Why choose PADI as your training organization - membership benefits

Why Partner with PADI?

Your Success Comes First
PADI Regional Headquarters offers support, consultation and benefits designed to help you succeed. No matter where you are in the world, you have a team of experts to help you succeed.
By partnering with PADI you receive:

Unparalleled educational programs that are instructionally valid and proven effective.
World-class brand recognition.
Unsurpassed customer service and dive business knowledge.
PADI staff in the field to support you and take a personal interest in the success of your business.

Brand Recognition with the PADI System of Diver Education

Nondivers, certified scuba divers and scuba diving leaders seek the PADI brand more than any other. Documented research shows that the PADI family enjoys one of diving’s best safety records.
The PADI brand and logo are recognized around the world as a symbol that represents scuba divers. Displaying the PADI logo on your storefront or boat and in your advertising immediately identifies you as source for scuba diving services.
PADI Professionals, PADI courses and PADI educational materials are the most sought after in the scuba diving industry. Using PADI’s instructionally solid system, you’ll offer training that is enjoyable and worthwhile. You’ll find that working with a proven, successful training system positively affects your growth.
As a PADI Dive Center or Resort your business is listed in the PADI Dive Shop Locator on padi.com. PADI’s website receives more than 2.5 million monthly page views from a target audience – your potential customer base. Plus, you can advertise on padi.com and enhance your listing on the Dive Shop Locator to make your business stand out.

PADI eLearning^® Offers Convenience and Flexibility

The PADI eLearning system is an interactive, web and mobile-based program that allows learners to progress through knowledge development for various PADI courses at their convenience. Divers are exposed to the same content as any other student divers and complete their inwater training with a PADI Instructor. eLearners are required to affiliate with a PADI Dive Center or Resort, which means that you can:

Reach more potential customers via the internet.
Offer even more flexibility to busy customers.
Let people purchase and begin the course from their computer or mobile device, even after normal business hours.
Receive revenue share for eLearners affiliating with your dive shop.

Through the virtual PADI eLearning Classroom, dive centers and resorts can communicate in numerous ways with eLearners. There are tools available that allow you to interact with your eLearners and provide information about upcoming sales, events or trips:

Dive center or resort logo and contact information appears at the top of the page throughout the eLearning portal.
You can designate the instructors who communicate with student divers.
A summary page lets you see how far student divers have progressed.
Use alerts to remind eLearners about upcoming events or make general announcements.
Email all eLearners who are progressing through the program to provide timely and specific information.
Provide topic discussions or dive center news.

Marketing Campaigns and Programs

As a PADI Dive Center or Resort, you benefit from the most innovative and proven marketing campaigns in the scuba diving industry that help drive customers through your doors. Each year PADI Regional Headquarters provide you with marketing tools to help promote core marketing campaigns. Easy to use templates and stunning marketing images are all available on the PADI Pros’ Site. Other marketing tools vary from in-store graphics to promotional items created to reach out to new and existing customers.

Marketing campaigns are designed to support the three top initiatives that make a successful scuba diving operation:

New diver acquisition
Diver retention and continuing education
Creating new dive professionals and encouraging professional growth

PADI advertisements appear in a wide variety of print media and online magazines. Ads for specific campaigns also appear on Google, Facebook and YouTube (PADI TV) in key markets based upon consumers’ search criteria and posts. PADI email campaigns reach out to divers while they are highly motivated right after their certification and encourage them to take the next step. PADI Public Relations efforts help target niche markets and build brand credibility, which benefits your business. Through frequent media exposures and references, PADI Dive Centers and Resorts become recognized as the authority and experts in scuba diving.

Unparalleled Customer Service and Business Consultation

As a PADI Member, you receive an unparalleled level of customer service and business consultation. With the largest staff of regional managers and specialized business consultants in the dive industry, you enjoy personalized attention to meet all of your business goals. There are dedicated Customer Service Teams at PADI Regional Headquarters focused on providing you with advice, recommendations or support, as your partner.

All PADI Regional Managers (RMs) have worked in the dive industry for many years – several previously owned or managed dive shops – and are well-versed on PADI training programs and products. Working for PADI Members is their full time job. They don’t represent other dive industry brands, so when they visit you, their sole focus is helping you increase profits through channels best suited for your customer base.

Your PADI RM’s goal is to create a solid foundation on which to build a long-term, successful relationship with you based on trust and respect. Your RM is there to:

Support your dive operation with evaluation, advice and solutions.
Help you find and implement new ways to provide a high value to your customers.
Help you establish timelines and focus appropriate resources (both inside and outside of the PADI family).
Consult with you and give you an objective measure against which you can evaluate results.

Business Training for PADI Dive Shop Owners and Managers

Through business seminars, workshops and management programs, PADI Staff deliver proven tactics and techniques you can immediately implement in your business. These programs are developed specifically for you, an owner or manager of a PADI Dive Center or Resort.

