Glenn A. Pulice, the coordinator of the Midnight Golf Program in Detroit, is the PGA general manager at the Royal Oak (Mich.) Golf Center.
Glenn A. Pulice on the importance of starting a range card program to shorten lines:
Several years ago our facility started a range card program to increase customer loyalty, offer a discount to our repeat customers, help keep track of all our range ball purchases and shorten lines. Being outside of Detroit, we are an extremely weather-contingent facility. When it’s nice, we get swamped; when it’s out of season, we are not. As a result we see extremely long lines at the counter in-season, and needed a way to shorten them up and make our cashiers’ lives easier and the customer’s experience significantly better. Our range card program, done in conjunction with Range Servant, adds value to the purchase of the bucket. We offer four bucket sizes and six different card types. The par card costs $20 but gives $24 worth of value; the senior card also costs $20 but gives the customer $28; the birdie card costs $48 and gives $60; the eagle card will take $95 from your pocket but make available $120; the ace card costs $195 but allows $260; and finally the gold card will make you fork over $375 but gives back $525 in value for balls. Because the system is done through Range Servant, the long lines are avoided as all you have to do is just put your card into the machine. It’s easy, efficient, and it enables the golfer to start practicing faster.
Glenn A. Pulice on the business impact of starting a range card program to shorten lines:
Since we instituted the program we’ve seen 2-3 percent growth in the program each year with balls being taken out from the machine via range cards versus individually purchased buckets. We’ve also seen that it’s led to a higher frequency of second bucket purchases compared to those customers who don’t use the card. It’s tough to quantify other business impacts but we are always striving to increase our customer base. One of the ways we do that is by giving a small commission to our cashiers that get new customers to sign up for the card program. Overall we’ve found that the loyalty and ease of use that we sought has been experienced and it’s helped to foster an even better business-to-customer relationship, which is helping our bottom line every single day.
