May 20, 2008
The golf club of today, is not your Daddy’s golf club! In days past you had your choice of 5-6 major brand names, you did not have a lot of choice about how your clubs were made, how they were fitted, what materials were used, etc.
Wow has that changed! Today the number of major club making manufacturers has exploded, you can buy custom made clubs, you can buy brand name mass produced clubs fitted exactly to your swing, you can buy clones or knockoffs of those mass produced brands, you can buy build it yourself components that will match the specifications and quality of any thing offered by the major manufacturers.
One of the biggest changes has been in “woods”, first they are almost all made of metal or composite material today, why they are still called “woods” is anybody’s guess. Just 20 years ago traditional wood drivers of about 200CC’s volume were still in most golf bags, today’s high performance driver pushes 460CC’s in volume, is made of titanium or a blend of titanium and some exotic composite material, a graphite shaft, adjustable or changeable weight plugs that are purported to influence ball flight patterns and cost upwards of $700.00 for a major brand name. And of course golfers being the ego maniacs that we are have to have the best, most high tech driver in the bag.
Fairway woods (also metal) have not grown as much in size, however there are different face heights, weight plug options, and many shaft and grip choices.
Irons are now oversized, mid-sized, cavity backed cast, forged, milled, offset, sling backed, and this is just part of the verbiage. The array of shafts available is staggering, the range of prices for shafts is amazing. A major brand name full set of irons priced at $1,100 or more is not unusual.
Let’s not overlook putters, the traditional blade putter could be hard to find. Check the names of these putters, SRT 2-Ball Putter, Tri-Ball SRT Putter, Studio Style Putter, 2 Bar Putter, some of the styles available look as if they came from another planet. The site I found these putters on listed 138 brand name putters, ranging in price from $19.99 to $299.00, the vast majority of them were around $130.00.
Send in the clones…along with the explosion of major brand name manufacturers, there has also been an explosion of companies who either manufacture or import “clone” of “knockoff” clubs that have the same or very similar specifications and features of some of the more familiar brand names, some of them even copy the cosmetic features. Many of these clones or knockoff clubs have been challenged in court for patent infringement, some have lost and some have not.
What is the value of these companies? Glad you asked…most of them sell their products at a fraction of the cost of the major brand name products, even if your ego will not let you carry a clone club in your bag, you can still buy one of these clubs that has similar specs and features to the brand name you are considering, this is a relatively inexpensive way to check out what you think may work. Another way to perform the same experiment is to have a custom club maker build you a club that mimics the brand name you are after, or of course you can buy the components and tools and build-it-yourself.
When you are finished with your evaluation you can take out a second on the house, sell the clone or custom club to one of your golf partners and buy that coveted major brand name club. Then go out and take some lessons, because no matter what the advertising or the salesperson promised, that new club will not, by itself, make you hit it like Tiger!
So where are you going to buy your new clubs? As little as 20 years ago the only place to find the major brand names and the expertise to properly fit a club to your swing was a golf course pro shop. Today your choices are almost endless. There are any number of “big Box” golf superstores, with complete on hand stocks of anything you could want, many of which also have websites. There are major web only retailers, mort have some type of fitting chart that will get you close to the ideal club. The Internet has also made it east for a small custom club maker to put his wares on the web, and this is where in many cases you will find the most expertise, just do a search for “custom golf clubmakers”. Then there are the clone and knockoff companies, and some of these products are fantastic values, search for “clone golf clubs”.
Wherever, and whatever you buy…Enjoy your new clubs. And then when you are on the first tee or the driving range and the guy next to you or ahead of you is hitting 300 yard drives with an old wood headed club, you can wonder why.
Jim Newell a Security Professional, salesman and Consultant for over 35 years, writes articles covering many different topics, including home, business and property security, sales and marketing, health and fitness and others. He operates web sites who’s missions are to educate, and bring additional information about these topics. The goal is to help you to make informed and educated decisions about securing your personal property, your home and your business property, live a more healthy lifestyle, and help on the road salespeople better manage their time and resources. Visit http://www.talkingolf101.com for more info.
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No matter how hard you try, in business you simply can’t please everyone. You could have a highly trained customer service squadron and an award-winning product, but still you’d have some buyers who just weren’t happy. The bad news is that unhappy customers are more eager to share their experiences than happy ones which could spell disaster for your business.
There is good news, however. Unhappy customers who receive satisfaction can become your biggest allies. The trick, of course, is discovering how to satisfy their needs so efficiently that they’ll forget whatever caused their disappointment in the first place. Here are some ways to make that happen:
1) Be a Good Listener
When someone complains about us, our first instinct is to get defensive and to distribute blame. Most of the time we start doing this even before the other person has finished their argument. When that happens, we may misjudge the situation, offer inappropriate resolutions, or appear insensitive to our customers’ feelings. Instead, we must work hard to become patient listeners. We should stay focused on the customer and not get distracted by anything else going on around us.
