Codarity · copy review
Professional Golf Planners of America
141 lines · establishing · Attraction leads · associations membership · 30 written by claude-opus-5, cached
Cover
The first two sentences. If these do not land, nothing else is read.
coverTitle
Market briefing for Professional Golf Planners of America
coverStanding
Prepared for Tony Comperchio. This is research about your market and where your firm sits in it, ending in a path. It is not a proposal.
Your answers
Reflects their four answers back before anything is asserted. Absent when they have not answered.
answersIntro
You answered four questions. They are here first because everything after this reads differently depending on them.
How your buyers decide
The 221-day claim, before it is applied to them.
buyingBehaviourIntro
Before anything specific to your firm, one thing about how your buyers behave, because it explains most of what follows.
buyingBehaviourClose
5 in every 100 of your buyers are actively looking right now. 12 are forming a view without talking to anyone. 83 are not looking at all and will be at some point. Almost all marketing in this market is built for the first group. The work that compounds is built for the second.
Who is actually in the room
Five seats. The section the ideas all point back at.
committee.emphasisNote
The event is the product, not a marketing activity, so the owner seat carries the most weight and the finance seat is a board.
committee.leadSeatweighted for this market
The one who has to run it
committee.sponsor.optimisingForThe one whose neck is out
a result they can point at in a board meeting. The event is a means to something they have already promised upwards.
committee.sponsor.afraidOfThe one whose neck is out
spending a large number and having nothing defensible to show for it. Not failure exactly, ambiguity.
committee.sponsor.questionThe one whose neck is out
If I am asked in six months whether this was worth it, what do I say?
committee.sponsor.reassuredByThe one whose neck is out
a supplier who talks about outcomes and measurement before they talk about production values.
committee.owner.optimisingForThe one who has to run it
a delivery that does not consume them. They have done this before and they know exactly which parts go wrong.
committee.owner.afraidOfThe one who has to run it
a supplier who is impressive in the pitch and unreachable in week six. They have been burned and they remember it.
committee.owner.questionThe one who has to run it
When something goes wrong at 6pm the night before, who actually answers the phone?
committee.owner.reassuredByThe one who has to run it
specifics about process, escalation and named people, rather than a showreel.
committee.brand.optimisingForThe one guarding how it looks
something that feels like them and lands with their audience, not a generic event with their logo on it.
committee.brand.afraidOfThe one guarding how it looks
cheapness. A stand, a stage or a room that undercuts everything else they have spent the year building.
committee.brand.questionThe one guarding how it looks
Will this look like us, or like an event company's idea of us?
committee.brand.reassuredByThe one guarding how it looks
evidence the supplier understands their market and their audience, not just their sector.
committee.finance.optimisingForThe one who signs it
predictability. A number that does not move and a process that survives an audit.
committee.finance.afraidOfThe one who signs it
scope creep, and being the person who approved the thing that overran.
committee.finance.questionThe one who signs it
What is the number, what changes it, and what happens if we cut it by twenty per cent?
committee.finance.reassuredByThe one who signs it
commercial clarity offered early and unprompted, rather than extracted during negotiation.
committee.internal_user.optimisingForThe one who has to live with it
the event doing the job they need it to do: pipeline, a launch that lands, a team that comes back motivated.
committee.internal_user.afraidOfThe one who has to live with it
an event that is beautiful and useless. Lots of photographs, no conversations that went anywhere.
committee.internal_user.questionThe one who has to live with it
What do I get out of this on the Monday after?
committee.internal_user.reassuredByThe one who has to live with it
a supplier who asks what happens after the event before they ask about the venue.
