“Increase Your Cash Flow
WITHOUT Bartering Away
Your Tee Times”

Take Back Control of Your Business

“Minimize Your Costs And Claw Back Your Lost Profits Using 4 Simple Strategies WITHOUT Bartering Away Your Tee Times!”

Warmup…

“I don’t believe golf courses need the marketing services of OTTAs to meet the natural demand for golf in our marketplace, nor do I think they stimulate incremental demand for golf.”
— Jay Karen, NGCOA, CEO

Would it be crazy for me to confess to you right up front that I disagree with Jan Karen, the well informed CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association?

Well I do disagree. 

In all fairness though, I should state what I disagree with.

Unlike Jay, I have more than a mere belief that “golf courses don’t need the marketing services of OTTAs to meet the natural demand for golf”.

I know for a FACT YOU DON’T!

And I can prove it to you starting right now.

Over The Short Span of Past 3 Years

“Results Startling”

(Beware of Barter, ©NGCOA 2020)

But first, I’d like to ask you, have you seen the recent Stay Safe Auto insurance commercial?

It depicts a young couple excited to share the things they enjoy about their insurance coverage.

The young lady begins by saying how much she’s “all about experiencing new things”.

He gleefully agrees, “Yeah”, looking her way.

She goes on to share what some of those things are.

“Being spontaneous.”

“Yeah”

“Going against the grain.” laughing as she gently pokes his belly.

“Yeah”, grinning more, nodding in agreement.

Then looking straight forward into the camera with eyes widening she follows up with, “Open relationships.”.

Dumb struck he snaps his head to the left in disbelief to what he’s just heard.

Continuing unabated.

“So it’s a good thing Safe Auto understands my insurance needs are month to month.  So I can come and go as I please. Right honey?”

“The resources you’re given, the tools that your given, help you to focus in on the details of what the real issue is, so you can improve your business.”

– Gene Scarborough, GCS, SCR, July 2019

Can you imagine; your relationship with your wife who’s supposed to be committed to your overall welfare and success, but is actually more in favor of having an open marriage?

Yea, can you see how that would be frustrating at the least, and downright scandalous at worst?

Is it to unreasonable a thing for you to expect a certain degree of loyalty from those who do business with you?

Many owners and GM’s are increasingly reporting how working with third party OTTAs leave them feeling as though they’ve compromised their love for the industry due to the sheer imbalance of the agreements.

I get it.

But now, after two years of learning the ins and outs of your industry we’re prepared to help you stop having those awkward conversations with your OTTA rep’s.

By reading my special Golf Course Owner consumer guide you can begin to apply the same solutions that are generating exponential growth for my other clients.

You’ll soon discover within these fundamental 4 steps you’ll be better equipped to…

1. Apply smarter pricing strategies.
2. Easily communicate directly with your ideal golfer!
3. Start getting higher paying greens fees…more often!
4. Drive more golfers to reserve tee times  directly on your website, bypassing 3rd party OTTA sites.
5. Implementing low-risk marketing using our demand-generating strategies!
6. Access our award-winning direct-response copywriting!

Oh, and the best part is, you don’t have to actually do any of those things.

I’ll do them for you!

That’s right.

So, let’s tee up and get started.

You can fill out this form and we will send you the guide for you to read later.

Or you can keep reading the guide below.

Tactic #1: Targeting Your “Ideal” Golfer

Are you getting the best golfer for your course?

Are they excited to make more reservations and secure tee times in spite of the bombardment from GolfNOW, and OTTAs like them?

I realize the answer may appear to be a pretty easy one. 

But trust me when I tell you, your OTTA knows first hand just how challenging it is to nail down the right answer. 

It takes a tremendous amount of time, researching your current golfers, past golfers, and all those in-between to get a good handle on your ideal golfing customers.

Would you agree that every golfer is your ideal golfer?

No?

Good, because the truth is that good marketing repels, as well as attracts.

But at the end of the day, that’s the secret sauce to making massive amounts of money with very little effort or ad spend.

You can have the very best golf course, with the most elaborate and inviting fairways on the planet. 

You can have the most attractive offers, at the lowest prices, with lots of bonuses, and give the very best personal attention to your golfers that’s available anywhere.

But if you offer this wonderful golf package to the wrong market you’re sure to fail at generating the revenue and profits you know are possible, but simply aren’t seeing.

Double Your Year-End Profits;

WITHOUT Working Harder

Now let’s imagine that you’re an average golf club. 

Let’s also assume that your ‘greens fees’ are not the lowest, but they’re at least in the ballpark of your competitors. 

You’ve really got nothing special that the rest of your competition can’t offer or duplicate.

