Paul Cunningham, Business Development Consultant for North West England, the Midlands and North Wales at Foremost Golf, shares insight on why stronger teams deliver better sales and a more consistent customer experience.
You are only as strong as your weakest team member, so are you investing enough time in staff training?
You can have a strong product range, good facilities and plenty of customers through the door, but if the whole team cannot deliver the same standard of service, opportunities will be missed.
From working with hundreds of golf clubs and professional teams across the UK, we see a consistent pattern: the highest performing businesses invest in staff development, set clear expectations and ensure everyone understands what good standards looks like.
Set the standard from the top
It is important to remember that your team is a direct reflection of you and the golf club. That is why customer service, selling and merchandising standards need to be led from the top. Depending on the retail model, this will most commonly be the Head PGA professional, director of golf or general manager.
Ask yourself what you want the experience in your shop to look like. How should customers be greeted? What level of product knowledge should staff have? What does good merchandising look like?
Once that standard is clear, give your team the guidance and training to reach it.
Training is an investment in the business. Where staff are giving up their own time to complete relevant training, I would always encourage businesses to recognise and pay for that time.
Give staff something to work towards
There is also a strong case for incentivising good performance.
A simple principle is that when the business performs well, the people contributing to that success should feel some benefit.
Set clear targets for staff so they know exactly what they are working towards. What you choose to incentivise will depend on the business, but it could be increasing sales in an overstocked category or putting more focus behind higher-margin products.
One of my personal favourites is setting a daily team target to sell one of Foremost’s high-margin exclusive line products.
Our Foremost POS till system allows members to set commission on selected products, with percentages and time periods easily personalised. The reporting function then makes it simple to track the results and measure the impact.
Make product knowledge a priority
Product knowledge is another area where small improvements can add up.
Do your team know the key features and benefits of the products you are trying to sell? Do they understand your multi-buy offers?
Do they know which categories deliver stronger margins?
A short weekly team meeting can be enough to keep everybody aligned on priority products, promotions and stock position.
That consistency matters. A customer should receive the same confident advice regardless of who is behind the counter.
Foremost also runs training and education events throughout the year in partnership with key hardware suppliers, giving members and their teams the chance to develop their knowledge and share ideas.
Use the wider team around you
As a Foremost member, you have access to a dedicated support team designed to help you grow as an independent retailer.
Our Business Development Consultant team uses POS data during analysis meetings to identify opportunities and develop ideas to help drive business performance.
For members using the Elite Marketing Programme, that support extends into marketing, with monthly one-to-one meetings with a dedicated Marketing Editor to plan key campaigns and events while maintaining a local approach that keeps customers engaged.
The strongest businesses make use of the support around them. Are you?
Speak to Foremost
For guidance on strengthening your team and improving business performance, speak to:
Paul Cunningham
Business Development Consultant for North West England, the Midlands & North Wales
Foremost Golf
Leave a Reply