The 221 days before they call you
The centrepiece. Commend, then finding, then what it costs them.
presence.frame
Everything after this hangs off one number. In B2B event services the gap between a buyer starting to look and a buyer making contact averages 221 days. Nearly eight months of deciding, almost all of it in private, and almost all of it before anybody picks up a phone.
presence.commendmust run before the finding
Start with what is working, because it is not nothing. Of the places a buyer actually looks, you are already there on being found on the questions they search months earlier. In this market that puts you ahead of most: it is what a buyer needs to see before they will take a meeting, and plenty of firms your size cannot show it.
presence.finding
Now the part that is harder to see from inside. A buyer in this market spends 221 days researching before they make contact. Across the 10 places we can actually check, Professional Golf Planners of America is present at 1 of them and absent from 70 per cent. Every gap sits early: appearing somewhere that is not your own website, reaching the right accounts before they are looking, staying present when they go quiet mid-cycle and giving them something worth an email address.
presence.consequence
That is the whole of it. Not a pitching problem, not a pricing problem. For roughly 221 days a buyer is forming a shortlist you are not on, and by the time they enquire they have already chosen. The work you lose this way never appears as a loss, because you were never invited to bid for it. It looks like a quiet quarter.
presence.notVisibleNoteidentical on every report, deliberately
Two things on that list we have deliberately not scored, and they are the same two on every briefing we produce. Whether you are approaching named accounts directly, and whether you can see which of these actually produces work. Nothing outside your business reveals either, so guessing would be worse than useless. They are the first two questions worth asking on a call, and between them they usually explain more than the rest of the list.
presence.bridge
What closes that gap is not doing more of what you already do well. It is being demonstrably the firm that understands corporate event bookings better than anyone else, in the places your buyers are already looking, for the whole of those 221 days. That is what the rest of this is.
presence.row.ai_searchpartly · asks an AI assistant who the credible suppliers are
there is a content surface for an assistant to draw on, though nothing built for it
presence.row.organic_searchyou are here · searches the problem, months before searching for a supplier
a working content surface is published
presence.row.thought_leadershippartly · reads their feed and forms a view of who understands this work
the founder is active but in bursts rather than on a rhythm
presence.row.earned_coveragenot yet · sees the name somewhere that is not the supplier's own website
the research found no press, awards or third-party features to point at
presence.row.paid_socialnot yet · is not looking yet, and needs to have heard of you before they are
no LinkedIn advertising
presence.row.paid_searchnot yet · types a buying-intent search once the brief is real
no paid search
presence.row.retargetingnot yet · disappears for four months mid-cycle, then comes back
no retargeting, so a buyer who leaves mid-cycle is gone
presence.row.lead_magnetnot yet · wants the thinking without having to talk to a salesperson yet
nothing to exchange for an email address, so interest arrives anonymous or not at all
presence.row.nurturenot yet · is 221 days from enquiring and will forget you in 30
no route to stay in contact between briefs
presence.row.outboundcannot tell from outside · never comes looking, because they already have someone
nothing outside your business can show this. It is the first thing worth asking about
presence.row.published_proofnot yet · checks you can actually do the work, once you are on the list
the delivery record is not readable by anyone who has not worked with you
presence.row.measurementcannot tell from outside · (not a buyer touchpoint: whether you can see any of the above)
nothing outside your business can show this. Over 221 days it is the difference between knowing and guessing
What is moving now
Job-change triggers. Suppressed when the count is under the floor.
triggerFlowIntro
Every one of these is a person who has just taken a new role on the buying side of your market in the last six months, out of 504 who sit in one. That is a rate, not a list. A new appointment is the point at which existing supplier relationships are open to review, and the seats keep turning over whether or not anyone is in front of them.
Your buyer market
Their market, sized. Suppressed for unmapped markets.
buyerMarketIntro
This is the size of the reachable buying side of your market at the seniority that signs off event work. It is not a list of prospects. It is the ceiling on how large the always-on layer can usefully get before targeting has to narrow.
What that means for you
The hinge. Where the whole argument turns.
hingeOpening
The research reads a firm with real standing in its market and an acquisition surface that is partly built. Two things in the research point the same way: corporate buyers with an active market presence and content published, nothing gated behind it.
hingeTensioncarries their Q2 answer when they have given one
The tension is that the credibility and the acquisition path are not yet joined up, so the standing you have does not compound into work arriving on its own.
hingeResolution
The fastest change available to Professional Golf Planners of America is not a bigger effort across everything. It is somewhere for interest to land, because it is the one thing every other move depends on and the one thing currently absent. The majority of your traffic that is researching quietly becomes a known contact instead of an anonymous visit. Staying useful between briefs follows it directly, and the rest of the board is ordered behind those two.
