Competing Against the Evil Empire

Competing Against the Evil Empire
b y J ames L a B arrie
The great irony of being a DZO is the
disparity between what an up jumper
experiences and what a DZO experiences on
the same day; while jumpers have the time
of their lives, DZOs observe things through
a different lens, noticing every costly
movement with an elevated blood pressure.
F
or example, as jumpers excitedly chat about how many points
they just turned, the DZO may observe an instructor chat with
a student while dragging a drogue across the runway. No one is
more aware of the immense cost of everything. Trying to keep expenses low, battling the uncontrollable whims of Mother Nature
and the continuous mechanical needs of an airplane can make the DZO’s
job a tad stressful.
Despite all the ups and downs and many challenges a DZO faces to keep a
drop zone growing, there is probably no frustration larger than losing market
share to a competitor that doesn’t exist. Adding insult to injury is the fact
that this ghost competitor is renowned for delivering horrendous customer
service, dramatically overcharging and giving inaccurate information to their
unassuming customers.
By now, nearly everyone has heard of SkyRide, Adventure Outdoors or
their many cousins operating under different names with magical 800 numbers that all feed into the same call center. In preparation for writing this
piece, I gave our friends at “Skydive Charlotte” a call to see what our customers are buying into. I spoke to a decent sounding guy who had a great
special for me since I was a “first-time jumper.” Turns out a tandem skydive
is normally priced at $329 but because I was a first-timer, he’d save me
about $50 and get me in for only $280.
I was told that I’d be jumping from somewhere between 10- and 14-thousand feet and I’d be paired with a jumper who had no less than 1,000 jumps
to his credit. When I inquired about the safety of the operation as it was
clearly not “Skydive Charlotte,” I was told that the safety record was impeccable and that there were only “three fatalities in the U.S. during 2013, out
of about a million jumps made.” He said there was a website dedicated to
tracking these statistics. When I asked him what site that was, he suddenly
couldn’t remember and said he’d have to Google it. Before I could press
him, he quickly segued asking if I’d like to book for the day I had requested.
So, How Bad Is It Really?
Your local drop zone isn’t just competing against one fake drop zone—it’s
competing against more than 10! Let’s examine the Carolinas market, a
year-round skydiving state without many actual drop zones, but with tons of
competition against Darth Vader and his boys who answer phones at a call
center in Georgia.
With a quick Google search, I was able to identify 14 drop-zone websites
that filter back to Adventure Outdoors or Spot Reservations.
DZ name
Domain
Who Answered
Skydive Charlotte......................skydivecharlotte.com........................Adventure Outdoors
Skydiving Charlotte....................skydivingcharlotte.com.....................Adventure Outdoors
Skydiving Charlotte....................skydiving-charlotte-nc.com..............Adventure Outdoors
Skydive Charlotte......................skydivecharlotte.net..........................Adventure Outdoors
Charlotte Skydiving....................charlotteskydiving.net.......................Adventure Outdoors
Skydiving Over Charlotte...........skydivingovercharlotte.com..............Adventure Outdoors
South Carolina Skydiving...........southcarolinaskydiving.com..............Adventure Outdoors
Skydive Columbia......................skydivecolumbia.com........................Adventure Outdoors
Skydive Georgetown...................skydivegeorgetown.net......................Adventure Outdoors
Skydive South Carolina..............skydivesouthcarolina.com.................Adventure Outdoors
Greenville Skydive......................greenvilleskydive.com.......................Adventure Outdoors
Skydiving Greenville...................skydiveinggreenville.com..................Adventure Outdoors
Skydive Spartanburg..................skydivespartanburg.com...................Adventure Outdoors
Thrilliant/Charlotte.....................thrilliant.com/charlotte.....................Spot Reservations
Look at the competition! Skydive Carolina (skydivecarolina.com, the actual
drop zone catering to these markets) is up against a lot of competition!
26 • BLUESKIESMAG • ISSUE #53 • APRIL 2014
What Are We Going to Do About It?
We’ve been hoodwinked and bamboozled and
we have to change our game if we’re to compete
with the dark side.
1. Defensive Domain Buying Strategy If
you’re a DZO, shell out some cash to GoDaddy,
because you need to start owning as many domains as possible to shore up your marketplace.
This is an unfortunate strategy, but a necessary
one to protect your turf.
2. Initiate Word-of-mouth Marketing Wordof-mouth marketing is the most powerful form of
marketing and there is an actual strategy to implement it by intelligently leveraging review sites
and social media.
3. Kill Them With Kindness The evil empire’s
weakness is their lack of ability to deliver great
service. They can’t deliver great service because
the operation is built on a charade. Be sure your
service outshines theirs, especially on how your
personnel answer the phone. Allow your service
and phone skills to exceed customer expectations.
After your customers have spoken with them and
you, the choice should be obvious, price notwithstanding. Furthermore, a word-of-mouth marketing plan cannot work without great service.
4. Look Professional Too many drop zones are
missing the ball with website design. As an industry, we offer the single most exciting adventure
life has to offer and our websites should reflect
this energy. Examine skydivingcharlotte.com (an
evil-empire site) for a moment. This is a well-designed site that leaves a good first impression and
gives the appearance of a solid operation. Opinions of where to jump will be made on this first
impression, even if the cost of the jump is higher.
Your website is an investment every bit as important as the acquisition of your tandem rigs—your
business won’t thrive without either, so do it right.
5. Pay Attention to SEO Search engine optimization seems to be shrouded in mystery and most
DZOs feel the need to “throw money at it” because that’s what many marketing companies tell
them to do. Google algorithms have changed to
try and make search authentic—so be authentic.
Appearing in search-engine rankings takes effort
and it’s better done without shortcuts. Produce
regular content on your blog, utilize social media
(be sure to implement Google+), partner with local companies to link back to each other’s sites,
utilize the press by submitting press releases and
have great design on your website! If you want to
beat the dark side, all of this stuff is necessary!
6. Stop Accepting Evil Empire Certificates If
you’re a drop zone owner accepting bookings from
these dudes, stop for a moment and think. You’re
actually competing against yourself ... and losing!
The reason drop zones accept these certificates
is because it is a steady revenue stream, but at
28 • BLUESKIESMAG • ISSUE #53 • APRIL 2014
some point drop zone operators need to see the
madness and truly cutaway. Think how angry your
customers are when they realize they could have
saved a ton of money if they just called you directly instead of dealing with Darth. No one likes
to be ripped off, so why are we letting customers
get ripped off? In the world of social media, your
credibility will eventually be called into question
and the short term gain from partnering with the
EE will not sustain you for long term success. Do
the right thing.
In the chart above, many of the domains were
purchased in 2003 and will continue to be renewed well into the future. These boys plan to
stay awhile and if we’re to compete and take
back our market share, we have to be savvier than
they’ve been and take the necessary steps to pull
ourselves forward.
May the marketing forces be with you.
About the author:
Originally from Antigua, James La
Barrie managed Skydive Carolina
for nine years, increasing
revenues there between 15%30%. In December 2012, he
left Skydive Carolina to launch
the design company Beyond
Marketing amazethecustomer.
com, and travel throughout the
U.S. consulting skydiving and
non-skydiving clients on culture,
service and marketing.
BLUESKIESMAG • ISSUE #53 • APRIL 2014 • 29