Custom fitting and coaching studios – are your customers in safe hands?

Foremost Golf Business Development Consultant & Education Lead Steve Bird shares some expert advice on custom fitting services and how clubs can maximise the experience for their customers.

Custom fitting is no longer a rare service offered by only the best retailers, like it once was. It is now ubiquitous in our industry. Likewise, many golf retailers now have indoor studios and launch monitor technology. Therefore, it is no longer enough to just market the fact that you provide this service. You need to stand out from the crowd to secure a booking.

There is huge variance in the quality of both studios and fitting services out there. Put yourself in the shoes of a customer coming into your business, walking into the studio and going through a fitting. Would you feel like you are in the best place? Like you made the right choice of where to go? That you are in safe hands?

The following tips will help raise the level of both your custom fit facility and service:

Making sure a customer books in with you

• Your website has to sell the dream of your custom fitting / coaching experience using powerful images, video and testimonials. Showcase the technology you use and the benefits of custom fitting (especially for mid to high handicappers). There are some very good websites out there – is yours one of those?

• Paper diaries are irrelevant in 2024. You have to offer an online booking service to increase bookings, reduce no-shows, save yourself admin time and for automatic data capture.

• Regular entries in your newsletter and social media need to continually reference your facilities, technology, expertise and professionalism. If not today, then when that golfer thinks about having a fitting or buying some new equipment, make sure their first thought is you.

The fitting environment

• Make sure the studio is always clean and tidy. Don’t let it become a dumping ground. If you went for a professional fitting somewhere and were potentially about to spend a lot of money, you would expect these things as a minimum.

• Organise shafts, heads, tees and balls into neat, logical areas. Neat storage ideas don’t have to cost a lot. When done well, it gives a good first impression and shows that you are a professional business with great attention to detail.

• Maintain mats and nets to a high standard. Rotate them to elongate life and replace when they start to wear.

• Make sure the temperature is always pleasant. A warm studio in the winter and a cool one in the summer make a real difference.

Your pre and post fitting experience

• Complete a pre-fitting questionnaire with the customer, to give the fitter more information about who they will be fitting, their game and what equipment they are interested in. This also makes the customer feel more special and shows professionalism in your service. Don’t let them just turn up on the day and start from zero.

• After-sales service is the easiest way to stand out from the crowd. There are lots of promises out there, but many companies’ service levels drop as soon as they have had the customer’s money.

Send a nice thank you letter after the equipment has been collected, offer a free equipment check after a month and follow up after three months with a phone call. These simple things cost almost nothing in time and money, but carry huge weight with a customer. They showcase what should be one of your biggest USPs and a very rare thing in the modern commerce world – that you care.

For further advice, email steve.bird@foremostgolf.com or call 07843 619377