Joe Green is the general manager at Tupelo Bay Golf Center in Garden City, S.C.

Joe Green on the importance of rewarding your local customers with a savings program:
At Tupelo Bay Golf Center, we realize that we are located in the middle of a tremendous golf destination. A significant amount of our revenue comes seasonally from visitors to this region. As an additional way to capture revenue, we turned toward offering a program designed for the local residents of South Carolina. The “TLC” reward program at Tupelo Bay rewards anyone who possesses a South Carolina driver’s license and proof of residency. After a $10 initial payment, which covers a yearlong membership, our customers receive benefits across our entire facility. Some of our offerings include mini golf, a lighted executive 9-hole course that regularly receives great reviews for daily conditions, practice range and fully stocked golf shop. Members receive 20 percent off retail purchases and discounts off range ball purchases, golf course fees and mini golf. The program is designed to not only attract locals to use our facility during the high season, but also to encourage them to visit during non-peak times of the year.

Joe Green on the business impact of rewarding your local customers with a savings program:
Since offering the “TLC” program, we have seen how our local business can positively impact our overall business. As much as 30 percent of our business comes from our local customers. We have a database of 1,500 local customers to date, and that directly accounts for $15,000 in membership fees each year. We are able to offer our local customers discounts because we do attract such a high number of guests to our facility. With nearly 70 percent of our business coming from out-of-state guests we can capture full retail for our services and products from this group. As a result, discounting range balls and course fees by 20 percent shows our local customer that we appreciate their business and care about our yearlong business relationship. In recent times when the economy has struggled, more and more visitors to our facility were coming from nearby. Focusing on capturing this local audience will allow us to maintain a steady, positive cash flow when economic times are more difficult.