Craig’s Crossing - Orlando Notes

Orlando is always fast-moving and it is difficult to focus on specifics as there are approximately 1100 exhibitors hosting a projected 40,000 PGA professionals, retailers and industry leaders. It is Mecca for the industry and interesting this year in particular for its array of new products, ideas and services. Obviously FootJoy and Addidas – Peter Millar and Fairway and Greene  had a huge impact and Demo day always produces incredible buzz. I always look for the details others may have missed when I come home to write a recap.

Here are a few of my topics of note, some of which I will be expanding on in coming weeks.

• Barrington (Gifts of Distinction) has an e-commerce concept and program which I will be talking about in detail shortly. They also have a convincing “social responsibility “story that is worth becoming familiar with. Wes Boyd is the contact and an engaging conversation.

•            Ralph Dunning Sportswear had Jimmy Glass (National Sales Manager) giving presentations that could sub as product knowledge seminars which I talk about often as necessary educational stratagems for golf shop staffs. I asked Ralph to video this excellent presentation and allow me to post it here so as to create a forum for this much needed retail tool.

•            John Ashworth’s Innosoft cotton jersey is a true luxury leisure fabrication that will give Linksoul incredible potential going forward and as always John’s mantra is “more a philosophy than a brand” which makes for intriguing marketing. More from John later also.

•            EzLocator is innovative software from Jon Shultz that scientifically helps maximize the placement of pins on the green. I met Jon quite accidentally in the bar at the Peabody and was wowed by his passion for his service. We will be interviewing him shortly and give him a chance to tell this fascinating story.

•            Debbie Forest from the east coast of Florida and one of the best reps in the country when it comes to helping shops understand their ladies' business took me to meet the principles at the GGblue booth. I was impressed with the product and hopefully we will be taking a harder look at both this line and merchandising to women in general going forward.

•            There are so many new shoe styles and brands that it would be impossible to mention them all but they ranged from MartinDingman’s handsome leather traditional to Dawgs molded plastic touted as the lightest weight shoe in the industry.  I was thrilled to finally be able to meet  Mr. Dingman. Steve Mann and Greg Stafford of Dawgs launched what they explained to me was the lightest weight golf grip on the market. Allen Edmonds Golf shoes are outstanding also. The Double Eagle is picture here.

•            Charlie Burgwyn of Eritage had a booth for his new vintage headcovers. The company is called Stitch and the product is made in the USA. Charlie explained to me over coffee just before the doors opened on Thursday the design concepts and how he ended up making it in the states. I circled back many times wanting to take a closer look and hear the rest of the story and could not get close to the booth.

•            I ran into an old friend Roger Mack (Universal Golf tournaments) at the David O’Keefe Art booth and met Wayne Curtis (managing partner) who describes their incredible pieces as PoP culture icons, probably the best known of which is the Bill Murray Caddyshack pic. Roger and I were blown away by the unique pieces in the booth. 

•            Bauer International always has an incredible show presence as they have unique fixtures  of the highest quality and they are clearly the leaders when it comes to helping your shop and locker room create the image and ambiance that your facility is attempting to project. We will be interviewing Ken Bauer very soon and he is incredibly good conversation.

•             Pukka’s “design your own hats party” concept is a terrific opportunity for your staff to better understand not only how to talk about headwear but to buy in to the inventory they helped design. Pretty cool concept that we will be discussing further with John Bond in the future.

The show has been criticized for being too long and now we start tearing down booths at noon on Saturday. I, for one, hate to see it go – I could hang out longer- It’s like ripping down Mardi Gras for me.

I would be remiss in not congratulating Greg Norman on their wonderful party at the Peabody on Friday evening. It was intimate enough that you could catch up with old friends and actually hear what they were saying. I don’t need a rock concert in the middle of my Mardi Gras.

The Extra Mile - The Follow-up

A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public
well has nothing to fear from the competition.
- James Cash Penney


This will be the last of the Extra Mile series but perhaps the most compelling. "Follow-Up" is perhaps my favorite service topic and probably the easiest to institute.
Once you have bought into pre-service, post-service becomes an automatic. The phone and email skills are the same. The industry wide problem is many facilities do neither. However, if you are reading this and realize that every day is an opportunity to enhance the experience your facility provides, you will find it easy to compete and your customer will tell the story for you.

Near the end of last October, I received a phone call from the General Manager at Martin Honda Dealership in Newark, Delaware which is where I purchased my last car. It is, by the way, a very busy dealership with an incredible service department. Here was the message.

“Mr. Kirchner, this is Ron Applegate from Martin Honda. I’m calling to ask you to do me a favor.”

“Sure Ron, what can I do for you?”

“Please tell your wife that everyone here at Martin wishes her a happy birthday and thanks to both of you for your business. I notice you are on our maintenance schedule and I want to make sure you happy with our service department.”

“Yes, they are great in fact.”

“Thanks again and anytime you need anything or just want to talk about cars call me – my personal number is 555-5555 and I’d love to hear from you. Thanks again.”

I hung up the phone thinking three things:

1. Why would I ever want to buy a car anywhere else?
2. Do the shops I work with make this type of call?
3. I’d better get my wife something for her birthday.

At a golf shop consider the following two scenarios.

