Page 39 - GBC spring 2016

7. who iS that Golfer? 9. ChanGe the Store.
8. it’S aboUt MarGin.
10. traininG.
Tag the golf car to signal to the cart attendant “who” is the golfer. Examples include: a first-visit golfer, a comp round, a VIP, or a 25th round. Some courses prefer a discrete signal (colored dots or tags), others like a bold way to show someone’s 25th round, birthday, etc.
Telling the cart attendant “who” is the golfer will help the at- tendant make that extra effort to gain revenue. Imagine the impres- sion made on a first-visit golfer who is sincerely thanked and welcomed by the attendant for their first visit.
This is a big one because it goes beyond revenue and gets to the critical mix of products. Selling cold beer is not enough. If most of your revenue is beverage-based, then you are missing out on at least 30-50% of revenue.
Non-food items typically carry much higher profit margins: golf balls, tees, shirts, logo caps, rain jackets, and small amenities. These items are non-perishable, take little space and can change your profit- ability dramatically. If you only want to sell cold beer, then it is extremely difficult to gain revenue.
We wouldn’t think about letting the Pro Shop look the same day after day. We rotate stock, put impulse items at the counter, give specials, and make clearance areas to create interest. Refreshment vehicles tend to look boring season after season. When was the last time an effort was made to make the refreshment vehicle interesting? Apply the same retail energy to the mobile store as you do with the Pro Shop.
Training and practice are essential to perfect these simple ideas. When training attendants, slow down the golfer/attendant interaction and practice to build fluid technique. Remember, this is not upselling, it is upservicing. You can’t expect different results if your attendants do things the same way.
“Stage groups of products on the countertop. Set aside a demo-set of products for quick countertop displays.“
how do i Know if This is worKinG?
There is a great proverb used in quality manufacturing: You get what you measure. The starting point with boosting revenues is you must know for a fact your $/ round – not a guess, but a solid number.
The $/round is your metric for success. ($/round = Total Refresh- ment Vehicle Revenue divided by Total Rounds.) Is the refreshment vehicle’s revenue separated from the bar and grill? It must be sepa- rated otherwise you can’t measure results. Drilling into $/round raises many critical questions you have to answer:
• How does $/round today compare to last year?
• What is the trend? Why?
• How do you communicate the $/round to staff?
• Are there rewards for achievement?
• Why should $/rounds improve if staff think you don’t care about it?
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