Exploring fresh markets

Since switching to high-speed internet access with BT Business Broadband1, Deep Blue Dive has seen a big improvement in response times and the service it offers to customers. It has also expanded the business – with new staff taken on and an extra storey added to the premises.

Customer needs

Deep Blue Dive specialises in teaching people to dive, and selling and repairing diving equipment, in addition to organising diving holidays. It has a shop near the seashore plus an online store through which it sells to divers worldwide. As co-owner John Paul Gardner explains: ‘Deep Blue Dive also has a standard mail order service via the telephone because there are still people who want to talk to us about sizes and equipment they have seen online before they actually buy.’ But the online business is booming; Deep Blue Dive is now considering moving to an even faster broadband connection and creating more outlets to serve the demand that has been generated. ‘Broadband has really helped to change the way we run our diving business,’ enthuses Gardner. ‘We’ve franchised our website as well, so that if customers do a web search they still come to us through the affiliate sites. And we have customers from as far way as Belize and Bermuda.’

Business opportunities BT Business Broadband, and the many internet services that it supports, can enable your firm to develop a secure online presence that will help you to take advantage of new markets and find new customers.