It’s feeling a little cold and stormy in the Colorado dive community today. © Stephen Krausse
The Health and Exercise Sciences department has indefinitely cancelled the SCUBA classes that had been offered through Colorado State University for years according the the Rocky Mountain Collegian newspaper.
Total bummer but there are lessons to take away…
According the story the SCUBA classes at the university account for 40% of revenue for the two local dive shops that have been teaching them.
At first blush it’s easy to cry foul over this affront to our industry. Unfortunately, the story goes on to note that the department funding the classes only has a small portion of it’s students even taking it so the math is pretty cut and dry from their perspective and who can blame them.
Two quick thoughts:
1. 40% of revenue from any single customer represents a serious business risk that should be addressed by business professionals regardless of their industry. Times and tides change and businesses not always working to find new revenue sources and account for such one sided revenue streams can find themselves in situations like this.
2. The irony that I talked yesterday about the need to look for opportunity in change – only to have this story come out which directly affects the shop I work with is not lost on me. Having acknowledged that I’m sticking to my spearguns on this one. There is always opportunity as a result of change. This will provide us (Northern Colorado dive community) the opportunity to really start thinking out of the box jelly and finding new ways to attract new divers.
Contact me if you have any strategies I can pass on to our dive shops!
The surface interval’s over… get out there and dive!
SKuba Steve
© 2013 Stephen Krausse