Ged Gould, American Golf

Ged Gould, Finance Director at American Golf, talks to Fieldworks Connections about the key ingredients to delivering great value to customers

Q: What do you think has been the secret of American Golf’s continued success?
A: The key to our success is based upon excellent customer service and great value. The success has also been underpinned by the business keeping a close control of its costs and working capital.

Q: What is the secret to good customer service?
A: At American Golf we make sure we offer the best range of products at the best value. Our ethos is very much focussed on ensuring our staff always look to sell the right product to a customer in order to improve their game.

Q: What is the company’s attitude to investing in technology?
A: As a business any investment in IT has to deliver on one of two counts – either improve business efficiency or improve the customer experience.

Q: How do you convince the board to invest in IT?
A: Any investment we make always has to have a strong and clear payback in terms of financial return.

Q: How do you get the best out of your suppliers?
A: Golf is dominated by around 6 major suppliers, to grow our business it’s vital that we work in close partnership with our key suppliers.

Q: What are American Golf’s plans for 2010?
A: To continue our store rollout programme and to continue to increase our market share.

Published March 2010