Here in South Florida, a lot of business is conducted during rounds of golf. The Good Ole Boy Network is alive and well. As a professional woman that doesn't golf, it's sometimes hard to compete with those relationships cemented on the greens.
A lot times, price and service doesn't even factor in. It's more like, "well, my wife's brother sells that, so I have to buy from him" or "my boss has part ownership of XYZ company, so we buy from them." Those kinds of parameters are hard to get around. In fact, it's best to walk away from them and move on to someone else.
Recently, I've been thinking of taking up golf, though walking/riding over a course of 18 holes in order to hit the little ball into the little hole holds absolutely no interest for me. But with the economy taking a dive and sales getting harder to come by, I may need to become the Ole Girl in the Ole Boys Network.
Your comments--priceless!
LOL, I used to date a man who had a condo on a golf course. i would sit on the balcony watching folks hopping in and out of their carts and hitting that little white ball and wonder why? Do you think you can maybe do business over miniature golf? No fun golf carts to drive but you are done in less than an hour and if you get a hole in one on the last hole you get a free game!