While out at the HP Byron Nelson this past week I took the opportunity to ‘people watch’ and on occasion strike up a conversation with people standing next to me. It was interesting how many executives from HP I ran into who were out walking the ropes with clients.
It seems all five of the HP executives I chatted with were taking a break after a morning of different activities.
I was excited to hear that HP has adapted some of the methods of playing business golf I advise business people to use. That being..take a client to a golf outing or play a round of golf and then sit down and talk. In several of the chats I had, the HP person had just gotten back from playing a round of golf with a client at a local country club and was out taking a break watching the tournament before going in for a series of dinners and chat sessions.
One of the other methods recommended for using golf as a business tool at the large professional tournaments is for businesses who have contracts with vendors make the renewal of the contract to coincide with the professional tournament week. This allows for the meetings around the contract signing to be mixed with golf outings and dinners associated with being a sponsor of the professional events. I find it interesting when I mention this to many business people they make the “V-8” statement…
WOW, you mean I could have been a sponsor and taken my client to the tournament and it would all have been a business expense”?”
HP seems to be using the Byron Nelson to their advantage. These couple of points of how to use golf and golf events as a business tool are just two of the ways people can go about developing or maintaining business through the use of playing business golf.
You don’t have to be an executive of HP to use golf as a business tool. However, if HP is seeing a benefit from using golf as a business tool then maybe more business people should be able to follow their lead
If you are interested in learning more about how to get started in learning to play golf so you can use it in business or more about how to use your golf game to develop more business you should join the Business Golf Country Club. It is a private club for golfers who are serious about business and business people who are serious about golf.
