AI Solutions: Putting Yourself out of the Market

AI Solutions: Putting Yourself out of the Market: Marketing the second dirtiest word after CPD, if you have ever read anything driving instructor industry related, the majority say w...

Putting Yourself out of the Market

Marketing the second dirtiest word after CPD, if you have ever read anything driving instructor industry related, the majority say we are busy we do not need marketing hints and tips, but if that is the case why are there companies out there actively seeking to take your hard earned cash. For a serious marketing campaign you need lots of cash and a solid product, not a fistful of dollars and some lesson slots.

Why are there so many involved in marketing who are looking for a niche market to offer their services? A good marketing executive will cover all areas, yet for some the ADI is seen as an easy target, with many having no previous business experience or training in advertising or growth. If the phone isn't ringing then the only way to get noticed is to get out there and be visible, expecting someone else to take your cash on a promise is not the way forward.

When Mr Nice Guy offers to promote your business, as a salesperson they are better placed with inner knowledge of the arena, so are you being offered 'hints and tips' or has your marketing agent sat down with you and explored the statistical evidence for the product that you offer.  For example, you would expect the sales of ice to rise in the summer and slow in the winter, so the marketing agent would therefore encourage sales growth in the time when seasonal sales are higher, but promote why your ice is better than the next person. As with most things, ice sells itself, when demand is high. With driving lessons, during high season, generally January, April and September, they will sell themselves.

With lots of opportunities at the current time, with media highs and lots of news stories, isn't this a great time for your PR team, or individual, to be raising demand and earning their keep. Is your hashtag lacking or hasn't it been born. It seems from the 2013 research that agents think they know what their client needs, yet when questioned, the client had different ideas, yet chose to follow the agent because they assumed inner knowledge.

Sadly marketing agents in this research uncovered the fact that they may know their market but they do not understand their client. 17% of agents believed they had a relationship with their client, whereas only 6% of clients believed this to be the case. Pointing to the fact that the company had a greater business perspective of the transactions than the agent.

Research from earlier this year also showed that clients want results, and that marketing agents are plumping up their services with lots of fluff and clever terminology but are not cutting the mustard. 38% of clients want good value for money whereas only 27% of agents thought this to be important.

So making money without the conversation, the agent says, let me do this for you, the client bows to the salesperson, the client gets caught up in a contract that doesn't deliver, they then go from recommending their agent to advising against them, word of mouth in all industries is important.

Driving instructors are in the firing line for agent approaches, along with vets and hairdressers, yet all of these services are self promoting, given the opportunity. Marketing strategies are for bigger campaigns, a national company would definitely benefit from enhanced promotion, but a sole trader would not ever be able to justify the expense. The best promotion of your business is through Google, this can be done for free and Google will tell you how.

AI Solutions: Coaching the learner Driver

AI Solutions: Coaching the learner Driver: A new learner, completely open to suggestion sits beside an ADI and stares blankly at the dashboard, the ADI, experienced, asks the ...

Coaching the learner Driver

A new learner, completely open to suggestion sits beside an ADI and stares blankly at the dashboard, the ADI, experienced, asks the novice to move the car, after a short silence the pupil says - how. The instructor responds with a volley of questions about when the pupil has been a passenger, have they watched someone else drive, do they know what the levers and pedals do. An uncomfortable silence follows when the pupil whispers quietly, I just want you to teach me to drive.

Good for business, good for self esteem, or poor practice.

Just lately we have been approached, as a company, by students asking us to just teach them to drive, please don't ask what I want to do this week, please do not tell me I know all this from being in my parents car, to one in particular, I am currently studying to be a doctor, in my life I have been ill but I do not want trial and error of my past experiences to lead the way, it could cost a life and so can this silly idea that, as my previous instructor told me, I can drive already I just do not know how yet but I can find out based on my experience.

