Promotion is All About People

A conversation with Kevin Thistle will have you swearing off coffee, for he is a fast-paced, handshaking, smiling bundle of energy, which has worked big time for him over the years as he has moved from head pro to personable president of Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ont. since first being hired in late 1993.

Those who don’t know him that well would say that Thistle is a natural born salesman. Those who do know him well would agree, but stress that he’s genuine, someone who would stop and talk to about anybody, not because they can do him a favour, but because he’s a people person.

That’s really what promotion is all about, according to Thistle, who touched on that topic with groups of Professional Golf Management students at Humber and Georgian Colleges in Southern Ontario recently.

“We’re using the word promote and I agree, but I said to them in maybe a couple of different words, it’s all about relationships. It’s getting out there and getting to know everybody and you’re not just promoting yourself, but you’re promoting your golf course,” said Thistle, who recalls the early years of his career.

He remembers playing in a junior/senior pro tournament when he was an assistant professional at Seaton Golf and Country Club in Pickering, Ont., and many of the well-known, established golf professionals in the area were in the field. Thistle recalls wondering what they might be thinking.

“What’s a snotty-nosed, young assistant pro from Seaton playing with those four or five other guys? I look back now and it’s one of my fondest memories, but I got to know them, right?” he said. “For young people in the industry, how do you think you get ahead? How do you think you get the best jobs?”

Thistle has been a catalyst in several high-profile promotions of Angus Glen over the years, most notably the staging of two Canadian Opens, one Canadian Women’s Open and a Telus Skins Game, but you needn’t bring out the stars of the PGA and LPGA Tours to promote your product.

Thistle says it call all be so subliminal, simply by getting to know people. “You never know who the person might be,” he said. “You might coach your kid’s hockey team and you befriend another couple and, all of a sudden, he’s the person who runs the golf tournament for his work.”

According to Thistle, it’s all about valuing the relationships you have and if something spins out of those relationships to improve business, so be it.

He likes to think that his business relationships mean something when a company is considering the location of its next corporate event, or needs to discuss a little value-added or incentive to cement the deal.

Good relationships usually mean discussion in order to make the deal work for both parties and that’s what it’s all about, according to Thistle, who says that’s especially important in these days of economic uncertainty when promotion in the past may be paying dividends now.

“Is (promoting) being reactive now, when the better promoters in Canada have been proactive all their lives? Our tournament sales were great last year and they’re very good for the coming year,” said Thistle.

“It’s never too late of course, so if someone hasn’t been proactive, now’s the time because there are a lot of options for your golfers. There are lots of places for your golfers to play.”

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