Customer story · Retail
Building managers who develop great sales teams
How Drummond Golf is helping franchisees develop their people, build capability across 50 stores and support stronger sales performance.
Drummond Golf is Australia's leading golf retail company, specialising in top-quality equipment, apparel, accessories and expert advice. Founded in 1974 by Ray Drummond in Bendigo, Victoria, the company has grown to 50 stores across Australia.
We sat down with Scott Gordon, National Franchise Development Manager, to talk about how Drummond Golf is developing its people, building capability across its stores, and supporting stronger sales performance. Scott joined Drummond Golf in 2015 after management roles in the petroleum and convenience market, combining his passion for golf and people management.
“Working for Drummond Golf feels like working with family; it's a great team!”
The problem
When Scott joined the business, the team had limited training resources. Drummond Golf relied heavily on supplier sales reps visiting stores to provide product knowledge training.
“The biggest challenge was the inconsistency of in-store training between stores depending on their location. Stores in the main cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane would see a sales rep once every week or two; however, those based in regional locations might have been lucky to have a sales rep visit every three to six months.”
New products were also challenging to train teams on in time for market launches.
“If we relied on a rep to come and train staff about the features and benefits, not everybody was getting the same level of service in an adequate timeframe.”
Drummond Golf needed a more consistent way to give every team access to the product knowledge and sales skills they needed, regardless of where they worked.
The solution
Scott started by creating his own PowerPoint presentations with voiceover commentary to support employee training. While this worked in the short term, feedback showed there was a need for something more effective, time-efficient and easy to use. The goal was a system that was interactive, predominantly video-based and taught theory in small, bite-sized pieces, so staff could complete training during quieter moments in their shifts.
Drummond Golf's former CEO, Jamie Cooke, introduced RedSeed to the business, with training created for people at store level right through to head office. It was a key priority to make development part of the way its stores worked, supporting people while building the capability needed to deliver results.
Developing the team, not just the top salesperson
One of the ongoing challenges has been making consistent time for development. Scott says the stores that have made training part of their weekly rhythm stand out.
“Those stores that have built training time into their weekly roster and invested time to grow their staff and training culture are very transparent to see within the RedSeed system. I can tell when they've logged on and sent workbooks: they're the ones that have become very successful.”
Scott is a big believer in franchisees training and coaching their teams for the future.
“Rather than considering themselves to be the number one salesperson of their store, we encourage franchisees to focus on developing their team so their staff are adequately resourced to capture the sales the franchisee would generally generate if they are absent or off-site.”
Coaching in the real moment
Having the ability to coach and spend time with employees on the shop floor, and provide constructive feedback on their interactions with customers, has been a game changer for Drummond Golf. It gives franchisees the opportunity to support development around real customer interactions, rather than relying on learning alone.
Results and highlights
Scott says the stores that have engaged strongly with development have made it part of their culture.
“It's hard to quantify, but I know that the stores that have engaged with the RedSeed training have built it as part of their culture. I have definitely seen an improvement in the average sale, the average profit and the ability to focus their teams on what is required as part of their employment.”
Through Drummond Golf's internal reporting, Scott has also seen a relationship between engagement with development and store performance. One employee in Western Australia is a great example of what development can support: an ex-chef with no background in golf or retail joined the business with an eagerness to learn and a positive mindset.
- An ex-chef with no golf or retail background became a $1,000,000 salesperson within his first 12 months
- Improvements in average sale and average profit in stores that built training into their culture
- A visible correlation between training engagement and store performance over four to five years
“Employ for the right attitude and you can train everything else.”
What's next
Going forward, Drummond Golf's goal is to create a robust onboarding programme with clear, streamlined learning pathways for new employees to complete before serving customers, or as Scott puts it, “the keys to actually drive the car”. Scott is also determined to keep working with franchisees to keep development visible and support positive engagement, staff retention and sales performance.
For Drummond Golf, developing great people means giving them the skills and confidence to perform at their best. By making time for development, coaching on the shop floor and giving regular feedback, franchisees are building stronger, more capable teams. Read more customer stories.