1. A club member at an east-coast high-end club has a guest in from Chicago. He buys a Peter Millar shirt in the shop. The assistant at the counter introduces himself as Jeff, thanks him and asks him for a business card. A week later the young man sends our Chicagoan an email.

“We hoped you enjoyed your day with us last week and are happy with the Peter Millar shirt you purchased. If I can ever do anything for you including gift wrap and ship some similar logoed shirts to your friends please let me know. My number here at the shop is 555-5555.
All the best,
Jeff
from high-end club.”

Mr. Chicago immediately forwards the email to the member who invited him to the club with a note praising Jeff, “The golf staff at your club is the best in the country, no question.” He then tells the story every time the subject of service at golf clubs comes up.

2. A customer buys a new driver, a rain jacket, two new shirts and a hat, spends $1000. It is two weeks later and no one has even thought about calling him to see if he’s hitting the ball further. There is no Jeff at this Shop.

The golf industry and your facility in particular should take heed. The successful, as we have been discussing, are those who are trying harder, much like the more I practice the luckier I get.
I don’t know if I have ever heard anyone in any shop make this type of personalized thank you and “anything I can do for you” call or email but it should be standard operating procedure and is almost guaranteed to create business. When the customer with the new driver is called with an inquiry as to his satisfaction and the comment is made to close the call “if there is anything I can ever do for you” the new-driver-guy is already thinking about what that could be.


In summary the Extra Mile entries have stressed wanting to increase sales by providing better service and taking advantage of the intimacy of our repeating customer base.

Some specific actions to take to accomplish this:


- Contact any scheduled group play to offer all available services.

- Prepare for arriving customers by making it Standard Operating Procedure for your staff to familiarize themselves with profiles when they exist.

- Challenge your staff to learn three things that aren’t apparent about every item in your shop.

- Role play approaching customers in the shop.

- Challenge your staff to pick one customer a day who they will totally wow to the point where they have to tell the story.

- Thank the customer before they leave the shop and when possible walk them to the door.

- Challenge each staff member to make three follow-up thank you calls per day.


I am currently writing a monthly article for PGAMagazine.com called The Upscale Golf Shop. The opportunity to work as part of the PGA Magazine team and to provide editorial that hopefully will inspire ideas that will help with the management of your facility’s retail is for me an honor that I will value and undertake with all the knowledge and experience that I can bring to the table.

The Climate in Orlando

The PGA Golf Show in Orlando was in many ways the same as it has been for years – same look, same hawkers and the same all-stars. There were a few new names, lines and innovations. Some of those I found interesting I have listed to the right of this entry and in some cases will discuss in future entries. The one underlying theme that was different and certainly touched everyone was the economic climate and its effect on the industry.

There have been company closings, eliminations of sales forces, cancellations, course closings, course foreclosures, and cutbacks of every fathomable sort. The cup appears dramatically ‘half-empty’. During times like these and assuming you still have a first tee and a Pro Shop door to unlock every morning the cup needs to remain ‘half-full’. The times, to quote Todd Martin of Fairway and Greene, are ‘Darwinian’ and only those working harder and willing to think outside the box will survive. New and creative in retail, as in politics, are what is brewing – anything that smells like yesterday’s coffee will not excite your customer. Consumer confidence is at an all time low, most shops were down 10-15% in the last quarter of last year and the experts are predicting the downturn to continue well into the beginning of the new season. How does this translate to managing your Pro Shop and what we control?

“Lower your inventory and sales projection” sounds like obvious advice but also smacks of the glass being half-empty.
Lowering your opening inventory level for the coming season, carefully planning the space, insuring that your buy includes all the needed categories to make your shop full service sounds better - add to that a conscious effort to be better merchandised, provide friendlier service with enhanced retail salesmanship and the glass starts to look half-full.

If reducing your inventory levels means using considerably less space, think about reconfiguring with a comfortable and compelling sitting area where members/regulars can shop catalogs and where shop staff can sit down with them to discuss their needs, available products and take special orders. Plan to keep a closer eye on this smaller inventory to perhaps replace it sooner than you would have in the past; having less goods that turn more often is a worthy goal in good times as well as bad in that it creates a perception of more selection. If your traffic is transient and you want to stay well-merchandised all season on the same ‘winners’ you can still lower par levels, count and fill more often and increase turns accordingly.

Considering all of the above, this is as good a time as any to consider partnering more closely with fewer vendors. How much of a golf ball selection do you really need to maintain to keep from losing sales? How many demo clubs do you need to have available without showing a loss? How many shirt lines do you need to provide to represent what is worthy and of value in the market? In this vendor narrowing process let the same priority that drives your other business decisions and hopefully has become a manifesto for your season prevail – SERVICE!

Deal only with companies and their representatives whose cup is half-full; those who want to help you educate and dress your staff, stop by and/or call as often as is needed to maintain the proper inventory level and have ideas along the lines of what we have been discussing.

Make getting through tough times a team effort for you, the staff and chosen vendors. Loyalty, an understanding of expectations among the group, sharing an upbeat presence and having an outgoing, optimistic attitude with the team as well as the customer is the job of the coach. Good things start at the top and roll downhill. We want the team member sweeping up to be talking half-full glasses.