Is the customer service at your course or club satisfactory? Yes, you believe so? Do you realize you just gave your course a grade of “C" in customer service? I believe the word “satisfactory" is the most overused and underachieving marketing promise in existence. Have you ever thought about what “satisfactory" means? What if someone asked your spouse, “So, how is your marriage going?", and your spouse answered, “It's satisfactory." Is that a ringing endorsement of your relationship? Doesn't that statement represent average performance, a “C" student? Or better yet, your spouse prepares a spectacular dinner for you and asks afterward if you enjoyed it. “It was satisfactory, honey," is your response. You'll be in the doghouse for a year!
The term “satisfaction guaranteed" only means you promise customers that they won't be mad at you!! I think in this day and age, with our economic woes and competing leisure activities, we need to be more than satisfactory. We need to Exceed Expectations. One of the best ways to do this is to ask for your customer's opinions, listen to what they say and act on those recommendations. Here are some ideas on how to exceed expectations and generate more revenue.
- Survey your active golfers. Ask their opinion on their golf experience with you. How were the fairways, greens, etc. Were the rangers friendly? Did the refreshment cart come by often enough? Did they eat at the course and how was the food? Were the clubhouse employees friendly and helpful? You get the picture. Asking one's opinion makes them feel like you really care about the quality of their experience. When you find areas that can be improved upon, act! Make sure to communicate these changes and thank those golfers who responded to your survey. Give them ownership of their golf experience.
- Re-engage your inactive golfers. Membership clubs can easily determine who is or is not golfing regularly. Hopefully, public courses maintain a mailing list of golfers and can determine who is or is not regularly playing their course. Write to your list of inactive golfers. Tell them you miss them and want them back. Give them a discount, free cart or other incentive to play. Make the targeted golfer plus one guest of the golfer eligible for the incentive, as most golfers prefer to play with a friend. Demonstrating your desire to regain their business through such an offer exceeds expectations. Once you reintroduce them to the routine of playing again, its much easier to gain their repeat business.
- Give away free samples. My best friend recently received a letter from a country club in his community which was inviting him to join. The letter basically told how long the club had been in existence, that they needed members and that there was a discount off the initiation fee. The message in that letter didn't even make a dent. If they had invited him to play a round free of charge, or invited him to a free or discounted lunch or dinner, he absolutely would have utilized that offer. What would you guess the odds would have been of that club successfully recruiting him as a new member after he experienced the course and the club's amenities? Don't be afraid to give away free or discounted samples of your services to gain new business. The goodwill created by this free or discounted offer would have exceeded the expectations of the recipient and made him much more likely to join.
Competition for the leisure dollar and the golfer's dollar has never been more fierce. How will you feel if you don't act on these suggestions and then discover your primary competitor has? Hey, as long as your course's level of play is satisfactory, it's not a problem, right?