But if you’re like most mid-size golf courses in America today, you’re already cutting your greens fees and negotiating away your tee times.

So, what can you do differently to get more of your best golfers to choose you; over your competitors? 

This is where targeting to your ideal golfer will help tremendously. 

First you must identify who and what type of ideal golfer you want to spend money with you. 

Once you’ve got your list of golfers segmented (we’ll talk about that later) you can begin to market to them smartly, rather than merely trying to get the winner of the cheapest offer your 3rd party OTTA can make to them.

With that kind of golfer; the well-qualified, relationship-buying golfer; you can’t lose. 

Targeting your marketing dollars with more scrutiny is the secret to getting the most ROI for your ad spend.

Some would call this tactic mitigating your risk.

What I mean is that by knowing more in advance who you’re spending your money to attract to your golf course can make or break your entire advertising or marketing campaign.

And if you’re a smaller golf club, you can’t afford to have too many misses or campaigns that waste your advertising dollars. 

It’ll drive you right out of business. 

Or into the greedy grips of the OTTA bartering schemes.

So, here’s what you do first.

One of the best ways to make sure you’re marketing to the right group is to go back over your records and create a list of your current and past golfers. 

Your sales team and package reservationist should be able to do this in a few hours.

Your team will know right away who were the best-of-the-best.

Then put them on that list of your Ideal Golfer.

They’ll be your best group to market to, (the cheapest too) because they’ve already. purchased from you before, and they enjoy coming and spending more money with you; without leaving you with a bunch of headaches.

Next, everyone who has ever inquired or visited your course or your website should go on another list as “Warm Leads”.

We’ll help you to design a different marketing strategy for them.

Why a different campaign?

Because the conversations different with them, rather than someone who’s already in a relationship with you.

Next, you have your team identify all those past golfers who complained about your course and swore they’d never come back.

Make a list and name it “Retargeting Golfers”.

It’s true that once someone has become disgruntled with you it may be difficult to win them back.

But if you don’t at least try – my humbly accepting responsibility for the fractured relationship, then you’ll never tap into the rich – what I call the ‘reconciled’ market.

Just like before, the marketing campaign will be different for them, because the conversation you’ll have with them and the tactics you’ll apply will be strategically different.

Don’t worry, we’ll help to train your sales team as much or as little as you want in how to clawing back that lost revenue.

Last but not least, if you’re not getting access to everyone who’s ever booking to your course via your OTTA then STOP RIGHT NOW!

Get on the phone and set up a meeting to address this ASAP!

YEs, it’s that serious of an issue.

Aside from getting leads from your OTTA you should also be gathering your current and prospective golfers via your own internal CRM (client relationship manager) system.

Don’t fret if you haven’t got one. 

I recommend infusionsoft.com as our preferred system and will make sure your package and sales team is set up with everything they’ll need to work less and make more closures.

This is the #1 Tactic in identifying your ideal golfer so you can tow in more cash flow WITHOUT bartering away your tee times ever again.

We can talk more in detail concerning this and any other strategy we’re using to help our current and past clients maximize the growth of their businesses just like yours.

It’s easier than you might think to join the growing number of golf course owners who have broken free of bartering away your tee times, while getting the greatest value from your greens fees.

Simply TEXT “nobartering” to (803) 599-2048 now and start leading the pack today.

Tactic #2: Getting Higher Paying Greens Fees…More Often!

In other words, getting your golfing customers to make more reservations more often in a given year.

Todd Miller, PGA and GM of Santee-Cooper Resort, has had to swallow his pride and come clean.

It’s one of those things where you hate having to admit when you’re wrong. 

But you value the relationship so much you have to honor the truth.

Anyway, Todd has confessed to me on at least three different times:

“I hate to have to say this, but you were right.  I never thought golfers would increase the frequency that they come to play our course within a given year.

Actually, this past month of January, we had several golfers come take advantage of our $97 Winter Special three times.

And that’s in addition to the two times they normally book with us during our regular season.

I just never thought we could get golfers to come out and spend money with us so many times within a year.”

Leaning forward in my chair I sit on the edge of my seat grinning from ear to ear.

“Don’t get cocky”, he says to me.

“The average revenue per round increased by 15%”
(Beware of Barter, ©NGCOA 2020)

If you’re wondering how I could make such a claim at the start of our working together I’ll tell you.

I know that we can increase your profits in just four or five key areas of your business, by applying small incremental adjustments, we can double your profits within a year.

Sounds like something you’d be interested in having?

It true, and just so happens that increasing the number of times a customer spends money with you…more often pretty much guarantees it.

Especially if we’re working on those other key areas as well.

So, if you’re wondering how we do that I’ll show you here.

As an example, imagine you have identified your ideal golfer.