In-person seminars – Whether it’s through two-day business academies, miniseminars at trade shows, special regional workshops, PADI Member Forums or personalized in-store seminars, you’ll receive tools you can use to redefine your customer relationships, acquire more divers, strategize a pricing structure, promote your business through social media, optimize your website and much more. PADI Members and Regional Headquarters staff get to interact, meet face-to-face and learn from each other.
PADI Webinars (live and recorded) – Because getting time away from your daily duties at a new or established dive shop or resort is often difficult, PADI online business webinars bring information to you. Presented in both a live, interactive format and also prerecorded, webinars on various topics can expand your business IQ and show you how colleagues have tackled challenges similar to ones you face. All webinars are available via the PADI Pros’ Site.

Risk Management, Insurance and Legal Assistance

PADI is the only organization to provide a full-time, in-house risk management staff to assist you in evaluating business practices, teaching techniques and prudent decision-making to enhance the safety and enjoyment of your customers and to help manage the risks associated with running a business, especially a dive business. Whether coaching staff, developing assumption of risk forms or assisting should an incident occur, the risk management team is available.

As a PADI Dive Center, Resort or professional member, you have access to the scuba diving industry’s most comprehensive insurance programs. These programs provide specialized coverage for dive shops, resorts, dive boats and scuba instructors or dive supervisors. You also have the confidence that comes from having the scuba diving industry’s strongest and most successful legal defense team behind you. Additionally, the PADI family’s size gives us the power to represent the interests of diving and the environment in the face of legislation or regulation.

Certification Processing and Online Services

As a PADI Dive Center or Resort, can submit PADI scuba certifications through PIC Online. PIC Online helps eliminate any mail delays and gets PADI scuba certification cards into your customers’ hands faster. Note that your divers’ certification cards come with your facility name printed on them!

Other online services available on the PADI Pros’ Site include:

Pro Chek^™ that lets you verify staff member qualifications.
Dive Chek^® that lets you verify diver qualifications.
PADI Online Processing Center that lets you track submitted PICs, register Discover Scuba^® Diving participants, request replacement cards, including the new PADI eCard^™, for customers and manager registrations for PADI Open Water Diver and PADI Online Manuals.
PADI eLearning Gift Zone that allows you to manage the PADI eLearning Gift Passes you distribute to customers.
PADI Employment and Classified Ad Board that lets you post job opportunities in your company.
PADI’s Online Shop where you can purchase all your PADI Materials – 24/7 – and a place to shop for PADI branded clothing and merchandise.

Customer Relationship Management Software

Specifically developed for the dive industry by Integrated Scuba Systems (ISSYS), the Electronic Virtual Employee – EVE5 software gives you a comprehensive tool to manage every aspect of your dive store:

Point of sale software
Direct upload for student diver information to the PADI Online Processing Center
Manage customer relationships: birthdays, course history, rental history, inventory
Rental and service bookings
Employee scheduling
Get Organized! This software works seamlessly with EVE Online to give you the ability to manage your inventory, website and online shopping cart all in real-time – and you can do it remotely from anywhere!

EVE Online gives you the capability to build and maintain a user-friendly website:

Use beautiful, professionally designed web page templates that you can customize.
Easily write text and upload images.
Sell online – dive equipment and learning materials, real-time course bookings, charters and dive trips
Reach out to customers with targeted, customized, automatic emails, text messaging (SMS), customizable and professionally designed eNewsletter templates and more!

Environmental Stewardship

Throughout its deep history, PADI has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to environmental conservation through its course offerings and alignment with organizations, such as the PADI AWARE Foundation^™. PADI's conservation focused courses are designed to foster a sustainability mindset in every diver, helping to increase the number of ocean stewards around the globe.

One way that PADI Dive Centers and Resorts show their commitment to environmental conservation is by becoming a 100% AWARE partner. By putting conservation at the heart of their businesses, 100% AWARE Dive Centers make sure all their student divers support conservation and receive the PADI AWARE Foundation version of the PADI certification card. Donations generated by this program help fund PADI AWARE Foundation initiatives, such as protection measures for the world’s most threatened ray and shark species and marine debris prevention campaigns.

The PADI Green Star^™ Dive Center Award recognizes PADI Dive Centers and Resorts that not only care about the environment, but act to protect it by using conservation-minded business practices. Going green is good for the environment and good for business.

See More with PADI Travel^™

As you may know, travel is a key component of every diver’s life – it’s the catalyst that keeps divers engaged, pushes them to learn new skills and inspires them to possess the best equipment available for the best dive experience possible. As a PADI Dive Center, you can become a PADI Travel Affiliate. By relying on PADI Travel’s years of experience and hundreds of destination, resort and liveaboard options, you can earn generous commissions, increase in-store sales and become even more successful with group trips.

Other Benefits by PADI Regional Headquarters

Specific business member benefits depend on your membership rating level and where you are located. Contact your PADI Regional Headquarters for information about additional benefits tailored to your region.

Powerful PADI Benefits