Growth
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Independent Schools for Growth
Despite the strong skier visit number in the 2022-23 season, a question resort managers are asking is what will happen in the future with the declining number of participants under 25 and the declining number of lessons? The growth model NSAA created twenty years ago has undergone a lot of changes, and much hard work has gone into achieving the conversion goal of 25 percent. All this effort has prevented a prolonged decline in skier visits, but the conversion rate is still only about 19 percent. Maintaining the core and revival (or lapsed) skiers is another goal of the growth model.
This quote from NSAA shows the need for a different approach: “With participation rates at a plateau, changing demographics, time constraints, and low beginner conversion rates, these challenges point to the need to dramatically improve our level of engagement with beginners, and to help them become committed skiers and riders.” There are 50 million more people in the country than when the growth model was created, but 45 fewer ski resorts. From 1955 to 1965,580 new resorts were created, but over the last forty years about 200 resorts closed resulting in fewer opportunities for first timers. With 68 percent of skier visits occurring within 200 miles of where the participants live, having nearby resorts is important because the loss of ski resorts makes growth more difficult.
More lessons needed
Guest Research reports customer loyalty is trending down based on a lack of emotional connections caused by staffing shortages, and claim that it is critical to rebuild those emotional connections. The close interaction instructors have with the guests builds customer loyalty and increases conversions. When customers get to a resort, it is important to have lessons available, but it is hard to meet the demand for lessons during busy periods, so many customers can not get lessons. More lessons create more growth, and with the loss of so many small resorts over the decades, more and larger schools are needed to increase growth.
Small Midwest and Mid Atlantic resorts play a large role in creating new skiers and snowboarders. They provide an affordable experience for first time participants that is close to large cities. Many offer lessons for school groups that produce a lot of young first time participants with a series of lessons that often occur for multiple years which increases conversions. When these schools are large, they increase the supply of lessons to create growth and generate more demand.
Increase demand
Fewer than half of new participants take lessons; most try it on their own or learn from friends. The results are often very bad as people go to terrain that is way beyond their abilities which can cause fear, frustration, injuries, and a low conversion rate. If they do come back, it is often with bad habits that slows their progress or prevents them from developing the control necessary to keep the slopes safe.
It is important to have enough lessons to meet demand, but it is also critical to increase the demand for lessons. There would be much more demand if greater effort was put into educating customers on the benefits of instruction for increasing their fun and safety, if the prices were lower, and if more lessons were available.
Increasing complexity
Small resort managers have a lot of pressing issues beyond lessons to deal with like finding and keeping employees, making snow, keeping lifts running, grooming, plowing parking lots, keeping restrooms clean, and operating the rental department, retail shops, cafeterias, bars, and in some cases lodging. It is a lot of work, but managing the snowsports schools is another level of challenge because the staff is usually larger than other departments, and they are vital in creating loyalty and growth.
The snowsports schools at smaller resorts are often relatively small, even though many need to be larger, but they are becoming increasingly more complicated to operate. The challenges include hiring a large staff in a tight labor market, most of whom will be part time while working other jobs or attending school in the area, and retaining the staff at a time when many people are quitting their jobs. Then there is ongoing training, supervising, evaluating, scheduling, maintaining the database of staff and customers, communicating via text and email, and doing payroll, Much of this is not done digitally in a coordinated way, so different software or paper and pencil approaches are used.
Snowsports directors also have to keep the website and social media up to date, manage a huge number of phone calls, conduct marketing meetings for local schools, survey customer feedback, respond to social media questions and criticisms, create reports for the general manager, and manage the online booking and POS software to provide the frictionless mobile experience customers increasingly expect.
The cost of liability insurance, uniforms, tablets, PCs, and radios also grows. If the school is responsible for running the racing programs, there are additional costs for gates, drills, timing, score boards, bibs, awards, and protective netting. Providing enough training and assessment has always been an issue, but that takes a lot of time and money which often is not there. It takes a very experienced team to manage all of this complexity.
Because instructors have such a close relationship with customers, it is critical that in addition to all these skills the director needs to have the right personality to create a culture of fun and caring that will build customer loyalty. If the director can hire a large staff, the job of managing all these functions requires software, management, and teaching skills, along with endless hours of work. Many directors do not have the time or the skills and are not compensated well enough to perform all the functions necessary to operate a large school. With all this work to do, it explains why a lot of resorts have smaller schools than they need. A different approach is required to create large high quality snowsports schools.
