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Reprints From The Professional Skier

Winter 1998 - "Show Me The Money: The Instructor's Route To Riches" by R. Mark Elling

This article is reprinted from The Professional Skier. All copyrights apply. Please see our copyright and disclaimer notice page.

I can recall many mornings several years ago, waiting in a lineup for lessons to materialize at Montana Snowbowl and staring off the crumbling, rustic deck of the main lodge toward the dirt-streaked T-bar hill. We instructors had all become adept at explaining the lack of lessons--bad snow year, poor marketing, limited teaching terrain, stagnant comedy. We'd also found ways to justify our presence on the hill regardless of the dearth of work. Some of us were college students, many had "real jobs" during the week, others simply worked for the pass, and a few had it made with investments or inheritances and spent their time happily skiing when there were no lessons.

Yet each time payday rolled around, most of us were reminded of the financial realities of our ski teaching situation--the compensation just wasn't cutting it. Every two weeks the discussions invariably revolved around leaving for larger areas, finding night jobs, giving it up altogether. And in those poverty-driven forums the stories would crop up--rumors, really--about legendary friends of friends or cousins twice-removed who were making big bucks teaching skiing elsewhere, paying rent with their tip money, living large, eating for free, and driving expensive cars given to them by grateful and rich clients. God, I loved those stories.

But I had to question their validity. I didn't know anyone who was really doing well in the ski school business, except for salaried supervisors and individuals who had a piece of the action in terms of profit-shares or ownership. And yet I couldn't believe that the entire ski school community across the country relied on the goodwill of part-time "real jobbers" and trust-funders. There had to be a core of long-term professional instructors who were actually making a living on skis.

I wished I knew some of them--these mysterious wizards of ski instruction finance--because I'd like to ask them some questions. How'd they do it? How long did it take to start earning good money? Is it ever too late to start down the road to ski-teaching prosperity? How much, really, can an instructor make in a season? What advice could they give me, and would they do so voluntarily? Perhaps there was a secret code of silence that barred them from letting outsiders in on their special tactics for making it as a professional ski instructor.

I decided that the best way to proceed on the matter was to get some answers from the source: I had to find some of those instructors making big dough. I had noticed an article in SKIING magazine's September 1996 issue that presented what they called "America's Top 100 Instructors." That, I figured, would be a good place to start. SKIING had contacted ski school directors at areas around the country and asked them to nominate their best instructor(s). That seemed pretty fair--directors should know who their top employees are--so I decided to select a random handful of these "Top 100" instructors as an interview pool. I sent out about 40 questionnaires, received back around half of those, and took it from there.

Before reading further, it's important to note that this respondent pool represents a fraction of the U.S. ski instructor population. The perspectives offered here are useful and, in some cases, enlightening, but they are the individual opinions of these successful instructors and do not necessarily represent the views of any significant portion of PSIA's membership.

That said, the questionnaire was broken into two parts. One focused on the numbers: quantitative data regarding total income amounts, length of season, days worked, percentage of income derived from private lessons, etc. The other part was a subjective interview in which respondents were asked to elaborate on their personal experience as it related to building a financially successful teaching career. This narrative contains some of the more interesting answers I received. I apologize for the lack of information about snowboard instructors--the selection pool was made up of skiers, but most of the subjective information would apply to instructors of any discipline.

My hope is to expose instructors to the monetary realities of some successful individuals in our industry as a way of expanding our financial perspectives on teaching, and to simply share a bit of their advice. Readers should realize that much of the feedback I received from these instructors may not apply directly to members' home ski school situations, but the information regarding good customer service could be useful to instructors anywhere in the country. Oh, and by the way, there is no secret society.

Analysis

Granted, we're not dealing with an average response pool here--I heard from the cream of the crop, and that's what I wanted--but I discovered that these folks are pulling down way more green than I ever saw teaching full-time! Of the 20 people who responded to the survey, the range of seasonal income derived from ski instruction was between $10,500 and $25,000. I'd hit the jackpot, but I needed to take a close look at how this cash was being earned. What struck me upon initial review of the objective data was the emergence of some obvious patterns in work habits and income demographics.

