The “WOW” Product You Could Be Offering (Get Golf Ready!)

The “WOW” Product You Could Be Offering (Get Golf Ready!)

Let’s face it. You became a PGA member to earn a living, to provide for your family, and to have “sustainable employment.” If we can agree with this premise, it’s reasonable for me to state, and for you to accept, that “it’s in your enlightened self-interest to grow the game” for your own personal earning potential, for your family and for the facility at which you’re employed.

In his top-rated free online blog, Intentional Leadership (www.michaelhyatt.com), Michael Hyatt and friends discuss best practices for leadership, management, motivation, personal career development, ethics, and much more. As a result of his online success, the former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers was asked by many to write a book on how to create “brand” online to influence others, including customers. In Hyatt’s new book, Platform, he talks about the best way to “be heard in a very competitive, distracted world.” He talks about the reasons to have a platform…or a stage to promote a product, a service, a charity or an idea through marketing, social media and reputation.

In the second chapter of Platform, Hyatt discusses some of the attributes he believes set the late Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. apart from the hundreds of successful CEOs in the same marketplace, and made him the legendary leader we think of today. In it, he states that Jobs understood what a true “WOW” experience was, and in his vision for Apple and its products, he refused to settle for less than what he considered a WOW for customers using their products. When every other smartphone manufacturer was saying they had reached the maximum capabilities of the device, Jobs was coming out with the iPhone. As we know, the iPhone not only improved on the smartphone, it redefined the category. In his mind, instead of being limited by producing a product to sell, he demanded Apple create a product people wanted…a product so easy to learn, so intuitive to use, it would make them say “WOW.”

Using Hyatt’s description in the realm of golf and the new golfer experience, the potential “WOW” is Get Golf Ready, (GGR) when you and I, the PGA Golf Professional provide a welcoming, fun, structured, and comprehensive experience complete with orientation, integration and several “on-course experiences.” In this focused effort, we can create the “WOW” experience mentioned in Hyatt’s book in ways the book lists as typical of a “WOW” experience…if taught correctly, GGR can provide some or all of the following “WOW’s”:

  • Surprise: who knew how much F-U-N golf could be with good friends? Making new friends, escaping the computer, iPad or smartphone screen, connecting with family, rediscovering nature…who knew?
  • Resonance: remember the feeling of your first well-struck shot? It’s addictive, like a shot in the arm with the best (safest, make you happy all-over) drug in the world.
  • Presence: for many GGR students, the professional has the opportunity to offer something that students crave…presence. They forget about the past stresses of the day, and aren’t thinking about the stresses or schedules of tomorrow…that hunger to learn, to hit that shot, to chase that little white ball with friends, family or both is all-consuming (and they love it!).
  • Evangelism: when taught in the right way, many GGR students will have so much fun, so much excitement, so much enthusiasm, so much connection…they’ll find they need to share it with others…family, colleagues, neighbors – anyone who will listen! A golf professional who understands the opportunity to create “evangelistic fans” can create a fan base proportion that will generate revenues for themselves and for their facility.
  • Longevity: As we all know, golf is a game for a lifetime. Using GGR, a professional has a chance to give the keys to the best of the game to their students…teaching them how to have F-U-N even when the weather’s not great, when the course isn’t great and when their game isn’t at the “A” or even “B” level…
  • Privilege: In my experiences with GGR, I’ve had students say, “I am so glad I stumbled across this class,” and then they list off many reasons why they’re glad. It’s humbling to know that my efforts to connect them to the game I love to play, to promote and help others engage in, are making a difference by bringing joy into other people’s lives…mind you, this is what separates us from the myriads of careers available to us in the world today, in Golf, a PGA Professional can IMPACT the lives of many people…this is our opportunity, our privilege and our responsibility.

In every part of our operation, our customers/members recognize if there’s “WOW” in what we’re offering (or not.) I’m convinced that the PGA professionals who are engaged in using GGR, those who are focusing on delivering some or all of the experiences listed above, will enjoy the greatest professional and personal success in next decade. (Sadly, those who don’t are facing an inevitable steamroller of competition.)

In your efforts to grow the game, I hope you’re considering Get Golf Ready as a great model to follow in growing your personal and professional impact in your local area. When you do, I encourage you to consider and contemplate these words by Michael Hyatt: “Don’t settle for something less. In doing so, you are depriving your customers of the wow experience they seek–and deserve.” If you don’t settle, you’ll reap not only professional rewards, like more income and greater opportunity, (don’t feel badly about growing the game for these reasons either!) BUT also rewards that are…priceless…intangible…everlasting…we have a game that produces joy like no other, and “WOW” experiences like no other…so start spreading the “WOW”, today in your own, special way!

 

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