Case study: Implementing a Hubspot sales pipeline transformed our golf clubs business

Indoor golf studio Golfontrack

About GolfonTrack in Godstone, Surrey

Having worked together a few years ago, it was a delight when Golfontrack approached Your Golf Marketing about working together again.

With many indoor golf venues now around, Golfontrack, founded in 2018, knows their space. Rather than being an “entertainment” venue, their focus is at the other end of the spectrum. Trying to help you to improve your game of golf.

With 5 indoor Trackman bays available for your own practice and golf lessons. An outdoor short game area, group golf lessons, a custom fitting service and access to Godstone’s 9 hole course, this venue really has all the tools. Oh, and not to mention the two fabulous PGA teaching pros and founders of Golfontrack, John and Tom.

However, one thing was missing from their armour. Somebody to take care of their sales and marketing, and bluntly, make it better. More appealing to golfers and better internal processes in place.

Working closely with your golf club

When we set up Your Golf Marketing, as cliche as it sounds, we wanted to be different from other golf agencies. There are many good agencies out there who work with plenty of clients across a lot of different areas of marketing.

However, we felt there was an opportunity to provide close support to golf clients. Act like their outsourced marketing department. Work on specific projects and really make a difference to their business. Provide data and insights to make informed decisions. Decisions that would really make a positive impact on their business.

We didn’t just want to be an agency where work is outsourced and there is minimal relationship.

Golfontrack social media content

Marketing support for the indoor golf venue

John and Tom needed somebody to take the lead on their social media channels (organic and paid) plus take care of their email marketing. 

The brief was to showcase their facilities and to educate golfers with their style of teaching. “We’re not like those quirky, eccentric Youtube professionals, we teach you how to learn”. Finally, using their hook of a free introductory lesson, convert these eyeballs into leads.

Understanding how Golfontrack operated was key, like it is in any business. Being a two-man band, John and Tom spent large proportions of their time teaching, supporting members and ‘putting out fires’ around their centre. 

In the spare time they do have available, it was important it was used wisely and efficiently. Any sales leads would be followed up in a timely manner. Any scheduled follow ups would also be completed.

But, there was just one problem. The Google sheet they had been working on for 4 years, didn’t do any of this. And quite frankly, it was just a mess. There were many different colours. Manual entries. Different fonts and sizes. Lots of columns which didn’t fit on the page. You could barely make any sense of it.

Golfontrack sales spreadsheet

From spreadsheets to a sales pipeline

One thing was clear. We could do the best marketing in the world, but if you don’t have an efficient sales process in place, you wouldn’t get the best results.

Therefore, before we got started with any of our marketing efforts, the first thing we did was implement a Hubspot sales pipeline. This pipeline was going to be the key to success and help glue the business together.

Below is what we implemented:

  • The different stages of the pipeline from new lead to won & lost.
  • What automation there should be and what happens at different stages.
  • Implemented tracking to understand the source of the lead.
  • Created Hubspot forms to install on the website.
  • Create ‘lost reasons’ to understand why leads didn’t convert – very important as we could then amend our marketing accordingly.

In doing this meant every lead that was generated online ended up in one pipeline. Everybody understood the different steps in the process. And more importantly, we were using a system that was fit for purpose. 

Spreadsheets are great to an extent, but they do not compare to using an actual sales pipeline.

Golfontrack's new sales pipeline using Hubspot

The sales process

Businesses have different sales processes. In an ideal world, Golfontrack would have somebody dedicated to following up with any new leads within 24 hours enquiry. This person would then deal with future follow ups and after appointment sessions to try and commit then lead into a member.

However, this isn’t an ideal world. But, what we did was instead discuss and agree on what we could commit to. Each person would have their role within the sales process and everybody knew what that was. 

Now, for the crucial part. All sales activities had to be documented within the pipeline. Without this information, the process falls down. Whether it be a call, email, Whatsapp or something else. 

Using Hubspot to track sales activities

Having sales and marketing work together

So, the pipeline is in place. All staff knew their roles within the sales process. All we had to do was turn the marketing tap on (after we put together the strategy, plan and implementation).

On Meta, we ran awareness adverts to grow the brand. Traffic adverts to the website so potential prospects could find out more information. And lead adverts to generate enquiries.

The results, staggering! Keep on reading.

Paid social media services by Your Golf Marketing for Golfontrack

What memberships do Golfontrack offer

Golfontrack offer a variety of memberships from Practice Only at £95 per month up to their Game-Changer at £659 per month. Furthermore, they offer Group Coaching Sessions at £25 per session and a custom fitting service.

In addition to this, their customers can purchase individual lessons singularly or part of a package.

It’s important to note that all memberships run a monthly basis with just a 30 day notice period.

A lesson happening at indoor golf simulator, Golfontrack

When is peak-season for an indoor golf venue

Like any business, there are peak times. For Golfontrack, their peak season is the winter months. Those cold, dark and wet days at the driving range don’t exist in a nice warm indoor centre. So you can understand the appeal.

However, sticking to their values of their business and why Golfontrack exists. If you really want to improve your game, then you need to practice 12 months of the year.

The results

Below are the results from the the 1st May 2023 to 30th April 2024:

  • Leads generated on Meta (Facebook & Instagram) – 780
  • Leads generated on Website – 190
  • New members – 99
  • Month one revenue generated – £16,369

The average lifetime of a Golfontrack member is 9 months. 

If you wanted to speculate the total revenue generated in that 12 month period then we could say it’s 9 months x £16,369 = £147,321.

What was the cost of the marketing and CRM pipeline?

On Meta, we spent £3,400 in advertising. The cost of software for the Hubspot sales pipeline was £474. We also used Zapier, however, we are on the free version which was fine for us.

This gives a total spend of £3,874 in paid adverts and software costs to generate almost £150,000 in 12 months.

A pretty good return on investment, right!?

Happy owners of Golfontrack John and Tom

Golfontrack are very impressed with Your Golf Marketing’s service

Owner’s John and Tom were delighted with their record-breaking year. 

“The last year has been incredible for us at Golfontrack. We’ve had record-breaking month after month and we put it down to the support from Your Golf Marketing.”

“It’s great working with Darren. He knows us as individuals and understands our business. We couldn’t speak highly enough of the work and results we have achieved.”

Do you want to improve your sales and marketing process?

If your golf club is looking to streamline its sales process, improve on its marketing and generate a return on investment, please do get in touch.