Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Clock is Ticking


How effective do you think your Course Superintendent would be in teaching the golf swing to your members?

What would happen if you put your General Manager in charge of keeping the course maintained?

Have you ever considered saving the club money by having your Chef teach Tennis lessons?

If you can’t see any of the scenario’s above working, then why does it make sense that your Golf Pro or GM is the right person to run your sales and marketing for your club simply because he studied a section in the PGA manual on the subject ten, twenty, or thirty years ago?

Think about it?

Can you imagine your Chef getting by on a few recipe’s he or she learned back when he/she started, the Golf Pro never updating himself on the latest and greatest swing theories and equipment needed to effectively convey his teaching method’s, and/or your Course Superintendent not continually educating himself on the best methods and practices for keeping your course great year after year?  

Why, when clubs are literally on life support hoping they don’t lose twenty more members, do they still believe their sales and marketing can be effectively run by a person that read an outdated Zig Ziglar book on closing a year ago, attended a one day sales seminar, or worse, bought a set of CDs on the subject?  Can you imagine listening to a CD program on the golf swing and then later in the afternoon going out and shooting three under par?  Me neither.

Back when your club was the only game in town or had one other competitor, it survived because it offered something unique in the market.  Do you really think people that aren’t members today care that your course was built in 1925?  Was built by Alister MacKenzie?  Or has Crenshaw-bent grass greens?  They will if you have someone that can effectively tell the story and invite them to be a part of it in a compelling way.



  • How does your Pro or GM effectively sell your club to the one person a month that walks in to pick up a membership packet?  How is their follow-up with prospective members.
  • Let me ask you the million dollar question...if you were a perspective member, would you buy from your Pro or GM.
  • Does your Pro/GM have a “pipeline” of people they are working on at any one moment and can they show you on paper (or a computer program) the contact dates they have made with the perspective member(s)?
  • Can they show you their notes on what was discussed?  
  • What literature or email offers they sent?  
  • When they were turned down for lunch or a round with him/her?  
  • Do they understand intimately the demographics of your geographic area?
  • How often are they speaking to current members to solicit referrals?

Ouch!

People aren’t going to flock to a club with 3.2 million dollars in debt, a nice clubhouse with an expensive dinner menu where few members play and fewer are excited about a calendar of events that looks the same as ten years ago.

They aren’t excited by your rich history either when you haven’t spent a dime on the course in years but keep re-inventing a restaurant that is a yearly financial loser.  

Clubs that believe they can wing it until the economy comes back with regard to sales and marketing will find themselves on the auction block when faced with competition that understands this basic, yet overlooked aspect of the business.  

Of course, I could be wrong?  I hear the Crab Bisque served with a fresh greens salad and a hot N.Y. Strip with Gorgonzola cheese really brings em’ in on Friday night!

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