So has the coaching concept been taken one step too far. Seven years ago a report was published that favoured coaching for learner drivers, and from that point on the business people in this arena have taken the baton and run with it. Good for them, taking the manageable income of a tutor and turn it into their own, for some an improvement in skills is a good thing, for others it is patronising and unprofessional.

Yet as educators, we know there is room within the field of coaching to make the learning environment a better place, for some.  We can build rapport with all of our clients, develop a fun informative learning place, but when we start to let the learner do all of the work while we sit smugly and observe, then it becomes taking advantage of the students time and money. That is not coaching.

Pure coaching does not have a place within the driving industry, but a method that encourages thinking outside of the box does, however, study and research into the mind is an essential element, but then as it becomes indepth it becomes a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

Coaching is fascinating to study, and coaching in practice is a strong reliable tool, it does however involve commitment and a contract. It also is known to be ineffective when dealing with a novice. If the driving test is to mark a standard that is average or minimal, then those whose experience is derived from uneducated experience or belief of another then that process would be suffocated by it's own inability to deliver the required outcome..

As a nation we are being steered away from oppressive schooling, however this is not a new concept and dates back about one hundred years.  Coaching tries to manipulate the student into creating belief systems so that the student does not feel isolated in their understanding, particularly if the student feels lost in the educational process, therefore anti-oppressive schooling allows the use of multi factored approach thereby freeing the learner.  Within the learning to drive scenario this would be difficult to achieve as the goal is a single factor.


Copyright A Green 2013

AI Solutions: Do we have the right to drive?

AI Solutions: Do we have the right to drive?: I've read an awful lot of opinion about the right to drive over the past few months, road safety experts seem to think not, yet ...

Do we have the right to drive?

I've read an awful lot of opinion about the right to drive over the past few months, road safety experts seem to think not, yet this is surely their trade. To enable safe driving as a natural progression of social behaviour and shared space.

I asked this question on Facebook too and the general response was that people had the right to follow the process, so why does it feel as if driving is become elitist. I have been helping a young lady with learning difficulties to practise for the theory test, her inability to take on information means she is unlikely to ever be given the opportunity to drive, the few I have discussed this with firmly believe if she is unable to pass a theory test then she gives up any right. I fail to see that as a move forwards, more like a dozen steps back.

A relative of mine has Aspergers syndrome, she understands responsibility and driving, an automatic, has provided unquestionable freedom and an improved life, enabling her to work and visit her family, she lives in the village where she grew up with little or no public transport. Not driving would lead to a solitary and depressing life, however she took her driving test in the early 1990's prior to the theory test. Now she would be isolated because the test wouldn't be representative of her ability as a road user.

The EU have a broader interpretation, the theory test to understand road user law is a consideration along with a hazard perception test, but is not compulsory, they view the road as shared space with everyone having the right to drive, and the right to use the roads freely without fear of intimidation from other road users, to be safe. So surely the theory test for those with a proven learning difficulty that makes the theory test an impossibility and therefore licence acquisition an impossibility contravenes that directive?

I've studied the EURSC data in detail, and although some of it is contradictory there are allowances and exceptions that are obviously too time consuming or expensive to implement, as road user requirements tighten up and the availability of driving tuition becomes an academic path. Elitism.

Road signs are meant to be self explanatory, so since signage first began to make an appearance in the 1880's they appear to have been fit for purpose. I'm not trying to over simplify here but if you are polite and courteous and know the rules then you can surely begin the process. If you are unsafe then the process will not be completed.

Traffic volumes have risen and then for some years fell, engineering has improved so much that the path you drive is dictated by white paint and traffic islands, so although the driving test has been slow in terms of evolution the general environment is self explanatory, and lets face it, those who flout the law will do so regardless of the entry process.

AI Solutions: Can you Coach a Novice Driver?

AI Solutions: Can you Coach a Novice Driver?: Oh dear is my comment to this, along came CPD and the devoted few followed the path, however CPD surely has to be something you desire...

