Recruiting New Jumpers

[NathanL100 0]

I've recently put some skydiving stickers and pictures onto my school binder and since then I've gotten a lot of people asking me about skydiving and showing interest in the sport. From previous attempts at recruiting new jumpers I've found that about 99% of the people will never actually start AFF and probably 95% will never end up doing a tandem no matter how interested they seem to be.

So what can we do to turn these statistics around? Why is it that so many people seem so interested in the sport, but are never willing to take the next step?

Base # 942
The race is long and in the end, its only with yourself.

[Gravitymaster 0]

Why do you want to turn the statistics around? I have found most who say they would like to try are just trying to be affable.
My reply ot people who say they want to jump is "let me know when you are going to do it and I may see you there".

[indyz 1]

Every year our club sets up a booth at Quad Day, an event where many of the students on a campus of 40,000 come to check out the available clubs and activities. This year we got hellacious sunburns, and 700 names and email adresses from interested students. When we had our first informational meeting, probably 50 people showed up. Less than half of them paid their dues and joined the club. We will have more students coming from word of mouth, and the newspaper article, and if last year is any indication we will take around 150 people for their first skydive this school year. That's only a little more than one third of 1% of the student body.

[NathanL100 0]

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Why do you want to turn the statistics around?

Its not like we don't loose a lot of members every year. Plus, skydiving gets a lot of the wrong kind of publicity, so I feel somewhat like its my responsibility to try and give back to skydiving by providing people with a point of view that isn't from TLC's Oh My God, I Shit My Pants home videos.

Base # 942
The race is long and in the end, its only with yourself.

[pilotdave 0]

I just posted something about this in another thread, but anyway, today my club handed out somewhere around 1400 fliers and signed over 150 people up for our email list. We ended the day with about 40 website hits (about doube the average, but nothing compared to the number of people that said they were interested) and 2 people signed up. One of them even jumped with us before, so we basically got 1 person out of all of them to sign up (so far anyway).

The reason it happens like this isnt a mystery. It's all about money. Few people that are interested but don't actually do it are worried about safety or fear or anything. It's all about money. Today I listed our prices over and over and over and got just about every possible reaction from "never mind" to "wow, that's it? my cousin's friend said he payed $300..." But for most people, especially college students, it's just too expensive. Other factors are that it takes a whole day and requires a 2 hour drive in this area. I believe if the plane was right there ready to go, we'd triple or quadruple the number of people jumping. But when they find out they need to wake up early only to wait around all day, no thanks.

Well, I better go to bed. Handing out the rest of my fliers starts tomorrow at 10.

Dave

[AggieDave 6]

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But for most people, especially college students, it's just too expensive

If they want to do it, they'll find a way.

Case in point, SD Aggieland is 5 minutes from Texas A&M's campus, we have a steady flow of students coming out to do tandems and quite a few have come back for a 2nd, some of those have done our transition course and are working their way through their A requirements.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[VivaHeadDown 0]

If they want to do it, they'll find a way.

Dave, you nailed it with one sentance. There is no way to turn numbers around. They shouldn't be either. Skydiving gets a fairly steady influx of students, and it's what the sport can handle. More would be great, for business. But for the individual fun jumper, more just means longer calls, higher number of less experienced people in the air, and higher number (though maybe not rate) of deaths/incidents. People must choose to start, and choose to continue. You've accepted skydiving as completely realistic, but you're not going to change someone's mind if they don't want to accept it. I don't know of many other sports where it's not just a matter of going out and trying it, it's actually a whole different frame of mind. Maybe the eco challenge, or the Ididorod (sp), but at least those are comprised of things most people are familiar with.

[PalmettoTiger 1]

I've messed around with starting a club here, but we're not too organized. Still, in the past two years I've been the point of contact for hundreds of people, and my feeling is that there are a few different types of people who will express interest:

Type 1, the gung-ho crowd - they've wanted to skydive for a while and you are their chance. Most of them are thrill-seeking, adventurous people. If they say they're going to jump, you can count on it.

