SGBGolf_May09_p12:SGBGolf_May09_p12 30/04/2009 07:53 Page 12
View from the industry
Surfing with the enemy
Peter Allison (pictured) is MD of Yes! Golf in the UK and Ireland. From
obscure beginnings, he has seen the C-Groove putter become one of
the most popular putters on Tour, yet he claims Yes! faces the
same uncertain future as some pro shops due to on-line equipment
sales. Here is Allison’s battle cry
I
n the time it takes a club This practice green strategy brings
professional to greet a sales training aids into the equation,
rep, put the kettle on and stir which can aid putter sales. Harold
a mug of PG Tips, another five Swash is held in the highest esteem
customers have been in, tried as a Tour putting maestro. As a
every club, bag, putter, result, Yes! Golf is deluged with
waterproof and shoe in the putting aids seeking our seal of
shop, memorised their approval, and Harold scrutinises
favourites’ details and returned them all. The vast majority are
home to search the internet for politely declined, but those that
the best price. work - and they have to work damn
No wonder we’re all such well - make it onto the Yes! Golf
miserable bast**ds. approved list.
Embarking on a new season, club Some of these are curiosities that
pros eagerly await a flood of brilliantly draw golfers into a
customers to buy gear and coaching dialogue, as they ask what the hell
– their two biggest streams of they’re all about. These range from
revenue. Horribly, it may well unfold the criminally cunning to the
like this: insanely basic. Once the customer is
… 15p for a pencil, 75p for a Kit Kat … “Oh, and I’d better take a bottle drawn into dialogue, the sale of putter and putting aid as a package is
of water because every time I go out, I really make myself hoarse screaming within a pro’s grasp. By delivering a holistic putting experience instead of
at all the ****ING PUTTS I MISS!” just a cold iron stick, we reckon pros can quadruple putter sales.
A custom-made solution Engaging with the customer
Customer loyalty can’t be taken for granted, but it can be custom-made. Here’s how it works:
And if pros don’t strike with a set of irons straight away, they can reel A customer picks up a putter, assumes the position and makes a couple of
customers in with one club – the putter. purposeful practice strokes before missing the point entirely. Now is the
In the same way people see their holiday videos from Disney World and time to pounce.
think, “Is that fat bloke really me?” when they view a video of their putting “How does that putter feel, madam? Sorry … Sir. It was the hair, Mr
stroke they are often horrified. Give them a putter that rolls pure and throw Edfors. I notice your lie is very toe-up. Do you often have a problem with
in on-the-spot custom-fitting that slots a new flat-stick smoothly into their misses to the right?
stroke, and they can not refuse to buy. It makes them feel like they own the “We could very quickly look at that and adjust the lie. Have you ever seen
greens. your stroke from a face-on view, with a freeze-frame analysis? You’d be
And – most significantly – despite what some companies claim, golfers surprised…”
cannot get a genuine custom-fitting on the internet! Nothing sells like instant improvement. You can tell customers they have
The difference between Yes! Golf and the Wall Street brands is that we improved until you’re blue in the face, but with video analysis, a new putter
have successfully transplanted our Tour philosophy to club golf. At Tour and custom-fitting for under £200, you have embarked on an on-going, in-
events, our face-to-face technical treatment of pros has always marked out store relationship.
Yes! Golf as something special on the practice greens. Today it’s probably It’s an easy soft sell, because you’re not ‘selling’ anything, you’re chatting
one of the few tactics left for club pros to fight back against the web, and about putting. Without that engagement you let customers bore themselves
to convert those browsers back into paying customers. out of the shop.
We learned one vital thing on Tour: by offering real-time digital video Hear your customers. “See you later”, means; “See you once I’ve been on
capture, stroke analysis and consistent coaching methodology (courtesy of Amazon.com”.
the Harold Swash programme) - custom-fitting works because of face-to-
face consultation, static and dynamic analysis, and trial and error. www.yesgolf.com
12 SGB GOLF MAY 2009
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40