Featured Article By Ken Morton^*

Maximizing Hard Goods Sales are hooked at the Hip with Player Development Programs

Today, buying golf equipment is complex and complicated.

It is complex because modern fitting techniques and new technology have proven that by just changing a lie angle, a shaft flex or shaft type, the length of a club, the size of a grip or up to any one of 14 fitting factors can and will dramatically improve a person's game.

It is complicated because it takes an expert who has been trained in club fitting by the manufacturers to fully understand how to fit equipment. In addition, to be a qualified fitter, it also requires the knowledge of being a golf instructor because the instructor has the skills to separate what can be done for the golfer with a fitting vs. what should be done for the same golfer with instruction.

In fact, fitting of equipment is now so sophisticated that, for any golf pro to fully maximize a golfer’s game, the golf pro should be both the golfer’s fitter and the golfer’s teacher.

As we continue to move into the future, it is becoming clearer and clearer that club fitting has added so much more enjoyment in playing this great game. It is now, without a doubt, a requirement that facilities that want to be in the hard goods business, hire teacher/fitters. By making this investment in a teacher/fitter, the facility will experience more satisfied customers who will buy more equipment and spend more at the facilities because their enthusiasm increases the number of rounds they play. As your customers get truly excited about lowering their scores, they begin referring more and more people to your facility. It can become a snowball effect and a true competitive advantage to any golf facility to provide both Player Development Services and Club Fitting Services. Both services should be married at the hip.

In the old days, we just bought equipment with Stiff, Regular, Senior or Ladies Shafts and stacked them up in our shops and sold them. Today, every single customer should go through a fitting before purchasing a set of clubs. Then a special order goes into the manufacturer and, within a week or two, a custom-made set of clubs is received at no extra cost to you or the consumer. In other words, today we have the opportunity to make more sales with little inventory. The manufacturers carry the inventory in parts that they assemble to make custom-fitted equipment that we sell to our consumers.

The mistake many facilities are making in this new environment is that they think they can do business with no inventory and just with demo days. The truth is, our investment today must be in fitting carts, fitting technology and the cost of constant training and retraining of our teaching staff.

Several shops throughout the U.S. have proven these investments are worth it if we hire qualified teachers who also have a passion for maximizing customer satisfaction. Many of us who continue to be in the hard goods business are now convinced beyond a doubt of the importance of teacher/fitters. We realize that if we want to separate ourselves from the norm, we must provide this incredible service to our customers; however, we don’t need to provide it for free.

It is common for the fitting fees to be $125 per hour with the facility and the pro sharing in the fees so the consumer wins because they are professionally fitted, the house wins with a satisfied customer and the teacher/fitter wins from a commission from the fitting. In some cases, part of the fitting fee is returned to the customer if they make a purchase within 30 days of the fitting. The fitting fee is necessary because it is an incredible service that helps the golfer enjoy their games at a much higher level and because the teacher/fitter must continue to be re-educated to keep up with the latest and greatest equipment. The consumer saves money in the long run by receiving custom-fitted equipment because they produce lower scores and they don’t have to purchase equipment as often.

The modern golfer is starved for us to help them sort out the facts from what they read, what they hear from others and what they see from tour players as well as from their friends at the club. It is our job as retailers and golf instructors to help educate our customers to make sure their next purchase is the right purchase for them. Every person is different and every person should be using different specifications if they want to fully enjoy the talents and skills they possess.

I have heard many times that the modern consumer is not as loyal as they used to be. I argue with that point of view. However, I will agree that the consumer of today is only as loyal as the service that we provided them the last time they did business with us. To keep our customers coming back, we must continue to keep evolving in the services we provide so they remain excited and enthused. It is my strong belief that true fitting of equipment is still in its infancy and the next wave for those who want to be in the retail hard goods business is with qualified teacher/fitters.

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Credits

Originally posted by KenMorton on 23 Apr 2010.
All contributors: JimKass, KenMorton, LynnwoodBrown, MarleneStone,

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