But a dive shop is usually a tough way to make money ... the common philosophy is that the best way to make a small fortune in the dive business is to start with a large fortune. And so these people do dumb things to try to hold onto customers. They invoke the "loyalty" approach ... you should only use their shop, and they get mad at you if you go somewhere else ... or heaven forbid you transgress and purchase something off the internet. Those shops tend to hang out on the fringes, or go out of business eventually, because they drive away too much potential business by forgetting the primary reason why people get into scuba diving is to have fun ... and shop politics isn't fun.

Ideally I think dive instruction and equipment sales should be separate enterprises. There's an inherent conflict of interest between dive training and equipment sales that often results in compromises not in the best interest of the client. But I think for the most part, what it really needs is for shop owners to stop looking at each other as competitors, and put more focus into providing services for their customers. My observation is that those who do that tend to be successful, while those who practice politics and act like it's their job to "compete" against everybody else in the industry tend to not last long ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

A lot of what happens and a lot of what can happen depends upon the location. I live 10 months of the year in Colorado, and I live 2 months of the year in Florida. The difference is huge.

I do very little instruction in Florida--mostly to friends and relatives who are visiting me. If I did live there full time, I believe I would have no trouble getting by as an independent. In fact, I think I could do pretty well. There are lots of people who dive locally, both owning their tanks and renting them, so lots of dive shops fill tanks and rent them, without doing much else other than sell gear. I could get all the fills I needed regularly. I would not have to have an inventory of gear for students--lots of shops will rent the gear and give them a student discount, even though I as the instructor am not connected to the shop. I know a shop that will rent me pool time at a reasonable rate. When it is time for the OW dives, the dive boats will take my students at a discounted rate, and they will take me for free. There are lots of dive operations, they want my business, and they will make it very reasonable for me.

It is very different in Colorado. I am happy to be associated with a dive shop to take care of most of the logistics. If I had to go independent, I would have to find ways to get pool time, store a decent inventory of student gear, get air fills, etc. There is very little independent instruction going on, and the local operations aren't competing to get that business. It can be done, but it is not nearly as easy.

 

[The Chairman]

It's my opinion that the best thing an independent instructor can do for themselves is to get their students posting about them here on SB. That's the best thing a shop can do for themselves as well. Don't expect the industry to bail you out or do your marketing for you since they're having huge issues doing it for themselves. What used to be word of mouth is now word of internet. Don't just stop with SB either. Other forums, Twitter and even Facebook can help you spread the word about you as well, but only if it's being posted by others. Like, share anecdotes and more, even initiate the discussion, but we need to hear from your students to really know what sets you apart.

 

[tbone1004]

oh, I should clarify, certain dive shops are brilliant. The ones that are keeping up with the times, acting as demo centers, especially those with pools incorporated or access to water very close by. Very few understand where they actually fit in industry and that is the problem.

Gypsy Divers in Raleigh has a heated pool in the dive shop and they teach swimming lessons year round. They also have a dedicated repair facility with Air Tech Scuba that handles all repairs and what not. We obviously disagree a bit in that they teach purely recreational diving with recreational style gear, but that is the business model that they consciously chose. They allow you to test dive gear, and they work very well as a dive shop. Much better than the 5 others in the Raleigh area where the only place to dive is a single quarry half an hour north of the city.

Cave Adventurers, Dan's Dive Shop, and Dive Right in Scuba have set themselves up as tremendous online resources for divers while also having demo equipment and are not only catering to Marianna caves or the Great Lakes, but to the global diving market. They are very unique in their training methods and the gear they carry.

Dive Outpost has decided to focus on air fills and lodging for cave country since they don't have the experience to compete with the big online retailers. They maintain an inventory of whatever you could realistically need while you're taking cave training or if you're staying there, but the business isn't focused on dive gear.

Add Helium cornered themselves into the rebreather market and focused on being the biggest and best rebreather resource in the US, and they've done that.

For the shops, it is finding what you can do better than everyone else in your area that you are competing with. Unfortunately the agencies and manufacturers have made the whole situation worse with one shop being an Aqualung shop, the other being Scubapro, never together. NAUI vs. PADI, etc etc. It's stupid, but it's the world we live in. In areas like Raleigh, where there were 5 dive shops with one training location, you can't survive as an independent instructor, just can't work because you are competing on gear sales, and training to local divers and there are only so many of them. Leave that to the dive shops. In cave country, you see many more independent instructors that are welcomed by the local shops because there are very few shops in the area, and like John said, they welcome business because they are not competing for local divers with the instructors so it is gained business as opposed to lost business. It's stupid, but it is what it is

 

[DevonDiver]

I've been a fully independent instructor for the last 8 years. I see no problems here in the Philippines with working alongside (inside) other dive shops/resorts... the level of inter-shop politics and bickering is relatively low. It also smooths things over by charging a daily tuition rate, where the customer pays the hosting dive center directly for boats, gas etc. I dive for free. So it's an uncomplicated situation with a direct return to the supporting dive center. I also refer fun divers and other inquiries I cannot cover to the dive centers that I work with... we scratch each-others backs. They also know I'm happy to assist on the rare occasions they're short of an instructor.

The only problem I've needed to plan for was the issue of dive center customers approaching me for training directly. That does happen relatively frequently when they see me running courses out of the dive center/s... on the same boat etc. Obviously, it's unethical and disrespectful to 'steal' customers when working on someone elses' premises. I have to turn down inquiries like that...but, increasingly, end up teaching that customer for the dive shop. Less money, less freedom of approach - but diplomacy and maintaining good relations is critical for the independent instructor.

Agency support for independents IS an issue. PADI does allow independents, but I wouldn't go so far to say that they offer any substantial support for them. PADI are keen to promote/profit from IRRA membership (resort and retailer assoc.) and that reflects in their pricing, processing, marketing and merchandising strategies.

I'd be very interested in an agency that worked specifically to support independent instructors. I guess that such an agency would be primarily tech-focused, but should offer a rec program also. Electronic and/or online materials would be a must - as logistics and stock is hard for the independent, especially in remote areas. The agency would have to be 100% quality focused... as reputation is what sustains the independent instructor. QA would be harder to apply - so this would need to be offset by higher initial instructor standards. Given that independent instructors value their freedom of approach; standards should be less rigid (to empower higher, not lower, quality training delivery) and encourage instructors to teach, not to 'deliver products'. It'd be great to have a publicly accessible database of verified high-quality independent instructors. I've got a thousand ideas on that... and would leap to get involved if such an association were to be put together.

 

[KevinNM]

Their is such an organization, but they currently think tech sidemount is too complex/variable to standardize inside their overall diving concept.