You’ve also segmented your customer lists into sections that help you to zero in on what’s important them.

If you haven’t done that yet, then STOP RIGHT HERE!

It’s very important to have smart and reliably objective data when it comes to marketing to any group.

It’s useless and extremely costly to rely upon guesses and the proverbial “I just assumed” when it comes to understanding what motivates and drives someone to spend their money at your golf course.

This raises the issue I find too frequently (and understandably) when I work with key decision makers.

Too often making decisions based upon what ‘they think’ the customer is thinking, rather than what is actually a reality to that golfer.

Instead, you must get out of that conversation going on in your head, and begin to get into the conversation that’s actually going on in your customers head.

This is where surveys come in handy.

But lets’ not ever forget what the great advertising guru David Ogilvy  once said:

“Consumers don’t think how they feel, say what they think or do what they say.” – David Ogilvy

I don’t have time to speak to that now, but I’m sure you wouldn’t argue with Ogilvy, would you?

But to answer the question you’re really interested in, “How do I get golfers to break their normal habits of golfing with me once or twice a year?”

It’s easy…

Employ better market tactics.

Well perhaps not easy, but definitely simple if you know how to do it.

You’re lucky…we do and I show you how my clients do it every day.

Yes, it may take a little more effort than you or your package team may be used to, but the results confirm the satisfaction of seeing your revenue and profits double or even triple…

WITHOUT BARTERING AWAY YOUR TEE TIMES…

will help you get over those taxing moments of having to learn something worthwhile.

And if you’re simply not set up for that, no worries.

Of course, we’ll take you by the hand and guide you every step of the way.

So, what does better marketing actually look like?

To start, you should be using BENEFIT DRIVEN HEADLINES instead of your company name.

Next, you should be gathering as many TESTIMONIALS and endorsements from your ideal customers all the time.

I strongly recommend you invest in strategic sales training for your front-line sales staff and package team.

“This ain’t your grandpa’s selling system” 

Once you identify the conversation going on in your ideal golfers head, we’ll help you craft the ideal message and bait, to get their attention to what it is you’re offering them.

In this case, a tee time or reservation at your golf resort.

The biggest and most impactful thing you must do, is “FOLLOW UP” with each and every golfer who spends money at your club.

You can’t rely upon them getting the “I feel like golfing this weekend” attitude.

You have to become proactive in making your club the best and only offer they can’t stand to resist.

To do this, we need to pause here in case you’re getting overwhelmed, and remind you that if you’d like help with any of these strategies and tactics I’m giving you simply go ahead and TEXT “nobartering” to (803) 599-2048 now and schedule a pre-qualifying interview with me personally to discuss this and other ways to help you grow your golf course profits more in-depth.

Plus it’s a good spot to introduce the third tactic linked directly to this one.

Tactic #3: STOP Wasting Your Advertising Budget On Wishful Thinking

Start Applying Demand Generating Marketing Systems That Reproduce Results

When I show my clients how they can increase their profits without spending additional money on advertising simply by applying the strategies and tactics I use, they are; to the last man; awestruck.

No, it’s not a gimmick or trickery.

It’s actually easy…well like I said before, not easy…but definitely simple once you’ve mastered the skills of Direct Response Marketing. 

And no, I’m not talking about a kind of marketing hype like a multi-level marketing scheme, or stay-at-home, work in your pajamas (although sometimes I do) business model.

Ask anyone of my clients and they’ll tell you that it’s highly valuable and transforming work.

But it’s work worth doing.

Especially when the profits are rolling in and you get praise from your staff that they are actually working smarter not harder.

Leaving them more time to do what they do best…take care of your golfers.

The entire foundation of Demand Generating Marketing’s success is based on the premise that we track everything.

Every dollar and every tactic is tracked to ensure each task is working to bring you more new customers, or get your current customers to spend more money with you more often.

If we determine that your ad spend investment isn’t pulling what we expect it to do, we redirect those dollars to where you can get more positive results.

This is great for small size businesses that don’t have a multi-million dollar ad spend budget.

If you do, you’re probably not my ideal client anyway because you’ve already drank too much of the kool-aid large marketing firms have factory-prepared for their clients.

Without beating this to death, I think if you’d have any more questions feel free to contact any of our present or former clients.

You can find testimonials on our home page at www.lowcountrypioneersolutions.com.

Trust me when I tell you, it’s possibly the most comprehensive and robust marketing system (blueprint included) you’ve ever seen.

And it works, over and over again for any industry where money changes hands between human beings.

This leads me to my final area to ensure you never have to barter away your tee times again and still maximize your profits in less than a year.

