Fore!mula For Success - Revenue-Generating Features - June 2010
Revenue-Generating Features Provide Profit Boost For Courses
As everyone searches for ways to increase rounds and revenue, Fore! Reservations Users are turning to their software system to provide an extra boost. By implementing just one of the revenue-generating features built into the system, golf courses are seeing positive financial results. The Comeback Coupon, Tag Alongs, and Awards Program are all proven features that help golf courses increase rounds and revenue, and require very little setup. They were previously featured in Fore!mula for Success articles, and now more Users have taken notice to the benefits that result from their implementation.One of the easiest ways to generate repeat play through the Fore! Reservations system is the Comeback Coupon. Comeback Coupons are assigned to a sales item and print out after the sales receipt whenever that particular item is sold. Golf course operators have the flexibility to create as many coupons as they desire, customize the coupon message, attach the same coupon to multiple sales items, and specify when a comeback coupon is valid.
Oakland Golf Club, an 18-hole public facility located in the western mountains of Oakland, MD, began using the Comeback Coupon last season. Head Golf Professional Pat Warren attributes the Comeback Coupon to generating an additional 85 rounds and approximately $3,400 in revenue in 2009. “The Comeback Coupon has been a great success for us. We implemented it to try to convert more customers into regular daily fee players,” says Pat. “It helps create customer loyalty and additional revenue by incentivizing customers to come back to play our course rather than spend their money at another facility.”
Pat adds that the Comeback Coupon is a very effective target marketing tool and appeals to many golfers. “I especially like the Comeback Coupon because the customer is already through your door and obviously enjoys playing golf, so it makes all the sense in the world to incentivize that golfer to return.”
Another revenue-generating feature in the Fore! Reservations system are Tag Alongs. Keith Clark, Head Golf Professional at Hickory Stick Golf Club, an 18-hole semi-private course in Greenwood, IN, learned about Tag Alongs at the 2008 National Users Conference and implemented them at the start of the 2009 season. To Keith’s delight, the Tag Along feature increased range revenue by more than 10% in a year when rounds were flat.
“The idea of the Tag Along made so much sense we implemented it right away,” says Keith. “With this feature we are able to ‘tag along’ a range token sales item to all of our green fee sales items so that the range token always comes up in the shopping cart with each green fee. This way the staff always has a reminder to ask the customer if they would like range balls before they play. If the customer elects not to get range balls, the counter staff simply deletes the range token sales item from the shopping cart and proceeds with the sale.”
Similar to the “Would you like fries with that?” philosophy, the Tag Along feature functions as an automated upselling tool that can assist any golf shop counter staff ring-in more sales. Tag Alongs can be created for any sales item to encourage upselling across multiple areas of the operation. “For us, the financial benefit of the Tag Along feature is the additional range revenue, but to the customer it comes across as a sincere extension of customer service,” adds Keith. “I highly recommend courses use this feature. It is simple to implement and it will increase revenue immediately.”
Increasing revenue is also a benefit of an Awards Program. When value is tied to a customer’s purchase, they are much more likely to foster loyalty to that business and maintain, if not increase, their spending. Middleton Golf Course, an 18-hole Par 3 facility in Middleton, MA, and Bunker Hill Golf Course, an 18-hole public course in Princeton, NJ, both generated additional revenue since implementing the Awards Program in Fore! Reservations.
Middleton Golf Course launched its Awards Program when they installed Fore! Reservations in 2007. “With the Fore! Reservations Awards Program, there’s really no setup involved. It’s easy, it’s there and ready to go,” Manager Linda Lacroix says. “I definitely think an Awards Program is a good idea. Anytime you can make a customer feel like they’re getting rewarded for repeat business is a good thing.”
By offering 5% back on golf and merchandise purchases, Middleton Golf Course has grown its Awards Program to 2,000 customers; one-third of their entire customer database. “We get our Club Card into as many hands as we can! Anyone that plays in a league or takes a lesson automatically receives the card and entry to the program,” adds Linda.
Linda credits the Awards Program as a great source of revenue generation at the beginning and end of the season. “For the month of April we run a successful ‘double awards’ promotion to help increase play when the weather isn’t the greatest,” Linda explains. “We also get a significant end of season boost from Awards Program members redeeming their award dollars before they expire; they don’t want to leave even $5 on the table.” To help ignite customer traffic at the end of the season, she utilizes the Awards Balance field in the Fore! Reservations E-mail Marketing product to effortlessly e-mail golfers their available balance.
Seamless management and efficient functionality are the very reasons Bunker Hill Golf Course converted from a punch card awards system to managing its program in Fore! Reservations. “Utilizing the technology of the Fore! Reservations Awards Program just made everything so much easier,” says Bunker Hill Golf Course General Manager Mark McCabe. “We’re able to enroll more golfers, ensure purchases are tracked and awards are accurately accumulated in a customer’s account without any management on our end.”
According to Mark, the Awards Program at Bunker Hill generates buzz among their golfers, and with 75% of their customer database living within a 30 mile radius; creating customer loyalty helps ensure their local golfers (the majority of the course’s business) continue to spend money at Bunker Hill. “The biggest advantage of the Awards Program is the unlimited opportunities to generate revenue,” Mark says. “Our customers enjoy the benefits that come from the different ways their spending can earn rewards, and it keeps them playing Bunker Hill.”
In 2009, Bunker Hill recorded $22,000 in additional revenue from the Awards Program by offering $1 back on green fees and 5% back on merchandise. “I’m not a big discounter,” continues Mark. “I’d rather sell something at the regular price and give the customer an award for their purchase.”
Mark applies that same philosophy even when Bunker Hill runs Pro Shop sales. “The Awards Program helps us sell more in the Pro Shop,” states Mark. “If I need to move merchandise that isn’t selling, rather than offer a discount, I sell the items at full price but give the customers 50% of the sell price credited back into their awards account. The Awards Program enables us to generate revenue all across our facility just by giving customers a reason to spend money.”
Uncovering new ways to generate additional revenue can be challenging for any golf course, but as these User accounts illustrate, sometimes it takes implementing just one feature to hit a home run. “The Fore! Reservations system provides golf courses with profitable tools, it’s just up to the courses to implement them,” concludes Pat. “Not every feature may work for every course, but you don’t know until you try!”
Keith agrees that facilities which maximize the Fore! Reservations software stand to benefit the most from the system’s performance power. “The name of the game is dollars per round. As we all seek ways to increase our dollars per round, utilizing the revenue-generating features in Fore! Reservations is definitely the right place to start.”
Would you like to implement the Comeback Coupon, Tag Alongs, or Awards Program at your facility? Please contact our Customer Support Team for activation assistance. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 630.789.9784.
Has your facility had success with the Fore! Marketing Defector Campaign, or have you read about a software feature in a Fore!mula for Success article and decided to implement it at your course? If so we'd like to share your success story! Please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll feature your course in an upcoming article.
