PADI Pro, Chris Lobozzo of Mars Scuba of Mars, Pennsylvania, USA, used to utilize a multiple training agency approach. Now he’s converted his dive operation to a PADI Five Star Dive Center, which holds PADI’s first cold water Eco Center designation, and he has recently purchased a second PADI Five Star Dive Center, Steel City Scuba. Since becoming 100% PADI, the single training agency approach has fueled their growth.

Learn how PADI Helped Chris Do More Business and You Can Too!

Q: What business challenge did you face?

Unsure if We Could Afford PADI

A: We always knew we wanted to become a PADI dive shop. We understood the value of the marketing power behind the brand.  But our biggest hurdle was that we thought it might be cost prohibitive to switch to PADI from our other training agency that was less expensive. Thankfully, our Regional Manager and Territory Director customized a plan that wasn’t going to be financially disruptive to our business model.

Q: What was your concern in switching to PADI?

How to Assure Our Return on Investment in PADI

A: We absolutely had fears about changing training agencies. It’s not a big secret that the PADI materials cost more compared to other alternative agencies. We ran some projections to determine how much increase of B2C traffic we needed to make it work. PADI reassured us it wouldn’t be a problem, but of course we still had anxiety that maybe any salesperson would tell us that. We worried we might miss the mark.

Q: How did PADI help you solve the problem?

The PADI Team Shined in Every Way to Support Us

A: Nothing went according to plan for our crossover in March of 2020 as COVID hit. We had the governor’s orders to close down. But this is where PADI really started to shine above other large entities in the diving industry. 

PADI organized weekly seminars, training and collaborations. That separated them from everyone else in our mind. As a result, even during COVID, our business still grew overall!

Our PADI team helped highlight the additional value for what PADI could do to help our dive shop grow. We knew we had a real team behind us with someone on the other side of PADI to help us with Facebook ads and marketing campaigns. The team put together a custom solution for our needs.

Q: How is it working now?

Easy & Profitable – PADI is Driving New Customers to Us

A: Three years later – it’s working very well!  The systems are easy to use. We’ve had a definite increase in people coming into the shop who found us either through the Dive Shop Locator or through another PADI communication vehicle. New customers come in and tell us they found our store through PADI.com.

We don’t have to fight the anti-PADI story anymore, which is really nice. Before we crossed over to PADI, whenever someone came in looking for PADI and asked about our training system, we had to justify how it compared to PADI. We don’t have those problems anymore. 

We constantly notice improvements inside the PADI Pros site, too. We can access background data we get from PADI to help us understand our customers’ journey, flow and why. We couldn’t do anything like that with our previous agencies. We just keep driving more layers of growth and continue to benefit from it now as a PADI Five Star Dive Center.

“PADI referral traffic has tripled the click-throughs to our store’s website compared to our previous training agency.”

~Chris Lobozzo

Q: What’s your advice to others facing a similar challenge?

Understand All that You’re Getting – You’re Going to Gain Alot!

A: PADI referral traffic has tripled the click-throughs to our store’s website compared to our previous training agency. That’s why it’s important to understand what you’re really getting when you switch to PADI.  When you look only at the price of eLearning between training agencies, PADI appears to cost a lot more.

You have to layer in the other services you’re getting with PADI into that cost.  For example, I can call my Regional Manager anytime and bounce ideas.  I can call PADI experts for quick training questions or standards.  I can get marketing plans and assistance along with pre-created collateral material we can share.  We didn’t get that through other agencies.  Naturally we are willing to pay a bit more for PADI eLearning and renewals to have this entire team backing our business needs with custom solutions. 

We appreciate that our PADI Regional Manager moves at the speed that we do (quickly). Recently, I called in and said, “Hey, we need to discuss how to cross over our new manager/instructor in two weeks.  How do we get it done?”  PADI has always come through with an answer with several options.   They help us take care of challenges quickly so we can focus on growing.  They never tell us to slow down. We love that!  PADI would do that for any of their members – not just us.

Are you ready to learn more about all of the benefits of PADI membership? Contact your PADI Regional Office and get started on a custom solution to drive growth in your business.

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Business of Diving / Business Support, Business Support, business development, Business Success, Business support, dive business. My PADI Helps Me…PADI Pros