Courage in business

The information environment in which we live and work is becoming more and more technological every day. And technology is becoming more intelligent. This creates new challenges for our businesses, at times drastically changing our business models, actions and ways of thinking. Dan Vedok, entrepreneur and owner of the International Golf Club and event agency, tells how his company underwent a process of change, and then adaptation to new conditions.

His golf course, located in picturesque New England, at first was a private club, very reminiscent of those that were popular in the early twentieth century. Despite the fact that during the economic crisis revenues decreased and the number of employees grew smaller and smaller, under the leadership of Vedoka International it was able to grow from a small community to a huge premium golf club, on the territory of which there is a restaurant and a spa.

"The bottom line is that we had to adapt and not apply the strategies that were typical for this area," Vedok says.

This is what happened: Vedok took advantage of a very unusual decision and concluded a partnership with the company "Groupon", which proposed to expand the company. This significantly increased revenue, through daily transactions with the site "Grupon" Vedok sold for $ 307,000.

"Grupon" dramatically changed our business strategy and model, turning us from a closed to an open golf club, "says Vedok, emphasizing that 95% of Grupon's customers are regular customers of the club. "Our business is constantly growing at a time when others are failing."

Vedoc has every reason to argue this way. The annual income of golf clubs grew by 5.5 percent over the past year. In April 2012, this figure was 4.6 percent. This is considered the biggest increase since 2004, according to Sagework. Nevertheless, golf clubs continue to struggle for profitability. International receives about $ 10 million a year, given that the largest revenue comes from food and beverages. "I moved away from profit from organizing events," Vedok said.

Despite all the non-standard approaches to doing business, Vedok notes that he always placed the quality of customer service at the forefront. "We provide our customers with premium services. I know everyone by name, and together they are a big family for me. " "We are trying to preserve all the best, but always move forward and develop," says Vedok.

So, let's analyze what happened to the club, which experienced the crisis period with great difficulties, and in the end made a breakthrough in its business:

1. The owner of a closed golf club is a brave enough person to consider the very idea of cooperation with a service that sells discounted promotions.
2. The entrepreneur is not blinded to his own vision and is able to see new ways of doing business. When Groupon taught him to sell additional services to customers who came by the shares, the entrepreneur finds a brilliant opportunity to turn upsell into the main business model.
3. The entrepreneur has the courage to abandon the traditional strategies used in this area of business.
4. The manager is ready to introduce a new business model, which assumes the receipt of income from another source. This changed the business and led to its growth.

Be bold and open to the new. It is to such entrepreneurs that success comes.

On materials http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/11969325.html