The formula: Service Culture plus Proper Merchandise Mix plus Proper Inventory levels plus Impeccable and Creatively Displayed plus Intelligently and
Respectfully Sold equals The
Best Chance for Retail Success.
The result of adopting a plan to become as
customer-centric as possible is that your facility will become more
competitive, more profitable and will have a better chance of surviving these
turbulent times. The result for businesses that do not operate with this
philosophy at its core is that they are not going to retain the customer base
they have. Consider the results of the
following study done by the American Society for Quality and the Quality and
Productivity Center:
Why
Companies lose Customers
Customer dies ……………… 1%
Customer moves away
…….. 3%
Customer influenced by friends
... 5%
Customers lured away by
competition … 9%
Customer dissatisfied
with product … 14%
Customer
turned away by the attitude
or
indifference of the service provider … 68%
Satisfied customers tell 4 to 5 people of their
positive experience and dissatisfied customers tell 9 to 12.[i]
Wowed customers, on the other hand, tell everyone
they speak with their story for days and any time the subject of service at a
golf facility comes up for the rest of their lives.
What makes these numbers frightening is that you
typically don’t know that your business is leaving until it is too late. It is
much more difficult to attract new customers than to retain existing ones.
Club members can join other clubs.
Daily fee players have many courses to choose from.
You can buy clubs, balls, hats and golf knits on the
internet.
You can get a burger and a beer after the round down
the street.
How many hair salons do you drive by to get your
haircut?
How many dentists do you pass to get your teeth
cleaned?
How many restaurants exist between home and where
we’re going to eat tonight?
If profitability in the pro shop is not something
that motivates you, think about your resume and the next job you interview for
where there will be applicants from facilities with Wow reputations. If you are
at the job you will retire from I applaud you and your security and suggest
that you use the Wow factor resume point at your next staff meeting or in
one-on-ones, particularly with assistant pros who aspire to be head pros.
In
summary, we want the golf experience at our facility to be
so outstanding that members/customers want to patronize the shop whenever
possible and tell all the golfers they know how wonderful we are. In order to accomplish the big picture
specific actions taken will be:
Create a mission statement for the staff that declares this intention. This is not necessarily the mission statement of the club or facility.
Create an orientation program for new employees that focuses on customer service, the Wow factor and sales skills instead of the typical tour of the grounds and primer on running the register.
Make every employee accountable to creating the culture that will accomplish this mission.
Promote the associates that best exemplify the culture.
When possible incentivize associates that best exemplify the culture.
Hire only candidates who you are convinced will enhance the culture.
Make every day’s priority to be better at serving the customer than we were yesterday.
