Russell Radel is a PGA assistant professional at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Georgia.
Russell Radel on the importance of picking up your purchases at the PGA Merchandise Show:
In 2012, as the economy turned positive again, we were looking to replace our elaborate ball washing system at my former facility, Jacksonville Golf and Country Club. Ball washing systems are not cheap, and they’re expensive to ship, too. So leading up to the PGA Merchandise Show I reached out to the company to see if it would be possible to buy the floor model, the exact ball washing system they were displaying at their table, at the Show and bring it back to the course ourselves in our company vehicle. It would be a win for both parties: we would save on the shipping and handling, while they would save on having to ship the system back to wherever their company headquarters/warehouse was located. We were able to work out a deal, and that’s exactly what we did.
Russell Radel on the business impact of picking up your purchases at the PGA Merchandise Show:
This had a business impact in two aspects, one financial and the other intangible. The deal we negotiated with the company not only gave us the ball washer at the regular show discount but also at an additional discount because we bought the floor model and immediately took it from them. Add in the saved shipping costs on our end and our total discount amounted to around $2,400.That’s a nice chunk of money saved that we chose to reinvest elsewhere into the club, purchasing new range balls and range picking equipment. We were billed as normal so we didn’t have to worry about carrying extra cash or a check around with us. On the intangible side, we were able to once again have clean range balls on a consistent basis for our members, part of the high value we hope to provide to them every single day. And while it’s hard to quantify how many members we may have gained or retained purely because of clean range balls, I do know that it contributed to us reaching our goal of giving them a top-flight experience every day. So my recommendation: if you know ahead of time that you are purchasing product X, especially something like a ball washer that would be expensive for each side to ship, ask ahead of time if they are open to you picking it up while at the show. And if you can buy the floor model, even better. You may just get the product you want at the best possible price.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email rar@aac1.org
