In the game of golf, strategy is fundamental. The best players talk about planning, mental control and perseverance which, combined with good technique and, why not, a little luck, make the perfect combination for a great round. In business, and in sales, which is what concerns us here, the same applies: we need a strategy to achieve good results.

The sales plan must be aligned with the business objectives, as it is a fundamental tool for achieving them: it is responsible for the revenue the business will earn and for the image it projects in the market.

The sales plan is the roadmap that sets out who we are and where we stand, where we want to go and what we are going to do to get there.

Here are several points to bear in mind when putting it together:

• SWOT analysis: this analysis tells us who we are and where we stand in relation to the market. It is undoubtedly a good starting point for understanding how to differentiate ourselves in the market, i.e. our value proposition.
• Value proposition: the features that make our club unique, the draw for our customers. They are as many and as varied as the design, the price, the views, the academy, the location, the hotel, etc. With these attributes we will create the message for the market: golf breaks, academy, exclusive product, etc.
• Market niches: we will segment the customers whose demand aligns with our value proposition. We can talk about target audience and, fine-tuning a little more, about the buyer persona. This classification provides information beyond the socio-demographic. It tells us how our customer thinks and acts, and that helps us understand what we can offer them and where and how they will buy from us.

Once the above is established, we will set our sales objectives which, as we said, will depend on the business objectives. It is important that these objectives are well defined. For example, growing in the British market would not be a well-formulated objective, basically because it doesn’t tell us how much we want to grow, how, or in what timeframe. So we won’t be able to carry out the necessary actions, nor measure whether we have achieved it. If we phrase it as increasing revenue from British tour operators by 10% in 2024, it will be much easier to work on.

We mentioned that objectives must be measurable because, beyond strategy, control is the icing on the cake. There is no point setting objectives if we have no tools to measure whether we have achieved them. To know whether we have met our objectives we will need to identify a series of relevant indicators that take the pulse of our business (KPIs). Some general ones might be the number of rounds, price, sales by channel / sub-family / operator. But these figures alone do not give us all the information we need; we must compare them with others, such as the budget or the figures we had at the same point the previous year. Only then can we get a clear picture of where we stand.

We must also be rigorous about when we measure. It must be constant throughout the year so we can detect deviations and act in time. If we wait until the end of the financial year and we are far from what we set out to achieve, there will be nothing we can do. On the other hand, if we detect it in time, we can take measures or reformulate the objectives (forecast).

In short, the day-to-day of our sales activity will be based on actions such as promotion, contracting or partner support. But we must not forget that all of this must be defined in a plan, and that results must be measured. Only then can we ensure a coherent strategy with every chance of success.

At Real Golf Studio we offer full coverage of the sales area. Our focus on sales allows us to plan, execute and measure results.

Compartir