Skin Deep Diving

Skin Deep is a long standing scuba diving charter company offering all-inclusive diving holidays and experiences for club divers across the UK.

Ian Taylor skippers the Company’s 11m catamaran dive boat which operates out of Portland marina (next to the National Sailing Academy). They have dived throughout the central part of the English Channel including several classic wreck locations.

Skin Deep caters for up to 12 divers at any one time.  Importantly, the dive boat incorporates a lift on the stern which can allow divers to leave the water without the need for a ladder, ensuring that if you are disabled or have difficulty climbing ladders you can still participate in dive activities.

Ian Taylor has a long list of diving achievements including:

• lifting Donald Campbell’s Bluebird
• lead diver on the expeditions that went in search of the warships Limbourne and Charybdis lost in the English channel
• in 2000 became the first diver of the expedition to the Charybdis to descend 85m to the wreck
• as skipper of the Skin Deep dive boat Ian has found and dived more undived shipwrecks than any other individual boat on the south coast
• other expedition destinations including France, Alderney and Guernsey

Oona Spencer is the Diving and Leisure Manager for Skin Deep Ltd and responsible for dive bookings, payments, trip organisation and accounts.

Oona is part of a two person team (with Ian Taylor the company manager), running the front of office and the leisure side of the company with Ian focusing on the commercial side of the diving business.

On completion of the NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Digital Promotion for Business and the Level 1 Award for Mobile Phone App for Business course she will also take on the coordination and management of the company’s digital marketing.

Oona and Ian were unaware of the training available until they were approached by an Employer Training Consultant from the Skills Support for the Workplace programme at Weymouth College. They both immediately saw the opportunity this training offered in allowing them to streamline their business and to develop their online services including sales, payments and booking systems.

The opportunity to upskill staff was also important – allowing Ian’s marketing responsibility to be taken on to a greater degree by Oona enabling Ian to focus on the commercial side of the diving business.

Competitor research revealed that no other dive company in the south west was utilising an app for marketing (the closest being the London School of Diving) and this element of the marketing mix was identified as important in giving Skin Deep a potential competitive edge.

Oona Spencer is the Diving and Leisure Manager for Skin Deep Ltd and responsible for dive bookings, payments, trip organisation and accounts.

Oona is part of a two person team (with Ian Taylor the company manager), running the front of office and the leisure side of the company with Ian focusing on the commercial side of the diving business.

On completion of the NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Digital Promotion for Business and the Level 1 Award for Mobile Phone App for Business course she will also take on the coordination and management of the company’s digital marketing.

There were no real barriers to the training as Skin Deep immediately saw the benefits of training. Oona, however, is dyslexic which meant some adjustments had to be made to clarify for Oona what exactly was being asked for in terms of both assignments and meeting learning criteria.

The training was a computer-based distant learning package supported by an assessor – allowing the learner to work at their own pace and fit in with the demands of their work and social commitments.

Both Ian and Oona completed the practically based Level 1 Mobile Phone App award – building and developing their own App which they now use for company promotion.

Oona also completed the NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Digital Promotion for Business.

Oona feels that the training has ‘improved my confidence greatly and has given me not only the skills to understand effective marketing but also provided  the company with a working app that has significantly contributed to our business expansion planning’

She has been able to take on more responsibility in a constructive and meaningful way which fits in with the company’s vision for the future.

Oona’s future plans and aspirations are based on the exciting future the company faces.

‘The changes and developments over the coming year are exciting and I look forward to streamlining and consolidating what this company delivers based on what we are good at. With the closure of our shop and the development of our online sales and digital presence, we can really sell the Skin Deep Brand. We can also improve the service offered to our customers, both new ones and returning long standing loyal ones through a better booking system and better diving information.’

‘I am so proud of Oona and Skin Deep. Oona has very clearly understood the value of the training and how it can make her life easier. She fully understands that change is positive when you have a clear vision of where you want to go. Despite the difficulties Oona has with her dyslexia she does not use it as an excuse not to do things but continues despite everything. She is always positive and has very keenly taken advice and support. The computer based learning was a big help in that she could take her time to understand what was being asked for without the pressure of other learners. Plus, the training is based on small bite size chunks of information on many pages all interactively linked so Oona was never faced with pages and pages of words and confused paragraphs that merged into each other. When Oona passed the whole office cheered.’

Debra Pattinson, Training Consultant – Weymouth College

http://www.skindeepdiving.co.uk/