Type 2, the lurkers - they're intrigued by the idea of skydiving, and may have done some research or paid more attention whenever it comes up in TV or movies. But they're going to need some convincing. Personality-wise, they're generally quieter and less active or outgoing; if you chat with them for half an hour, you wouldn't get the impression that they're risk-takers. They'll be skittish about jumping, but once they decide to look into it and get fully informed many will choose to make a jump.

Type 3, the 'just curious' folks - they may have thought about it, but never very seriously. They probably haven't done any research. Most of them aren't truly interested in skydiving, they're just checking to be sure it's not something they'll do. As soon as they get specifics on prices or injury rates, they decide it's not for them.

All judgments about wait times for experienced jumpers aside, if you want to improve your "statistics," analyze it from a marketing standpoint*. Type 1s need very little persuasion, so it doesn't make sense to gear your advertising to them. As soon as they hear that there is a skydiving club on campus, they'll flock to you. Type 2s, who are a bigger chunk of the student body, might even be turned off by messages that would hook Type 1s. So advertisements and flyers about "OMG WOW YOU CAN DO 200 MPH UPSIDE DOWN AND BUCK NAKED!" are a waste of effort (the 80/20 principle). If you emphasize the pure freedom and awe-inspiring beauty of skydiving rather than the intense thrill of it, more Group 2s are going to respond.

When we designed our flyers and did the write-ups for our website, we kept that idea in mind. We blitzed the campus with fliers the same day our website went up, and in the first 12 hours we had 800 hits. On a campus with ~4500 students, that's a hell of a response rate.

In the big picture, though, PilotDave really hit it on the head. Most college students don't have the money to go through AFF and get licensed. Most don't even have enough to make a tandem. So a college club is necessarily going to have bad retention rates. Yeah, it's true that if they're hooked they'll find a way, but I think that's mostly Type-1s who you're going to get anyway. If you want to try and build a bigger corps of active jumpers for your club, think about how to attract the type-2s.


*DISCLAIMER - even though I probably sound like a snake-oil salesman when I'm talking about marketing and message strategy, I never gloss or fudge the risks. When people ask about injuries/fatalities I give them straight answers, and I make sure they get those answers before they put money down. Wouldn't want anyone to find out the hard way that they had the wrong idea about our sport.

PTiger

I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way

[Airhead 0]

Exactly!
It's NOT just a matter of $$$! I like what you said, "...It IS a sport that requires a whole new frame of mind."
In MANY ways people need to venture out of their comfort zones to really be able to get into skydiving- and on a whole lot of different levels- to really be able to get into skydiving and be able to enjoy it. PLUS it can be really SCARY!especially the first time...

[happythoughts 0]

This is what I hear - "I've always wanted to try that..." My response - "Great, I'm going Sunday". They either say yes or no. This sorts it out up front. If they say no, settle for pleasant, interested conversation and do not try to talk them into jumping. Do not try to tell them how "safe" it really is. People who jump need to understand that their are risks and they really have to want to assume those risks. Most people do not use "femur" as a verb. Having a ot of your friends on crutches is not a normal sport risk to most people. They should really, really, really want to.

[skymick 0]

Ive given up on trying to talk people into doing a jump, since ive started jumping ive got about 8 people into a tandem, no AFF though but the amount of hassle i had to go thru to get people to jump was unbelievable. Every 2nd person i spoke was like" sure ive always wanted to do that!" (you know the story) then when i try to set a date everyone will pull out, it took me about a month to convince and organise just 6 people arrgh!

now ill ask once and thats it,if someone wants to do it, ill be happy to organise it but only for people who REALLY want to do it otherwise its not worth the hassle

[Luminous 0]

I get this all the time. Your at a party/bar/social function and someone's going "Yeah man, I'm gonna come up and do a jump for sure".
At this point I usually look at em and say "Give me a dollar", (NOTE: $ amount dependent on how much alcohol has been consumed),
They'll look at you and say "What?", I tell em "If your serious give me and I'll give it back to you when I see you at the DZ". 90% of the time I get the money.
I've never had to return a penny.