These instructors were putting in a lot of time, working the equivalent of over five-and-a-half days per week. They were also putting in major time at the same ski area, and I noticed that their free-skiing time was rather limited (7.5 percent of their on-hill time). So the first paradigm was one of good, old-fashioned commitment and hard work: Find a home base, stick it out, teach everyone possible, freeski when you can.

However, there have to be lessons to teach if an instructor is to remain busy, and what caught my eye in the information I received was that on average, these instructors were teaching private lessons 75 percent of the time, and over half of the lessons they taught were requested privates. This demonstrates the most marked departure from what I was used to--sporadic walk-in lessons and scheduled multi-week programs. To add to that, over a third of the respondents' lessons were booked even before the ski area opened.

This, I felt, was where the secrets may lie. Anyone can put in the hard work, the long hours, the years, but not everybody knows how to develop a requested private clientele and keep students coming back. I wanted to know whether this was truly the key to an instructor's financial success and whether it was available to any instructor, given that he or she had the right tools. This is where my second phase of the questionnaire--the interview topics--came to bear upon the objective data.

Q: "Where do you feel the most income-producing opportunity exists for instructors working at ski schools?"

Out of 13 applicable responses, 10 of the respondents answered that privates and requested privates were where the most opportunity lay for instructors. Now, this is not earth-shattering information. Most ski schools alter their pay structure for instructors who teach private lessons, offering either a percentage of the retail price of the lesson in lieu of, or in addition to, an hourly wage. However, while this is nothing new to instructors, it's interesting to remember the reason why ski schools are willing to pay extra for the requested private and why the requested private still remains the realm of highest opportunity for instructors. Instructors themselves generate requested private business for the ski school, and in return the organization kicks down a little extra.

So the requested private lesson is one of the ski instructor's few entrepreneurial outlets within the organizational structure of the ski school. The instructor is relatively free to do as he or she pleases to generate a private clientele--use personal contacts, referral systems, personal advertisements--and the ski school still makes money. It's a win-win situation, but one that's rarely capitalized on by instructors. For example, only five of the survey respondents cited that at least 60 percent of their teaching income came from requested private lessons. But the average income of those five instructors was $19,200--that's a whopping $7,450 more per season than the average of the other 15 instructors!

The issue of personal control over one's schedule and lesson clientele came up again and again in survey responses as one of the things that improved income potential. In second place behind "requested private lessons," respondents felt that multiple-day, program-style lessons were where the best money could be made, and many of these instructors mentioned being directly involved with creating such programs--ah, entrepreneurship.

Instead of staring off the deck in a lineup, waiting for lessons to appear like manna from heaven, the instructors mentioned above were being proactive, making it happen themselves. The question is, how?

Q: "Name three things you've done that have had the most impact on increasing your teaching income."

I got a lot of inspirational responses on this question, and I was impressed that so many respondents emphasized the importance of developing strong interpersonal skills and using them to provide an enjoyable learning experience for the student. Most responses contained general advice for providing a quality lesson, understanding student needs, communicating well, keeping things simple, etc.

But for the purposes of this project I'm going to assume that this kind of thing is a given--it's what we all know and hear plenty about each season. Sure, some instructors do a better job than others when it comes down to applying these principles, but let's pretend that the American Teaching System's Skiing Model and Teaching Model are already in the stew--I wanted to hear some specific stuff...you know, secrets.

About half of the respondents mentioned that attaining PSIA certification was one of the specific ways they maximized their income. However, most of the specifics revolved around incorporating creative strategies into lessons to ensure students enjoyed their lessons enough to book a private in the future, then another down the road, and then tell their friends to do the same. The goal for the financially successful instructors I interviewed is to fill days with return, requested privates. "Build your [requested private] clientele, and focus on the all-day requested private," was the advice offered by survey respondent Maria McLane of Vail/Beaver Creek, Colorado. Almost all the respondents echoed this sentiment, and nearly all the instructors who discussed the development of a return clientele placed a strong emphasis on becoming friends with their students and maintaining that relationship with them. They also alluded to the huge amount of energy this requires.

