Over 350 pros gave up their Sunday to listen to a series of educational presentations intended to equip them with a better understanding of how to position themselves as successful retailers, and then how to do an even better job of fitting and coaching. Guest speakers included Tom Wishon, one of the world's leading club makers and fitters, who talked about using the fitting process to improve customer service and increase sales, and renowned coach Pete Cowan, who talked about developing profitable relationships through coaching.
One of the major issues we addressed on the retail side is the need for the whole golf trade to concentrate efforts on sales, stockholding and product performance.
To borrow the words of Foremost CEO Paul Hedges: "We need to improve the whole industry's focus on sales and the speed of sell-through in the stores. It is critical if we are going to sustain profitable retail businesses at golf clubs run by PGA Professionals.
"But this is not about confrontation with suppliers. There are lots of initiatives we need to invest in to improve our own focus on sales, stock-turn and stock holding. We need to become more professional in our retail management practices, more focussed on our own marketing position and marketing messages and better retail salesmen. And that starts with a greater emphasis on the reporting of product performance in the retail operations. What is the point of having a healthy purchases record with a supplier if we've backed up a year's supply of certain products in the store?"
It was the most successful GTEC on record, without doubt, but it's just a start. We have a series of educational workshops that will be scheduled throughout the year for our Foremost and Alliance golf pros. We are on a mission to help make the PGA professional ‘the #1 relationship retailer delivering value through expertise'. That's good for golf.
