Pieces of the Package
To use golf software in its most effective manner, golf course operators should take an integrated approach to technology.
“You really need to have a plan,” Koppenhaver says. “Many facility operators go out and say ‘I think I need an electronic POS system.’ They don’t really know what they are going to do with it, they just think they need it because everybody else has one.”
Koppenhaver recommends that you decide what you want the technology to do, and then obtain a platform that is compatible. “Once you come up with a plan and purchase the components, the rest is simply executing that plan,” he says.
Every golf course operation’s needs are different depending on whether they are a single course, multiple courses or a large management company with many properties, as well as other factors. Find a consultant or software company that can help you put a package together that fits your specific needs.
Whether big or small, there are several technology components that will help move your operation into the 21st century:
- An electronic Point-of-Sale system. You want a system that integrates the tee sheet—where reservations are managed—to the POS and be able to pass information back and forth. This enables the golf course to collect and understand data on its customers and business trends. Without this technology, it is impossible to track who your customers are and then segment your marketing to meet your customer’s needs. In addition, the electronic accounting can run reports much quicker and allows you to see trends and act upon them.
- A golf Web site that is easy to use and easy to find with good information. Think of it as a tool so that people can learn more about your business.
- An automated/online tee time booking system. This gives customers a choice as to how they want to book.
- A way to reward customers through loyalty points. Say thank you and keep your customers coming back.
Loyalty Points- Keep Your Customers Coming Back
Mill Run Golf and Country Club in Canada had increased their number of rounds played substantially— by 20,000 rounds—in 2004, and it was one of the few golf courses that was close to full capacity. The next step? Making sure the customers stayed put.
“We wanted to give back to our customers and thank them for their continued patronage,” says Dave Cowan, the former general manger. Through technology and their point-of-sale system, Mill Run was able to institute a loyalty points system. “We already had the system in place to make it happen.”
One way to purchase technology is to look for a vendor that can incorporate the components into one fully integrated package. “When I was at Mill Run, I chose a company where I could buy all the different modules, from handicap systems to point-of-sale to food & beverage to automated phone systems to automated booking systems,” Cowan says. “It was a full package that gave you everything you needed to manage your company.”
Buying from one vendor is one way to make sure the systems are integrated, but “there are also several opportunities to mix and match,” says Koppenhaver. “You can do this incrementally. You can trade out one thing and move up.”
Approaching technology with a plan and integrating the components to move your business forward can only be an advantage in today’s competitive golf market. “In the golf business, our main competitor is not other golf courses but other forms of entertainment,” Cowan says. “We need to stay on the cutting edge to make sure that we are providing the best service, the best product and the best value in the entertainment business.”
Technology is here, whether golf course owners and operators like it or not, according to Koppenhaver, and owners that are using it are gaining a competitive advantage. “It’s time to get in the game,” he says.
Loyalty programs at golf courses work pretty much the same as they do at grocery stores. Every customer is tracked through a customer relationship management database. “Our POS system keeps track of that, and when they accumulate enough points for a free round of golf, then on a particular day they will come in, it will pop up, and the person behind the counter will know and tell them they are eligible for a free round of golf,” Lankau explains.
The system also helps manage the tee sheet for Stow Acres. “If we see a soft spot coming up, we can say ‘you will earn 50 more loyalty points for playing on Tuesday,’ that kind of thing,” Lankau says.
Except for alcohol, Mill Run gave points for everything the customers purchased including memberships and greens fees. “Then in return, they could redeem the points for the same things,” Cowan says. Members could also save their points for such items as the head chef coming to their house to cook for a dinner party and even a trip to Scotland.
“We were just saying thank you,” Cowan says. “And people loved it. Thank you is such a simple thing, and it doesn’t get said enough.”
Customer Relations Management and Data Mining- Information is Power
He who has the largest database can’t win unless he knows how to use it. A golf course operation can collect data all day long, but putting the data to use requires technology.
Walt Lankau, owner of Stowe Acres Country Club, reaches out to his customers via the thousands of e-mails his operation has collected. “We have a pretty diverse operation. We have a big golf school, and we have a big golf shop. About every two weeks, customers hear something from us. And they can always opt out, but less than one percent actually opts out. It’s obvious that they want to hear from us, so we try to keep it interesting—a little news about what’s going on at the golf course, upcoming events. This year, we featured one brand of merchandise every month, and that was all announced in the e-mail blast.”
Canada’s Mill Run Golf and Country Club had collected 25,000 names in its database. With the proper golf software system, they were able to actually use those names for email marketing.
“The software allowed us to segment the different markets, whether it was by women ages 20 to 30 or senior men, or by postal code, or by income,” says Dave Cowan, the club’s former general manager. “We could diversify our golf course marketing based on the demographics and the information we had collected on our database.”
Mining the data was also useful for long holiday weekends. “Long weekends often tend to be slower at golf courses because people are away at their cottages and stuff,” Cowan says. “Knowing that a long weekend was coming up, we would send an e-mail marketing blast based on certain criteria. The results would be shown immediately, and within three or four days, the tee sheets would be booked for the weekend from players that weren’t normally what we would call regulars. They may play once or twice a year, and we would try to turn them into three or four time a year players.”
During a time when people are inundated with e-mails and SPAM, the system
software allowed Mill Run to track the results of their marketing efforts. “We had 90-plus percent opening on our e-mail blasts, and that was good,” Cowan says.
Automated Tee-Time Booking- Efficient System, Better Service
The pro shop is the heartbeat of a golf course operation, and booking tee times can take up a lot of the staff’s time. Online and automated phone tee-time booking can be more efficient for both the golf course and the customer.
“We’ve had an automated tee time booking system for approximately 16 years,” says Walt Lankau, owner of Stow Acres Country Club. “I believe about three years ago, we added the Internet component. Just having the automated system is a tremendous benefit because it’s available at night. If the weather changes, people want to book, and if they can’t reach anyone, they can’t.”
Internet booking is responsible for approximately 15 to 20 percent of the tee times booked, according to Lankau. “It started out very, very slowly, but people get used to it,” he says.
“Nobody’s tee sheet is as full as it was six or seven years ago,” he continues, “but it’s certainly worth using every tool we can find to help us.”
By transferring some of the tee-time booking to an online and-or automated phone booking system, the people staffing the pro shop can spend more time with the customers who are in the shop and ready to do business—and not interrupted by ringing phones. “Imagine the manpower you would save if you could book 60 or 70 percent of tee-times through automated systems,” says golf course consultant Dave Cowan. “I wouldn’t have course without an automated booking system.”
“It was not long ago that if you offered Internet booking then you were ahead of the curve. We are now seeing with the number of bookings being put through our clients’ tee sheets, it is quickly becoming the norm,” says Kirk Jensen, president of Jencess Software.
“Many courses had a bad experience with Internet booking five or six years ago during the dot.com boom. These bad experiences should be forgotten. The Internet and booking systems have become much more reliable and faster. For example, at Jencess we can have a course up in less than an hour with Internet booking with virtually instant results.
“I foresee in one to two years if you do not have the online booking and marketing functions for your course, you will be behind the courses that you are competing with for green fee revenues.”