Are You Charging Enough?
|
I took the week off last week to focus on the Club Championship, which despite some atrocious putting through the first 27 holes resulted in a stellar performance in the last 27 and a come from behind victory by a shot! After 40 putts the first day I did something I haven’t in at least a decade, I bought a new putter. At $299.69 it was only $30 cheaper than my first car, but after a slow first nine which include a FOUR PUTT, the world was young again and the putts rolled in as planned. So in comparison to my first car, whose transmission fell out of the vehicle and onto Military Trail, in a shower of sparks, the day after I bought it, the putter actually looks like a great bargain! Since I am playing well again, I am interested in any small improvement I can get and so am also looking for a new three wood. The first few I picked up in the shop were all $250 and up which means when I decide on one I will have spent over $600 on a 2 clubs and a box of balls this week!! Wow! It’s now over $400 to play Pebble, $350 to play Old Head, heck it costs me $500 for the day to host 3 guests at my own club yet still many in the golf business are going the opposite way! Golf LESSONS are too cheap! (At least there has been no price relationship between the massive increase in club prices and that of lessons) Many private clubs are removing initiation fees. This is also a mistake. Many are also are either cutting dues or keeping them locked artificially low for a decade at a time. Owners cite the economy and competition but when people tell me that club members are dropping out when the dues are just $198 a month I don’t buy it! Heck that’s a cable bill! I could have paid that when I waited tables in 1982!! The real problem as it always is, is not the money but the value received. Daily fee courses discount themselves to oblivion, again citing completion but do NOTHING to change the value of their offer relevant to that completion in anyway but price! Ten years ago they said book shops would disappear because of the internet. Today books shops are bigger and better than ever and include coffee shops. By simply adding a cappuccino machine, book shops changed the whole dynamic of their customer experience! Think about that! They did not discount to compete with Amazon they added value so Amazon could not compete with their experience! When you look at the cost of an NFL game, $200 a ticket at the Tampa Bucs, plus seat license $5,000. A soccer match, a hundred pounds for a Premiership match, a night in a four star hotel in any city or resort $300 and up, golf is an incredible entertainment value. The key is to first do a better job of marketing that value and secondly to increase the value of the entertainment experience. There are many simple ways to do this at both private and daily fee courses all of which will increase business and none of which involve lowering your fees. Call me (352) 266-2099!
|
|
Legendary Marketing • 3729 S Lecanto Hwy • Lecanto, FL 34461 |
Comments