|
OK, maybe the days when mom-and-pop range owners stashed money away in an old cigar box are a thing of the past. Yet, when it comes to employing computerized point-of-sale systems to help drive business and serve customers, golf ranges still lag far behind the technology learning curve, industry experts say.
“It really comes down to getting better organized and running a business like a business,” comments Mike Stanovich, national sales manager for Pro-ShopKeeper Computer Software Co. Inc. in Oakmont, Pa. “Some operations don’t want to computerize because they don’t want any records, and that’s just plain silly. Keeping track of your business is so much more important than having cash in your pocket. You aren’t going to be really successful running an operation out of a cigar box or a cash register.”
What range owners need, says Stanovich, is a computerized P-O-S system—a personal computer with special software known as “point-of-sale” technology—that tracks sales and customers and can generate immediate reports. The right software, he says, can reduce the tedious and often inaccurate task of keeping records by hand.
P-O-S systems perform the same functions as a traditional cash register: sales are rung, money is exchanged, a receipt is printed and the cash drawer is secured. The difference is that a P-O-S system—depending on the level of software—captures and tracks all kinds of useful information such as customer data (e-mails and ZIP codes), sales data (by hour, customer and product), inventory and even employee work hours. By networking terminals at the front counter with a PC in the back office, sales information and customer data collected and input by cashiers can feed automatically to an accounting program to generate reports, facts and figures.
Assessing Your Needs
According to industry experts, public golf courses and country clubs, because of their multifaceted nature, have realized the benefit of P-O-S systems to help manage and grow their businesses. While there are few, if any, sales software systems designed specifically for golf ranges, those designed for courses can easily be adapted.
For example, “there are systems [for golf courses] that allow individuals to call in and make a tee time by pushing the buttons on their phone,” says Scott Canfield, owner of Canfield Business Systems in Louisville, Ky. “While golf ranges don’t have tee times, they can adapt the software to schedule lessons and get detailed printouts on when lessons were given, who took the lessons and what time they were given. It allows the operator to evaluate the lesson schedule and make adjustments accordingly.”
Some ranges have been successful adapting P-O-S systems from other industries. At Lynnhaven Golf Park in Virginia Beach, Va., staff ring up sales on a modified version of Digital Dining software from Atlantic Restaurant Systems in Raleigh, N.C.
“I can communicate from my office to the front desk and retrieve sales information immediately,” says Dave Bishop, general manager of the 50-bay driving range and family fun center. “We don’t have a big pro shop, but we have a food and beverage operation, and it allows me to track sales more accurately.” He also opted for a touch screen that reduces cashier training time and speeds up the sales process.
Bar code scanners are another piece of optional hardware that can be used to capture and store product sales information for comparison against current inventory. At any time, the operator can check inventory levels against sales to determine purchasing needs or to identify shrinkage.
“We used to recommend that our clients count their inventory one time a year and to determine the value of their stock by matching what they sold it for against what they purchased it for,” says Jon Schillinger, director of the point-of-sales division for Los Angeles-based Point-of-Sale Systems, a subsidiary of Charles Carroll Associates LLC. “It’s sometimes a mind-boggling task. And then you consider that a computerized P-O-S system does all that for you instantly.”
But not all ranges require this level of automation. What about the range that has 12 hitting bays and a soda machine out front?
“Technology is not the answer for everybody,” says Martin Thompson, director of customer support and marketing for Integrated Business Systems in Richmond, Va. “If you are a hands-on owner, technology scares you and you aren’t into it, you probably shouldn’t be spending the money, because any system is only as good as you make it. But if you have a robust operation, with a pro shop and a food and beverage operation, then you really need to at least look into computer hardware and software.”
There’s a range of P-O-S systems on the market with different options, features and, of course, price points.
Says Stanovich, “The biggest mistake golf range operators make is that they don’t look at product availability. They look at price first, get sticker shock at some systems and [then] find a program that costs $500. But they find that it doesn’t do what they need and is hard to use.”
The Cost Factor
If a range operator decides to keep it simple and avoid modern technology at all costs, then a cash register purchased for a few hundred dollars at an office supply store may suffice.
