American Golf or...

[Russ_D]

Normally get most of my stuff through Direct Golf.....However since the "esteemed" Mr Ashley bought them i thought id have to rethink that. Website has gone all sports direct on us bit on the plus side there is more choice in store for the budget concious golfer.

Spoke to an employee at a store who's location will remain secret what he thought of the changes and he replied as if we were in North Korea as he just said "Mr Ashely has done a great job and i love working here" bit without a trace of emotion in his voice. Thanks goodness for the internet and online shopping!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Your arrogance is absolutely staggering. I may be "just" someone on a forum, but I am a potential customer, as is everyone else here, and everyone they know.

Putting customers first, treating them with respect and courtesy are the underpinning concepts of any business, especially retail. And word of mouth counts for an awful lot.

I thought this thread should have been closed initially because of the commercial objectives of your opening post. In retrospect I am now delighted it remained
open, because it has been an abject lesson to absolutely everyone who has viewed it, never mind just contributed towards it, in how to commit commercial suicide.

That, and tremendous entertainment.

Hear hear. Everyone is a potential customer these days. Word of mouth is a fabulous advertising tool for a business to have and I can guess what they are saying about Keeble Driving Range right now

 

[WWG]

I am a retired retailer, and would to explain where it all went wrong. Many years ago the only place you could buy any golf equipment was a pro shop at your local course. Needless to say your local pro shop/club saw this as an opportunity to rip us all off. In steps a retailer with a plan, a very good plan. A big sales floor, a bigger choice than the pro shop, and a bit cheaper. Over the years AG build up a reputation, and then up the margins a bit. The pro shop decides to reduce margins a bit to match the big boy. Ultimately the price difference is no longer very different, but the choice is. There is an opportunity for a new retailer to step in and cut the prices, so watch this space !!

 

[And29]

The staff at my local AG (Trafford) are very good, no signs of pushiness and always friendly.

You must have gone in on a day where they hit the sales target..

I went in 2 weeks ago got the useual where do youplay? Played much?
andwas dropped like a hot rock when i told them i wasnt after a club just a top for my father in laws birthday..

If you get the chance go to AG 3 Hammers its like another company, polite not pushy amazing range attached, much better experience than Telford.

Ive even been told at 3 hammers after a session on launch moniter not to change my clubs, Given i would not get much more out of a new driver.

 

[Fish]

Thanks for the link to here SteveJay, don't know how I missed this golden nugget!

I use AG in Coventry quite a lot, it's a very personal service, not pushy at all, excellent range of brands, will always price match or reward my loyalty as best they can, not everything is about price though IMO.

I am also an ex-successful, now semi-retired retailer and so I find the way the OP has conducted himself to be self destructive. People buy off people, always have done and always will, service and after-sales is paramount, as is learning what your competitors are doing and you should ride on the back of their advertising & marketing, and never ever slag them off, especially in public!

Link sales are critical in retail sales if done correctly, just a £1 pack of tee's to 10% of your footfall over the week can yield thousands of pounds to the annual turnover, to adopt the attitude of, if I wanted tees I'd ask for them, just shows a huge lack of business acumen, there wasn't a day go by that I didn't know what my average gross sales per customer was or how many items per customer people were buying, its these trends that you can identify your business with and then give incentives to the staff to increase those key indicators, but not in a pushy way, it has to come across as simply a prompt, like, are you OK for tees at the minute, we have some 3 for 2 offers on at the moment?

I also travel all over the country now both for business and golf and will constantly drop into independent, corporate (AG) and even Pro shops on my travels, to dismiss someone's input because at face value they lived out of your catchment area, if there is such a term, was foolish and again showed a complete lack of business prowess.

As an independent retailer in the past I loathed the buying powers of the corporates and large chains and the special deals they could do, but with competition laws in place to protect that now to some degree, and some brands not allowing internet sales figures to be displayed plus lots of other protections for small independent businesses, you have to learn to be more proactive and offer something that isn't wholly dependent on price, like good service, excellent after-sales, a good range of brand names and availability, and the most important thing is, be polite, even to your competitors and don't be afraid of them, there marketing could be bringing people from out of the area to you in which they may then shop around at the same time, so embrace that and piggyback off it.

I wish you luck but you need to change your direction to how you run or present your business and more so, your attitude, IMO.

 

[Slab]

Thanks for the link to here SteveJay, don't know how I missed this golden nugget!

I use AG in Coventry quite a lot, it's a very personal service, not pushy at all, excellent range of brands, will always price match or reward my loyalty as best they can, not everything is about price though IMO.

I am also an ex-successful, now semi-retired retailer and so I find the way the OP has conducted himself to be self destructive. People buy off people, always have done and always will, service and after-sales is paramount, as is learning what your competitors are doing and you should ride on the back of their advertising & marketing, and never ever slag them off, especially in public!

Link sales are critical in retail sales if done correctly, just a £1 pack of tee's to 10% of your footfall over the week can yield thousands of pounds to the annual turnover, to adopt the attitude of, if I wanted tees I'd ask for them, just shows a huge lack of business acumen, there wasn't a day go by that I didn't know what my average gross sales per customer was or how many items per customer people were buying, its these trends that you can identify your business with and then give incentives to the staff to increase those key indicators, but not in a pushy way, it has to come across as simply a prompt, like, are you OK for tees at the minute, we have some 3 for 2 offers on at the moment?