Can you Coach a Novice Driver?

Oh dear is my comment to this, along came CPD and the devoted few followed the path, however CPD surely has to be something you desire not something that you have to do, now we have coaching, the same devoted few but this time more acts muscling in to sell a course, or a piece of paper with a hefty price tag.

Brilliant, why not try and enhance your delivery with a client, and dedication should always be rewarded, however, doesn't that mean you are unhappy with the style you have already developed, or is it follow the crowd? Those who have embraced client centered learning, which isn't coaching  will have noticed subtle enhancements from traditional teaching styles, but does that mean the method you use is no good?

Research tells us that leading the novice is more effective than abandoning the client to their own devices, they become frustrated and disheartened, a good q & a with an intermediate learner can develop into excellent results, but do you need a qualification for this, or do you need a coach of your own?

A personal coach can deliver amazing results, but the follow the crowd teacher is unlikely to, however when teaching a learner driver do you need such in depth strategies, can you over think the end result, because the original coaching studies were to see if coaching can reduce road death in the under 25's, the results when using a bigger group than the sterile HERMES group found the outcome to be inconclusive.

Interestingly there are a lot of learners landing on my doorstep complaining that their ADI keeps asking them what they want to do on their lesson and they are looking for more structure, so has the hype gone too far, should the instructor not just carry on with what they are good at and had found to be good practise, or will the face of driving instruction continue to spiral into an unrecognisable jumble of discontent.

I sure we all remember our driving lessons, the ADI started somewhere, but sometimes it's easy to fall into the trap of being self-righteous, With the changes to the entry system changing and the standards of the ADI expected to be more closely monitored surely it's time for learning to drive to be recognised as a professional entity as it is in many EU countries, as we begin to settle into the 2015 target date and the dramatic realignment of learning to drive coupled with privatisation.

It's time to leave coaching to the coaches and move into CCL, once the understanding of this has taken place. My letter from the DSA pointed out that regardless of their chapter on coaching they considered pure coaching to be a sledge hammer to crack a nut, as a qualified life coach and driving instructor I am inclined to agree.

AI Solutions: Tax Discs

AI Solutions: Tax Discs: So the tax discs on new cars is to change, I thought closing the DVLA offices, followed by the redundancies and general scale down an...

Tax Discs

So the tax discs on new cars is to change, I thought closing the DVLA offices, followed by the redundancies and general scale down and cram of the system that has been in place for years, and remember we are heading for different not better, we are now taking a step backwards.

Do you remember the days of 'tax applied for' plastered on the windscreen? This was then felt to be tax evasion, so steps were taking to move into continuous taxation of vehicles, a slow expensive process, but eventually we had mastered the art, and SORN was born to fill the gaps, well don't look now but tax applied for is back.

Dealerships are no longer able to pre-tax our cars when we purchase a new one, so for fourteen days we can drive a new car untaxed, section 33 of the vehicle excise and registration act has been altered to allow this.

Did we want change, because the 6700 staff who saw this coming will wonder what the change in law was all about, of course there would have been a fleeting mention about this, but lets not make too much fuss in case the public hear about it. Although employment has risen in the UK, and don't forget there has been an addition of those in voluntary work to the numbers, Government staff are falling by the wayside in droves.

The excuses for avoiding displaying a tax disc currently, are,

1. I took too much Viagra so could not leave the house
2. If the cost of the tax disc is more than the value of the car, you don't have to pay it
3. I broke both arms so cannot fill out the paperwork

Other responses include

I have been out of the country and when I came back I forgot where I had parked my car
My dog ate the reminder

So continuous taxation isn't so effective after all, therefore we have to assume continuous insurance isn't either. As it will no longer be necessary to supply insurance details for taxation purposes, how long before there are less taxed or insured vehicles on the road. The removal of this will save £1.1m but is it a false economy.

