One of my discoveries in 2022 was Sweetspot‘s revenue management platform. Sweetspot‘s CEO & Founder Henrik Ahlin gave a very useful and insightful presentation at the 2023 Golf Business Conference in Cascais (14-16 February).
That’s where I got the idea to ask Henrik a few questions about how could golf clubs achieve data-driven sales and marketing.
How are golf clubs prepared for data-driven sales and marketing? How should they prepare for it?
There is a lot of interest in the market in how you can increase your volume and find new golfers and prospects of younger ages by targeting customer segments in new channels.
From Sweetspot’s perspective, we want to make it easier to sell memberships and package different kinds of products and sell them online at the club’s website. The degree of conversion in an app and on the web is a KPI that clubs should focus more on.
You also need to understand what a golfer’s funnel looks like, to create more golfers but also make them stay in the sport and maybe most important of all to upgrade the offer with group lessons, off-grass activities and adjust memberships to the golfer.
Sweetspot believes the lifetime value as a golfer is the most important to focus on and we have the data and possibilities to analyze this to help the clubs.
What were the most interesting questions during the latest GCAE Conference in Cascais?
That off-the-course activities are more significant in the US than on-the-course activities and that the forecast for the coming years is that this trend will go on.
Indoor golf is growing hugely in different parts of the world and the aging golfer plays a lot of golf on the course and takes up most of the attractive tee times on weekends for example.
That’s an insight that the golf business needs to address, to invest in tech-driven driving ranges and golf simulators and make tee times accessible and available for all golfers.
It’s also a concern about what will happen when expenses rise and how the effect of inflation will have an impact on golf.
Can a small golf market size be a reason why not to utilize yield management/revenue management?
No, we believe that every market has potential and needs data and revenue management tools to reach its full potential.
For example, every club in the world has attractive tee times on Saturdays between 9 o’clock and 11, as a club you need to take control of your inventory and decide who’s going to play and what the price should be.
What revenue management software like Sweetspot can help golf clubs during high inflation?
We have a lot of cases where we can increase revenue from different types of facilities, destinations-oriented clubs, members clubs, pay-and-play courses, etc. and we just released features that can help clubs with campaigns online that we believe will have a big impact on the market.
Then from a day-to-day golf perspective having automatic demand-based dynamic pricing in the system is something that will have an impact on your revenue streams.
To what type & size of golf clubs do you recommend the dynamic pricing & yield management pricing methods?
I would say that all golf clubs can benefit from this, either to get higher revenue from guests or increase membership value and availability for the golf club members who have the willingness to pay for it.
With the Sweetspot booking system, you will learn more and get insights and then understand more of how you can package the product in the right way.