59Club focus on customer service

According to 59Club a cash figure CAN be placed on the true cost of poor customer service in golf clubs – and they will be presenting this view during a seminar at the Golf Show 2013, in Harrogate.

59Club directors, Simon Wordsworth and Matt Roberts, will be sharing their customer service trends and insights into best practice during a free 75-minute seminar for golf industry professionals, entitled The True Cost of Poor Customer Service in Pounds and Pence, at the show on October 9.

They will be guiding delegates through powerful industry statistics and explaining how these can be used to motivate staff, influence committees and focus efforts on weaknesses that consistently affect a golfer’s experience when visiting a venue – or merely when an initial enquiry is made by a society or golf day organiser.

The golf-centric nature of 59Club, an official supplier of the PGA, gives golf managers a very clear analysis on the state of service at any club, highlighting areas of strength to maximise and areas of weakness to address.

During the seminar, 59Club will also be sharing tips to improve and increase revenue through service, and giving a true understanding for the need to focus on customer service, not only for reputation, but also in financial terms for all sizes and statures of golf club.

Wordsworth said: “The delivery of high levels of customer service is critical to your golf business. Whether you work within a private members’ golf club, a resort-based establishment, or you own a golf course, we have been able to identify how much money a golf club is losing through a lack of focus on providing high levels of customer service.

“Retention of members, golf day and event bookings are potentially the easiest components to perfect if you are delivering great service, but if you are less than average, you are not just losing money on ‘the one off experience’, you have also just cut ties to future business as well. Customer service is the key to profit and retention of revenue and it’s time to know just how good you are.”

Run by an experienced team of golf and leisure operators, the 59Club system allows for useful results comparisons to be made against a venue’s chosen competitors and the industry standard.

59Club boasts an impressive client list in the UK and Middle East, including Wentworth, Stoke Park, Celtic Manor, Goodwood, Emirates Golf Club and Dubai Creek as well as golf groups such as DeVere and Marriott.

The core service includes a series of mystery shopper recorded enquiry calls and live visits, followed up with regular analysis and training to ensure venues can identify trends and improve, or maintain, service standards.

Azalea