EXPECTATIONS

This is the second post in the series on growing your sales by improving your people:

As I have stated before in this post, few managers spend enough time locating the best candidates for their position openings.  Because so much of what we do in golf is 100% about serving people well, we truly need to find candidates who like people and realize that great service is not servitude.  Creating great service is a specific business advantage that reaps greater sales.  So, spend time locating as many strong candidates for your opening(s) as you can.  Go out of your office to find them.  Do not depend solely on the web.  Be sure to spend a part of your week, every week in the recruitment mode, whether you have an opening today of not.  Great hires are not about luck.  They are about timing, prepartion, and being proactive.  It is only a matter of time when an opening will need to be filled.

  Once you have your team in place, plan to build a program where they want to remain part of your team for a long time.  From the start of their career at your club, set very specific expectations for each and every member of your team.  In order to have a service level that golfers rave about, you must have a system in place where you expect much from every staff member.  When I visit clubs on business, it irks me to see people standing around talking to each other, instead of engaging with members and guests.  People spend their time and money where they feel good.  It should be the mission of every golf course to make the golfer feel good, each and every round they play at your club.  Here are 5 thoughts on creating expectations for your team:

1. set a level of expectations for personal appearence, attitude, timeliness, attire that is understood and agreed upon
2. talk about the club history, how the club has grown, and the service standards in place
3. position a mentor for each new hire, where expectations are discussed, standards are practiced, and trials are set up in order to give the rookie the chance to develop great service habits
4. as the boss, spend time with each new hire every week.  Show every person you value them as a person first, then as a growing member of your team
5. be sure to allow for 2-way conversation, a way of building trust, and responding to the forever question of: “why do we do this?”

  When you create and continuously verbalize expectations, you show all that you mean business, that these ideals are not meant for the 1st week, but for life.  Creating a set of expectations provides every team member with a personal road map to success.  Instead of standing around, being bored & disinterested, build a team of people who cannot wait to create a new win for every golfer, for you, and for themselves.  Every golfer matters, every engagement matters.  Show them why.

Jack Dillon is the author of the highfives series.  Jack is a speaker and golf expert.  He can be reached at 407-973-6136.  Jack lives in Orlando.  Thank you.