Frontofshop
FRONTOFSHOP
Back to the basics on customer- focused retailing
“While I oſten write about the need to create ‘engagement’ events, there is an even more basic level of engagement that needs to take place within the golf shop” writes Retail Tribe’s Ian James
that most Golf Professionals with a shop would do well to re-enforce. In this case, as I walked in, the PGA Assistant Professional was just inside the door. He immediately greeted me, introduced himself and engaged me in conversation. Somehow, he led me into a discussion about new technology in clothing and learned that I had selected the shirt I had on because of its no-wrinkle, easy-care, lightweight features, which were important to me as a traveller. With that, he had me engaging with a new, ultra-lightweight, roll-up-into-nothing rain jacket.
I
bought a lightweight waterproof top from a Professional a couple of months ago. I hadn’t walked into the shop to buy anything. I had walked in to look and learn. And learn an old retail lesson, I did - one
Ask ‘blind shoppers’ to enter your shop and report on their experience. Staff find it so easy to hide behind a counter and manage their
engagement with a customer within the limits of a greeting and the ringing up of a sale. That’s not enough. I subsequently visited a Professional who was about to double his floor
Are your staff trained to ’engage‘ with golfers in the shop It’s a simple lesson, isn’t it? The ‘Assistant’ set out to have me ‘engage’ with
a product and then he ‘converted’ a sale. That little experience reminded me to check where the Assistant was as
I entered the shop on my next blind shop visits, and what they did to ‘engage’ with me or to introduce product to me. The follow-on experiences have re-enforced how ‘dangerous’ the counter is.
space and wanted to review his plans for growth with me. His current sales were about average for the UK, but below what was a reasonable revenue per round or member measure. My suggestion was that he didn’t in fact increase his floor space, until: a) He had financed a ‘fitting studio’ with a launch monitor and video setup as a minimum;
b) Trained the staff to work ‘front of counter’ in the shop to engage with customers as they entered the shop;
c) Implemented a management system that measured staff sales vs. rounds played on a daily basis.
As ‘expert’ retailers, you don’t want to think about more floor space until
you’ve maximised the revenue you can make from best practice customer engagement.
24 SGBGOLF
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