January 2014, Vol. 69 No. 1
Newsline
Volvo Offers Customers Unique Golf Experience
European golf legend Colin Montgomerie and PGA golfer Ian Poulter participated in Volvo’s first North American golf tournament recently at Sawgrass, FL. Several DCA contractors participated in the event.
In 1988, Volvo was the first commercial organization to engage with the European Tour and has been a pioneer in golf for many years, successfully using its high-profile events portfolio to position the premium brand and create sustainable business partnerships with clients
passionate about the sport. Millions around the world have seen the renowned blue brand on the tees, greens and fairways of the world.
For a normal golfer, the dream of playing with a professional would be just that – a dream. For Volvo’s customers, on the other hand, it can be a reality. “Our customers are one of the main reasons why we sponsor golf and so they should also be offered something unique,” says Per Ericsson, president of Volvo Event Management Golf.
Some 20 percent of Volvo’s customers and an equally large percentage of employees play golf and, at the same time, golf is continuing to expand throughout the world.
According to Volvo officials, regardless of whether one plays golf or not, being involved can be a tool for strengthening relationships with customers. So the company is in the process of developing various tools for employees who are primarily involved in sales and marketing to use, regardless of their prior knowledge of golf.
“We are investing in golf to strengthen the ties with both existing and potential customers and, at the same time, we are making the Volvo brand visible,” said Jack Bolton, director of National Accounts for Volvo’s Pipeline Construction. “From our point of view, a golf tournament is a sales and marketing event. This was a perfect place to bring our management together with pipeliners. It’s a great way to thank pipeline contractors for their business and reinforce the importance of those customer relationships to our management.
“With five construction equipment dealers also present, this was a great venue to make introductions as well. Our dealers are an integral part of our strategy in the pipeline construction business and the more people they get to know in the business, the more willing they are to invest in pipeline construction for the long term.”
Like many other things, it is a question of offering the market something unique.
“We are adopting an entirely new approach to our most important competition, the Volvo World Golf Challenge (previously the Volvo Masters Amateur), in which our customers are given the chance to play golf with the professionals on the European Tour,” Bolton said.
The final is preceded by a large number of qualifying tournaments which are organized during the year by Volvo in different parts of the world. The different companies are responsible for each tournament and the dealers frequently invite their most important customers to take part. The people who reach the final have the chance to play with a professional on one of the days during the professionals’ opening tournament on the tour, the Volvo Golf Champions.
“We give our customers the opportunity to stand on the 18th green, in front of packed stands and millions of TV viewers, and take part in the decisive stage when the last putt is played. This is something unique that no other company is able to offer its customers. I would like to make the dream of being given this opportunity a reality for all our customers all over the world and this can be achieved via our employees.”
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