Andrew Barrett, the 2016 Wisconsin PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities, is the PGA head professional at Brown Deer Park Golf Course in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Last year we hosted a Symetra Tour event, which is the women’s qualifying tour for the LPGA Tour. The participants for the two pro-am events drove in, registered, and then got a tee gift package which included a $200 gift certificate. We set up a series of merchandise tents for Maui Jim sunglasses, TaylorMade or Nike luggage, or a Titleist Vokey Wedge/Pro V1 golf ball combo to choose from. This year, we’re offering Maui Jim sunglasses again along with Ecco shoes, and Laser Link GPS watches and rangefinders. Each company’s product retails for about $200, so the participant could use the certificate to choose one item. Reps from each company showed up for two days, bringing their merchandise, performing their sales pitch, and packing their product up when the event was over. They then invoiced us for the number of $200 certificates used on their product.

This Symetra event was very successful, and there were good margins built into many of the items. So some of the extra margin went into a gift bag that went to all the participants to give the perception they were getting more “free” items. We know we picked a good variety of products for the $200 certificates because they were used evenly among the different selections. And what’s so great about it is we didn’t have to put merchandise in our inventory. The reps took care of that, and we simply invoiced our sponsors. We were very pleased at how well the event went overall, and look forward to hosting it again this year.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email pgadean@pga.com