Investing in Range Servant equipment and software is proving after just four weeks to be the right business decision for the John Reay Golf Centre in Coventry.
by Charles de Haan
Investing in Range Servant equipment and software is proving after just four weeks to be the right business decision for the John Reay Golf Centre in Coventry.
For over 35 years, the John Reay Golf Centre in Sandpits Lane, Keresley, has been one of the most popular driving ranges in the region. With 60 busy floodlit bays it needs to make sure the customers are kept well supplied with the right number of balls, and recently replaced its 15 year old equipment with two of the market leading Ultima 15 ball dispensers from Range Servant UK.
But this is only part of the success story. Both machines are using the latest version of the Select Online Payment system, and this has made a huge difference both to the customer satisfaction levels, and to the way the Centre is doing business.
Ball drops spot on, new customer reward structure
For a start, the two new machines deliver exactly the number of balls ordered, a major improvement compared to their previous equipment which was 15 years old and becoming less than reliable.
On top of that, the Select software system means customers can now be offered very attractive discounts via buying John Reay Bonus cards: based on a reward structure that encourages bigger expenditures, a £15 credit gives 10% extra free, £30 gives 20%, and £50 gives 30%.
Besides retaining more customers for future visits, the net result is that the Centre’s manager, Rob Challis, is already seeing the benefit of customers buying forward by putting significant sums of money on the cards, the net result of which is a large and very positive difference to the Centre’s cash flow.
In addition, in order to get their cards customers have to register their details at reception, so the Centre is successfully building a very large customer database. This is already being used to market all sorts of other equipment and range offers.
Higher traffic through the shop
Another area of the business to benefit is the shop itself. Whereas the previous ageing equipment was coin-operated and customers went straight from the entrance to the machines, customers now have to buy the cards and credits via a PIN code in the shop. This simple change of buying behaviour has pushed much higher traffic flows through the Centre’s 3,500 sq ft shop, and in turn has lead directly to much higher spend on impulse purchases by customers. So the investment in Range Servant is proving to be a win-win situation for everyone.
Sales trend analysis and reports
In the back office, the Select software provides plenty of reports for Rob and his eight PGA-qualified staff, who can not only check every sales transaction down to the last ball, but can see when sales peak and dip, and when to set more attractive prices to encourage better take-up of spare bay capacity.
Range Servant: “One of our best business decisions”
Rob Challis says, “Pretty simple, really: Range Servant was the number one recommendation of fellow PGA professionals in the Euro Pro Buying Group! They raved about the equipment and what it was doing for their businesses. For us, the improved cash flow means the machines are paying for themselves faster.
“And in all our dealings with them, with their training and support, and the way their equipment has performed, Range Servant has been excellent. It’s been one of our best business decisions.”
Range Servant www.rangeservant.com