What exactly does it mean and how do we get there?
Cary Cavitt is a PGA of America member who has written eight books on customer service and now lectures to golf pros, general managers and businesses of all kinds on the subject.
“When I ask golf pros or GMs if they give five-star service, many times they will tell me, ‘yes, I have their clubs ready and I get them off the tee on time,’” says Cavitt. “That’s not five-star service; that’s what the customer is expecting.”
The secret, says Cavitt, and if you think about it, it shouldn’t really be a secret at all, is that you have to hire the right people, train them correctly and above all, treat them right. And then they will give the customer five-star service.
“If you want to have a stellar golf club with five-star service, whoever is in a leadership role has to treat their team so well that they absolutely want to do a good job for them,” says Cavitt.
“You don’t want to be the boss that when they see you coming they pick up a broom and pretend to be working. You want to be the boss that they do that whether you’re there or not, because they respect you because of the way you treat them.”
Cavitt is a big believer that people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses.
“I see a lot of people in the golf business who don’t like their job because of their boss, and I say to myself, ‘why doesn’t their boss get it?’” says Cavitt. “People do a better job when they’re treated well.”
It doesn’t matter whether you are at a hotel, a restaurant, a golf course or even a gas station – a customer service superstar is someone who gets it.
“They will have six attitudes,” says Cavitt. “They will be friendly, enthusiastic, they generally care for you, they’re respectful, they have an encouraging attitude and they’re appreciative.
“If I was still at a golf club and I had to hire I would hire based on those six principles.”
Those six principles are at the core of great customer service, and it’s all about attitude.
“Everyone who comes to your club is reading your attitude,” says Cavitt. “They’re reading the attitude of the bag boy and the attitude of the people in the pro shop – are they showing that they generally like to serve them?
“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gone into a pro shop where they don’t know me from Adam and I feel like I’m intruding, where I have to be the first person to say ‘hi.’”
And you don’t have a long time to make a first impression. Whether it’s your bag boy, or if you don’t have one, it’s the staff in the pro shop, Cavitt says you have 30 seconds.
That’s 30 seconds to say hello, or if you’re busy with another customer, to at least smile, wave or make eye contact to let that customer know how important they are.
“People will forgive almost anything except the way we make them feel,” says Cavitt.
A drill that he plays with people who attend his lectures is to ask them to think of their fifth-grade teacher. If they had a good feeling about that teacher they were asked to give one word that came to mind.
“The words were often, ‘kind, caring, respectful and passionate’,” he says. But if they had a bad memory those words were often ‘rude, loud and unfriendly’.
“The only thing we remember about people is how they treated us.”
In other words, if someone is coming to your golf course for the first time and they have a bad experience at the bag drop, in the pro shop, with the starter, with the marshal or even at the halfway house, it’s not the spectacular design or the pristine condition of the course they’re going to remember.
Think about it. How many golf courses, or restaurants or hotels or resorts, have you refused to go back to because of one bad experience with the way you were treated?
So, let’s review. Here are the hallmarks of five-star service:
- Friendliness. Customers will make a judgment within the first 30 seconds based on your friendliness.
- Enthusiasm. It enhances the customer’s overall experience.
- Caring. It creates customer loyalty.
- Respect. It conveys our willingness to serve the customer.
- Encouraging. It creates a positive environment.
- Thankfulness. It conveys your appreciation for the customer visiting you.
Are you the type of person who can be a good boss to your staff and help them become people who can deliver five-star service to your customers?
“Man’s greatest desire is the need to be appreciated,” says Cavitt. “I tell leaders, show appreciation and encourage your staff and they will step up to the plate, especially when you have young people working for you.”
You can learn more about Cavitt’s books, including his two new books on fitness, at his website: www.carycavitt.com
