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     It's 2009 and our R&D Team is running at full force. Over the next month or so, I will be highlighting new features added to our latest product line. First up - Email Marketing Tools.

     As an old friend of mine used to say; "There are two types of people those that make excuses and those that get things done." Everyone is bitching about the economy but what are you doing to ensure you are not just another statistic wiped out by the recession?

     With v3.0 of the CPS software, you have a FREE email marketing tool at your disposal that will work better than any advertisement you can purchase on any media, as long as you meet one simple prerequisite. You must be collecting email addresses from your customers. If you are not collecting email addresses, then you need to lean in closer to your screen here. Fast and close enough that the screen bops you on the head for me!

     Really, if you are not actively collecting every possible email address you can from your customers (or at least not willing to start doing so), you can skip this letter. In fact, you can just sit back and work on your excuses now because in this economy it will be difficult to survive the recession. If you don't survive the recession you won't be doing me any good - hey, sometimes it is all about me!

     Now, for those of you that "get things done". In this lesson, I am going to walk you through building four different Templates for three different scenarios (or cases). Next week, I will show you how to use the marketing tool to mine through your data and specifically target different groups and send them a personalized email using the Templates. Total cost: ZERO dollars! Potential incremental income: Depends on two things, The Offer and The Audience. The first is only limited by your imagination, the latter - hey, he with the biggest email list wins every time! (Quick Note: This is the first iteration of this tool and we are in the process of adding more filters to it; but if you go through the basics here, the new filters will be easy to pick up as they are added.)

     For the purpose of this Lesson, my goal is to increase my income from lessons this coming year.

     Case 1: I would like to send out an email to every golfer who took a lesson this past year. I want to thank them for their business, ask them if they felt the lesson(s) were valuable, and offer them some incentive to take more lessons this year. I would also like to send out an email to all the golfers who have not taken a lesson and provide incentive for them to give it a try.

     Case 2: Offer every member a 30 minute private putting lesson for only $15 as a birthday present.

     Case 3: Contact every golfer who hasn't played in the past 6 months and offer them a free group lesson and round of golf to come back out and play.

To start, click on the Email button on the main menu:

This will open the Email tool:

Click on the Template tab and then the Add link. This one will be a Thank You for those that took a lesson:

Enter a Template Name, Return Email address (From) and the Subject. Write your email (The Offer) and note that I dragged the [CUSTOMERNAME] field into the email. This will do a mail merge and insert the customer's name to personalize the offer. You can optionally use the formatting tools to change font, color, layout, etc. Click SAVE to save this template.

You can create as many Templates as you like by clicking Add again. Naming them sensibly will make it easier to use when you get to sending out the email blast, so use some common sense.

This one is for those that Never Took a Lesson:

Now, one for a 30 Minute Putting Lesson as a Birthday Gift:

And finally, one to bring back those lost players:

As I mentioned, you are only limited by your imagination. Note that while I wrote these quickly (don't critique my spelling and grammar!); I did choose my words carefully. Consider the following points:

• Your best prospects are current customers! Reach out to your existing client base prior to looking outside of the fold.
• I never guaranteed to lower someone's score or handicap. I did guarantee that I could help them enjoy the game more. It is not always about the score on the card, it can be about the day out with friends. A recent industry survey puts the company you play with as the number one reason people play golf where they do. What was at the very bottom? Competitions! Think about that!
• I show the value of a private one hour lesson and offer a 30 minute putting lesson for a meager $15. 30 minutes will go by in well... 30 minutes. But this gives you 30 minutes to sell more lessons. I played with a pro this year who told me he could tell someone's entire game by watching them hit a few putts. Imagine at the end of 30 minutes of a putting lesson telling the guy, "I see from the way you putt that you probably slice the majority of your drives, is that a fair assessment? You know, if I could work with you for just an hour a week over the next 3 weeks, I'm pretty sure I can straighten that out and maybe even get a little draw working for you! Do you have an hour this week that we can book you into our lesson program?"
• Free round of Golf and a Lesson. Obviously, this may take pulling some favors from the course if you don't own it (you could soften the offer with a "bring a friend and you play free"). However, think about the offer. Carts would be additional. F&B would be additional. If they are playing somewhere else, it gives you an opportunity to steal back the customer from a competitor. If they have not been playing, they will probably drop a few bucks in the shop for a new glove, some balls, an ugly hat, naked lady tees, etc. In addition, I would try to play a couple of holes with each group. If you can get 5 of the 40 players to return as loyal customers - you win!
• Each Offer has a "Call to Action". Reply Today to..., Call Now to..., etc. The most common mistake in marketing and sales is NOT asking the person to take some action to respond to the offer. Once they do, ask them to close the deal - "Can we book you into our lesson program this week?" Better yet... "What day and time works best for you in our lesson program?"

In the next lesson, I will show you how to take these Templates and use them to Increase Your Income by doing some data mining in the CPS application.

Stop and say hello at the PGA Merchandise Show - Jan 29-31 in Orlando. Booth #3577

Until Next time,

Enjoy :)