We should also pay attention to what is being said, not how it is being said. Even a beligerant customer is trying to express a concrete complaint, he just might not be able to do it as clearly or as calmly as someone else. By listening patiently to our customers, we can take the first step toward helping them more effectively.
2) Don’t Let an Unhappy Customer Slip Away Without a Fight
Just because someone is unsatisfied with your service or your product, you don’t have to throw your hands up in the air and say “That’s another one gone.” Take steps right away to resolve the situation. Most customers who have a complaint just want you to take the problem seriously, to handle it as quickly as possible, and to have it resolved in a respectful and professional manner. If you can do that for them, you will successfully mend the relationship.
3) Resolve the Problem to Their Satisfaction, Not Yours
When many businesses right wrongs, they do so by only considering what is in their best interest and not what would satisfy the customer. That simply doesn’t work most of the time. Let me give you an example.
One young woman took her small children to a well-known fast food restaurant for dinner. Because her youngest child was diabetic, she ordered diet drinks for their child-sized meals. Instead, she received regular drinks, and the extra sugar in the drink caused her child to have to be rushed to the emergency room that night. When she called to complain, the manager offered her a free meal to compensate her for the near-death experience of her two year old daughter.
Why did the manager make such a ludicrous offer? Because that was what the restaurant had decided to do in order to deal with customer complaints in a cost-effective manner. It was good for them and that’s what mattered.
The reality is that customers will all have different ideas on how to resolve these issues: some may want an employee to be fired or punished for their bad service, others will want financial restitution, some will want assurance that it will never happen again, and most will want a combination of those things.
To determine how to satisfy your unhappy customers, just ask them how you can make things right and then do whatever they ask for (within reason, of course). By doing this, you will be showing how much their satisfaction and patronage means to you.
4) Keep Your Head
When customers are angry with us, it can be very upsetting, especially if we truly do care about their business. Yet, we may get so upset that we aren’t able to cope effectively with their problem and end up losing the relationship which can be even more upsetting. Instead, take these four steps to coping with your feelings:
A) Remember it’s not about you - While it may seem that they are yelling or complaining about you personally, they aren’t. They simply want what they paid for. Your customers don’t know if you’re a good family man or a single mother struggling to get by; all they know is that they paid for something and that’s what they expect to receive. So don’t take their complaints personally.
B) Stop thinking “If only” or “What if” — After an incident, you may spend days going back over the situation and wondering what you could have done differently, but this is futile. No matter how much you may want to, you can’t go back and change it now. Instead, you should be looking forward and finding ways to prevent it from happening again.
C) Know you’ve done all you can - If you feel guilt because you weren’t able to satisfy an unhappy customer, you can shut your conscience up easily if you know that you did everything within your power to right the situation. After all, there are just some people who will never be happy with anything that you do and they aren’t worth stressing over.
D) Keep improving - In life, we learn more from our mistakes than we do from getting something right. So each unhappy customer provides you with a learning experience that will not only help you handle future situations better but will also show you how to prevent future mistakes from happening. Obviously, you don’t want too many of these learning experiences, but when they do happen, be sure to use them wisely.
While you won’t be able to safe every relationship, you may be surprised at how many you can rescue with these suggestions. It may seem like a lot of extra effort, but if you care about your customers and about your business, it’s the least you can do for them and for yourself.
Vishal P. Rao is the owner of: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/
An online community of people who work at home.
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Mortgage is a financial program that involves borrowing money
from the bank with the condition of keeping a valuable asset as
a collateral security. Home Mortgage as the name suggests
involves keeping the Home as the collateral security. There are
quite a many banks in California that are offering the
California Home Mortgage program.
Before applying for the California Home Mortgage one should have
a proper discussion with the best California lenders, as they
can clarify all the confusions. One can also contact California
Mortgage Brokers also in order to get more information. Before
applying for the program one should find out about the
California based bank/ company’s credibility after all not all
places in California offer good programs.
Apart from that one also requires to find out about best
California Home Mortgage Quotes and rates. Only good places in
California offer affordable quotes and rates. One can go through
the bank/company’s catalogues and read carefully the terms and
conditions as it sis important on the part of the borrower to
know about the same.
To apply for the best California Home Mortgage program one has
to fill in an application form and provide information such as
the social security numbers, marital status, current address,
birth date, employment and salary information etc. All the
information given by the borrower is evaluated carefully in
order to see if the person is suitable for getting the money.
When applying for a California Home Mortgage program its
important on the part of the borrower to know if repayment of
the loan is affordable. As incase the borrower fails to make the
repayment then bank/company would have full control on the
person’s home! One can pay back the Mortgage loan amount either
all together or in monthly installments according to the
repayment procedure being followed by the bank or company.
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