Tactic #4: Get On-Demand Access To Premium Industry Specific Copywriting

“Copywriting…it’s about selling ideas!”
– Glenn Fisher, All Good Copy © 2019

Although there are several components to a well-thought-out marketing campaign.

Some (me included) would argue the foundation that effectively ties all marketing together is copywriting.

You’d probably imagine there are several types and disciplines of copywriting too.

You are correct.

I specialize in copywriting that’s informed and constrained by Direct or Demand Generating Marketing results.

What does that mean?

Simply said, I write copy that’s psychologically designed to move your current and prospective golfer to experience the benefits of using your businesses service or product above your competitors.

Another aspect is we work to give you an ethical advantage over your competition, while putting your competition at an ethical disadvantage to you.

Bring you more customers, more often, who are excited to spend their money with you.

In this case, playing golf and booking golf retreats or get-aways.

We love what we do and we’re pretty good at it too.

Yes, it’s grounded in research to best understand that conversation in your customers mind.

“Website bookings increased by 49%”
(Beware of Barter, ©NGCOA 2020)

You may be thinking “What would be the difference between what we’re doing now what he’s talking about?”

Thats a fair question, and trust me when I tell you it’s easier to show you than to tell you.

But I’m willing to give it a shot since you’ve invested this much or your time to read this far in our Golf Course Owners Competitive Guide.

Well, first off, most advertising or sales copy you read today focuses upon the features your club may offer to golfers.

Usually those are, but not limited to:

• Equipement Repairs
• Geo Range Carts
• Discounts / Specials
• Etc

But with Direct Response Copywriting we focus upon the benefits they will get.

What’s the difference?

Features are logical inducements used to convince someone what they’re getting is worth the cost you’re asking.

Benefits are emotional anchors that occupy the customers subconscious.

How it works is pretty straightforward to humans.

People make purchasing decisions based upon emotions…benefits.

People then justify that purchase to themselves using logic…features.

If you don’t believe me, ask yourself, “What was the last thing I bought I really didn’t need and should’ve spent that money on something more sensible?”

Get it?

Well, that’s the crux of how we tie all the pieces of your golf course business together to make your ideal golfers offers they can’t refuse.

Before you know it, you’ll be turning people away, or better yet, building additional venues for them to visit.

Has this been encouraging and helpful to you?

I believe I’ve given you a good idea how you can join the ranks of other golf course owners like Todd who have taken back control of their course; and their integrity; and successfully pull away from 3rd party OTTA barter schemes.

Or at the very least, looking forward, you better position yourself with greater leverage as you negotiate with growing number of 3rd party OTTAs such as GolfNOW.

If you’d like to schedule a FREE Pre-Qualifying Appointment with me personally, simply TEXT “nobartering” to (803) 599-2048 now and select a day/time that works for you and we’ll try and give you some solutions you can implement the very next day.

You’re also invited to visit our online store here for more education based materials to help you who like to ‘do it yourself’ or perhaps have a marketing director that can implement some of the ideas I’ve shared with you here.

For you growth,

A. David Griffin, Founder
Business Growth Consultant
Lowcountry Pioneer Solutions™

P.S. If you noticed on page 10, I talk about the many fundamental benefits you’ll soon discover using the 4 tactics prescribed in this Golf Course Owners Competitive Guide. Although I don’t mention Social Media marketing per se, can you imagine how numbers 2, 4, and 6 would be ideal for capitalizing through that medium to increase revenue from past and current golfers?

P.S.S Don’t forget to Text “nobartering” to (803) 599-2048 now before it’s too late and join the growing number of course owners who are clawing back their lost profits to 3rd party OTTAs.

Tallying up the score…

My heartfelt thanks and congratulations for the extraordinarily insightful, and well- researched analysis presented by Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association and the team at NGCOA for the tireless work and effort they provide to keep owners in the green and out of the rough.

I also want to publicly thank Todd Miller, PGA and General Manager of Santee-Cooper Resort; its Board of Directors; and Laura Gordon, their Package Team Supervisor, along with their entire sales team and directors for arduously educating me over these past few years on the unique complexities of their golf courses and the entire golfing industry as a whole.

We would never have been able to acquire the amount of success we have had without their combined, unfaltering support and courage to be not only better…but different.

Their patience and enduring love for their customers and the game, kept me coming back for more, as they continually let us stretch them in order to become the very best at what they do – for their personal growth and their shared concerns for the future of the industry they’ve committed – on average – over 15 years each.

Your investment was not received lightly.

Sincerely, thank you!

A. David Griffin
Business Growth Consultant
Lowcountry Pioneer Solutions™

Note: *Subheadings and parts of this publication are pulled directly “Beware of Barter; The Ins and Outs of Trading Your Tee Times © 2020 presented by the NGCOA