Several months ago my wife and I visited a new church. With the birth of our first child, we thought that it was time to find a congregation that was more youth-oriented than the one that we have been members at. We were impressed with everything that we saw and I, as a marketer, was very impressed when I was handed the bulletin and found a form inserted for visitors to rate their experience. It was complete with snail mail, phone and email fields. I filled out everything fully looking forward to seeing how a vibrant church handled its follow up. The weather has cooled and the days have shortened and I am still waiting. I never received a phone call, email or thank you card. I have to admit that I feel a bit put off by the experience.

Our prospective new church missed a golden opportunity with a prime target. They harvested the information that they needed to make the all important follow up contact and dropped the proverbial ball. This is a mistake that is all too prevalent in our modern world of data collection.

KNOWING IS ONLY HALF THE BATTLE. WHAT YOU DO WITH THE INFORMATION IS WHAT WINS YOU THE WAR!

This problem is probably the most frustrating one that I face in my job of working with golf courses, management companies and vendors. Too many times we build a fantastic system to facilitate the capture and databasing of contact information, as well as the means to facilitate good communication, only to see it used either sporadically or not at all.

In order to be effective, prospect communications must be sytematic, targeted and consistent. Once you have built a mechanism whereby you are collecting data at every touchpoint (through your website, at the point of sale and at special events and shows), you must complete the circle and provide relevant information with a definitive call to action.

Be Systematic- It is essential that you meet the expectations of your audience and have the needed infrastructure to provide this communication. Establish a consistent schedule for communications and abide by it. Make it a function of your operation and make someone accountable for the success or failure of this aspect of your business. It is absolutely imperative to the economic viability of your operation.

Be Targeted- Contact information should be as segemented as possible. If you have a course with large events and F & B operations, differentiate the clients that you have by area of interest. Cross-promotion is a good idea, but you need to know your audience in order to properly craft your message. You wouldn’t talk to your kids’ friends the same way you talk to old college buddies. Make your message, tone and offers appropriate to your audience if you want to continue to reach them.

Be Consistent- The idea of consistency is key to proper branding. Every message should reflect your overall market positioning. This means that you not only clearly enunciate your brand, but that you do it in a professional manner. It doesn’t matter how impressive your clubhouse is if your newsletter is littered with misspelled words, poor grammar or misstated offers. Building credibility takes time, tearing it down takes a mere instant.

This is one of the key sections of my upcoming book. If you have interesting approaches or insights into this process, I would love to hear them. I have a special interview preference form that you can fill out to let me know how best to contact you for inclusion.

Next time we will take a closer look at your touchpoints of communication.