What a strange (non) word “uniqueness” is, don’t you think? but I hear it used often. The suffix “ness” implies a scale, a measurement or a way of comparing things in an incremental way; like green-ness, red-ness or loveliness. Unique-ness shouldn’t be (and probably isn’t!) a proper word, because there shouldn’t be any way of measuring how unique you are, should there?; surely if you are unique you are simply, well…unique?

Well a lot of my clients fire that one at me because you see, they are all in the same business, namely …golf, and I keep telling them that they have to “define” their uniqueness. This is where the confusion arises, but I do that intentionally…confusion makes them think a bit harder! They invariably tell me that they have a golf course or courses and that due to that; they sell golf. They then usually (not always) go on to tell me that golf is golf is golf and…(they sometimes add the suffix…STUPID) as  a result, they cannot differentiate themselves from other golf providers. Of course I try not to take it too personally, but I usually tell them to have a re-think about that last statement.

You see, every business has competition, and guess what?… that competition, those individual competitors, usually look, at least from the outside anyway, very much like everyone else in that business. However, some of them become the VHS and some become the Betamax of their respective industries (that’s one for you kids born in the 60’s), some become the plodders and a much more select few become the fliers! In words that you young folks will understand, some are destined to succeed and some are, well…dead in the water. The main point here is that everyone who is in business is in competition with businesses just like theirs! GOLF IS NOT UNIQUE IN THIS RESPECT…got it?

This illustrates two key issues; first, the majority of golf businesses need to become just that…businesses; many of them still plod on with the same old membership model and that is now dangerous if they want to grow, retain customers, preserve jobs or even just survive. Its ironic, but this supposedly “safe” business model, is in fact the most risky strategy possible.

Secondly, I think this also illustrates how “beaten” many golf clubs feel right now, the management haven’t run out of ideas; the staff haven’t run out of enthusiasm to see a job well done, the greenstaff haven’t lost their pride in the golf course they produce; no, its simply that the financial pressure on many clubs and golf businesses has sapped the energy out of the management team in many cases and they now feel like their options are limited…so when someone like me breezes in from the outside and says “lets define your uniqueness” …well you know the rest.

In the third Step of my new book Golf Business Turnaround-the 7 Essential Steps to Success, available here from Monday 25th January I reveal a tried, tested and fun way to make your golf facility stand out from the crowd.

In what is essentially a step by step blueprint for saving and turning around a struggling golf business, I will reveal many of the advanced techniques and strategies I use with paying clients; and apply the kind of thinking and business innovation that has attracted clients both at home and abroad to seek out our help here at hole18.

In this ground breaking new success manual you will discover an incredibly powerful formula that could turn your golf business from brink of failure to roaring success this year.Each day this week I will share some of what you can expect in the book when you open it next Monday.

Today I’d like to tell you a bit about Step 3 “Uncovering Your Golden Niche (and how to dominate it)”. Let me tell you that once you have mastered this one step, you can look forward to a rejuvenated business that operates almost as if in a vacuum, in other words, almost entirely unaffected by the local competition. In this step you will learn how to make your business truly unique, but it doesn’t stop there, you will also:

• Know exactly what your chosen market wants and how to “ringfence” those customers for yourself.
• Have a “company wide” vision about your competitors and know how to leave them languishing at the starting post.
• Have the knowledge and confidence to market and sell to a clearly defined customer base and be 100% certain that you are reaching them.
• Own and thoroughly understand a technique you can use over and over again to effectively prime your staff to understand and effortlessly sell for you at every opportunity..I call it the 10 minute MBA.

You can pre-book your copy of Golf Business Turnaround, the 7 essential steps to success by completing the form below: Meantime I’ll be back tomorrow with more news.