Shop staff have no problem ‘selling’ (if that is what they are doing) shoes at the sub-£90 price point. Go above £100 though, and there is almost a standard discounting practice occurring. An examination of outerwear results also highlights that at the premium price point, there is a real reluctance to either sell or buy at the full retail price. The result is that discounting about a third of the planned profit margin becomes standard.
I followed up my analysis by visiting four on-course shops as a blind shopper. Four shop visits is not a comprehensive analysis but together with more comprehensive numbers, the conclusion is that the actual problem is as follows:
Shop staff were not able to sell the benefits of the premium shoe and in fact, they were not convinced the customer would pay the full marked retail price.
Here are some of the best benefit descriptions I was given for a premium golf shoe:
“They look great on”
“These are a favourite with our League players!”
“We have sold a ton of these”
When I prompted the staff with questions about the shoe, the answers were weak at best. And to nicely round off my conclusion, when I asked for a price, on two occasions I was offered the price and a discount in the same sentence without asking for a discount.
I know many professionals perform phone service role-plays with your staff. You also need to conduct face-to-face sales role-plays. For every product, staff should know at least one key, result-based benefit to the customer. For premium priced products they should know three.
Brands invest in advertising to inspire the potential customer and to drive them to engage with shop staff. An on-course professional is the expert who should take it from there, and offer a superior customer experience and a high conversion of potential sales into converted sales.
To acknowledge you have a big spender who is purchasing a premium product, either make sure the shoe fitting experience is superior, or offer the customer a discount on additional accessories purchased, like a shoe cleaner or socks. Even a free pair of socks is likely to represent less profit loss in real terms than the discounts being offered on the shoe.
At most clubs, to achieve a sensible sell through rate on premium products, staff need to sell the product to the customer. That means making sure the customer can appreciate the value they will get in exchange for the premium price.
The brand inspires with its advertising. It is the retailer’s job to engage, to sell and to convert the customer.
