For someone just getting started using Business Golf the temptation to pitch a deal while actually on the golf course is sometimes overcoming. What pushes them to make this mistake usually is part of the overall problem many have in business or with their personality.
Not since the mid-70’s has the economy been so bad that it has forced so many people to focus only on the sale and selling every minute of the day. Today, the urge to do this is now more of feeling they NEED to pitch a deal with anything that breaths. What has changed is the consumer.
Consumers are not acceptable to sales pitches in any shape or form. The mass public does not storm out to buy everything that is pitched in a commercial or advertisement except for the insanity people have around the Apple’s ‘i’ products..iPhone, iPod, iPad and the “iDon’tCare” I recommend them produce.
Advertising agency and big box marketing firms live in denial thinking consumer’s confidence has not changed. Consumers today do not trust anything.
So, if you are not to pitch a deal what do you talk about while you are out on the golf course with a potential client ?
This particular question is also related to the question many ask that keeps them from playing golf, or business golf.. Why play golf if I can’t use it as a sales pitch?
Both of the answers to these questions are related to what the consumer is really interested in finding out. Consumers today are the most educated buyers ever. They sometimes know more about the produce than the sales person is pitching. What consumers, B2B or B2C, are interested in is WHO is selling the product or owns the business.
Consumers are not interested in the pitch. This is not to say they are not interested in the product. Consumers are consumers, buyers are still buyers and everyone is interested in a DEAL. It is how the deal is offered that develops in a sale. Offering a deal on the golf course is not the way consumers want to be offered the deal and can kill a deal in its tracks if done so.
Sales people, marketers and business owners need to understand quickly that things have changed. TRUST is the name of the game and GOLF is the only game that exposes whether someone or thing is trustworthy.
What should be spoken during the round of Business Golf?
Well, to say ‘anything but business’ would be a true statement but to offer you more specifics here are a few..
- GOLF
- Interests-hobbies
- sports
- Jokes
- and the OLD standard..weather.
Things other than business deals to NOT talk about…
The OLD standards are still true..
- No Politics
- and No Religion
The pressure is strong to make a sale and the sale will be made once the trust is built. Settle down and quiet being in a hurry because there is one thing you can remember..your competition is dealing with the same thing and the more trust you build the better you are than your competition.
BTW: TV Commercials do not build trust, so pick up the golf clubs and lets get busy..shall we. Let me know how I can help.
