As I write these lines I am traveling back from Silicon Valley in San Francisco (California), home of the technological innovation of the XXI century and spearhead in the development of new business processes, where I have held very important meetings for the launch in the American market of the golf tourism comparator GOLFBOO.com.
Perhaps for this reason I feel particularly sensitive to something I have been advocating for some time, and that is that in order to guarantee a promising future for golf tourism in our country it will be necessary to undertake important changes in the way we market it.
I have the feeling that in our sector we are still going around and around with an outdated and obsolete marketing concept such as the “golf product”, and working groups and conferences are being set up to discuss the creation of a quality product, as if we were still in the 80’s, when selling something depended on the correct management of the famous four Ps that McCarthy invented one day. I still watch in disbelief as the companies and public institutions responsible for tourism promotion are immersed in a sterile debate on prices and product quality characteristics that are of less and less interest to the consumer because they must be taken for granted in our case.
Today’s marketing is no longer like that, and not only because of the irruption of technology, the internet or the incipient dominance of mobile devices in any modern marketing strategy. We live in a world in which products cannot be separated from the context that surrounds them or their consumption process and even more importantly, from the people involved in that process.
The golf product, from a marketing perspective, no longer exists in isolation, at least not in the way we used to think of it. It doesn’t matter whether we bought golf, a telephone, a hotel room, or a bicycle. The way we were served, the packaging, the room key, even the smell that comes from the first use are decisive in the customer’s assessment of our product, leaving the price or its features in second place to the overall experience, or in other words, to the overall service obtained.
When we book a tee time, decide to buy a season ticket or enter the website of any golf course to request something, we are living an experience. To live an experience in the world of golf is to live a service that someone provides us and that is where we have to present our best face; in the provision of the golf service.
If we want to reach the heart of the consumer of the present and especially of the future, in the world of golf we are obliged to reconsider those aspects that make a service unique:
– PROCESSES: There should be no task that is not part of a well-defined process. Services in golf tourism are highly interpretable, as two rounds of golf on the same course, on the same day, can be perceived completely differently by each player. If our processes are not strong enough to ensure that the experience is as similar as possible, it can be difficult to manage. Something as simple as answering the phone, receiving a potential partner, or the starter’s instructions on the 1st tee, which in many cases is the customer’s first contact with our brand, can turn into a good or bad experience if it is not properly defined.
– COMMERCIAL MATERIAL: Often forgotten or resolved in any way, we do not usually pay attention to those tangible elements that the customer uses to interact with our product. They can range from a tour card, an email, a price list or a mobile app. They represent our brand and if we are able to create unique materials, they will help us to generate unique services that differentiate us from our competitors and create a consistent image in the minds of our customers. In many occasions the investment in a professional photo shoot or the creation of a website capable of generating sales is “bargained”, when its cost may be less than the repair of a single bunker in the field. Where would you put the budget?
– PEOPLE: This is the critical factor in the provision of any service, so it is necessary to intensify attention to this element. We often forget that our team needs the right training, education or instructions to serve customers correctly. No one is born knowing, no matter how many skills they have. New trends such as “Active Listening”, which consists of improving the customer experience by observing and processing the information provided by our customers during the provision of services, are key to creating successful experiences. It is no longer necessary to ask customers what they would improve about our club, it is enough to train our staff to keep their ears and eyes open and define a process to get all this information to management to take quick and effective action.
In the creation of unique services or experiences we must work not only on the experience itself, but on the ability to generate expectations before visiting our destination and on the relationship that will bind us to these people when they leave our facilities. The service begins even before the customer has chosen our golf course, so we must be prepared for the search phase that is becoming increasingly important due to the growing penetration of the Internet in golf tourism.
And what about customer relationship management (CRM), few, very few, are concerned about maintaining a relationship with golfers after having provided the service, being one of the most important phases of the experience of our customers. Today’s technology and the Internet allow us to take this management to limits that we could not even imagine before.
In Spain we have long had a formidable golf product, and I believe the time has come to focus on developing services that provide experiences for golfers at each of our courses or resorts.
Antonio Conde is the director of golfenred.com, the first marketing consultancy for golf courses in Spain.
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