The full board
The path, before it is broken into pillars.
boardIntro
This is the whole system, not a proposal. Four pillars, and within each one the two modules that would do the most for Professional Golf Planners of America given what the research found. Two are lit for the first quarter. One is marked as deliberately not yet. Everything grey is real work that is simply not the next work.
notYetIntronot yet: Turning up where buyers already are
One move in Attraction is held back on purpose. Proactive visibility works once there is something credible to land on. Published proof comes first.
matrix.not_yet_reasonfrom the matrix, rendered as-is
Proactive visibility works once there is something credible to land on. Published proof comes first.
matrix.evidence[0]from the matrix
corporate buyers with an active market presence
matrix.evidence[1]from the matrix
content published, nothing gated behind it
Authority
Whether a buyer can satisfy themselves you are credible without speaking to you.
pillarIntro.Authority
Authority is whether a buyer can satisfy themselves that you are credible without speaking to you. It is the pillar everything else borrows from.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.labelquarter 1
Published proof
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.summary
Turning work you have already delivered into evidence a buyer can read before they ever speak to you.
moduleNarration.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETSwhy it is here
On the board for Professional Golf Planners of America because the delivery record is strong and almost none of it is readable by someone who has not worked with you.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.effectwhat changes
Buyers who are shortlisting quietly get something to shortlist you on. It also gives every other module something credible to point at.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.firstMovefirst move
Pick three delivered events, one per buyer type, and write each up as a short account of the brief, the constraint and the outcome.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.signalyou will know because
Enquiries start arriving that reference a specific piece of work rather than asking what you do.
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.positionspositions you asmodel
the golf outing firm whose delivery record can be checked by a committee before anyone picks up the phone
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.0Article on your site · for the one who has to run itmodel
Who you can actually reach at six on tournament morning: the questions to ask a golf outing planner about the week of the event rather than the pitch
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.1Article on your site · for the one who has to live with itmodel
The outing that photographed well and raised nothing: how format, pairings and sponsor placement decide whether members and donors have conversations that go anywhere
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.2PR angle · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
What makes a charity golf outing read as cheap to a returning sponsor, from tee gifts to on-course signage, written for association and nonprofit publications
PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.labelquarter 3
Founder-led publishing
PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.summary
Using the personal profile that already carries trust, on a rhythm rather than in bursts.
moduleNarration.PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITYwhy it is here
On the board for Professional Golf Planners of America because the personal profile already carries more trust than the company one, and it is being used in bursts rather than on a rhythm.
PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.effectwhat changes
Buyers meet a named person with a view, which is the version of you they remember.
PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.firstMovefirst move
One post a week for a quarter, drawn from decisions you actually made on live work.
PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.signalyou will know because
Inbound conversations open with something you wrote.
ideas.PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.positionspositions you asmodel
a named person in golf outings whose judgement buyers recognise before they need anyone
ideas.PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.0LinkedIn post · for the one who has to run itmodel
Tony on the call he made when a course moved the tee sheet a week out, and who the client could reach at seven that evening
ideas.PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.1LinkedIn post · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
Tony on the tee gift he talked a client out of, and the question he asks about their brand before he asks about their budget
ideas.PLAY_FOUNDER_VISIBILITY.2LinkedIn post · for the one who has to live with itmodel
Tony on why he now agrees the sponsor and member follow-up plan before the format, and what he wishes every buyer knew about judging a golf day by its photographs
Attraction
Getting in front of people who are not yet looking.
pillarIntro.Attraction
Attraction is how interest reaches you and what happens to the interest that is not ready to become an enquiry.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.labelfirst quarter
Somewhere for interest to land
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.summary
A path for the visitor who is interested but not ready to send an enquiry, so their interest is not lost.
moduleNarration.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTUREwhy it is here
This is the first move, because interest that is not ready to become an enquiry currently has nowhere to go. The research is unambiguous on it: content published, nothing gated behind it. Everything in the quarters after this one assumes it is in place.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.effectwhat changes
The majority of your traffic that is researching quietly becomes a known contact instead of an anonymous visit.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.firstMovefirst move
One thing worth an email address, built from the proof you already hold, behind a form that asks for very little.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.signalyou will know because
A list that grows every month without paid support.
