Your Job is Getting 1%
That is what I am thinking through. Trying to get to 1% in the club market seems like a taller task then potentially in some other market categories.
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- #153
You think that is it more than the course side?
Not a lot of courses are adopting single riders currently. I think cost along with storage.
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New plan.
I am hiring a bunch of marketing people like Noelle with Cleveland. I am going to have free club testing and fittings at many of the private and public courses around the higher-selling areas.
If I can get my equipment into fitting locations like Club Champion I am doing that as well.
I am going to use places like THP and other websites to be my word of mouth and offer events like we see here that will give my equipment out to as many regular users as possible.
I am hiring a bunch of marketing people like Noelle with Cleveland. I am going to have free club testing and fittings at many of the private and public courses around the higher-selling areas.
If I can get my equipment into fitting locations like Club Champion I am doing that as well.
I am going to use places like THP and other websites to be my word of mouth and offer events like we see here that will give my equipment out to as many regular users as possible.
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Somewhat related, I'm very curious to see what success Atlas will have in the premium golf cart market. They aren't going after the large fleet segment, or the growing low price import arena, so they'll never have 1% of the total. They seem to have a good product to compete with the top lines of Club Car, Yamaha and EZ-Go.
That could be. I honestly don’t know. They are fun. Storage seems simple since they are small. I would think they would get used too.. but, there are probably issues I am unaware of that make them a turn off to courses. Maybe it’s injury due to crashes, higher liability? More maintenance? I don’t know..
I think that appeals more to the 55 Gen X crowd as well.
I think a big part of it is exposure. I just pulled up their website and there are only 5 places in TX and it's bordering states (Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico), all but one of those places in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, where courses have Finn scooters in their fleet of golf carts to try. 1 more place to demo ride them. That's an AWEFUL large space with no option to even try them. Think about if Finn got into say 10 courses in each the Houston, Austin, San Antonio markets. That is MAJOR exposure. Even if each of those courses only has say 5 of them, people are going to want to try them because they look fun. Get a few in the fleet at a golf course in a retirement/golf cart community...HUGE untapped market. Get a few in at someplace like the Villages, or Sun City in Austin, and watch individual orders start rolling in.
i don't know but i've been thinking a lot more about renting out LM's for people to take to the range/course with them as opposed to them having to come to my brick and mortar facility. i don't know how all the ins and outs of rental agreements, insurance and whatnot would work...
Brilliant idea!!
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I genuinely do not know. I owned one. They are fun.
My gut says initial cost, storage and there has to be some other liability.
WIth that said, Sun Mountain (previous owner) is just downright terrible at marketing, so it could be that too.
i think it reduces overhead on having a facility but what is the likelihood of damage to the LM's? and how do i mitigate that without making it cost prohibitive to the customer?
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- #165
Liklihood is high.
In fact, after looking at it a little more on their website, Outside of the Dallas/Ft Worth area there are 8 places total to even try them in NM, TX, AL, GA, and FL, LA, and MS. The Sunbelt is a HUGE untapped market and a place where people can play year round.
I can't imagine it being cost as you can get a Finn scooter for about 1/4 the cost of a regular EZ Go cart. Now, courses may be getting those fleet carts at a pretty significant savings but even then the cost of a Finn is half a regular cart. Storage wise you can store 4 Finn scooters in the space it takes to store 1 regular cart so storage can't be the issue.
Gotta be either liability (insurance?) or stuffy old thinking.
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- #169
I dont think that is really the case though. Having owned both two things pop into my head.
You might get two in the space...MIGHT. Because of the way the kickstand leans it. You also have built a storage shed with chargers for carts, so you need more electrical work to make it possible as well.
With that said, I am 100% behind single riders as it speeds up pace significantly.
I was looking at it coming from a perspective as a motorcycle rider. We can put 4 Harleys in a single car parking space easily. I assumed the same would be true of the Finn and a golf cart. I didn't think of needing more electrical outlets, that would take a significant expense to update.
We can rent $50,000 vehicles and $1M houses, there’s risk in everything. I suppose it all depends on the monitors themselves. I don’t know what sorta damage is “normal” for one or what they’re subjected to besides weather. Maybe someone shanks one or something?
No brick and mortar is a huge upside. HUGE. I’d worry more about someone taking one to the chops in a facility than a damaged monitor.
So I can take a monitor to the range at my leisure, hit what I want to hit, have all the data and no salesman trying to sell me something, don’t have to hit off a mat or in a building. No pressure. Go back the next day if my swing sucks. Etc…etc…
I’m game.