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Independent schools
Washington state has a long history of independent schools operating at resorts like Crystal, Stevens Pass, and the Summit at Snoqualmie. Some of these have been increasing trials and conversions since the 1930s with season long programs for several generations of families. They market lessons, sell tickets and rentals, organize lessons, teach lessons, manage the instructors, and provide the critical transportation. Resorts have big budgets for ad agencies that don’t generate this much revenue.
Stevens Pass had 29 independent schools in 2000, by 2006 it was down to 6, and today there are none left. It is a similar situation at Crystal. The Summit at Snoqualmie had 18 in 2007 and are down to about 10 today. Imagine all the price, quality, and program options customers had at Stevens Pass and still have today at Snoqualmie. How many of these customers would not get to the resort, afford lessons, find lessons available, or even be new participants without all the work independent schools do? Lesson prices doubled for some former independent school students the year after Crystal eliminated the independent schools, and many customers were upset. Did they continue in the sport, participate as much, or bring new friends with them after that?
Conventional thinking
It is very surprising for some to learn of these independent schools because almost all of the snowsports schools in this country are run by the resorts, so the sound economics of having a marketplace to increase growth seems inconceivable.
The thinking is why should resorts give up any revenue to independent schools? This fails to consider all the additional revenue that is created beyond lessons in every other department, early season revenue from pre sold group sales even if it is a slow start to winter, the increased trials and conversions, the help in retaining core and revival participants, the competitive advantage of a famous program, the marketplace they create that increases lesson options and availability for customers, and saving the resort all the expense and work of trying to do it on their own. But some independent schools are being eliminated altogether as consolidation occurs. With high margins and more demand than supply during busy periods, many resorts are not considering the revenue they are losing and how that restricts growth.
Seeing the benefit of independent schools should not be that difficult because resorts regularly work with independent programs for adaptive instruction, race coaching, ski clubs with their own instructors, and special instructional programs offered by learning experts or famous athletes and instructors. These are marketing channels that generate more revenue. But the special operating permits that resorts have with the forest service and a focus on resort owned schools have resulted in monopolies that have almost eliminated this critical source of growth.
What is good for the customers is good for the resort, even for big resorts like Vail Resorts where lessons are the third largest source of revenue at over $280 million annually. Variety is important. Costco makes more money when they provide a wide product mix rather than selling just their Kirkland brand. If Apple tried to develop all their own apps, they would have much less revenue. In Europe the large resorts have multiple independent schools listed right on their websites that provide a large marketplace of program and price options. Here is a look at just a few of the independent schools in Europe: https://www.greatinstructing.com/independent-schools
More examples
In the Midwest there are different Blizzard Ski Schools that operate in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Winter Walden is another travelling school in Michigan. These schools also do the marketing, organizing, instructing, group ticket sales, and arrange transportation. They generate a lot of revenue for the resorts and grow the industry.
Founded in 2016, Snowschoolers is the only independent school in California and Colorado. It is run by Brian Bensch with the goal of improving instructor compensation while making instruction more affordable and accessible. Snowschoolers works with three small ski areas in Tahoe and one in Colorado. They believe that booking lessons should be as easy as finding a great place to stay on Airbnb, complete with reviews, transparent pricing, and easy mobile checkout on your phone. They create a lot of new participants who otherwise might think it is too expensive, and Brian would like to help other resorts.
These same benefits are created on a much larger scale at Pine Knob and Mt. Holly resorts in southeast Michigan. The independent school at both resorts has been owned by Pat and Pam Deibel who took it over from former Deer Valley President Bob Wheaton back in the seventies. Over the years there have been between 200 - 300 instructors each season who have taught about 500,000 students. Each season they teach over 1,600 classes for more than 7,500 school students, and they also operate a variety of racing programs. It is one of the largest and oldest independent schools in the nation. Blizzard and Winter Walden also operate at these two resorts, and they all create many lesson options for the customers and a lot of revenue for the resorts.
With a staff this big, the school can run large programs for young children, private lessons, school groups, junior race training and races, adult race leagues, and operate the third largest largest number of Nastar starts in the nation. This generates a lot of revenue from ticket sales, rentals, food and beverage, and retail for the resort. To see the benefit of this large independent school, one can look at the other two snowsports schools in the area; they are owned by the resorts and are about one fifth the size. So some customers from these resorts travel to Pine Knob and Mt. Holly because it is the only place they can get a lesson. The Deibels retired, but they spent the last three years training their replacements who are highly motivated entrepreneurs innovating at the rapid pace of an independent business with competition and skin in the game.
