Welcome to the Business of Diving (BODI) discussion forum!

Fully agree! It's actually a more financially stable way to manage a dive charter IMHO: You get payment upfront (or at least deposits). No shows have penalties - just like when you book an hotel room and you cancel too late. It's a lot easier to plan staffing levels, how many boats will go out, etc.

So... If it's better for the business and it's what customers expect nowadays, how can it be so rare?

For once, I didn't find a readily available online booking system that had everything I wanted including a responsive site for smart phone, social media log in and sharing, steps to verify prerequisites, etc. I may get some tomatoes here because I know of some of these systems designed by dive professionals. They're all interesting - but none of them have a fully complete solution. So... You are stuck going outside the dive industry with systems like Rezgo Online Tour Operator Booking Software - They all appear simple to use until you start setting them up. There's customization to do - and you need to load your content just like for any other eCommerce website.

From systems like Rezgo, the next step is to take bookings on various integrated channels like Trip Advisor and Expedia. Isn't it weird that scuba diving is totally invisible on the list of activities suggested for the Florida Keys by Expedia? It's tough to grow a business by being invisible...

 

@Darcy Kieran I'll check that for you.

 

Hi Everyone,
I run a small tour company and hotel in Peleliu Island, Palau. I'm looking for any individuals or companies willing to set up a shop on Peleliu. Any interest please let me know. Please check out our site www.peleliuadventures.com
Thanks for your time.

 

I know this response is a bit late but wanted to chime in on your perspective. We (YourBagTag.com) have been serving dive shops, resorts, dive boats for almost 10 years now. We have over 200 dive industry clients that use our tags as an inexpensive way of bring customers and potential customers back to their shops, resorts, boats, etc. For example, we have a number of dive shops that order custom name tags for every BC that gets sold in their shop - tag has the shop's logo/name and the customer's name on it. They call/email customer a couple of weeks after the equipment sale and invite the customer back into the shop for their "Free Personalized Gift". Others offer "personalized" trip tags - simple plastic or aluminum tags that have the customer's name, trip destination (Bonaire - 2017) and their logo/dive flag, etc. Another great idea is to offer "achievement tags" for milestone dives - 100 dives or 25 night dives, etc. All focused on bringing clients back to the shop - shared on social media.

 

I do agree with you there, I too wish that both PADI's and SSI's business schools had more practical tools, but even more so, I wish the industry as a whole would do better at promoting diving. I never see any commercials or advertisements for scuba diving. Sure maybe a shop here or there will do one, I know we have done several commercials in the past, but that only attracts local customers. No one in there right mind would travel half way across the country just to train for an open water course, and most likely would never see that one shop's commercial. But if say DEMA or the entire Scuba Industry (a collaboration of all training agencies, at least the ones in the WRSTC, and even a collaboration between gear manufactures) would spend the money to advertise, nationally, it would help not just one shop but many. They could end the commercial by saying, "Seek out your local dive shop for more information," and then the customer could do a quick search on Google to find a shop near them. Super Bowl Sunday is coming up, and I bet you wont' see one commercial about scuba diving. Hummm I wonder why. But I bet we will see Lady Gaga preach about why she hates President Trump. For the most part, I believe shops do the best they can with what they have, and I also believe the industry could do more to help all shops.

 

In regards to social media, yes you can pay to play if you will to get your name out there, but for the most part using all platforms has helped us more than we could ever imagine. Between our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, (I will even include Scuba Board) our company has grown and become well known in several states here on the east coast. One thing that has helped as someone else mentioned earlier, people like to see that a shop stays busy, and the more active a shop stays, or appears to stay, the better off they become financially. Staying consistent with post and videos has drawn in many new customers for us even in the winter time. People see us dive 7 days a week in new videos that gets updated weekly on our YouTube channel, whether its rain or shine, and it keeps them interested. Social Media has been a blessing for us. And for the most part, yes it is free, and even can be a source of income with monetization.

 

I am not in the dive industry but let me give you some perceptions as a customer:

First, if you have an email address listed for your shop then answer it. In the past, there were several shops I contacted for either goods or services which never responded. This is poor practice in any business. In contrast, the big (and even small) online companies respond almost immediately.

Second, One dive shop I used to frequent in Miami I went to because they would VIP my older AL tanks. The guy was in a ok location but there was no parking. So he moved to a worse location with no frontage and even less parking. Also every time I went there they asked for my email but never sent a thing. The big guys sent out emails weekly.

Third, I live in the greater Atlanta area now. There is a dive shop I pass every day going to work. The sign is so faded (wood) that you cannot make it out that it is a dive shop. The lettering underneath never mentions scuba, just pool parties and learn to swim for children. Why not paint the sign and offer a discovery scuba or something of that nature?

Fourth, you have not mentioned meetups. I signed up for a meetup group but I am in the south of the metro area and most of the clubs are in the north. The meetup said there are 30 people interested in a group in the southern metro area. Seems like a great opportunity for the shop above to increase its profile.

I never worked in the dive industry, but these seem to be common sense things to do to increase traffic and business.

 

Darcy, we have been building an online booking just for dive charters. It is live and just for dive boats. We have built many features just for dive boats including divesite selection, crew tracking, dive roster reminder emails and much more. It is fully responsive for mobile and we are continuing to add more features every month. If there is a feature you would need we will build it.

We are planning on making a version for dive courses too soon. We are looking for a dive shop that does a lot of courses to discuss the needs for courses. There are so many ways shops can do open water we are looking for input.

 

Great idea for shops. I preach to shops all the time. Give your customers a reason to come back in the store. Scuba is social activity and divers want to fee the buzz.

I know shops that have an unlimited air fills for a year, movie nights, barbecues and much more to keep divers coming back.

I was at a shop today that is the only place to get fills near a local training lake and they are not open on sundays? How many divers would get fills on a Sunday or rent gear if they could. The lake is busy on Saturday and dead on sundays. Why because when divers run out of air they are done for the day.

 

Also great points!