Legislation is in place to deliver continuous SORN, instead of the current yearly renewal, this will tie in with the changes to the finance bill. From April 2014, lorries over 12 tonne will be required to pay a road user charge along with their vehicle tax.

A shocking 39,284 days were lost in the DVLA last year from sick leave, a big bill for the tax payer.  All of the changes to legislation and operating procedures will never save enough to cover that expense.

AI Solutions: What is Right?

AI Solutions: What is Right?: Who decides? Yes on the young driver wagon again, probably because I feel they get a raw deal. Insurance or lack of choice is the sub...

What is Right?

Who decides?

Yes on the young driver wagon again, probably because I feel they get a raw deal. Insurance or lack of choice is the subject, heard it before? So what is the solution, because nobody has yet been able to answer it.  If you ran an insurance company and wanted to make money, which group would you target, the ones who have an older family member to fund their insurance outlay, or the older driver just as likely to have a knock in their car, more likely to trade a cash settlement over an insurance claim.

The young driver may have a disproportionate amount of accidents, but still the figure is small, with 1754 fatalities in the UK last year, half were vulnerable road users, over 70's were more likely to have been drinking than under 25's then we have motorcyclists and the over 45's complacent drivers. If you shuffle through the figures the number of under 25's killed as a driver is minimal. So why are they picking up the bill, because it's easy.

Uninsured drivers cost us more as a country, but with such little policing on our roads who is going to invest any money stopping these people, every day I meet unlicensed drivers on our roads, they believe they can drive and often have a licence from another country, or have been driving on a provisional licence for years, somehow working the pedals and levers makes a driver, if only!

The change to the RTA which means compulsory surrender of old style licences, which must have been implemented by 2030, should see the end of provisional car drivers, of an age that doesn't attract attention, skilled through self teaching, so coaching at it's best, Socrates would be so proud, however, the reality is, we will not enforce this law prior to 2030, so at the last fence, maybe there will be nobody left alive by then who has the pre-photocard licence, or at least on the road.

If a provisional licence was valid for a limited time, like CBT or theory then it may crack down on the cruisers, the uninsured, the fact that an insurance company doesn't ask to see a licence unless there is an accident, says it all, lets take your money and if you need ours then we will check the small print for a get out.

So where does the black box come in, well if the EU have their way, and invariably they do, we will all have black boxes in the future, this will no doubt see an increase in personal injury claims, because the too scared to claim crew, who were injured but won't make a fuss, will find that no win no fee is on their side immediately, with evidence.

I have investigated black boxes, their worth, the evidence the carrot, oops I mean stick and I will blog in detail just what the future holds for anyone who wants to drive in the coming years - watch this space.

AI Solutions: Instructor Training

AI Solutions: Instructor Training: Is it here to stay, will the current methods change or are we looking at a real transformation? If the current system stays, which i...

Instructor Training

Is it here to stay, will the current methods change or are we looking at a real transformation?

If the current system stays, which is the cheapest option for the tax payer, there will be a sigh of relief from those who have invested their efforts providing training. The driving instructors we have on our roads are mainly doing a good job, of course there are those who flout the system, after all I saw pass plus certificates for sale! Are the few bad apples enough to warrant an overhaul that is a great expense to the tax payer, because right now it feels like this Government is selling us out.

The ConDems will use tax payers money to change the system, then the back office will put delivery of this service out to private tender, meaning the tax payer cannot recoup their losses. This has nothing to do with us providing a better, more efficient, professional service and everything to do with passing the buck.

The DVLA are seeing 6700 redundancies as part of a rolling programme, the DSA have the potential to be next, if the entry process is academic then the responsibility will eventually fall under the umbrella of the STA, however, even with the opportunity to save money by making examiners redundant there will still need to be some form of accrediting agency, so a slimmer, trimmer DSA who can train examiners for the private sector, for a fee. Total business sense. The modern Government, also known as Arvato, want every public service to be run privately and make a profit. Things sound so simple on paper.

