Bob Doria, a two-time Philadelphia PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities, is the PGA Head Professional at Medford Village Country Club in Medford, New Jersey.
Bob Doria on the importance of holding a product clinic:
At my last facility, a public facility, our golf shop competed directly with off-course retailers for business. One thing we found exceedingly helpful towards having our customers buy here versus elsewhere was hosting product clinics that combined PGA Professional instruction with access to products. For example with Callaway we hosted a putter and wedge clinic. I handled the putter portion of the clinic, explaining concepts that a PGA Professional looks at when fitting a putter to a player and showing what happens during the putting stroke. Another of our PGA Professionals did the same with wedges. From a vendor perspective, Callaway supported these events by having our sales representative there to provide his product expertise and to supply us with car stock to expand our inventory for the day. The company also made it easy for us to promote the events via social media with the marketing materials they provide. I could go online and grab marketing pieces that were already sized for Facebook and Twitter, which made it easy to grab the content and pass it on. These clinics were a great way to build relationships, show your expertise as a PGA Professional, make some sales and make the most of your vendor relationships.
Bob Doria on the business impact of holding a product clinic:
We had 22 people sign up for the two-hour event at a cost of $150 each. Participants received an hour of education and instruction on putting and wedge play, and at the end of the clinic they could put their $150 fee toward a new Odyssey White Hot putter or Callaway wedge. At the end of the two hours, we had moved 22 products – 12 wedges and 10 putters. In addition, some participants wanted to order multiple wedges or upgrade to more expensive Odyssey putters, which created additional revenue. In the end, we brought in $3,300 for the two-hour Callaway clinic based on the $150 fee per player, but the final total was more than $4,000 once we sold additional products to some of the participants. We moved more than $2,600 in putters and wedges between product we had in stock and special orders, which is great for a two-hour event. The clinic was so successful that we duplicated it in late September with a Callaway Short Game Clinic featuring the Callaway Mack Daddy 3 and PM Grind wedges.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email rsdoria@verizon.net
Editor’s note: The above comments reflect the opinion and experiences of the submitting PGA Professional and are not endorsed by PGA Magazine or the PGA of America.
