During the mid-1980s, my goal was to know everything I could about customer service. Although the basics of good service were already a part of my daily habits, the company I was leading was about to become one of the largest regional organizations of its kind. It would require a great deal more knowledge. I needed a larger bandwidth. Part of the process was any number of seminars and materials to read. In one seminar with a top management leader, the book “Customers for Life” by Carl Sewell came up. I acquired and then devoured its contents.
The vital takeaway from this car dealer based in Texas was building success with the same base of customers over decades. In his case, it was not about selling one vehicle to one client. It was about selling the client vehicles…for a lifetime! In addition, it was about developing such a close relationship that the client would recommend the dealer to family and people throughout his or her community. It became and remains one of my most valuable business books.
Today, this post will expand on that idea to include team members and suppliers. What if you and the management team execute so well that the entire community develops a loyalty that lasts for decades? Not only will the revenues grow, but the savings can lead to building superior margins. Building sales, retaining team members, and developing extraordinary supplier relationships can help build a consistent, top-flight golf club. A property that will excel today and in the decades to come. In this In My Opinion post, I will explore these three areas:
It all begins with the golfer: If you are to deliver amazing service, it immediately becomes about the customer. Nothing else matters at that moment. Others argue that service should begin with team members first, but I believe that to create and pay a team of extraordinary service providers, you must first build a large, growing base of customers in order to hire and retain talent. When you have loyal customers, you will keep good people. Keeping customers for life means building programs with customers at the center of every conversation.
With a solid base of golfers, you can move on to create a strategy of strong rewards, growth, and recognition for your staff: Working with your management team, constantly searching for ways to build better, hire better, and pay better, becomes the next phase of a for-life strategy. In meetings, discuss the needs of every staff member. In thinking about retention, a plan should have a world-class development program as a central piece. With a team of caring, knowledgeable workers, you can create amazing options for your golfers and their guests. Think of ongoing ideas to build strategies and programs to keep things active, special, unique, and fun. Yes, always fun!
Build a coordinated program and work with every supplier serving the property: This can lead to more consistent service, deeper discounts, faster deliveries, and tighter personal relationships that over time can achieve greater long-term success. It also means speaking with a consistent voice. The number of suppliers a golf course uses throughout the many departments is extraordinary. Instead of each department leader building their own individual standards and setup, why not develop one overall vision to include specific expectations for pricing, service call frequency, and delivery timelines? When the leadership team comes together to create a set of standards, one set of expectations, each department leader can then rely on the voice of the entire team, rather than working to develop several programs for each department.
Appreciating assets means you can retain a base of customers, staff members, and suppliers over time as each leg of the stool develops more and more value over time. In the case of Carl Sewell, he measured revenue per customer over 10-year spans. When it comes to your staff, how can you build opportunities with training that can keep good people around and interested? With suppliers, loyalty builds better service, bigger discounts, and new and rare opportunities. Certainly, there should be checks and balances put in place to have a fresh eyes approach to the supplier network. This for-life concept can bring about a healthy organization for today and maybe for a lifetime.
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Jack Dillon writes the In My Opinion posts. He understands operations, merchandise, service, and communications. He can help you improve your team as well as your delivery. Connect over Zoom. Go to www.youdontknowjackd.com. You can also call Jack at 407-973-6136. Jack lives in Orlando.