One of the survey respondents, Dave Crans of Alta, Utah, said there are many things instructors can do to keep people coming back: Along with providing clients with "special skiing experiences," instructors can communicate with them throughout the year--even visit them when in their hometown or meet up with them for a summer activity. "All of this involves giving of your time and yourself," Crans said. "Too many teachers just go home after work and expect students to return just because they've skied together."

Like Crans, most of the respondents who have developed a solid return clientele said they maintain some form of contact with their students during the off-season, either through correspondence or through visits. But they commonly mentioned that they are in touch with clients throughout the season as well, helping them coordinate their ski trips and checking with them afterward to see if everything was satisfactory.

Most of the survey respondents who receive the highest compensation said they invite clients to call them directly, and that this access plays a big role in personalizing the lesson product. Patti O'Donnell of California's Mammoth Mountain said, "I give out lots of business cards...and encourage clients to call me at home. They seem to like talking to me directly rather than to our ski school. Our office staff is wonderful, but a personal touch from me is really nice, and clients appreciate it."

Some of the "Top 100" I surveyed discussed going what I might call "above and beyond the call of duty" by helping clients orchestrate many of the basic details of their ski vacation, from lining up rentals to making reservations--even going grocery shopping for their clients in some cases. McLane participates with her clients in off-the-hill activities as well, and suggests incorporating other resort activities into the relationship dynamic with clients. "Vail is a full-service company. We have snowmobiling, tubing, etc. The clients seem to love this. We spend their whole vacation with them, and they stay longer and come back more often."

The feeling I got from reading response after response that dealt with creating a whole experience for students was that attaining the basic skills of teaching skiing and going through the process of certification was, for these instructors, simply a first step that led the way toward being better prepared to provide something special for their students.

"My clients don't care if I'm the best skier on the mountain," said Rex Frasier of Deer Valley, Utah. "In fact, there are a lot of things they probably don't care about--whether I'm a demo team member, whether I was one of the 'Top 100,' and in a lot of cases whether I'm even certified. I think they want their skiing to improve, but they also want to be safe, to have fun, to be catered to, to be challenged, to be stroked, and to have someone they can communicate with."

Granted, it's a lot easier to cater to clients' needs 24 hours a day in places like Vail and Deer Valley, where not only are the amenities and activities close and convenient but where the average student may also be planning to spend a bit more cash than most skiers at smaller areas.

Most of the respondents revealed a similar bias toward larger destination resorts, viewing them as the places to make the most money. But a few interviewees pointed out that the cost of living is usually higher in such areas, and countered that while it may be easier to make money at larger areas, it can be done virtually anywhere with the right approach and hard work. "Money is everywhere," Crans, said. "You just have to get people into the proper frame of mind to spend it."

To that end, Crans and O'Donnell have two slick methods for generating return private clientele. Crans places his students (who don't know each other) into groups based on their skiing abilities, preferences regarding terrain and snow conditions, and personalities, then puts these individuals into contact with each other as a way to rekindle interest in skiing and thereby stimulate his own client pool's booking activity. "Doing this has created new friendships and promotes more skiing hours. For me, this maximizes hourly or daily return and frees up additional time to ski with other clients whom I otherwise would not have time for," Crans said.

O'Donnell takes a slightly different tack, but addresses the issue of having limited private lesson time to work with. She tries to create semiprivate lessons with multiple families or small groups that she meets in group lessons rather than sell them separate blocks of private time, which would prevent her from working with other return clients. This has the added benefit of a "price-point" sales angle, helping make lessons more affordable for families--a concern voiced by many of the respondents.

Another commonly mentioned method for helping generate requested private income, regardless of the size of the ski area, was the creation of small instructor "networks" within ski schools. A small group of instructors get together, possibly combining different areas of expertise and clientele demographics, and agree to promote each other's services when they can't teach a client or his/her family and friends due to scheduling difficulties. This keeps the student's money at the ski school but continues to build on the relationship-development theme and provide personalized service to the student. "I find out about the clients' needs and wants over the phone and a little about their learning style and personalities. Then I book them with the best available instructor who matches their needs," said McLane.

Aside from developing in-house referral posses, so to speak, respondents mentioned widening their referral horizons as one way to tap into other sources of requested privates. John Max Reents of Afton Alps, Minnesota, cited that 90 percent of his lesson business comes from referral--he has developed a network of race coaches and ski and snowboard shop staffers in his area that help promote his services to their personal contacts and customers.

