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Capital Commentary
USPA has also conducted drop zone surveys of first-time and student skydivers. The data are much the same: Skydiving is exciting and worth a try, whether we did it because of the need for an adrenaline rush, peer pressure or any number of personal reasons. But why do some people skydive for a while and then give it up, along with their USPA memberships? This is harder to get a hand around. When a skydiver stops, he’s gone, and with him go the reasons for moving on. Fortunately, we get some feedback in a variety of ways. Those who stop jumping but remain members of USPA are the simplest group to analyze. Skydiving was an important part of their lives, so they want to keep in touch. Mostly, they stop jumping because of new family responsibilities, lack of financial resources or health restrictions often brought about by aging. Often, those who stopped for the first two reasons return to active skydiving. Sadly, others must hang it up because the reflexes slow or the body says, “Enough.” But age alone is seldom a factor. Another form of feedback is the final membership renewal notice, which asks why the member is not renewing. Mostly, it is because they stopped jumping for the reasons above but don’t see the point of staying in touch. They move on to other things. But unlike those who stay members, they all too often leave the sport because they had a bad experience, and this is really a shame. Worse yet, the bad experience often had nothing to do with the jumping itself. It’s how they were treated either by fellow jumpers or drop zone staff. Sometimes, we forget that everyone doesn’t start off able to do a three-point 20-way horizontally or a four-point 6-way vertically. They need experienced skydivers to bring them along, if only to point them in the direction of a coach. And for those who don’t get to the drop zone enough to stay sharp? Point them toward a coach, too, or put them on a less complex skydive until they get tuned up. Mostly, we don’t intentionally turn some away; rather, we’re simply so wrapped up in what we are doing ourselves that we forget about the new guy or the return-to-the-sport veteran. Then there is perhaps our most frequent complaint. The drop zone staff made them feel unwanted. Sometimes, it’s a student who was ignored or a heavy person who was shunned by a tandem instructor near the end of a hard day or a little ribbing taken as criticism or insult. Sometimes, too, it’s the rusty veteran who shows up with ’70s gear and is turned away without an adequate explanation of the safety issues. Whatever the reason, we’ve let someone down who counts on us. Fortunately, most USPA drop zones know how to treat skydivers. They are, after all, customers. And customer satisfaction is key to a successful business. It’s no different for USPA and its members. All of us need to do our part in promoting skydiving and providing support for those trying to be part of us. The more people who skydive, the more friends we have when the going gets tough. Let’s make a goal of talking to at least one new skydiving face each weekend, and let them know they’re welcomed, particularly the new jumpers. |
Increasing our membership rolls depends initially upon getting more people to take the first leap. Therefore, we need to know why people skydive in the first place. Since most of us do or have actively jumped, we have a fairly good idea why we did it the first time, and we know why we stuck with it. We have a fairly good frame of reference.