The changes that have been put forward surely cannot be supported by the three key players, the DIA, MSA and NJC, if their responses to the consultation, closing today, support a change in instructor training then it hasn't been investigated deeply enough, of course with the short time frame that would not be easy, there is of course still potential to block these changes.

There are not many ADI's that wouldn't like to see an improved entry process, possibly teaching a live pupil as opposed to the nerve wracking, unrealistic version currently on offer, to display a level of CPD, regardless of how dirty that word has become, and serious professional attitude.

The advantages of change -

A more academic entry system
No abuse of the pink badge
Trainees with a recognised qualification


The dis-advantages of change

Likely to be monopolised by the big boys
No on road experience of pink badge
The less academic will fall at the first fence
The cost to the tax payer


I'm not adverse to change, but this is not change for the better, the wrapping is pretty but the box is empty.

AI Solutions: The Morning After the Night Before

AI Solutions: The Morning After the Night Before: The morning after campaign planned to be run during September and October, hopes to catch the at home drinker leaving for work on Monda...

The Morning After the Night Before

The morning after campaign planned to be run during September and October, hopes to catch the at home drinker leaving for work on Monday morning, still a beer over the limit, that's a vote winner for sure. With young drivers shrugging their shoulders and giving in to black boxes and restricting themselves, by choice, to be allowed the freedom to drive, their activities for drinking and driving seem to be less, if the report by ACPO is an accurate account of what is happening on our roads.

The statistics show that drink drive figures are falling, and of course they will, it has little to do with attitude amongst older drivers, who are significantly more complacent when it comes to having 'just one' before setting off in the car, and more to do with our economy. Any statistician worth their salt will see a pattern in the country's economy and drink drive figures.

Poor economy encourages us in to the pub, supermarket, garden party or barbeque, drown our sorrows? Cheap deals? More gatherings and less entertainment? Who knows what really motivates us despite many surveys and teems of research not one has actually hit it on the head, partially due to the fact that most drinkers do not think they are prone to having too many, although chocoholics tend to have the same outlook of denial too.

If drink drivers over 60 have the least amount of drink related accidents is that due to driving at a time of day which incurs less risk or does it mean that group are more educated when it comes to the risk.  If the equivalent group of marginal speeders are to be used as a comparison, age is not the factor we are led to believe, it is down to attitude, personal experience and personal history. An older driver may appreciate consequence more, may be less concerned by the risk or have already been penalised for drink driving at a younger age. There is also the potential for an older driver to be travelling at an earlier hour than a younger driver.

The younger driver who drinks has fallen by 50%, as it has in other groups, however in the last couple of years our financial recovery has been on an upward slant, regardless of how small, with 2013 appearing to see the better rise in the economy, we must enjoy this short relief, before the purse strings are tightened to within an inch of their life, ready for the private tender auction.

Statistics can also make small figures look huge. Four percent of motorcyclists killed were over the legal limit, however with motorcyclists representing just about 1% of traffic, that's not exactly a big numerical statement. With less drink related accidents happening between 6am and 1pm, is the campaign really going to make a big difference. As an educational experiment maybe, but saving lives, I don't see it knocking the nail on the head.

For me the biggest shock was how many over 70's, predominantly male, who were over the limit. The essence of the campaign appears to target the younger driver, meaning under 30, yet if the summer campaign is anything to go by then it is unlikely to really enforce what seems to be a clear message, why have any legal limit at all, move into the suggested zero tolerance, it'd save a huge amount of money just from less campaign advertising, and man power which will free up sparse resources to spend on the areas where figures have been rising year on year, cyclists and the vulnerable road user.

A young driver is more likely to be pulled over at the side of the road, for multiple reasons, they display a driving error that is more evident, they will be trying harder to stay within the limit, which in itself attracts attention and their auto pilot driving skills are less perfect than an older driver. Yet even with this, the figures show a consistent fall in this group of abusers of the law.