Booking instructors
Pine Knob customers can book individual instructors online, not just lessons. This innovative approach produces more empowered, accountable, engaged, and better compensated instructors who build strong relationships with the customers. The customers don’t just pick an instructor for a lesson; they pick a partner for their journey to improve. As the instructors develop a clientele, they become more motivated to work harder and improve their teaching. Positive interactions with instructors are a major factor that create fun experiences so customers want to return. Many customers book their next lesson, or group of lessons at the end of a lesson.
The online booking system shows customers only the instructors who are available and capable of teaching the type of lesson they are searching for by date, time, age of customer, level, and discipline. Customers get to see reviews, pictures, information about the instructors, and the school control the order instructors are displayed based on their internal rating. Customers pay when they book so their no show rate is very low.
Allowing customers to choose their instructor reduces the back office work of paring the customers with an instructor. Directors often think they need to choose the right instructor for the customer, but in many cases there is just not enough staff to have a lot of choices. And the school may not have done much or any evaluation of the instructors’ teaching to know which ones are really better. Some online booking systems make it difficult if not impossible to book an instructor who was referred by a friend, or to book with the same instructor for the next visit, so calling the school is required which can be difficult during busy periods.
When investing so much in lessons, customers like to choose their own instructors rather than just taking whoever is assigned. Customers were offered the option to just book a lesson and not choose an instructor, but virtually all wanted to make the choice. Most customers take ownership of their decisions and believe in their choice even when they did not choose the most qualified instructor. Many times people skills are more important than teaching skills in creating a fun experience, even though both are necessary for the greatest conversions. Every resort can develop a larger, more empowered, and better compensated staff of instructors by booking individual instructors online
Create dedication
It is hard to find and keep staff today, so great management is important. Bob Wheaton was known for how well he treated employees at Mt. Holly and Deer Valley, and that tradition has been maintained by the Deibels and the current management. At Pine Knob and Mt. Holly a culture that is caring and fun-loving, along with pay that is higher per hour than major destination resorts, has resulted in a lot of the instructors teaching for multiple generations. This is far beyond the three year national average, so it reduces the need to hire a lot of new staff each season. Instructors create their own schedule and become more independent professionals.
Customers who pay a lot for private lessons are more loyal and dedicated when they can easily book the instructor they want. This also helps to increase the the conversion rate with more experienced instructors providing a better experience.
Quality control
Large companies have big budgets for quality control programs and software like Total Quality Management (TQM) which focus on continual improvement. However even a smaller quality control program can transform instruction and increase conversions. Many snowsports schools rely on instructor requests rate, surveys, and certification to evaluate instructor performance. Great people skills can increase conversions, but when they are combined with great teaching create even more growth.
Certification is also a way to assess instructor performance, but brief simulated teaching does not measure instructor performance teaching actual lessons which has a direct impact on conversions and the schools’ revenue. Certification can be a challenge for instructors because the cost of achieving certification and maintaining it can be a large percentage of what many of the part time staff will earn. Some schools reimburse instructors for PSIA training rather than creating a quality control program.
Independent schools can spend the time and money on a quality control program that may be difficult for resort owned schools to budget. Lesson quality at Pine Knob and Mt. Holly is important for increasing conversions and safety. Innovation and assessment are the key; lessons need to be fun and reach the quality goals. To achieve this, clear goals are the core of the quality control program. Best practices are determined by analyzing what approaches create the best results over many years of testing. Content is more focused on the large market of beginners and intermediates who participate fewer than six times a season; they are 80 percent of ticket sales but an even higher percentage of the lessons.
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The school developed this approach by working for 25 years with V1 Sports, a leader in digital coaching software that has worked with skiers from beginners to the US Ski and Snowboard National Development System athletes gaining insight from this huge amount of content. It requires time and money to develop an internal quality control process, but it is worth the investment for increasing conversions, safety, and revenue.
Marketplace competition
Golf has a marketplace of famous lesson programs from top instructors that provide choices for customers and a competitive advantage for resorts. This is the way it was in skiing 60 years ago. Over the years a few successful programs helped to grow the sport like GLM, Perfect Turn, Breakthrough on Skis, Terrain Based Teaching, Burton Learn to Ride, and Woodward. There are many top instructors who could be creating famous snowsports schools.
As the industry continues its more than 20 year search for growth, allowing customers to choose the instructor and lesson program they want with independent schools critical for success.