What has carrying golf clubs for money got to do with sales? A lot more than you'd think. And the caddy's sales process is quite similar to enterprise selling. It's multi-phase, multi-dimensional, circular, and all about getting what you want, by giving somebody else what they want.
It's definitely not just about carrying a golf bag and a yardage chart.
The process starts with the Caddy Master. He's typically hard-bitten, results-focused, straight talking, and busy. In fact very much like any sales manager, except this guy can hire, and fire, on a whim. There's no such thing as employee protection for bag carriers.
The Caddy Master needs subcontractors on demand, but he's not going to send out novices. His clients are club members who come to him every week. Or maybe wealthy individuals on an outrageously expensive outing. Not the sort of people who tolerate disappointment lightly.
So the caddy's first challenge is getting on the roster - invited to sit on the wall waiting for the Master to allocate a bag. This involves more than a little selling during the interview process. Where have you done what and for whom? Are you strong, sharp, polite, charming. Are you reliable.
New caddy's are always the last to be sent out. They hang around, maybe for nothing, while watching the established guys go out, and get back early, ready for another loop. If they get a bag, and do a good job, next time they might get out sooner.
When the Master calls, the caddy shows up, picks up the bag, exchanges a few polite words, wipes the clubs, points out the target, tightens the belt and the boots, and gets going.
You might think by this time the selling is over. The contract is settled. The price will be paid when the job is finished.
You'd be wrong. The selling hasn't started yet. From now on the objective is the tip, the bonus, the gratuity It's all about selling what the golfer is buying - the aspiration, the expectation and the perception.
Our Looper has only a short time to figure out what earns that tip - usually the length of the first fairway -and then 4 or more hours to keep delivering it. Once the discovery process is over the caddy has figured out the ability, the ambition, and the personality of his client.
Loopers don't get to choose golfers. The client might be a 25-year-old hot shot with a low handicap and attitude. The customer might be some corporate CEO used to boot lickers and with an ego inverse to golfing ability. Or the client might be a 75 year old grandmother, out for the entertainment.
Either way the caddy's objective is a happy golfer when the round is done.
For eighteen holes the caddy is selling his knowledge, his expertise in strategy and tactics, matching the golfers ability and ambition with the challenges the course presents. Aim for this spot, hit this yardage, play this borrow. Find the ball, when the golfer doesn't manage to do it.
At the end of the day the happy golfer dips in the bag and brings out a big tip, the bonus, for the caddy. And then drops a few notes in the Caddy Master's hand, grateful for him allocating such a good carrier.
Tomorrow the Looper will get out earlier, and maybe get back in time for another bag.
That's the end of the circular sales process, and the start of another.
On the other hand. if the golfer complains to the Master its a different story. The caddy didn't know the course, couldn't read the greens, wouldn't clean the clubs, lost balls, was surly, or coarse.
If that happens there'll be no work tomorrow.
The Caddy's Prayer
Please Lord,
Let the bag be light
Let the tip be heavy
And the idiot hit it where I tell him
It's definitely not just about carrying a golf bag and a yardage chart.
The process starts with the Caddy Master. He's typically hard-bitten, results-focused, straight talking, and busy. In fact very much like any sales manager, except this guy can hire, and fire, on a whim. There's no such thing as employee protection for bag carriers.
The Caddy Master needs subcontractors on demand, but he's not going to send out novices. His clients are club members who come to him every week. Or maybe wealthy individuals on an outrageously expensive outing. Not the sort of people who tolerate disappointment lightly.
So the caddy's first challenge is getting on the roster - invited to sit on the wall waiting for the Master to allocate a bag. This involves more than a little selling during the interview process. Where have you done what and for whom? Are you strong, sharp, polite, charming. Are you reliable.
New caddy's are always the last to be sent out. They hang around, maybe for nothing, while watching the established guys go out, and get back early, ready for another loop. If they get a bag, and do a good job, next time they might get out sooner.
When the Master calls, the caddy shows up, picks up the bag, exchanges a few polite words, wipes the clubs, points out the target, tightens the belt and the boots, and gets going.
You might think by this time the selling is over. The contract is settled. The price will be paid when the job is finished.
You'd be wrong. The selling hasn't started yet. From now on the objective is the tip, the bonus, the gratuity It's all about selling what the golfer is buying - the aspiration, the expectation and the perception.
Our Looper has only a short time to figure out what earns that tip - usually the length of the first fairway -and then 4 or more hours to keep delivering it. Once the discovery process is over the caddy has figured out the ability, the ambition, and the personality of his client.
Loopers don't get to choose golfers. The client might be a 25-year-old hot shot with a low handicap and attitude. The customer might be some corporate CEO used to boot lickers and with an ego inverse to golfing ability. Or the client might be a 75 year old grandmother, out for the entertainment.
Either way the caddy's objective is a happy golfer when the round is done.
For eighteen holes the caddy is selling his knowledge, his expertise in strategy and tactics, matching the golfers ability and ambition with the challenges the course presents. Aim for this spot, hit this yardage, play this borrow. Find the ball, when the golfer doesn't manage to do it.
At the end of the day the happy golfer dips in the bag and brings out a big tip, the bonus, for the caddy. And then drops a few notes in the Caddy Master's hand, grateful for him allocating such a good carrier.
Tomorrow the Looper will get out earlier, and maybe get back in time for another bag.
That's the end of the circular sales process, and the start of another.
On the other hand. if the golfer complains to the Master its a different story. The caddy didn't know the course, couldn't read the greens, wouldn't clean the clubs, lost balls, was surly, or coarse.
If that happens there'll be no work tomorrow.
The Caddy's Prayer
Please Lord,
Let the bag be light
Let the tip be heavy
And the idiot hit it where I tell him