Identifying Needs, Continued…

Is your goal to become a certified diver? Don’t assume that, just because a person calls inquiring about scuba classes, his or her goal is to complete certification training with you.

• A substantial number of callers will have warm-water vacation travel planned, and intend to complete their open-water training there.
• Some callers may be unsure as to whether certification is even something they wish to pursue. If your store offers any sort of “Try Scuba” experience, you may want to mention that this is an opportunity many customers take advantage of before committing to a complete certification course.

Do you have a time frame in which you need to get certified? Before launching into a spiel about next month’s certification course, you’ll want to discover whether your customer is operating under a deadline. There is no purpose served by wasting your customer’s time extolling the virtue of your multi-week course if only your weekend course can get them ready in time for their Cancun trip.

How much do you know about the process of getting certified? If the caller already knows that the certification process consists of phases, such as classroom/pool and open-water training, there may be little need to explain this in any detail. On the other hand, if the caller knows little or nothing about the certification process, terms such as “open water” may be confusing.

Are you interested in classes for just yourself or for more than one person? Many stores offer special pricing when additional household members sign up for training, based on the assumption that family members can often share textbooks, videos and/or CD-ROMs. Be the first store to explain that a caller can save money by taking the class with another person and you may be the one to get their business.

Avoid unfamiliar terminology »

::: TOP ::: SUBSCRIBE ::: CONTACT US ::: ABOUT US :::