'In an insane society a sane person seems insane.' Mr. Spock

[Galen 0]

I remember when my roommate and I were trying to get together a bunch of people to go do a tandem. We had never skydived before (is skydived a word? doesn't sound right). We were siked about it and we wanted to get over 10 people so we could get a discount. Over 20 people said they were definitely in. So we try to set the date. "I don't want to spend the money" and "I think I have something going on that weekend" were the main excuses. Changing the date, which we did several times, wasn't anymore convenient. We set a date that suited us no matter if anyone else wanted to join us or not. It did end up being 5 of us. One had done a tandem before. I think I was the only person in our group that got obsessed and decided I had to take it further.
Of course they back out. THEY WOULD HAVE TO JUMP OUT OF AN AIRPLANE. They see the x-games, Bond films, XXX and it looks fun but there is no fear of injury or worse when you see it on the screen.
I'm going to try that dollar thing to supplement my skydiving.

Respect the Dolphin

[SatchFan 0]

It seems to me that skydiving chooses it's people, not the other way around. I had heard somebody say earlier that skydiving is not a sport but a lifestyle. Because of this, if somebody tells me they would like to try it, I give them a biz card to the dz and directions. "Tell me how you liked it."

[Chief 0]

I teach 6 classes a year of 30 to 50 students each class. I mention skydiving and many are interested. Then they try to get a group and pick a day. Needless to say, less then 2% ever show up. I no longer bring it up. Just adding what you already know anyways. It is a lifestyle. Those that choose it, find us! Stay Safe. . . .Bill

[skycat 0]

When I moved to Denver a bunch of people heard that I skydived and wanted to try it. When they asked me to get a group together to do it I immediately said no. I know how people are about showing up and told them to get the group together and I would take care of getting their deposits and the scheduling.

One of the guys even said that he had tried to go with a group of friends before, but they all backed out at the last min so he didn't want to get stuck having to go alone. Of course I told him that since I would be out there that that was no excuse and if he ended up out there alone I could work it out so Derek was his TM and I would be able to lurk.

So far no one has coughed up the $50 and I'm not expecting them to.

Fly it like you stole it!

[billvon 2,400]

>Why is it that so many people seem so interested in the sport,
>but are never willing to take the next step?

I think there are as many reasons as there are people. A great many people are simply not equipped to skydive (poor reactions under pressure etc) and they wisely realize this. Other people have strong fears, strong enough that they would either get nothing out of the experience or would be handicapped by their fear. Others see it as dangerous (which it is) and they do not want to risk their lives for a few minutes of fun. Yet other people think they have a responsibility to people they know and love not to risk their lives just for a kick.

The ones that remain, the ones that _are_ willing to risk their lives, think they can handle the sport, and have decided the risk is worth it, will find their way to a DZ. There is no shortage of DZ's out there, and no shortage of advertising to direct them towards the DZ.

>So what can we do to turn these statistics around?

Yikes! Nothing! I hope I never see the day when we encourage people who are ill-equipped to skydive to make a jump. Skydiving is what it is because of the people. We are different than most of the people on the planet - not better or worse, but definitely different, and it is that difference that allows us to develop new disciplines like freeflying and skysurfing, fly 46 sq ft canopies, and toss cars out of airplanes. I'd hate to "turn that around."

[PalmettoTiger 1]

Billvon as always makes excellent points. And although I might be putting words in the mouths of Indyz and PilotDave (sorry fellas, hope they taste good, at any rate) I feel that for those of us involved with our college clubs, the question asked isn't quite the question being answered.

Instead, I KNOW there are people out there who are capable of handling this sport, and who have something thrilling, awe-inspiring, and powerful lying dormant within them. It's just waiting for a taste of altitude to touch it, awaken it, and bring it to the fore. But these people don't try skydiving for reasons that are silly compared to the profound joy that it could bring them. I know these people are out there because I was one of them until May 6th, 2000. That's who I'm trying to bring into the sport.

