Managers

 

                                                                                 Training

It is difficult to hire enough instructors, especially for resorts not near a city because of the high cost of living, a lack of housing, and a competitive job market. Instructors have a hard time surviving with the average instructor teaching for only three years. The season is short which limits earnings so most instructors teach part time as a hobby.

 

They interact with guest more than any other employees, so instructors have a big impact on growth. Every season there are many new instructors to train in a very short time. Traditional training to develop careers is long and expensive. Skiing and teaching skiing is hard to do well, our training program uses a simple approach that is quicker, cheaper, and more effective. But simple is hard not easy.

   
                                                                              Growth

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Providing a lot of large beginner lessons taught by the newest instructors is very profitable, but such a low quality experience for customers contributes to the low 19 percent conversion rate. The traditional approach of skiing without lessons, preparation, or poor quality lessons has failed to produce growth. Many people try skiing, the problem is getting them to come back. 

 

                                                                            Personalization

 

Personalization is a major trend that makes instructing more fun, effective, and tailored to individual abilities and goals. The demand for private lessons is growing and it produces a lot of revenue.

 

There is a wide range of abilities with some fearful beginners needing a very slow pace and others so bored they wonder when the lesson will end so they can have fun. Slow learners can feel pressure to push beyond where they are comfortable and feel like a failure when they do not, they are part of the 81 percent who do not return.     

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                                                                                     Choice

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When customers book the instructor they want online, return business increases. It has proven to triple private lesson business. There are few complaints and in many cases more lessons are purchased at the end of a lesson.

   

                                                                                    Quality                                                                    

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Building great relationships is important, but guests need to experience enough success to want to return, so the teaching must be effective. Quality assurance goes beyond customer reviews, surveys, instructor requests, and certification to assessing outcomes when teaching actual customers. Clear goals are needed to assess.    

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                                                                                  Control

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By far most lessons are beginners and recreational skiers who may not be fit, athletic, or interested in expert skiing, especially when they understand the time, fitness, and work that is required.

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Instruction content has traditionally been created by top skiers to help customers develop into expert skiers. There is a business need to focus on the large demand for recreational content more than the enthusiast market. Trying to develop movements for expert carving with recreational skiers can produce a lot of speed and little control, rather than a focus on control and adding carving later if desired.

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                                                                               Expectations

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Even if there are many more high quality private lessons, a large percentage of people will try to ski on their own. Cost is a factor, but some people just want do it on their own. Many also have family or friends who want to show them how to ski. The expectation that it is quick and easy to learn how to ski is a big problem.

 

Others think this random approach is a key part of the freedom and creativity of skiing. But it is not successful *1 percent of the time and this chaotic process makes the slopes less safe for everyone. First time skiers often start on or quickly go runs that are beyond their ability which causes fear, failure, frustration, and accidents.

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                                                                                   Practice           

 

Learning to ski in a safe manner with control takes time and practice on the slopes and before. Beginners who think it will be easy fun can be disappointed and feel like it is too hard and they can't do it. They are not having fun and won't be back.

 

If they know it takes patience to stick through the initial struggles, and that it is not instant gratification, there is a better chance of success. Making progress is fun and keeps them coming back, but they need clear goals and a way to know if they are reaching them.

 

One advantage of lessons is the physical interaction to position customers and help them move properly. Instructors often support customers to prevent falling, going too fast, hitting something, get up, and to make the right move. Make it clear in your user agreement that physical contact is part of many lessons.                            

  

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                                                                              Indoor Score

 

New skiers need to prepare before skiing to increase their chances of success beyond the conversion rate of 19 percent. The ones who return ski an average of six time a season, so practicing before trips will make skiing more fun. People would not consider skydiving without training first, but they think it will be easy to put skis on their feet and head down a hill. The indoor score guides skiers before their visits. Having a plan creates more success.

 

​                                                                             Hour lessons

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One hour long lessons provide an affordable price that produces more lessons than longer higher priced lessons. They can be very productive for a small percentage of fast learners. Many customers need much more instruction to be making good turns on green slopes. Instructors have to go a very fast pace to spend much time on turning. It is critical to provide a detailed plan for what to do and where to do it after the lesson.

 

The problem is friends and families often expect first timers to be much better after a one hour lessons and go slopes that are too challenging. It is important to educate first timers and their friends that an hour lesson is step one of a journey, not a one and done. Providing more information about how to prepare before skiing increases success.  

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                                                                            Myskiscore.com 

 

Myskiscore.com provides a set of visual goals for skiers to achieve, like playing a video game. Their score guides skiers to fun challenges beyond just more speed and steeper slopes. Skiers can work with a friend or instructor and use video of their skiing to see if they are reaching their goals.

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                                                                                Visible Skiing Moves​

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People apply the natural moves they make to skiing: leaning back, turning with their shoulders and hips, and leaning inside their turns. These natural moves are opposite the skiing moves they need to develop.

 

It is very hard to change natural moves especially if someone has skied with them for awhile and now they are habits that are even harder to change. It can create frustrated customers and instructors. It takes very clear and consistent goals which myskiscore.com provides.

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                                                                               Consistency 

 

Skiing moves are timeless, it is about great execution and timing. 

 

More than 20 years of slow motion side by side analysis of skiers at all levels with digital coaching software revealed the moves skiers have in common. The Visible Skiing Moves for myskiscore.com have been tested for years in real lessons.

 

It is challenging to develop and maintain skiing moves even with clear and consistent goals. Changing goals regularly in a search for the latest differences in top skiers makes learning slower and even more challenging.  

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                                                                                   Pacing                                                                                 

 

Some guests learn very fast and others are very slow. Going too fast can create fear or frustration, but going too slow can be boring. It is very hard to create a great experience in group beginner lessons when some can hardly walk and others can do everything right away. Team teaching adult groups like lessons for kids creates more success.

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It is easy for instructors to move to bigger slopes before the customer is ready, just like the way friends try to teach. New instructors especially can be frustrated by a lack of progress and not know what else to do but add terrain. Or they may not know how to tell when the customer is ready. Too much hill too soon is a big problem for skiers.

 

After a lesson friends and family often are in a hurry to take a new skier to bigger slopes, this causes natural moves to replace the skiing moves they are trying to develop. Myskiscore.com guides instructors, friends, and new skiers to when it is time for bigger hills. 

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                                                                         Independent schools

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Larger schools with many more instructors help meet the demand for private lessons. Allowing customers to choose their private lesson instructors generates more revenue for the school and instructors which helps to reduce turnover.

 

Even then it can be hard to meet the demand, especially at busy times. A marketplace of independent schools will create a range of quality and price options. One example is Zermatt that has 17 different schools to serve the large number of diverse customers they serve.