Last week, I mentioned using more logo’s in your shop to specialize yourself and your brand. I mentioned I wanted to use some “Case Studies” of the top golf shops around the country to illustrate how they work with their brand, and how they do what they do. Interestingly, I received a number of questions and comments about the concept of “brand”. We need to re-visit that before we can discuss the top shops (which we’ll do next week).

When we look at the concept of a brand, there is some confusion. Consider this The LOGO on your scorecard is just that – it’s a logo. That is NOT your BRAND. If you see a picture of an Apple with a bite out of it, that’s the Apple Logo, not it’s brand. The Apple brand is a way of making you feel when you use an Apple product. I saw a movie about Steve Jobs, and in it, he was rolling out the new Mac. He wanted it to say HELLO when you powered it on. No big deal in 2024, but a HUGE deal in 1987. The computer (Apple product) had to connect with the consumer and make the person feel welcomed by the product. Not having the computer say HELLO during the launch demo was not an option – it would mis represent the feeling generated by the BRAND. THIS is understanding your BRAND 100% – by a guy who lost his job defending the brand. The others who didn’t care about the HELLO saw the Mac as another computer. This makes it price sensitive and in competition with every other computer out there. Jobs understood that the feeling created in a person by the Mac made it less susceptible to price sensitivity and it created it’s own market. Makes sense? A BRAND is how you do you. How you do what you do. It’s how you make people feel when they walk into your facility or shop. It’s the experience you create. Your reputation, your promise, your story, your values and your vision… It’s how you communicate. It’s your point of differentiation. All of this, when added together is your BRAND experience. THIS is what your customers FEEL when they walk through your doors. This is what connects your customers to YOU and your shop.

How you do what you do is what drives business into or out of your shop. You have a brand as a golf shop owner. A Different brand as a Golf Professional. Another different brand as a golf instructor. And yet, another different Brand in your personal life with your friends. How does each of these make people feel? People gravitate towards things they like. This is what a brand does.

Sometimes I hear the comment “my members don’t support me in the golf shop”. My question (that I can’t ask) is are YOU the problem? Or is the layout of the shop the problem? Or is it a lack of brand awareness that is the problem? Do you have the wrong brands in your shop creating the wrong BRAND for you? More than likely, it’s a combination of all these. I’m not throwing stones or being critical. If the message being sent is unclear, or customers (members) don’t feel the vibe when they walk in, they are not going to buy. That is human nature.

Retail is more than putting stuff on display. It’s more than being helpful. It’s more than having the right product mix. It’s all of that. How many of you went to college and got a business degree? How many of those Business Majors went on to take a course in Retail during that time of study? I bet not very many – yet, you are now tasked with owning (in many cases) and running a golf shop that ranges from $50,000 to north of several million dollars in sales per year – with no background or training in running a retail operation. The PGA? I went through the PGM program eager to learn. I switched from Executive Management to Golf Operations because I wanted to see what the PGA teaches in golf shop operations (and in club fitting). In my opinion, they don’t teach nearly enough. They teach how to create a budget – from there, you’re on your own. This is not something that just happens. YOU have to create a shopping experience, then maintain it.

Did you ever walk into a golf shop and feel like I have to buy something? I have 100 golf shirts hanging in my closet. Maybe 30 pullovers. Last week, I was playing golf with the fitting team in Pinehurst. We did a tee gift of 4 apparel pieces (2 shirts, a vest and a long sleeve quarter zip), so I was coming home with more than I went down with already. While I was there, I bought a sweater wind shirt at the Pinehurst resort golf shop and another shirt at a different club. I needed those like a need a hole in the head. The shops made me say I can’t help it. That feeling created is their brand. The feeling I get while wearing those pieces is something I can’t get anywhere else.

I want you to take 5 minutes and look at your shop. Critically look at it. Even sit down in a chair. Spend some time. Ask yourself what you see. What displays have you made that compel people to buy? How often do you change your displays? Are they the same as they’ve been since March? Or worse yet, the same as they’ve been since you took over the shop years ago? If this answer is yes, you can bet your bottom dollar that your customers don’t even see these displays. If you put new shirts on racks in the same places, your customers don’t even look at them. This invisible retailing is now your brand, unfortunately.

Re-read the second paragraph. What EXPERIENCE are you creating? What is your Point of Differentiation? What is the FEELING your customers feel when they walk through that door?

If you say your customers don’t support you, take a look at what you present to them. Does your shopping experience provide a compelling feeling to buy something they can buy anyplace else (a golf club or an un-logo’d shirt from you because they can’t help it)? Or do they walk right past something they can’t get anyplace else (something with a logo on it, a custom fit club fit for them by you, their teacher))? Your BRAND sets the stage for both of these scenarios.

If you say “I love the layout of this shop. So do the members – they all commented about it. The pathways from both doors to the counter are direct…” blah, blah, blah. If you don’t change it up, they won’t even see the displays, trust me. They will find a way to get from the door to the counter regardless of what you move in their way. If you remodel your kitchen at home, can you find your way to the refrigerator with all the stuff moved around? A constantly changing floor play is a great way to engage a customer. It can change the feeling in a shop. Lighting can change the feeling. If you are open 8 months – the shop should get an overhaul at least 4 times per season. Use the same 4 changes year after year if you like, but make changes. Your members play 100 rounds per year – they will come into your shop at least 100 times in 8 months – give them something new to look at!! Retail is detail. Change is good!!

Think of it this way – we started this series by asking “Is Retail Dead?”. I stated that people buy online despite the crappy shopping experience. They buy based on price and only to fill a need. Is your Retail shop sales floor like a webpage on Amazon? Never changing? Boring? A feelingless experience? If it is even a maybe to any of these questions, you are losing your competitive edge over an online shopping experience. You are looking to make them want to buy something they don’t know they want because of the feeling you created for them. That wind shirt with your logo on it when he already has 30 of them in his closet… Create the feeling. Change the experience. This is something that you’ve created, but also something you can fix. Enhance your BRAND.

When you open the lid of your new Mac for the first time, how do you feel? Apple recreates this every year when they launch a new OS. That old Mac feels shiny and new again – it makes for a reinvigorated Apple customer without selling them anything… Imagine creating that Apple brand feeling around the merchandise you sell in your shop. It’s much more than a shirt with a logo on it. Once you understand your brand, you can begin to change it, enhance it, promote it.. That change makes it a more compelling shopping destination for your members. Your BRAND can evolve over time. Why not?? It’s yours to do whatever you want with it.

I hope this helps!!