When we first thought about opening up a skydive center (we cool kids call them Drop Zones) of course, like any other excited and passionate entrepreneur, our idea was to go BIG. The idea of a big plane, tons of fun jumpers (those are the guys and gals who are licensed in the sport), and droves of people coming for their first jump was what we went to bed dreaming about. Having been in the sport for over 20 years and being fortunate enough to experience skydiving at many other drop zones around the world, the vision of it all didn't seem too far fetched... for a couple days at least!
We began to realize quickly that going BIG didn't or rather couldn't be good for every business. That didn't mean that starting up a little drop zone meant we had to throw away some of the great aspects that come with the big guys. It just meant that we had to think differently in our approach to our customers experience with us. So we began the journey and we started it all with one core foundation ~ OUR VALUES!
We took a look at the skydiving experience from the moment the idea sneaks into an individuals mind, to the feeling they have a few days after their jump and even years later. How could we provide a customer experience that truly adds to their life story? How could we share the same passion for the sport to someone who may only ever jump once in their life? How could we be a little drop zone providing a BIG experience?
Learning From The Big Guys
When you search Skydiving on the internet no doubt you will see awesome footage from places like Skydive Dubai, Skydive Perris, Skydive Chicago, Skydive Arizona, and Skydive Empuriabrava just to name a few. It was several of these drop zones that inspired our excitement for the business side of the sport. After we really analysed the big picture of what makes a drop zone great, we created a list of our own Must Haves and top of the list was an atmosphere that encouraged a meaningful encounter between us and our customers. Now don't get me wrong here, safety elements of our business is always the priority from the operational side, but I am just going to focus on the experience for this blog. What did the big guys have that we wanted?
Exceptional Social Media Platforms
Fun and Unique Experience Opportunities
Great Customer Reviews & Reputation
Professional Atmosphere
Cool Merchandise
Hours That Meet Customers Needs
An Atmosphere of Learning
We realized that we could deliver a personalized experience while still using some of the best practices of the big guys. What we could do on top of it was add our unique twist that ensured our values were met. So what were a few of these Must Haves?
Social Media Platforms that are relevant and deliver content that is meaningful:
Whether you have jumped a thousand times or not at all, we try to post content that is fun, educational and not always skydive focused. We use avenues such as Facebook to personalize our everyday encounters with customers and celebrate their accomplishments. The whole Social Media world is a crazy one and for old guys like us, a huge learning curve. This blog is a great example of that. We looked at the big guys and realized it was an opportunity we had to embrace. It will always be a work in progress for us, however we work hard to deliver something unique. We are always appreciative of feedback so we encourage you to go check out our platforms and let us know what you think! You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat (just added this week), YouTube, and our website!
Remarkable Experiences:
The experience a customer has is unique across drop zones and one that we take especially to heart. As a result of being a smaller operation, we create one on one relationships with each customer, their family, friends, sometimes even their pets. It is in these relationships that we get to truly be a part of their life story. We take our time. For us it's not about the numbers we push through the door, it's about the memories created experiencing the moment with us! Taking the time to get to know our customers has provided incredible blessings with new relationships, humbleness by the everyday braveness of people, copious amounts of laughter, and above anything else the privilege to share our passion.
Enhancing the memory:
We wanted everyone's first skydive experience to leave an awesome life long impression. We knew first though that they had to be able to access us and therefore we keep our doors open 6 days a week through out the season. We also provide top of the line video and picture editing all provided to the customer within minutes after their skydive. To commemorate the experience, we present everyone with a personalized Certificate of Completion that even comes with your own skydive photo on it! It's in all these little things that we feel allow everyone to be excited about their experience even years after it happened!
Constant evolution:
We may be a small operation but we do dream big and with that comes a requirement to always be looking forward. The coolest thing about being a small operation is that we can provide really big experiences while still maintaining a lasting connection with our customers that goes both ways. We are not afraid of the work behind being the BIG guy even on a small guy budget. We know that it's worth every long day and every bit of dedication to learning new things because it will ultimately allow us to provide an experience to our customers like non other. Every moment that there aren't several hundred people sharing our latest tweet, empowers us to do better!
We are specialists in Tandem Skydiving and striving to be leaders in the skydiving experience!