My aim in trying to recruit more effectively for my college club is not to get people who are ill-suited or unprepared for skydiving to come for a jump, just so I can have more people on the club roster. My goal is to give at least some of those unknowing skydivers a chance to see what's waiting for them. That's why I'm curious to hear others' ideas on recruiting more effectively.

PTiger

I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way

[Guest]

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Instead, I KNOW there are people out there who are capable of handling this sport, and who have something thrilling, awe-inspiring, and powerful lying dormant within them. It's just waiting for a taste of altitude to touch it, awaken it, and bring it to the fore.

Nicely put!

There's also the quote from Thoreau, which motivated me to change coasts, change careers, and eventually become a skydiver and a published writer:

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

We're different because we're unwilling to settle for the same old same-old. That doesn't make us better than the R.A.M.s (Raggedy-Assed Masses), but it does set us apart from those who toil away every day with blinders on, never looking up, never wondering; thinking perhaps that things could be different or somehow better, but due to habituation (read inertia), can't or won't leave their comfort zones.

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that isn't what ships are for."

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

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[PhillyKev 0]

When I first started I used to try to talk everone I knew into trying it. After seeing first hand the death and injury this sport can cause, I don't encourage anyone to take it up anymore. I'm willing to take the risks associated with the sport because I'm already hooked on the feeling of freedom from skydiving. But I wouldn't want to be responsible for getting someone else into it and then something bad happens to them.

[Airhead 0]

Uh huh, uh huh. Yeah, Yeah...I agree with ya there...
But did you say "...AND TOSS CARS OUT OF AIRPLANES..."???????
WHOA! Are you kidding?

[jfields 0]

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WHOA! Are you kidding?

Nope. Check out "Good Stuff" by Joe Jennings. VHS or DVD.

Not that I'm pimping the video, but he did ask...

[happythoughts 0]

"When I first started I used to try to talk everone I knew into trying it. After seeing first hand the death and injury this sport can cause, I don't encourage anyone to take it up anymore. I'm willing to take the risks associated with the sport because I'm already hooked on the feeling of freedom from skydiving. But I wouldn't want to be responsible for getting someone else into it and then something bad happens to them. "
Yep. Absolutely. They have to really, really want to. This is a very unforgiving sport. Absolutely agree.

[NathanL100 0]

Tiger hit the nail on the head with this one. I unfortunately wasn't able to transfer my thought onto the screen very well last night. Anyway … As Tiger said I don't want to get people into this sport that don't belong here, but again as Tiger said, I know there are a lot of people out there that can handle the extreme nature of our sport. There are almost 300 million people in the USA and there are only 35,000 USPA members so obviously there is a lot of room for growth here. For example look at all the people in the USA that ride motorcycles, I believe that these people have excepted that their hobby has a good chance of killing them and I also believe that these people are exposed to an environment were they must react quickly and where they must rely upon themselves to save there lives constantly. So right there is a large demographic that could produce a lot of new jumpers. So, I'm sure that there are many people out there that fit the profile of a good skydiving candidate that are either exposed to the wrong kind of publicity or haven't been exposed to the sport at all. Which is why they haven't made it to their local DZ, but if someone were to provide these people with a guiding hand, and I'm not advocating a use of peer pressure to encourage people to jump, but more a kind of guiding hand for people to take them as far as they want with the sport, may that be signing up for the first jump course or only doing a tandem I think that we would increase the number of jumpers dramatically.

In addition: In response to some negative comments about increasing the size of the jumper population, just think about this, it would be a lot easier for the FAA to tell 35,000 people that they cannot jump anymore than it would be to tell 75,000 or even a 100,000 jumpers that they cannot jump. Population size increases influence, which will help to ensure the survival of the sport that we all love so much.

Base # 942
The race is long and in the end, its only with yourself.

[skycat 0]

hehe...this is funny about an hr after posting this today the guy who wanted me to get a group from the office together to make a jump came up to me and said "Well it's to bad the season is over, guess I'll have to wait till next year" He didn't like my answer of "Season's over? We jump all year".....

Fly it like you stole it!