I find that the best ideas have already been invented by a PGA Professional somewhere.

In the 5th week of our existence Dave Usendorff, PGA Professional, ran a short-game engagement activity with, if I remember right, another PGA Professional Morne Botha. Together they sold 21 wedges and several short-game coaching programs. He gave us great advice:

“Golf Professionals always moan about how little space they have in their shop and compare that to how big THE PRO SHOP and GOLFER’s CLUB (two large superstores) are.

They’re wrong. We’ve got hundreds of acres of merchandising space. You don’t sell many wedges out of a stand. You’ve got to put them in the hands of your golfers and show them what they can do out on the course or practice area. That is equipment merchandising. That’s why I want you to link your content to an event we can run.”

Over July, a group of 32 golf clubs ran with one of our putter campaigns and included the “10-foot Putting Challenge” from our engagement playbook library.

They sold a ton of putters, hundreds of dozens of golf balls, and booked lots of follow on engagements.

Dave Usendorff, you were exactly right.

Wherever you operate in the world, the most powerful merchandising tactic for golf equipment is putting it in the hands of your golfers and using your expertise to help them take on a challenge.

Dave also mentored us on the value these engagements delivered to his long-term relationships with his golfers.

“By selling this way, we get to show off our expertise; what we can really do for our golfers. They buy the wedge off us and know we helped them with their game. From there they’ll buy everything else from us. If they pull a wedge from the rack and come to the counter, then we’re not much better than a Pick ‘n Pay (South African) supermarket check out operator”.

Dave, thanks for your mentorship and leadership.

It’s been quite a learning journey for us, with so many Professionals
contributing great ideas. The result of those ideas led us to a full ‘active customer management’ model pilot at 11 clubs throughout 2019. The results were spectacular.

Legally Privileged Disclaimer
Internet communications are not secure and therefore RetailTribe does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. The information in this email and any attachment to it is confidential and is intended for the addressee only. Any unauthorised disclosure, use or dissemination of the contents in part or whole is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient please return it to the sender and delete it. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of RetailTribe unless otherwise specifically stated. This email and attachments have been screened and are believed to be free from any virus. However, it is the responsibility of all recipients to ensure that they are virus free. This email was sent to you by RetailTribe. RetailTribe will not accept any liability for any damage caused by a virus. If you no longer want to receive this email, please unsubscribe here.