Student retention: A brilliant idea, or...?

[Airman1270 0]

Okay, whip out the grain of salt. I had a thought regarding student retention. (Disclaimer: I've never run a DZ or any other business, so I'm prepared to be shown that I have no clue what I'm talking about.)

If economically feasable, would it be possible to offer a free static-line jump to any first-time tandem student who expresses interest in continuing? My hunch is that people who made two jumps, and having experienced a "real" jump, might be more motivated to return than those who just made the one tandem.

If this is a good idea I ASSume someone else would have already thought of it. Pros/cons?

Cheers,
Jon S.

[Icon134 0]

Quote

If this is a good idea I ASSume someone else would have already thought of it. Pros/cons?

I don't know how feseable it is but it definetely only works at dzs that have SL training as an option.

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[MarkM 0]

Con is that while the SL jump itself is low cost, the training FJC is about 8 hours and needs to be paid for.

[PhreeZone 15]

Its not really feasible. A tandem say costs $175. The DZ gets ~$40 to cover the slots, another $30-35 goes to the TM for his/her pay. Another $10-12 goes to the packer and $5-10 goes towards gear maintence. Thats ~$90 already used out of the $175. If you take that $85 profit any put it towards a Static Line jump you need to pay $10-20 to the First jump ground instructor, then pay another $10 for jump tickets to 4000 feet. Figure in $6 for a packer and another $5-10 in maintence and replacement fees.

Thats about $30-40 made not including the need to pay the SL instructor to dispatch and everything else involved with having the additional lift capasity to do tandems and static lines all day. The DZ also needs to make enough money after paying its bils for the DZO to live.

Static line retention numbers are only slightly better then the other methods so I don't think just doing a static line jump means they will stick around.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[downwardspiral 0]

I don't think giving it away for free will have any effect on student retention. If they haven't justified the cost of training after their first tandem, IMO they never will.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[karenmeal 0]

At my home DZ the AFF graduation jump was free. I thought that this was really cool when I was a student. I even kind of used that as a reason in the back of my head to justify the high upfront cost. Although I would have done it anyways..

I don't know if it necessarily increased retention rates.. but I do know that that particular DZ has pretty good retention rates due to the high involvement of a club from the local University. It's also a really cool fun place so that always helps.

I think that having atleast some incentive to continue would be a good thing.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[slug 1]

Hi karen

IMo DZ vibes are very important for retention of students and fun jumpers.

The last AFF free jump sound like a sales pitch. The price of the free jump is spread across the paid jumps.

aka Free Beer $25 cover charge

[mangledspoon 0]

Our DZ has free gear hire for 2 months after finishing AFF. I thought that was pretty great.

[rehmwa 2]

Most training programs already have a discount package deal if you buy a training package up front.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[rehmwa 2]

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[jcecil 0]

Where I jump, after a student completes the FJC for staticline and jumps, they get a card they can redeem for half off of their second jump of the day while still on staticline. After they sucessfully transition to freefall, they get a similar card except the second jump of the day is free!

[Unstable 8]

At our DZ, First Free fall is $5. Can't beat that incentive.

As far as student retention is concerned, I can't think of a better technique than just knowing their names....

=========Shaun ==========

[jumpinfarmer 0]

Got to agree. Knowing there names and making them feel welcome and like they are going to be one of the gang goes a long way.

I know a couple times I thought about giving up durring AFF (since I didn't have as much time as needed to be devoted) but, I had started to make friends and felt welcome every time I showed up to the DZ. Then when I did finnish AFF manifest anounced it over the loud speaker (everyone we now have another one of us, Marc Krieger just passed his AFF check dive) Everyone came up and congradulated me and it made a big impression.

[Unstable 8]

Quote

I know a couple times I thought about giving up durring AFF (since I didn't have as much time as needed to be devoted) but, I had started to make friends and felt welcome every time I showed up to the DZ. Then when I did finnish AFF manifest anounced it over the loud speaker (everyone we now have another one of us, Marc Krieger just passed his AFF check dive) Everyone came up and congradulated me and it made a big impression.

I struggled some to find friendship at the DZ early on. It was really hard at times and frankly I'm surprised that I stuck around. I showed up early every day and went home last - and in the long run - it really payed off. I try to do better to the students at our DZ though - I'll do a lot better once I get my SL-I rating current.

=========Shaun ==========

[jumpinfarmer 0]

I'm surprised, I thought everyone in KS was real friendly.

I do think it makes a differance though even for tamdems. If they just stand around all day not talking to anyone else and clueless as to what the fun jumpers are doing they totally miss the whole skydiving experiance. When this happens it is almost certian they won't come back even if they loved the jump.

I wish I had a great idea as to the problem of student retention but I don't.