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- #172
You can buy one for barely over $500 now, so the rental market is going to be rather small.
From a course perspective, I am sure it has to do with storage and potential liability for riding a scooter vs a cart. From seeing them I don't think you can get two scooters where one cart is. Probably some courses refrain from them as they know people drink on the course. At least if they are on a cart, they are sitting vs having to balance themselves on a cart. They are fun novelty, but they also can have a positive impact on pace of play. Risk vs reward probably isn't there for the course.
From a consumer perspective they are expensive, you have to haul them and still pay a fee for bringing your own cart ASSUMING the course will even let you bring the Finn on the course.
This has been a fun read.
The best bet may be trying to lure in some of the top engineers and industry vets and trying to really create a new design that offers something better than what’s on the market. Given our obsession with this game I think most golfers are really looking for product quality and something that genuinely performs better for them. For category I think I would pick whichever club category has the most brand diversity as that’s probably a decent indicator of consumers willingness to try a new brand. Shafts seem like the place to go since there seem to be a lot of brands and a ton of tech. If you brought in the right team with the right connections MAYBE you could try to become the stock shaft of a leading club brand.
The only other sort of gimmicky thing I can think of is lean hard into the LIV/PGA drama as a marketing tactic. Pick a side and lean in hard. I hate the division in golf right now but it’s such a polarizing topic and it seems some media personalities have grabbed “market share” just by fanatically supporting one side. I’m not sure if a product has tried that yet or if it would work but it was the first thing that popped into my mind from a marketing stand point.
The best bet may be trying to lure in some of the top engineers and industry vets and trying to really create a new design that offers something better than what’s on the market. Given our obsession with this game I think most golfers are really looking for product quality and something that genuinely performs better for them. For category I think I would pick whichever club category has the most brand diversity as that’s probably a decent indicator of consumers willingness to try a new brand. Shafts seem like the place to go since there seem to be a lot of brands and a ton of tech. If you brought in the right team with the right connections MAYBE you could try to become the stock shaft of a leading club brand.
The only other sort of gimmicky thing I can think of is lean hard into the LIV/PGA drama as a marketing tactic. Pick a side and lean in hard. I hate the division in golf right now but it’s such a polarizing topic and it seems some media personalities have grabbed “market share” just by fanatically supporting one side. I’m not sure if a product has tried that yet or if it would work but it was the first thing that popped into my mind from a marketing stand point.
Colleges and universities in the US are mostly locked up with agreements with OEM's? I see that. But there are always some places that are overlooked by people. Inner city, disadvantaged youth... get into those areas and sponsor some just as worthy golfers that have been passed over by OEM's and their products because of where one goes to school.
You gain some notoriety as a company.
Other people will be talking about your company on social media.
You'll come across as a somewhat philanthropic organization.
You may garner some interest.
HSBC&U. Historically black colleges and universities. Just as worthy as other colleges and universities but might not have the same opportunities. Maybe? I don't know.
How many golf programs are there that reach into inner cities to grow the game?
How many colleges and universities in other countries are locked into agreements with OEM's? There's opportunity there as well.
There are 8 billion people in this world. Print, visual, audible, vocal... media.
Maybe a blitz campaign to every cell phone number in a city touting your product. Send 1 message 1 day, a second the following day. Then a third a day later. Provide them a link to your website. Someone is going to hit the site. Take that nationwide. You get noticed.
Give your product to Florida man. Let him smash some windows and leave your product behind along with a pile of poo. You'll be noticed.
Same thing with Ohio Man. Don't leave him out. And then there may be some copy cats following along later.
You gain some notoriety as a company.
Other people will be talking about your company on social media.
You'll come across as a somewhat philanthropic organization.
You may garner some interest.
HSBC&U. Historically black colleges and universities. Just as worthy as other colleges and universities but might not have the same opportunities. Maybe? I don't know.
How many golf programs are there that reach into inner cities to grow the game?
How many colleges and universities in other countries are locked into agreements with OEM's? There's opportunity there as well.
There are 8 billion people in this world. Print, visual, audible, vocal... media.
Maybe a blitz campaign to every cell phone number in a city touting your product. Send 1 message 1 day, a second the following day. Then a third a day later. Provide them a link to your website. Someone is going to hit the site. Take that nationwide. You get noticed.
Give your product to Florida man. Let him smash some windows and leave your product behind along with a pile of poo. You'll be noticed.
Same thing with Ohio Man. Don't leave him out. And then there may be some copy cats following along later.