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What do your customers really want?
You may believe your golf facility already provides great service - you answer the phone by the third ring, the golf shop check-in process is friendly and efficient, and your customers can get a decent hot dog or sandwich in the restaurant.
The problem is that your customers are using a different measuring stick. People today have been raised in a culture where they expect to be entertained. This cultural shift has changed the way your customers buy and do business. That is why so many golf courses fail to understand why their business must now become more entertaining. Not only have products and services changed, customer expectations have also been transformed. You must ask yourself how your facility is factoring emotional connection into the customer experience. The missing element of success is not product or price - it is emotion!
Many golf courses are still working with an old game plan that was designed to help create, produce and deliver the game of golf to the marketplace. But that business plan was not designed to deliver an enhanced customer experience. Until your customer service and customer experience converge, you are going to keep disappointing your customer. Customers become loyal as a result of their experience with the mixture of your product (golf) with the service, feelings, benefits and advantages they encounter as a result of their use of your golf course.
Golf facilities operating under the old game plan tend to fixate on the technical aspects of their product - the physical attributes of the golf facility. This "systems" perspective does not reflect what is happening in society today. Our culture has become much more emotionally oriented. Today's customers blend service with the emotional connection of the experience. These vast differences in definitions are creating vastly different perceptions about service and the customer experience.
It's time to focus on the delivery of your experience. That delivery is firmly rooted in your front-line service team which is far more essential to creating those emotional connections than the physical attributes of your facility. Begin thinking about how your customers could enjoy their golf experience more and how to move that experience from ordinary to extraordinary. Finesse and friendship really make the experience. Train your service team to know your customers' name, their preferences and how to help them the way they want to be helped - all these little things add up to big emotional connections. Creating a memorable experience for your customers is not about adding the icing on the cake; it allows your club to take the cake!
"Wait", you say. "My customers want a great golf course in great condition" No kidding! No golfer is going to say, "Hey, don't worry about taking care of the golf course. Just walk me through the golf shop and put my clubs on the cart." Most golf facilities offer a reasonably nice golf course. Today, it is what you do beyond that point that is the differentiating factor.
There is no better way to build your golf business than having your customers promote you through word of mouth advertising. In today's competitive golf environment, customers take product quality and service for granted. They are now saying "wow me!" Amazed customers can't wait to tell others about their experiences. The point is to create emotional connections that are so compelling to customers that loyalty is assured.
Great customer service is about adding the factor of entertainment to your customer experience. Your customers are not looking for a car floor show. Inserting entertainment into your products and services is not about balloons and costumed characters or busting your budget. A great customer experience is a modern-day game plan that is based on how your golf facility connects with your customers. It's important to note that emotional connections always precede economic ones in today's entertainment oriented culture.
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CourseTrends Credo
At CourseTrends, we combine the best technology and the best marketing practices to provide at least a 400% return on investment to our customers.
We understand our customers' challenges and work proactively to meet their unexpressed needs.
We vow to put the customer first, to value the customer's success as if it were our own and to do things right the first time.
Jeff Huseman is president of 4 Star Service. To create a 4 Star experience at your facility, visit 4 Star Service. |