I also travel all over the country now both for business and golf and will constantly drop into independent, corporate (AG) and even Pro shops on my travels, to dismiss someone's input because at face value they lived out of your catchment area, if there is such a term, was foolish and again showed a complete lack of business prowess.

As an independent retailer in the past I loathed the buying powers of the corporates and large chains and the special deals they could do, but with competition laws in place to protect that now to some degree, and some brands not allowing internet sales figures to be displayed plus lots of other protections for small independent businesses, you have to learn to be more proactive and offer something that isn't wholly dependent on price, like good service, excellent after-sales, a good range of brand names and availability, and the most important thing is, be polite, even to your competitors and don't be afraid of them, there marketing could be bringing people from out of the area to you in which they may then shop around at the same time, so embrace that and piggyback off it.

I wish you luck but you need to change your direction to how you run or present your business and more so, your attitude, IMO.

Mmmm.... do you have any pink castle tees?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

If the prices are good enough at Keele people will still go there. People will always look for the cheapest regardless of customer service

 

[Deleted member 16999]

If the prices are good enough at Keele people will still go there. People will always look for the cheapest regardless of customer service

Not really Phil, people boycott Ashleys Shops or Trumps courses on principle, regardless of cost or customer service.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Not really Phil, people boycott Ashleys Shops or Trumps courses on principle, regardless of cost or customer service.

But seemingly not in significant numbers in either case.

Most people only have a limited amount of disposable income and will, therefore, make their decisions with their wallet rather than their conscience.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

But seemingly not in significant numbers in either case.

Most people only have a limited amount of disposable income and will, therefore, make their decisions with their wallet rather than their conscience.

Definitely, but like you say it's most people (including me), not all.

 

[virtuocity]

Not really Phil, people boycott Ashleys Shops or Trumps courses on principle, regardless of cost or customer service.

If Sports Direct started selling Ping irons £100 cheaper than anywhere else, then people would flood in. At the moment, the only brands that people are boycotting are Dunlop and Donnay.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

If Sports Direct started selling Ping irons £100 cheaper than anywhere else, then people would flood in. At the moment, the only brands that people are boycotting are Dunlop and Donnay.

Some people wouldn't have them given for free if their principles are strong enough, not everyone can be bought.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Not really Phil, people boycott Ashleys Shops or Trumps courses on principle, regardless of cost or customer service.

Yet everytime I go past one it's always full of people buying his stuff - the people who boycott are hardly a drop in the ocean. He still makes a very big profit yearly

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Yet everytime I go past one it's always full of people buying his stuff - the people who boycott are hardly a drop in the ocean. He still makes a very big profit yearly

Not my point though, people boycott buying things for all sorts of reasons and companies still make profits.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Not my point though, people boycott buying things for all sorts of reasons and companies still make profits.

People do boycott things

But majority will get their stuff at the best price possible regardless of who the owner is or history or customer service

 

[FairwayDodger]

Personally, I'll likely make a trip to keele driving range when next I'm passing, time permitting. I like my local AG but am a bit bored by their general lack of decent women's stuff.

I notice you stock j lindeberg, I really like their gear. Do you stock much of their women's range?

 

[Deleted member 16999]

People do boycott things

But majority will get their stuff at the best price possible regardless of who the owner is or history or customer service

Already agreed the majority will, I'm one of them, it's the minority that won't, not everyone can be bought.

 

[TheJezster]

He's not really talking about you though is he Paul? He's talking generally. People will always buy if the price is right, regardless of service.

As for keele driving range, he's been very clever actually. People are talking about the place. A lot. This will show up in searches for the place, so whether you like what he's said or not, it's exposure to the place, which can only be good for the business.

Many business leaders are controversial on purpose, they try to stir things up to get a reaction. Now I'm not saying that's what he's done, maybe he stumbled into this by accident, but people will go there and this thread wont hit his business in the slightest, if anything it is more likely to increase it.

Either way, out of my area so I wont be going, but if it was, I'd be more inclined to go now, just for a look.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Already agreed the majority will, I'm one of them, it's the minority that won't, not everyone can be bought.

But the company won't be bothered by the minority because it's the majority that will provide them with the profit. It's only when the majority start to boycott then there is an issue. But right now because of the way the world is financially people will ignore principles etc buy what they want cheap.

People will try and stretch their budget as much as they can

So deposits the issues that the guy from Keele has had on here - if there is a deal on , people will look at it and plenty will purchase from them
.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

He's not really talking about you though is he Paul? He's talking generally. People will always buy if the price is right, regardless of service.

As for keele driving range, he's been very clever actually. People are talking about the place. A lot. This will show up in searches for the place, so whether you like what he's said or not, it's exposure to the place, which can only be good for the business.

Many business leaders are controversial on purpose, they try to stir things up to get a reaction. Now I'm not saying that's what he's done, maybe he stumbled into this by accident, but people will go there and this thread wont hit his business in the slightest, if anything it is more likely to increase it.

Either way, out of my area so I wont be going, but if it was, I'd be more inclined to go now, just for a look.

Summed up very well

If it was near me I would go to the place and if there was something there that was a good price then I would buy from the place irrelevant of what their customer service is like