Office supplier Staples sells a basic cash register for around $100 that can be programmed with item codes and produce a single receipt. Another cash register—for around $200—has a secondary price display monitor to allow customers to view their total cost. It also allows the pricing of 1,200 items and has an automatic tax table system. Another model, priced at $350, allows 1,800 items to be priced and has a large bill and coin tray. The last two models provide some degree of connectivity to a master PC.
“The higher priced models let the owner call up individual cashier, hourly and daily sales reports,” says Sam Bean, a merchandiser for Staples. “There is the ability to connect with a master PC for price programming purposes, and they serve a small- to medium-sized operation very well.”
For those looking to computerize, one PC in the main office and one at each point-of-sale location is ideal. Using one computer and a “dumb terminal”—a display monitor and keyboard operating from a centralized CPU—at each cashier station is cheaper and almost as effective.
Twenty years ago, a computerized sales system would likely have been cost-prohibitive for most medium and even large-scale ranges. “Today, there are dozens of PCs that are available that will do the job, and your basic hardware and software package will run around $2,500,” says Schillinger. “These systems pay for themselves rather quickly in time savings and customer satisfaction. But remember, you don’t have to shoot a mouse with a howitzer.”
Many point-of-sale software providers can have a range up and running for less than $1,000 (not including computers).
“For small operations, you can go anywhere from several hundred dollars for a cash register up to several thousand dollars for sales stations, a main computer and software that would allow connectivity,” says Thompson of Integrated Business Systems. “However, if you are a large driving range that has a pro shop and a food and beverage operation along with a busy lesson schedule, you might want to invest in several PCs and software that could run between $10,000 and $15,000.”
Set up and training on most systems only takes about two days, and service contracts can cost as little as $20 a month. Though not necessary, service contracts can offer benefits such as an annual software upgrade as well as free phone support.
In addition to a PC and software, other items needed for a basic P-O-S configuration include a cash drawer, receipt printer—which provides a listing of daily transactions for auditing purposes and a customer copy for signatures with credit card sales—and magnetic card reader—a device that can read and send via cable to a computer program information contained on a credit card or other cards with a magnetic strip.
The Advantages of Being Computer Savvy
Beyond the ability to keep an accurate account of merchandise and sales activity, computerized P-O-S systems give the golf range operator with an adjunct pro shop operation the crucial ability to determine what products sell best and stock merchandise accordingly.
“For instance,” says Stanovich, “having a computerized P-O-S system allows the owner to determine which golf glove or which golf ball sells best in the pro shop, and what product he makes the most money on. A lot of operators are shocked when they find out such accurate sales information. They think they are making an awful lot of money on a certain product or line, but when they can analyze the information, they find out differently.
“Software also allows the range owner to get a handle on rental clubs, who is taking what out the door to practice with,” he continues. “It’s the same thing with new demo stuff. Having all this information stored in a computer where you have easy access to it makes much more sense than writing things down in a notebook.”
Bob Krelik jumped into the brave new world of computers this summer. The owner of Mr. B’s Golf Center and Discount Pro Shop in Eatontown, N.J., Krelik oversees a large operation (55 hitting bays) and decided it was time to switch to a PC-based solution that would help him more efficiently track sales. So he invested in a program from Computer Golf Management Systems, which he says can be expanded to meet future business needs.
“One of the major reasons we have gone to a computerized P-O-S system is that we have a large golf shop and we do a lot of different things like trading and selling used clubs, and we needed to get a better handle on it before it got away from us,” he says. “We did a lot of record keeping manually but we needed to have something better. This system will allow us to more efficiently track what is moving and who our customers are.”
That’s the fringe benefit of a P-O-S system.
“A computerized P-O-S system can be vital in driving business,” says Thompson. “For instance, by tracking customers by name and what days they come to the range, you can determine what are your lightest days and then design specials to draw more people out. You can e-mail your customers that information and increase volume.”
Catching Up With The Times
While technology is catching up with the range industry, more can be done.
“We will see more innovations when driving range operators realize they need more robust systems and let us know about it,” says Thompson. “If they tell us they need one or two things in a software program that would allow them to manage their businesses better, I think the industry would respond to that.”
|