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.positionspositions you asmodel
worth an email address months before anyone is ready to name a supplier
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.0Lead magnet · for the one whose neck is outmodel
The golf outing brief template that writes down the result you promised upwards in March, so you can show in November exactly what you committed to
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.1Lead magnet · for the one who signs itmodel
The golf outing cost checklist: every line that tends to appear after signature, from cart and food minimums to rain dates and gift package shipping
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.2Lead magnet · for the one who has to live with itmodel
The one page worksheet for showing your board what the golf day should produce beyond photographs, and who is responsible for each part of it
PLAY_ABM.labelquarter 4
Named-account targeting
PLAY_ABM.summary
Working a defined list of accounts you want, one by one, rather than waiting.
moduleNarration.PLAY_ABMwhy it is here
On the board for Professional Golf Planners of America because the accounts worth naming are identifiable, and approaching them needs the always-on layer working first.
PLAY_ABM.effectwhat changes
The highest-value route and the most demanding, because it needs everything else working.
PLAY_ABM.firstMovefirst move
Fifty named accounts, researched properly, approached individually.
PLAY_ABM.signalyou will know because
Conversations opening inside accounts you chose rather than accounts that found you.
ideas.PLAY_ABM.positionspositions you asmodel
the firm that made contact knowing their calendar and their sponsors, not broadcasting a service
ideas.PLAY_ABM.0Outreach angle · for the one who has to run itmodel
Open on the two weeks before the outing, not on your services: what usually breaks in registration and course staffing, and what you would check first on their date
ideas.PLAY_ABM.1Outreach angle · for the one whose neck is outmodel
Send the one page on what to record before the outing so the result holds up to questions afterwards, worth reading whether or not they ever reply
ideas.PLAY_ABM.2Outreach angle · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
Lead with what you have seen sponsors at membership bodies quietly decline to renew over, and let them decide whether any of it applies to their event
Automation
Giving the hours back. Never removing the people.
pillarIntro.Automation
Automation here means giving you the hours back, not taking the people out. The conversations stay yours. What goes is the repetitive work stacked around them.
PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.labelfirst quarter
Staying useful between briefs
PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.summary
A regular, genuinely useful contact with people who are interested but not buying yet.
moduleNarration.PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTUREwhy it is here
This runs directly behind the first move, because the buying cycle here runs in quarters and there is nothing keeping you useful across it. On a buying cycle measured in quarters, the two together are worth more than either alone.
PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.effectwhat changes
On a buying cycle measured in quarters, this is what makes you the name they already know when the brief lands.
PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.firstMovefirst move
A monthly note to everyone who ever raised a hand. Short, and about them.
PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.signalyou will know because
Replies from people who went quiet eighteen months ago.
ideas.PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.positionspositions you asmodel
still useful to a planning committee nine months before the outing is booked
ideas.PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.0Nurture branch · for the one whose neck is outmodel
For the association director who dreads being asked in six months whether the outing was worth it: a quarterly note on what to record before the day, not after
ideas.PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.1Nurture branch · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
For the one protecting how it looks: a steady drip of examples showing how signage, tee gifts and course branding sit next to a year of other brand work
ideas.PLAY_NURTURE_ARCHITECTURE.2Nurture branch · for the one who has to live with itmodel
For the membership body buyer nine months out: one short note a month on formats, pairings and follow-up that turn a golf day into conversations members remember
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.labelquarter 4
The same first steps, every time
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.summary
The tedious sequence every new opportunity goes through, held as tasks and checklists rather than in somebody's head: the questionnaire, the RFP review, the internal sign-offs.
moduleNarration.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOWwhy it is here
On the board for Professional Golf Planners of America because the same set of steps runs on every new opportunity and none of it is written down.
