Getting Ready for What Comes Next
One of the things that I had to adjust to when I moved to the beautiful Pacific Northwest back in September 2020 is the fact that this part of the country has seasons. Southern California, where my family and I moved from, has effectively two seasons: hot and hotter. But the Pacific Northwest, despite all the talk about “so much rain,” is very beautiful in very distinct, different times throughout the year.
Seasons exist, too, in our business. In business there are very discernable seasons of growth and retraction. It’s natural, and try as we might, we can’t ignore the ups and downs of the business cycle.
In spring, you build business plans, create new services and products, and design new marketing materials. In summer, everything is in full swing. You’re busy serving your clients, and you continue to promote your services to attract a growing list of new ones. In autumn, the pace of work starts to slow. You still have a core group of clients, but your services and promotional materials begin to grow dated. Then, in winter, the cold settles in, with no growth or new clients in sight. You’re dependent on what you’ve stored away in preparation for this season.
If you refresh your offerings and plan for the seasonal changes, winter’s grip will loosen, allowing new opportunities to flourish and breathe life back into your business. Most in our business would like to make the warm, busy days of summer last forever. But too much sun and heat — too much work — will dry things up and create cracks. Both you and your business need periods of rest. You must give way to autumn to recover from the summer frenzy.
If you fail to plan during the spring by not putting in the effort to create the right conditions for your business to develop and grow, you’ll likely have short summers and long winters.
Use the seasons to your advantage: the autumn and winter moments to rest and recharge, and spring to devise new strategies and equip yourself better for the next growth cycle in your professional life. Often easier said, than it is done, here are three quick ideas to consider as you leverage Spring to your advantage:
Know the Business Environment
Things and events in business just don’t happen randomly. Our job as business leaders is to understand the system of business that includes the supply chain, your existing key competitors, the unseen competitors who may come into your market, the competitors who may redesign your environment, and of course, your various types of customers.
Pay Significant Attention to Trend Setters
There are always weak signals of trends that are entering your business environment. These “stealthy” movers enter the market very quietly, unseen, until one day you awake left with only a fraction of your former market share. Blockbuster didn’t pay attention to the trend of streaming video. Kodak ignored the trend of digitization. Legacy food and consumer companies thought “all natural” and “organic” was just a fad. Paying attention to the trend setters on a regular basis will spur new ideas and insights that will enable you to anticipate new demands and new technologies—or even expand your current business in directions you never dreamed was possible.
Look for and Understand the Cycles and Patterns within Our Industry
Like car sales, restaurants, big ticket consumer goods, and airline tickets, the pacific northwest golf industry is cyclical. A cyclical industry is tied to business cycles where growth of revenues is typically sensitive to external conditions. For us, revenue is typically higher in warmer months, in times when our clients have greater economic freedoms, and when the desire to play the great game of golf is “up.” When negative cycles and patterns hit, many companies don’t have the agility to deal with them effectively. For example, in an economic downturn companies will make layoffs and cut expenses to counter the cycle. In economic growth, companies will pay hiring bonuses and provide higher salaries to retain key talent. Having the skills to understand these cycles and patterns is the basis for anticipating trends and making the right decisions to ride out the changes of a cycle or take advantage of the opportunities.
Having already made the start of the spring a great success, our collective “thank you” goes out to Mr. Grant Holcomb for his generous support of the Holcomb in One PNWPGA Vegas Pro Am. We are excited to prospectively celebrate his 20th Anniversary as the title sponsor of this perennially popular and successful event in 2023.
As the Section continues to prepare for a successful 2022 Tournament and Education Season, my personal welcome to one of our newest sponsors, Evolve Golf. My thanks to Benjamin Maloy and Max Lerner for joining our family of partners. In addition to supporting Section activities and as part of our agreement, Evolve will also be the 2022 “Presenting Sponsor” for the Inland Empire Chapter’s Pro/Pro event at Black Rock this coming October. This is great example of the Section working alongside our partners in the service of our chapters.
Last spring, the PNWPGA began our consumer marketing initiative. Today, we boast approximately 60,000 unique golf consumers, all of whom eagerly receive PGA Professional promotions. This is a fantastic, new channel for us to promote our Members to a growing audience of enthusiasts. These are your current and future clients. This database is constantly growing. On April 21 we will go live with our 2022 “Year of Free Golf” Sweepstakes. My thanks to each of the facilities who are participating in this promotion. This is a cost-effective, innovative opportunity for your facility and your larger business operations. The Section would LOVE our professionals to contact us for inclusion in an upcoming email to our growing golf consumer database. Those of you registered on PGA.Coach are especially encouraged to contact Marlena Cannon, Director of Marketing and Communications at MCannon@PGAHQ.com.
As always, if I or our extraordinary Section Staff can be of service to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Frank Talarico, CEO