{"id":3241,"date":"2010-08-05T22:32:12","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T22:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=3241"},"modified":"2010-08-05T22:32:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T22:32:12","slug":"cheap-driving-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=3241","title":{"rendered":"Cheap Driving Lessons?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some readers will have come here as a result of reading the monthly article about the blog in ADI News<\/a> (which I must say is a ripping good read all round).\"adinews\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I mention this, because in this month’s edition of the magazine\u00a0I noticed a news snippet\u00a0about a new online ADI directory. The creators (referred to as ‘entrepreneurs’) apparently\u00a0got the idea for the service whilst trying to arrange their own driving lessons. Now, I have nothing at all against these directories – of which there are many –\u00a0but it is important to remember one thing: they\u00a0exist to make money for the owners <\/strong>. Of course, they’re not sold on that basis – rather, they claim to\u00a0provide any number of much needed services to the ADIs they are trying to snag.<\/p>\n

Most directories make their money from advertising, listing fees, or some sort of commission. The one referred to\u00a0here charges \u00a31 for each pupil it generates – though it isn’t made clear whether this is \u00a31 per lead, \u00a31 per pupil who actually books a lesson, \u00a31 per pupil who takes at least\u00a0‘x’ hours of lessons, and so on. That latter\u00a0approach would be the one most beneficial to the ADI who is a member, but the\u00a0least beneficial to the directory owners, so you can hazard a guess at what arragement it might actually be.<\/p>\n

However, all this is part of a smokescreen. This\u00a0new directory\u00a0is selling itself cynically on the back of the slogan “cheap driving lessons” (I won’t use the correct terms, otherwise I’ll be giving them free publicity). As a cover story, it claims to\u00a0provide price comparisons for prospective pupils, whilst offering online diary management facilities.<\/p>\n

I’ve written before about the things an ADI needs to be successful (assuming he or she is already\u00a0a decent trainer, of course). Basically, it’s a car, a diary, and pupils. Any would-be directory owner (especially one who is\/was an ADI) knows this – and they should also know that for an ADI’s business to be profitable he will need to keep unnecessary overheads down.<\/p>\n

It’s worth pointing out that the best sort of diary is one you can put your hands on and use with minimal fuss. It is\u00a0perhaps ideally described by the\u00a0acronym KISS –\u00a0keep it simple, stupid. To that end, the ideal diary mustn’t crash or refuse to connect. It won’t ever be out of range of a phone signal, and it must always be on. You won’t have to squint at it to read it, or mess around scrolling it up, down, left, and right. You won’t need to worry about how to charge it when you are in the car and it dies on you. You must be able to run queries in seconds, and add or remove data just as quickly. Such a diary costs about \u00a310 from any stationers, is made out of paper, and lasts a whole year. A pen with which to mark it,\u00a0will cost less than \u00a31, and lasts at least as long.<\/p>\n

So why on earth would you want to move your diary to a remote server so that you can only access it via a computer or smartphone? Actually, there are<\/em> people who are prepared to do that – and it’s usually the brand new, freshly-qualified ADI who doesn’t know what he is doing.<\/p>\n

Computerising your diary adds absolutely no value – and that’s if it is working all of the time. In reality, it won’t<\/em> be working all the time, so it will actually have a negative contribution to your business. The whole idea\u00a0reminds me of that Tom & Jerry cartoon, where Tom builds The Better Mousetrap…<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/better_mousetrap1.flv<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

The point is that the mousetrap is so horrendously complex – even allowing for the cartoonists’ artistic licence –\u00a0that it couldn’t possibly work reliably or reproducibly. It’s the same with a diary: a paper one is so simple that it is impossible to improve on it without damaging its functionality.<\/p>\n

But all this glosses over the main issue concerning this directory service: promoting cheap lessons<\/strong>, whilst purporting to be providing work for directory-listed members. The site in question somehow believes that promoting cheap lessons and price comparisons is<\/p>\n