Buying Power and Cost Containment for Stand-Alone Golf Courses

The answer in almost all cases is no…here’s why

Left unchecked, the default setting for most department managers with buying power is to go with the path of least resistance – buy from the same companies and and the most comfortable sales reps…

The Solution is Simple

This article gets into a bit more detail (or this podcast), but the short version of the story is to push your department heads to get multiple (meaning 3-5) bids on every single significant purchase at your facility…

No exceptions. You gotta make vendors compete for your business…

Warning: It’s a pain in the butt, your department directors won’t like it (you’ll get some resistance), and some of your vendors reallywon’t like it…

But experience tells us that over-paying makes for really friendly vendor relationships. Execute on this practice and I promise you’ll save your club thousands…

The 4-bid strategy gives your club 4 huge advantages:

1. You’re Defining a “Good Deal”– Without alternative offers, how do you know what a good deal is?
2. Vendors Compete for Your Business– Not the other way around…simply letting them know you’re getting other offers will force them to sharpen their pencils
3. Negotiation Leverage– You can play offers against one another and create the best terms of both worlds
4. Fallback Position– If one offer falls through, then you’re not starting over from scratch…you can roll with plan B

Here’s an audio presentation of our Owner’s Forum where John Brown is speaking to some club owners on the subject…

Food for thought…