Time For Spring Cleaning
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

March 20^th is the first day of spring so an editorial that pontificates the virtues of spring cleaning may seem appropriate, but the diving industry deserves better than that.  Let’s take the practice of annual spring cleaning to the next level.  By doing a deep-dive on the topic of spring-cleaning, we can show you the rationality for conducting a thorough examination of your operating procedures and the multiple benefits that will result from it.

Spring Cleaning is more than an annual cleaning ritual.  It is the signaling of a new beginning – a fresh start.  Growing up in Connecticut, my family would make a weekend out of cleaning our house from top to bottom during the first weekend of Spring, after a long, hard, New England Winter.  We would work from room to room, moving all the furniture, vacuuming the carpets, scrubbing the floors, opening the windows, and airing out the house.  After we finished with the house (a three-story Cape Cod), we proceeded to groom the outside of the house and the detached garage.  We didn’t do this massive cleaning because the house was particularly dirty.  My Mother kept an immaculately clean house all year round, but we did it as an annual rite of passage.  Winter was over and we were entering into a new beginning now that spring was upon us.  With Spring cleaning out of the way, we were all psychologically prepared to enter the new season and conquer any and all of the challenges we could possibly face. 

My memories of spring-cleaning as a child have stayed with me my entire life.  As an educated adult, I can modify my spring-cleaning activities to signal the beginning of a new day, a new week, a new month, a new season, or a new year.  I use it in my personal life, in my business life, and in the diving industry as a Business Planner & Consultant.   It’s my way of starting anew, starting fresh, and starting unburdened.  Maybe I do have a touch of OCD or maybe I have just taken the advice of Marie Kondo, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, very seriously, but I do take great  pleasure in staying lean and getting rid of as much baggage as I can before starting a new adventure.  It Sparks Joy!

Spring-Cleaning in the Diving Industry: Your business will run better if you keep it lean.  So will your career in the diving industry.  At the beginning of a new period (you choose the period), there are a few ways to make your business ready for the new period ahead of you.  First of all, your operating space needs to be clean and fresh.  This is especially challenging for manufacturing companies and retail stores, but it needs to be done anyway. The second area of concern is the business and marketing tools you use to run your business.  Take an inventory of your business machines and software programs you use to conduct your business.  Are they all functioning properly and efficiently?  Are your software programs all current?  Most companies have a logbook of their current business machines and software programs.  Each one is assigned a number and a specified location.  The third area we look at is our files.  Make sure all your computer files and paper files are in proper order and in the location they are supposed to be in.

Conduct an Audit by Department: The best way to ensure that your company has the right tools to carry out the company’s mission is to conduct a company-wide audit, by department.  Each Department Head should have a copy of the company’s Standard Operating Procedures Manual that addresses their department.  It should list all of the business tools, technologies, and supplies they need to complete their part of the company mission.  The beginning of the season is a good time to make sure that each department has what they need to conduct business.

Conduct a Trial Assessment: On an annual basis, you should conduct a trial assessment of how your business operates.  We will be covering this topic in greater detail all year long, but for now, let’s look at your business as a customer conversion machine.  If you are a dive retailer, think of the process you have set up that takes a first-time visitor to your store, from inquiring about scuba lessons to becoming a certified diver.  What steps do you take them through from telling them about your course, signing them up for lessons, counseling them on equipment purchases, teaching them how to dive, certifying them during their open water experience, and then following through with keeping them active in your local diving community.  That is called a customer conversion process, and it is strategically designed to turn a prospect into a repeat customer.  If you have customer conversion processes set up, now is the time to see that they are actually functioning in the matter they were designed to.

Creating an Exit Strategy: Every business should have an exit strategy.  Your career as a Dive Industry Professional should also have an exit strategy.  It doesn’t matter if you are planning on ever selling your business, passing it on to a family member, or closing it down.  Every business should operate under the assumption that one day it will be sold or change ownership.  To prepare Entrepreneurs for that day, we recommend creating a written exit strategy playbook.   Spring cleaning is the first step in conducting an exit strategy.  Your assessment will point out your business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  It will spell out how much your business is worth and what remains to be done to make it as operationally efficient as possible.  Make spring cleaning an annual ritual.  It will make running lean easier on a daily basis.

Become a Member of our Global Diving Business Network: Annual Membership in the Dive Industry Association is $125 and includes placement in a number of Trade Directories and websites.  Our organization uses websites and directories in advertising and marketing campaigns to refer business to our members.  By joining our network, you are becoming part of a network that works on your behalf to bring buyers and sellers together for the benefit and growth of the Global Diving Community.  Download a Membership Application today.

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