Newsletters will be on a random schedule until I return in mid-March because... well, I'm in Thailand :)
Several years ago now, I made my very first trip to Scotland. The purpose was business and being in the golf industry, playing the Old Course was a must. I stayed at the Rusacks Hotel and was fortunate enough to play many of the famous golf courses around St. Andrews.
My experience started out with an entry into the ballot for the Old Course with the help of a friend who told us how to enter (otherwise the experience would have been even worse as we would have just showed up to play). This was followed the next day by sudden disappointment when we were informed that we were not selected to play the course. This was further compounded by the fact that we did not have time to stay and hope to make the ballot in the future. As we struggled for a solution, we happened upon some insight about standing in line in the morning in the hopes of getting out to fill out a fore ball by, I believe, one of the staff at the Old Course hotel where we were meeting on business.
So the next morning before sunrise, we went and stood in line not having a clue as to what we were doing since we had never been there before. My friend and I were number 7 and number 8 in line. There was no Old Course staff on hand to assist at this time. Eventually, the starter and caddies started showing up and players were going off on the first tee. There was still no staff around that we could talk to since the starter was accessible only via the small window in the starter hut, and he was busy getting people on the tee. The caddie shack is about a par-3 from the starter hut and being new we didn't know what that was anyhow.
We were waiting around hoping our chances of getting to play the course would improve when we heard that an entire foursome had cancelled (funny side note - this was a group of caddies from Kingsbarns that I met and bought a drink for later that night - they cancelled to loop at KB that day). Next thing I know, I am called up to join a 4-ball. I finally get to talk with the starter who collected my money and told me I was on the tee! I then asked the silly question, "What about a caddie?" The starter looked at me like I was some misbehaving child and asked why I had not already arranged this prior to coming to the window. He informed me that I had better hurry, pointed out the caddie shack and let me know again that I was on the tee and did not have much time.
I ran to the caddie shack, searched out and found the caddie master, arranged a caddie and ran up onto the tee while I had kept 3 strangers, kind enough to let me join, waiting.
The basis of all this blabbering is that I was off to a very bad start on a very great course due to the fact that there was absolutely no customer service or assistance and I just paid over $300 to be treated like a pest who just annoyed everyone that worked at the course.
The following day, with the help of the staff at the Rusacks, we were able to secure a 2 pm tee time at Kingsbarns. We pulled into the parking lot about 20 minutes prior to our tee time, grabbed our clubs and started quickly making our way towards the club house, expecting that we once again would have to figure out how everything worked if we wanted things to go smoothly. Not more than 20 steps from the car, still in the parking lot, I was called by name from a complete stranger who said, "Hello, you must be Mr. Robshaw?" Of course I replied with a surprised, "Yes, I'm sorry, do I know you?"
Well he went on to introduce himself as the Director of Golf at Kingsbarns (sorry, but I do not recall his name as this was several years ago now), and he proceeded to show us around. He showed us where to meet our caddies (that he would arrange for us), where the first tee was, walked us into the clubhouse and showed us the pro shop and where we needed to pay our greens fees. He then showed us the locker room and pub and told us if we'd like we could relax with a drink and come up to the tee at our leisure. I would have sworn we were in a different country! This time, I was off to a great start on a great course. While the prices where comparable, in 24 hours I learned a valuable lesson in the two extremes of customer service and was happy to pay the fee to play the course.
I have told this story time and again to hundreds of friends and clients. The most common reply I get is "Well, that is part of the experience -- to be treated like you would at an old muni course." As the Scots would say, That's CRRRRRRAP!
Sure, no matter what, the Old Course will continue to sell out daily. But if (and hopefully when) the St. Andrews courses become a client of CPS, I will be the first to tell them that there is a reason the other 5 courses around the Old Course do NOT sell out on a regular basis. Their customer service sucks! If you cannot get on the Old Course, there is absolutely no incentive for you to go play the New Course (or any other in the group). You can go play Kingsbarns (as of this writing not a CPS client either... yet), Crail, Scotscraig, St. Andrews Bay, The Dukes, etc., (all of which I highly recommend) and be treated like a guest at an exclusive club for the day, or you can try to figure out how to get off the first tee at one of the other St. Andrews courses without feeling like you were just fleeced.
The average golfer is about a 20 handicap. To me, this means that for most players (and definitely for me), the game is much more about the experience than the score. What kind of experience do you provide to your customers?
Go back and review lessons 6 and 7 for a guide to using the Starter Hut email marketing tools. You should be using this to send out "Thank You" emails, "Come Back and See Us" emails and other emails to improve your customer's experience. If you have an "A" level and a "B" level course, are your customers treated as "A" level clients no matter which course they play? Want to know what you are doing right or wrong? Send out an email and ask your customers -- you will be surprised by the response.
Enjoy :)