Surprisingly, the outside referral was the least-used means for generating requested private lessons, according to those surveyed. Only a few instructors mentioned using it to their advantage, but this may be one creative avenue that enterprising instructors may want to explore. According to Crans, "An excellent, fun, exciting ski lesson is the best possible avenue for referrals. But getting to know reservations managers, front desk people, waiters and bartenders in lodges and hotels (and helping them with their skiing) doesn't hurt either."

Whereas many respondents cited the need to go to elaborate lengths to build a clientele, others said they use some basic tools that are hardly specific to teaching skiing--in fact, you could use them to sell shoes in the off-season. Like any salesperson, you have to have a product to sell, and we've assumed here that our model instructor is teaching the hottest lesson on the market. But a product is only as good as its packaging in the modern world, and survey respondents made the point that a lesson must be recapped for students at its end--"closed" like any good sale. Hence, the close of one lesson is the way to package the sale of the next. Survey respondent Caroline Jalbert of Mad River Glen, Vermont, made the point that instructors should have helped a student reach some goals during the lesson, and that the end of the lesson is the place to tactfully call attention to the progress he or she has made, with the instructor's help of course. This is the time to hand out the business card, she said, just as you begin to discuss "where to go from here."

A large part of the close is about "training" the client to come back and do it again. Most respondents said they make it clear to students that booking in advance is very important. "I tell my students to book ahead as I get very busy and that 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is the most popular time," said Anne Marie Bruner of Alpine Meadows, California. Whether a person really is that busy isn't as important as the impression that an instructor whom a student likes may not be available unless the student acts fast. The interviewees who had the highest percentages of return clients said they are very assertive in suggesting prebooking and explaining the process.

Q: "If you could change your ski school, the ski industry, or the lesson-taking market base, what would you do to help instructors make a better living?"

Although virtually all the survey respondents said they were happy doing what they do and manage somehow to make ends meet, just as many were dissatisfied with the status quo regarding issues of ski instructor pay. The primary concern among the respondent pool was that there was little monetary incentive for instructors to make a long-term commitment to the profession of teaching skiing. The sentiment was that it takes a long time to develop quality instructors who help drive the ski area economy, but that most instructors can't weather the financial strain long enough to get there and at times can't remain actively teaching even then because the pay stops increasing.

"Young ski instructors have to go through years of being underpaid and under-appreciated before their pay increases their value to the ski area becomes evident. How many 20 year olds can afford to do this?" said Jalbert.

The respondent pool was split evenly on the question of whether opportunities for making a living teaching skiing were improving or getting worse.

"Gifted instructors are the rainmakers of the industry," said Tim Reeve of Squaw Valley, California. "They don't look at balance sheets or conduct surveys, but they do something for skiing that is amazing. They live it and breathe it and provide for lifetime experiences that people never forget. The problem is that we don't try to hang onto great teachers--we lose them. And you can't train people to be great."

Virtually across the board, respondents expressed a desire to see ski schools increase the incentives for staying long-term as an instructor: increase the percentage paid to, the instructor on privates, give key instructors a piece of program-lesson profits in exchange for delegating a larger chunk of program responsibility to them, and provide the means to gain merit increases in pay from year to year without reaching a ceiling.

Many respondents mentioned that ski areas would have to begin looking at the product and service -that ski schools provide guests in terms of "experiences," "relationships," and long-term financial viability, rather than simply in terms of profit margins and the bottom line.

None of the respondents seemed unhappy with their lives, though. Even those respondents making the least amount of money expressed an understanding of teaching skiing as a grand balance, a trade-off, if you will, that juxtaposed financial strain against the glorious backdrop of working in some of the most beautiful places in the world.

One survey interviewee, Alec Erkebaev of Bear Mountain, California, put it most succinctly. "It's hard to make a living; it's great to live on skis."

A frequent contributor to The Professional Skier, R. Mark Elling is a Level III certified alpine and Level II certified backcountry instructor at Mt. Bailey Snowcat Skiing in Oregon.