Owners/Managers
Hiring
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.
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Many instructors
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Providing a lot of large beginner lessons taught by the newest instructors is profitable and deals with the problem of not finding enough instructors, but it contributes to the low 19 percent conversion rate.
During busy periods it is hard to offer enough lessons especially the to meet the growing demand for private lessons. Many first timers learn from family, friends, or try it on their own which is also a big cause for low growth. A lot of instructors are needed to meet the demand.
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Great management
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If you can hire a large staff, it is challenging to manage them. A director does the hiring, training, scheduling, evaluating, payroll, outfitting, training of desk staff, and communication with the instructors and customers. It requires the use of a lot of software and also managing websites, social media, phone systems, and live interactions.
It is not easy to find a qualified director who can do a great job. It takes strong motivation, leadership skills, a great personality, and passion to do the long hours of planning; it is far more than a 40 hour a week job. Assuming you can find the right person, can you afford to hire them. But, can you afford not to have such a director.
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More revenue
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Large retailers like Costco provide a variety of brands to meet the demands of their customers for different price and quality products. They make far more money and have happier customers by not selling just their Kirkland brand. Resort managers often think they make more money just selling lessons from their school which is often too small to meet the demand at busy times and produces less revenue.
Independent schools have a large staff to help meet the demand for lessons and they provide a variety of price and program options. They can replace or supplement an inhouse school and greatly reduce expenses. There is a long history of success in parts of the US and Europe. Resorts already supplement their school with outside training for racing and free skiing programs. It is very hard to match what the entrepreneurial drive for long hours of hard work can do for your resort.
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Private lessons
There is a wide range of abilities with some fearful beginners needing a very slow pace and others so bored they wonder when the group lesson will end so they can have fun. Slow learners can feel pressure to push beyond where they are comfortable and think that skiing is not their sport, they are part of the 81 percent who do not return.
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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 with a large staff.
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Book instructors
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When customers book the instructor they want online rather than just a time, return business increases. It has proven to triple private lesson business. There are few complaints and in many cases more lessons and lesson packages are purchased at the end of a lesson.
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Allowing customers to choose their private lesson instructors generates more revenue for the school and instructors which helps to reduce turnover.
It also reduces the work of assigning instructors, and many times there are not that many options, or the differences are not that great. The software also helps customers choose the right instructor which often means the right age, personality, and attitude are more important than credentials.
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Beyond hour lessons
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One hour long lessons provide an affordable price that produces more lessons than longer more expensive lessons. They can be effective for a small percentage of fast learners, but many customers need much more instruction to make good turns on green slopes.
Instructors have to go a fast pace to be able 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. Selling more lessons or lesson packages after the hour lesson provides more of the instruction they need.
The problem is friends and families often expect first timers to be much better after a one hour lessons and take them to slopes that are too challenging after their lesson. It is important to educate first timers and their friends that an hour lesson is step one of a journey, and that progressing too quick will slow learning, cause setbacks, and not be safe.
Informed customers
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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 and some 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 part of the freedom of skiing is doing it on their own. But it is not successful, 81 percent of the time beginners do not become skiers, and it makes the slopes less safe for everyone. People cannot try skydiving on their own, but skiing going a hill with skis on looks fun and easy. The natural moves people make only work to a degree.
First time skiers often start on or quickly go runs that are beyond their ability which causes fear, failure, frustration, and accidents, and they do not come back. A lot of people trying skiing, but the problem is getting them to become skiers. Providing more online information about the value of lessons and how to prepare before skiing increases success.
Lesson packages
Skiing is not tubing. 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.
Even if they return it is can be along time until the second visit and there are not many visits in a given season for most.
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. Use this information to sell lesson packages that promote more skiing and lessons.
Lesson Pacing
Too much hill too soon is a big problem. 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. The Greatinstructing.com ski instructor training program guides instructors to find the right pace.
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Team teaching
Team teaching first time adult groups, just like lessons for kids creates more success. 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.
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Quality assurance
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Building great customer relationships is important, but customers need to experience enough success to want to return, so the teaching must be effective. A quality assurance program like our training program provides goes beyond customer reviews, surveys, instructor requests, and certification to assessing teaching during real lessons.
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Focus on control
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The average skier only skis 6 times a season. By far most lessons are first timers 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 the best skiing instructors to help customers develop into expert skiers. This instruction by enthusiasts for enthusiasts traditionally focuses on carving. Some countries even require instructors to ski within a certain time of a ski racer. Good for a high level skier but only 7 percent of experienced so there not much demand.
Our training program focuses on the large market of beginners and recreational skiers. Trying to develop movements for expert carving with recreational skiers can produce a lot of speed and little control for unathletic and unfit customers who do not ski often. We focus on control and adding carving later if desired.​
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Before skiing
New skiers need to prepare before skiing to increase their chances of success beyond the 19 percent conversion rate.
The ones who return only ski an average of six time a season, so practicing before trips will help them have more fun and success. Our training program provides a way to practice when away from the slopes.
​ Instructor training
Instructors interact with guest more than any other employees. Every season there are many new instructors to train in a very short time. Traditional training to develop careers is long and expensive. Many small resorts have very little training, resulting in a lot of on the job training.
A lack of training may not cause a chair to stop running, but low quality lessons reduce growth and revenue. The Greatinstructing.com ski instructor training program is an alternative that has been tested for more than 20 years to be effective, quicker, and less expensive.
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Ski Moves
Customers apply the natural moves they make to skiing, these are 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.
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t 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.
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It takes time and practice to develop and maintain ski moves. Our training program provides clear and consistent goals with specific feedback create success.
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Our training program
Side by side comparisons provide clear visual goals. A score creates fun challenges and feedback, like playing a video game. It gives skiers goals beyond just more speed and steeper slopes even after the lesson.
Our program was developed using using digital coaching software. We have worked with the US Ski Teams National Development System, NASTAR, The US Special Forces, the National Ski Patrol, PSIA, high school teams, club racing teams, and schools at small and large resorts like Vail.
It has been tested for more than 20 years with skiers of every level from first timers to experts in real lessons. It focuses on the moves skiers have in common rather than small differences in top skiers to provide ski moves that are timeless and consistent.
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Consistency
Skiing moves are timeless, it is about great execution and timing. They are simple, but simple does not mean easy.
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It is challenging to develop and maintain skiing moves even with clear and consistent goals, because they are opposite the natural moves people make.
It is even harder to progress if goals are regularly changing. Instruction traditionally looks at small differences between top instructors every four years at Interski in a search for the newest techniques. New moves makes the consistent goals necessary for improving more challenging, and the skiing level is above most of the market demand. Skills are not specific enough to be consistent. It is like having ingredients without a recipe, it is very hard to be consistent.
Physical support
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A big advantage of live lessons is the support and feedback from the instructor.
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Customers often can not make a move without some physical interaction to help them, like a physical therapists it makes a better experience for the customer and instructor. Instructors often support customers to prevent falling, going too fast, hitting something, help getting up, and to make the right move.
Make it clear in your user agreement that physical interaction may be part of lessons.
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