Harry's Blog - Are You Spending or Investing Money? - July 2011
Posted in Harry's Blog - Archives
When I start my planning for the new year, I review every expenditure and ask, "was this an expense or was it invested properly to help build our business?" This year I thought of the perspective of our users, "do our users see the cost of Fore! Reservations software as a computerized cash register (expense) or an investment in their business' 'money making machine' to help build their business in the future?" I wanted to share with you the many ways Fore! Reservations can help you invest in your business:
Fore! Outing – Increase your outing return rate and grow next season’s outings by collecting outing participant data. By adding outing participants to your customer database, you can also market to these golfers and make them regular customers.
Online Tee Times – Reduce overhead and save labor costs from over-the-phone reservations. Online tee times help you increase the number of rounds booked at your facility and increase customer data collected, resulting in a large return on your Fore! Internet investment.
“Low Price Guarantee” on Website – Protect your average green fee by using Fore! Internet tools to offer online specials only on your terms and promote your “Low Price Guarantee” on your website. If you allow third-parties to control your specials and offer a better rate than what is available on your website, you’re inevitably going to lose profits and drive customers away from your website.
Affiliate Internet Reports – Is the cost of bartering tee times greater than the return? Is the trade out worth it? Run these reports to determine what barter is costing your facility, so you can make decisions that are in the best interest of your business.
Fore! Marketing – Save time and money with our all inclusive e-mail marketing solution that turns your Fore! Reservations system into a “money making machine”. Leverage your customer database into revenue through proven e-mail campaigns, send unlimited e-mails without paying extra for an SMTP server and track sales results through your point of sale to make decisions for next season’s promotions. The return on your Fore! Marketing investment will be significant, as you can eliminate unnecessary marketing costs, while increasing more rounds and more revenue.
Mobile Booking – Avoid paying for an expensive mobile booking app by using our interface included with Fore! Internet. Generate more rounds by offering this booking convenience to today’s mobile consumer.
Comeback Coupons – Avoid wasting money on coupon advertising by creating your own targeted comeback coupons in a few simple steps in Fore! Sell.
Marketing Assistance Program – Don’t misspend marketing dollars on expensive e-mail marketing services, “shot-in-the-arm” discounts, or ineffective newspaper or yellow page ads. Instead, get much more for your money with the services available in our program.
Find-A-Game – With this innovative online booking feature, you can fill your tee sheet and maximize the green fee amount received for twosomes and singles that may often go un-booked. Rather than unwisely offer discounts across the board, use Find-A-Game to strategically offer an incentive of your choosing for specific times.
Awards Program – In just a few simple steps in Fore! Sell, you can create customer loyalty and repeat business with an awards program at your facility. Avoid offering an awards program through a third-party, because you run the risk of losing your customers’ loyalty to the third-party company.
Touch Screen Kiosk – Your customer e-mail database is the key to growing revenue. Grow your database easily and efficiently with customers that want to hear from you and are more likely to spend money at your facility.
Social Media Integrations – Utilize the Fore! Reservations Facebook and Twitter integrations included with Fore! Internet to promote your social media sites before, for example, paying Facebook to post an advertisement for you.
Reporting – There are many Fore! Sell reports that can help you make critical pricing and marketing decisions to help your business succeed. Run the Utilization, Sales Item Impact and Comparative Reports regularly.
Golf Shop Operational Tools – Save time and increase efficiencies by using Fore! Reservations to generate cart and club rental agreements, as well as issuing gift cards instead of physically printing these items.
Accounting Tools – In Fore! Sell, you can utilize inventory tracking tools, increase auditing and bookkeeping efficiencies by using one of our accounting system interfaces, and if you have members at your facility, you can e-mail monthly statements as opposed to physically mailing customer statements.
Multi-Course Operation Tools – Multi-course operations can maximize rounds booked at their courses, increase staff efficiencies and reduce overall costs by using MyNet tools available with Fore! Internet.
FREE Software Training and Information – Increase your product knowledge by taking advantage of our Regional Users Conferences, Online Video Libraries, User ListServ, The Fore!mula For Success Yardage Book, Fore! Your Information and “A Snapshot” Look at Our Industry.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my list of ideas. After taking a look, is there one, maybe two or three, maybe multiple tools we offer that you aren't utilizing that can maximize your software investment? By implementing technology that increases rounds, generates revenue and cuts costs, you're investing in the future success of your business. If you would like to implement any of the tools referenced, please contact our team at any time as we are ready and willing to help you succeed!
Have a happy and safe 4th of July! Happy Canada Day to our neighbors up north!
Harry Ipema
CEO, Fore! Reservations