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.effectwhat changes
The boring work stops depending on who picked it up and how busy they were. You get the hours back and the process stops varying.
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.firstMovefirst move
Write down what actually has to happen between an enquiry arriving and a proposal going out. That list is the workflow.
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.signalyou will know because
Nothing stalls because one person was on site all week.
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.positionspositions you asmodel
handled the same way in January as in the week of a tournament
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.0Workflow · for the one who has to run itmodel
Enquiry in to proposal out as a checklist: course questions, headcount, rain date and internal sign-offs held as tasks rather than in one person's memory
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.1Workflow · for the one whose neck is outmodel
The RFP and questionnaire answers held in one place, so the hour of digging disappears and a person still writes the parts that need judgement
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.2Workflow · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
A written standard for anything that carries your name or a sponsor's, from proposal to signage proof, with one person checking it before it goes out
Architecture
The structure underneath, so none of the above leaks.
pillarIntro.Architecture
Architecture is the plumbing. Unglamorous, and the reason the other three either compound or leak.
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.labelquarter 2
Crediting the first touch, not the last
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.summary
Recording what a buyer had already seen before they made contact, not just the click that carried them in.
moduleNarration.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTIONwhy it is here
On the board for Professional Golf Planners of America because the long half of the buying cycle is invisible in what gets recorded, so the work that starts decisions cannot be defended at budget time.
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.effectwhat changes
On a decision that takes 221 days the last touch is the doorway, not the reason. Crediting only the doorway defunds everything that did the work.
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.firstMovefirst move
One question on the enquiry form: where had you come across us before today?
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.signalyou will know because
The channels you were about to cut turn out to be the ones being mentioned.
ideas.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.positionspositions you asmodel
able to say which piece of thinking a committee had already read before the enquiry arrived
ideas.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.0What to measure · for the one who has to run itmodel
Record which pages about delivery, course staffing and the week of the event a buyer read before enquiring, so you know what reassures the person running the day
ideas.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.1What to measure · for the one whose neck is outmodel
Score every touchpoint by its distance from a signature, and keep the first one on the record, so the early work is never written off as spend with nothing to show
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.labelquarter 3
One pipeline, agreed stages
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.summary
Every live opportunity in one place, with stages everyone reads the same way.
moduleNarration.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTUREwhy it is here
On the board for Professional Golf Planners of America because there is no single place that answers what is actually coming.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.effectwhat changes
You can see what is actually coming, which is the difference between forecasting and guessing.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.firstMovefirst move
Agree five stage names, then move every open opportunity into them.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.signalyou will know because
The pipeline answers questions instead of raising them.
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.positionspositions you asmodel
able to see which outings are actually coming a season ahead, rather than guessing
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.0Workflow · for the one who has to run itmodel
The same first five steps on every new outing enquiry, written down once, so a busy week does not change what the client experiences
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.1What to measure · for the one whose neck is outmodel
Record which of the five seats each conversation has actually reached, so a stalled outing shows you the missing person rather than a missing reason
Sequence roadmap
The order, and why it is that order.
roadmapIntro
Four quarters, in dependency order. This is not a proposal for four quarters of work. It is the order the modules have to happen in if they are going to hold, so that if you only ever do the first quarter it still stands on its own. Arrows mark where one module needs another in place first.
What sits underneath
The system behind the path.
labyrinthIntro
Under each of those four pillars sits roughly a hundred smaller moves. Nobody needs all of them, and nobody should try. It is here so the eight modules on your board read as a choice made from the whole picture rather than the whole picture itself.
What it becomes
The Eclipse proof point.
eclipseIntro
Compounding is the part that is hard to picture from the first quarter, because the first quarter mostly looks like effort. Eclipse Global has been running this system for eight years. Their published account is at codarity.com/results/eclipse-global.
Next step
The single ask. Nothing else in this section.
nextStepIntro
The obvious next step is a conversation about the first quarter, not the board and not the roadmap. If the next twelve months are meant to come from corporate event bookings, the first quarter is where that starts, and it is small enough to be worth talking about properly.