How to make the winter golf show pay all season long

  Anyone who’s ever worked in the golf industry has had to at some time or another  “man” the booth. Whether it was a golf related trade show or public expo, its almost a rite of passage.
And depending on the level of promotion,  the attendance, the responsiveness of the attendees,  your role, or your level of hangover, your experience probably varied as much as the personalities of those walking up to your booth. Still, the question always emerges, “Am I wasting my time?”

  If you host a booth, there’s a simple way to make sure its at least worth your time, if not your money. Golf shows give course operators an opportunity to engage their customers in a neutral setting and solicit valuable feedback on a personal level.  This face to face interaction is very powerful. In fact, one golf show introduction can create a lifelong customer.

  So this past weekend, the staff at one local golf course upped the ante at their local golf show.  They wanted to see how many players they could add to their database. Not just get an email but also find out about their interests, whether it be lessons, leagues, juniors and/or tournaments. They’d do this using a computer touchscreen and the basic, low cost software that they also use in their pro shop.

  Across the large and crowded room, one of their competitors asked players to jot their name and email down on a clipboard, while another requested players to throw a business card into a fishbowl.

  Over the next 8 hours, the course using the touchscreen collected 160 names, emails and preferences. The other two courses combined for less than 100 names and emails without any player preferences.    

 Aside from collecting nearly twice as many names and emails as the competition, this course automatically delivered a coupon for a free range bucket along with a “thanks for signing up” message, all with a touch of a button.  They also identified three dozen players interested in lessons and have begun an email campaign to get these folks into a lesson program the next 6 weeks.

 After 5 years of attending the show,  the GM says this year is the first where he’s actually felt like it was worth all his and his staff’s effort. If you’d like to know how he did it, just send me an email. I will also share with you what he learned from the golf show attendees.

Thanks,

Ed Vining
Straight Shot Solutions