 |
|
| | From the Industry |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| PGA BEST PRACTICES |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| From the PGA |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| From the Magazine |
|
| |
| |
| | |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 February 19, 2009
Bring in the Wives and Girlfriends of your Staff
Marvol Barnard, a PGA Professional and LPGA member, is the PGA director of instruction at Haven Golf Course in Green Valley, Ariz.
Marvol Barnard on the importance of bringing in the wives and girlfriends of your staff:
A successful way to bring in new students, I've found, is to give half-price lessons to the employees at our course. Moreover, I'm also happy to extend this discount to their wives or girlfriends, who aren't necessarily very into golf just because their significant other works at a course. The vast majority of our staff is male, so I tell them that if any of their girlfriends/wives want a lesson, I'll only charge them half price. Most are happy to urge their significant other to take me up on the offer, as they want to share their passion for the sport. The real benefit, though, is that these women all have friends who they then want to play with, and I have gotten many referrals for my Golf 101 ladies beginner program through employees and their wives. Whenever I am getting ready to run a Golf 101 session, I put the word out through employees that a class for new golfers is in the works, and they'll help spread the word to their girlfriends or wives, who will then often further spread word to their friends in turn.
Marvol Barnard on the business impact of bringing in the wives and girlfriends of your staff:
The exposure from a single discounted lesson can often lead to several full-priced lessons when the student gets her girlfriends to join in. By harnessing strong word-of-mouth advertising, I have never had to do any formal advertising beyond signage at the golf course and my Web site. I've even had several clinics fill with no advertising at all, other than making the shop staff aware that a beginner program is in the works. One employee might refer his girlfriend to me, and then before you know it I have a group of five more of her friends also enrolled. Indeed, looking at my lesson book, the next three week's worth of lessons are all from word-of-mouth alone!
|
|
|
