Make customer obsession your focus

Listening to a podcast recently, I stopped straightaway in my tracks, as the guest spoke about service. He didn’t talk about basic customer service; instead, he talked about customer obsession. The conversation was all about obsessing over the customer. As the podcast ended, I began to think about my early days in this business. Days when our team members were all about the customer and their individual needs, driven by our boss, an obsessive golf professional. In that business, it was all about the customer.

Certainly, this is not the 1970s and business dynamics have often flipped. But in the most basic terms, a business starts out looking to attract customers through great products, value, and personal service. Many of these words are likely nailed to the conference room walls of many a service business. What once was a direct line to the customer has, I believe, gotten lost in the layers retooled by managers, HR departments, and the entire suite of accountants.

In the 70s providing great service wasn’t always easy. Today, it feels like a 1,000-piece puzzle. As leaders inside our industry begin to speak louder about a post-COVID pullback, I suggest we put away most of the management metrics and become obsessed with the golfing members and guests. If you agree with me, read on. In this In My Opinion post, I provide three thoughts on becoming obsessed over members and guests.

Develop a program where the staff learns (and uses) the names of the members and frequent guests: There are no more important words in the language than a person’s name. It shows interest, respect, and enthusiasm for those who support the operation.

Create proactive service strategies: From having the clubs out of the bag room early to providing information to members about new incoming merchandise to treating them to a drink or appetizer after golf, building a strategic menu of things done well can certainly pay real dividends. You and your team have plenty of ideas to pull from to surprise and delight your members. Create a conversation with your team, building an easy-to-execute program that just might make your golfers smile.

Once a month in season, execute a member appreciation Classic: Invite members to play with you and several of the staff. Connect to your vendors for donations to provide as prizes and awards. In addition, build a birthday database to celebrate every member’s birthday. Since it is their most important day of the year, treat them as your MVP that day. It is an experience they will remember. Showing members you are thinking about them can pay real dividends over time.

There is no way to create an obsession for membership, you say? You lack the staff, or the staff is too inexperienced? The old saying is: “You eat an elephant one bite at a time.” If these are some of your issues, build a plan, and begin to create small experiences and events to see what works. Over the past four years, the game has been in the transaction business. The operators were too busy and understaffed. Now, with COVID-19 far out of the picture, why not look to create and grow an obsession for service, an obsession for your members and guests? I have never seen golfers turn down a good time or a better experience. With 2024 half over and 2025 planning underway, this may be the time to reset the service standards. It might be time to treat each member as your Most Valuable Member. After all, in their mind, they already own that title.

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Jack Dillon writes the In My Opinion posts. Jack is a long-time expert, speaker, and consultant. You can find Jack and other experts in the business at: www.youdontknowjackd.com. You can also call Jack at 407-973-6136. Jack lives in Orlando and is ready to talk about how to improve your service.