What vs How. And a Why or two.

As always - an article from the POV of our customers. What they are seeing as golf consumers and where we fit into that.

They just wrapped up yet another weekend of watching PGA Tour coverage. Too bad our Adam & Adam entry missed the weekend.

This is the "what" for our customers. The advertising from Club manufacturers, shoe & apparel suppliers and the like had its classic consumer engagement tone and structure. They presented us with What we may want to consider purchasing as a golfer looking to enjoy this game as much as possible. Hit it longer? Walk the course more comfortably? Take the next step in current fashion? It was very nice of them to consider What I just may want to buy from them and give me some useful info along the way.

Very nice and very enjoyable actually. Cool ads and funny bits and quality info.

I also kept an eye on my inbox and social feeds and had my hands full of How. Many of those I follow were telling me how to buy their product. How to register for spring clinics. How to sign up for Mother's Day brunch. How to register for a league. Click here. Email back asap. Hurry before it's sold out.

The tone from the courses was, well, a bit assumptive. Those What's know the need to pitch their wares and engage emotions while progressing a customer toward a sale. The How's skip past all that.

The What's vs the How's make me ask Why. Why do we feel we can skip ahead in the purchase decision process and join the fight at the point where credit cards come out of the wallet? Are we still a bit bleary from the pandemic? Some of that "golfers know who I am" style? Do we really feel customers don't want a little love along the way? Do we really no longer remember the serious drop in demand before the pandemic?

Or is it that "I'll show them a great experience when they get here" positioning. My operational experience will bring them back again. This is the best reasoning so far. Treat 'em good and they'll come back. That's OK - it's also a very busy bus with lotsa riders on it because most courses also choose to have their operations be their best showcase for future business. It's tough to stand out that way. And tough to grow your customer base beyond those that have pulled into your parking lot before.

And even worse - it can all start to kinda look alike to the customers. We can't let it all boil down to location & price alone. That's a tough slope to be on again.

This is the precise formula that led to the painful industry conditions we all endured before the pandemic. No engagement to the market and no hardworking marketing strategy to keep them constantly aware of us and how much we appreciate them. We have to put a value on staying in their peripheral vision......after all, they've proven before that they can wander away.

So one last round of What, How & Why. Some tough questions to ask yourselves.

What, precisely, did your facility do to bring this current success at your facility - or was it the pandemic alone - or what percentage would you place on it?

What will you do, precisely, to keep this level of success looking forward 24 months from now?

Why would you ever allow the same conditions that led to to those difficult pre-pandemic years exist again?

If you don't like any of the answers - lets talk about it. Those Clubs that decide to stand up and stand out from the pack will be best positioned as demand recedes. An open economy means you're back to being challenged with strategically fighting for business - like every other B2C business. Get started.

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