The Freeze Mode

I was in a pro shop recently on a bad weather day at a fairly high-end club. There was no play and one assistant pro [Jim] behind the counter when a member walked in and announced that he needed a rain-suit and that he was leaving for Scotland in two days. I saw Jim frown but offer to help the member see if they had what he needed; they didn’t have the large he needed. When the member left Jim looked at me and said, “I know what you are thinking, but we are in a freeze mode and haven’t been able to order anything for about a month now. That rain-suit is not the only thing we don’t have”.

Of course I’m thinking of all the obvious business implications, not the least of which is the $500 sale the shop just lost. The member who still has the need will find a rain-suit and at the same time a new place to shop. His attitude about his home base taking care of his needs has diminished considerably.

Unfortunately for everyone in the business this has become a mantra, ‘we do not have open to buy’. This message usually comes down from the head bean counter and for obvious financial reasons. Inventory may be higher than he prefers and sales generated so far this season do not seem to justify it. There is also the scenario where the shop's business is healthy but the club or facility doesn’t have capital, owns the shop and continues to look for expenses to cut.

At this point however we are no longer running a retail business, no longer are we trying to provide top of the line service, no longer are we providing the basics that are needed daily in order to be considered by regulars or members as a full service shop. Instead we are putting up a banner of negative marketing about our troubled waters and the question for the member becomes not just one of where to buy a rain-suit but where to be a member or a regular, where best to play and have the entire experience. Where will they be able to tend to my guest's needs?

Inventorying a rain-suit in the basic sizes and replacing one when it’s sold is not an ‘open to buy’ issue, it’s simply minding the store. A solid shirt section that is counted and filled every Tuesday morning to a par level of a week’s worth of shirt sales with a vendor who has the right solid shirt for your facility as an in-stock program with a 7 day turn-around is the most economical way to be in the solid shirt business. Not long ago I visited a shop that had pre-booked eight skus of men’s shorts for the season but were out of 38’s. They weren’t buying any more shorts as they were told to sell the ones they had and it isn’t even Father’s Day. Again, no one minding the store, lost revenue, members needing to buy elsewhere. A staff member should have been part of the strategic planning as regards each of these categories and responsible for keeping up the par levels to insure no loss of sales. Doing this effectively per all pertinent categories is the best way to lower inventories and increase turns which, of course, should be the goal.

LinkedIn - The Group

The readership of the blog has grown exponentially since the Orlando Show to the point where there are readers in 40 countries. While some of these readers arrive at the blog as a result of Google searches and the like most come to it because an existing reader has forwarded them the Blog address. In other words, the major growth has come about as a result of those in the industry who have an interest in improving their business have networked to their friends and peers who have similar interests that reading the blog may have some value. Two things have become true as a result of this growth:

· Sending out entry announcements becomes too burdensome in volume for normal email services and can be perceived as spam.
· Services that are in the business of email marketing become more expensive as the readership grows and people ask to be added to the announcement list, and even as that growth is desired the blog was not supposed to become an expense.

In an effort to facilitate the networking aspect and evolve the value of the blog to the next level I have set up ‘The Successful Pro Shop” Group on LinkedIn.com.

LinkedIn.com has over 39 million members in over 200 countries including executives from all the Fortune 500 companies. It is the business version of Facebook or Myspace and will allow members of the group easy access to other group members, the profiles of other group members and the profiles of other groups such as “Global Golf’ and the ‘USGA’ group. It is also a great place to post your resume and network job opportunities. It allows me to send a weekly announcement to members about what’s new on the blog with no expense or spam issue.

If you haven’t already received an email invitation to join this group please accept this entry as that invitation. If you are already a member forward this entry to anyone you think may have an interest in this type of networking. The link to LinkedIn is to the right under ‘Sites to Visit’ and will remain there. Leaders in the industry from all sides of the table have already joined and I hope you will take a look and realize the value the Group can provide.

There are some other projects in the works that will also kick the blog up a notch including:
· Videos of product presentation by some of the best in the business and virtual tours of some of the infamous Pro Shops
· E-Books on merchandising and the science of creating a buy plan
· More interviews with leaders from both sides of the table

There is a Discussion area for ‘The Successful Pro Shop’ Group where members can post and have others comment on what they would like to know more about from one another as well as from the blog. Stay tuned but better yet join the group to stay in touch not only with the blog but potentially all those in the industry who realize that the BIG PICTURE is to improve Golf retail collectively.