12/April/2010: Are the fundamental challenges faced by growing businesses the same everywhere, regardless of what line are you into? Today's experience makes me think in the affirmative. I was up at 7am, still weary from the previous day's activities - walking tour of a section of the Sleima promenade, a mile walk from the busstop to the Traxien temples and back and a steep climb, down a hill from the busstop to the boats for the Blue Grotto and the return hike. Something to look forward to today, my first ever scuba diving experience. I was supposed to be picked up by Daryl, who part owns the family run business of Aquatica, at 8.45am from the hotel reception. I made some allowances for the relaxed way of the Maltese people(or so I thought) and was surprised when I got a call at 8.44am from the recption about Daryl's arrival. And soon we were off in his pickup van. He made a stop at Radisson on the way, and was disappointed that the people who booked left a message at the reception saying they were cancelling due to sickness. He did not hide his disappointment of not being notified in advance but when asked his reaction was simple - There are things out of your control, deal with it as best as you can and maintain your cheer. Nice one, I thought!
Once we reached the centre in St. Paul's Bay, I was off in no time, as Laurent, my instructor for the morning was waiting with all the kit. Due to the two no shows,I got 1-1 attention from my instructor, which I thought was great.Notable was that fact that the half day's session would not have covered their costs as a business due to the two no shows(I was the only customer for the day, April being too early in the season), but they did not let any of that affect the service delivery.Okay, nothing out of the ordinary I thought. But I had a rethink on my way back, when Daryl explained his attitude to dealing with day to day business.When asked if he gets to dive often, the reply he gave was interesting. He started off doing all things himself, but as the business was progressing, he had to divert his attention to other areas like mangaing the customer facing side ( I send them two emails and was pleased to receive replies in 24 hours with all information that I had asked for and a text message a day in advance when they had to delay the pickup by 45 mins ) and logistics etc. All challenges faced by any growing enterprise. They had an excellent instructor in Laurent and good kit but they definitely added a lot of value to what I paid for by giving me the right information at the right time, assauging my fears and anxieties ( and excitement ) about my first diving trip. And doing that, without fail on an every day basis without letting your performance standards slip due to various pressures ( like the no shows ) is not ordinary. So I stand corrected on my ideas on the challenges in consistent service delivery.
Daryl's views on competition and where his business fits in to the globalised world was equally enlightened. I asked him about the different websites ( one was about snorkelling which I hit through the search engine while searching for exactly that and one focused on scuba diving - both with different dns names, not microsites ), he said there was some history to it and has been promoting the latter as the most visible front end to the business, but let the old ones live on (as specialist sites, perhaps an unintended but benign consequence ). What an effective way to market to niche audiences, I thought . The websites are of good standard in terms of their information content.Daryl said it is a difficult act balancing the customer expectations against what you can reasonably commit to deliver, but thay seemed to have got the challenge right, putting their words into action in all aspects of service delivery. When I think of all the websites I looked at on companies offering dives, I thought the Aquatica one had all the information I wanted but also felt reassured enough to "risk my life" in the hands of the people behind it.Maybe it was the references from other customers on their site which reassured me, maybe the timely and to the fact responses by emails/text messages, not just the vanilla information.I asked them in an email if I can see some fish, can they offer the lesson in the Blue Grotto etc. And the response was "You should be able to see some fish, the price includes an open water dive in the sea". And the reply from the other company was, "Once you do the session, you can go diving anywhere you like".And what difference that makes to the person at the receiving end!And when I told him I did computer software related work for one of the major IP providers for chip designers, that got him all excited. He was all for Malta being a part of the EU, he could clearly see the benefits that it brings in including investments in IT. There may be more competition in all areas including diving businesses but only the best survive and that's good for evryone, he thought. And needless to say, being in the EU makes travel and business much more easier, he could see that bringing in more customers.Here was a business that was clearly plugged in to the global economy,playing its part in the value chain.I came back from the trip with much more than diving lessons.
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