Fall out rate

Do you have any idea at all what the fallout rate of approved driving instructors is?  How many people are getting qualified and leaving the industry within 2 years of registering with the DVSA?

Would be kind of useful to know don't you think?  Especially if you are about to embark on a career change as a driving instructor!

The fact is that the fallout rate is kept pretty hush-hush in the industry.  I dare say it is technically possible for the DVSA to crunch some data numbers, and track ADI's to see if those that are handing back their green badges (or allowing them to elapse and not renewing) are recently qualified.  But they seemingly don't.  So it simply is not possible to get that figure for you, believe me if I could publish it, I would.

But what we do have, and I have previously published this data in this blog, is the amount of newly qualified ADI's coming into the industry per quarter, as well as the total number of ADI's on the register.  As such, you can deduce from that (albeit a rather course calculation) that there are indeed a significant number of ADI's leaving the industry.  What we don't know though, is how many are due to natural wastage, and how many are newly qualified.

All I can say to you if you have got this far in this blog is that I've been monitoring this since I qualified and it is incredible how many new, flash driving school cars pop up constantly and yet they do not hang around for long..... I really do mean incredible.  I'm not suggesting that all of these equate to the ADI handing back that green badge, some I guess could be moving location or specialising in other areas of driving training.

I've put a FOI request in with the DVSA, will report back how I get on.

[UPDATE]:  This is the response I received today (10/10/2018):

A report was produced by the ADI branch of those ADI’s, who have asked to have their names removed from the ADI register in the last five calendar years. The report compared the date of issue of the ADI’s first full certificate which is the date their name was added to the register, and the date their name was removed from the register.

In each of the last five calendar years, there are no instructors who were on the register for less than one full registration period of four years

Walking the talk

As a PDI you will quite naturally want to be gaining some reassurance that who you are training with can actually do what they preach.  This creates authenticity, integrity and reassurance.
I received this review from a customer yesterday.  Take a moment to properly read through it.  When you train with BIG TOM to become a driving instructor, it is important that you realise your trainer is not speaking from a theoretical, academic viewpoint, instead, your trainer is able to deliver to the standard at which s/he is expecting you to achieve.  This is a very important point and one which I would encourage you to literally ask for evidence of, should you be researching for a driving instructor trainer.

Challenges within customer services

One of the advantages of utilising BIG TOM "Business Support" training is that unlike pre-set, fixed classroom-style learning, our content is bang up to date to help you overcome the challenges of that time.

I recently was able to offer timely advice relating to GDPR and emerging right now is a new challenge for customer service.
  
Have you noticed the culture in our society is becoming less tolerant where any sniff of an "ism" (racism, sexism etc.) is immediately an outrage?  A challenge for business these days is where a customer uses an "ism" to justify a complaint even where one did not exist.  This represents a grave and potentially profoundly troublesome challenge to businesses.  Our driving instructor associations are proving to be very slow in detecting this 'movement', as such, many owners of driving schools are exposed.  
My online training gives you the opportunity to raise your awareness, discuss any problems you may be encountering and develop systems to prevent malicious claims from affecting your business.  

You need to know how 'social justice warriors' are incorporating under-hand tactics on social media to inflict damage on businesses and what you can do to protect yourself. 
    
You should make yourself aware of how a customer's mindset of "instant gratification" needs to be carefully managed in your customer service systems.

You would be wise to learn how to deal with a customer who is taking zero responsibility for outcomes and yet holds high expectations for your driving school performance.

As driving instructors, we provide a service that is reliant on key performance measures that need to be communicated to potential customers.  Book yourself up for some clear, concise guidance on these critical factors that could affect your business. (BIG TOM Foundation Training £20/hr 0800 689 4174)

How to create value

A critical skill for a driving instructor is to be effective in driving instruction. Losing sight of this seemingly obvious fact is easy.  When you train with BIG TOM via the in-car training or the online foundation block training, you will be continuously assisted to achieve this vital goal.

My family have recently returned from a break in the Cotswolds where my two lads managed to have a variety of water ski sessions with two different ski schools.  Their approach to the service they provided did emphasise this point.

In both cases, my boys were suited up in wetsuits, pulled along on boats with the instructor driving the boat while giving instruction.  My wife and I sat in the boats and observed the experiences; they could not have been more different for a variety of reasons.  The effect it had on my boys was truly unbelievable; poor instruction affects customer experiences.  

Having a pupil sat in the driver's seat with you present does NOT in itself, make the driving instruction effective.  Without wanting to appear blunt, you do need to understand this point because it will affect the rate of progress your pupils make as well as the customer experience.