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Articles
ClubJobs.net is pleased to offer a variety of articles published by leaders within the club industry.
Members will keep informed on current employment and management issues with topics such as:
- Health & Safety - including risk management, OSHA, Ergonomics, emergency action plans and much more!
- Human Resource & Employment - topics include salary negotiating, successful resume and cover letter preparation, employment law, interviewing, and how to design a cost effective hiring process.
- Management - learn the five factors for successful management and keep abreast of changes within the industry.
- Member Service- achieve service excellence through successful hiring practices.
In addition, a monthly "HR From the Field" article features current and "real life" issues written by Human Resource Directors from Clubs across the country.
We hope you enjoy the sample article provided below:
Achieving Above and Beyond
Customer Service in Country
Clubs
By Harris M. Plotkin
The Boardroom Magazine 3/13
For the past 34 years, The Plotkin Group has worked with clients to assist them in developing a strong, service-oriented culture within their organization. We are happy to share the following to help you achieve member satisfaction at your club.
Employee Satisfaction Equals Member Satisfaction
There are several concepts that are essential to developing good customer service. Foremost among them is developing employee satisfaction. To achieve member satisfaction you must first satisfy the needs of your employees. Happy employees can and do make members happy. Achieving member happiness involves a three-step process.
- EMPLOYEE SELECTION
The key to building a good organization starts at the point of selection. If individuals are hired who don't have the right attitude and aptitude for the job, no amount of training will ever make them good at that job, whether they are golf cart attendants, dining room employees, maintenance workers, or clerks in the pro shop. Proper employee selection is the key for success in any organization. No one can train a square peg to fit into a round hole. No one can turn a frog into a prince.
- EMPLOYEE TRAINING
An effective training program is not an individual telling an audience how they should service members. A training program must be interactive. There should be continuous discussions and role playing between the trainer and the participants, not just a trainer lecturing. Use of a video that illustrates how you want employees to provide service is essential to generations raised on television.
The trainer should be more of a facilitator. Rather than tell the participants what to do, the trainer should be able to motivate them to help them reach the conclusions that the trainer wants them to reach, so that the employees feel that they've developed the ideas on their own. Modern employees do not respond well to commands or authority. They like to be in charge, and they like to think it's their idea. When employees feel "ownership" of a program, they are more likely to act on what they've learned.
A training program should be given in a series of two-hour training sessions rather than try and jam all of it into a one-day session, since people have trouble sitting still and concentrating for long periods. The best training programs consist of several two-hour sessions, presented a week apart. This gives employees time to practice what they've learned in-between training sessions.
- EMPLOYEE TREATMENT
The attitude of top management will sooner or later be reflected throughout an organization. Every supervisor and manager must treat their own employees as their customers. This will help ensure that front-line employees treat members in the way management desires. A consistent, positive attitude toward the employees (internal customers) in an organization will carry over to the way in which the organization's members (external customers) are treated.
Internal customers are just as important as external customers. Without treating internal customers properly, you can't expect to have the external customers treated properly by employees. Employee satisfaction equals member satisfaction.
Moments of Truth and Hidden Interactions
In addition to the normal "Moments of Truth", which involve employee interactions with members, there are what we call HIDDEN INTERACTIONS. HIDDEN INTERACTIONS are equally, if not more important, than some moments of truth. Examples of HIDDEN INTERACTIONS are: poorly maintained greens, dirty locker rooms, no soap or toilet paper in bathrooms, and out-of-stock items in the pro shop or dining room. These are occurrences where there is no direct employee contact with the member.
A chain is truly as strong as its weakest link. If the dishwasher leaves any dish or glass dirty, the waitress, hostess, or maitre d' will soon be scolded by some irate member.
Attention must be paid to HIDDEN INTERACTIONS. The many moments of truth that occur between employees and members are well-known concepts and can be handled by proper training programs. That alone will not satisfy the member. Clean locker rooms, well-kept greens, properly attired personnel wearing uniforms that are clean, and all of those other "non-people" interactions that can offend the member must be given the same high attention as the training of employees. To do one without the other will prevent achieving Above and Beyond member service.
Managers - Key to Success
In addition to the front-line employees being the key to member satisfaction, what is even more important for achieving excellent service is the general manager.
In the Employee Attitude Surveys we have conducted for our clients, we have found that employees will usually be happy with their pay, the facility, the equipment, and the benefits of the organizationžif they are working for a good manager. However, if the manager they're working for is insensitive, incapable of motivating or communicating with his employees, unfair, or generally incompetent, the employees will think the club is bad, they are paid poorly, and the club itself is run down. Therefore, to achieve Above and Beyond customer service, a key step is to hire a general manager who is both capable and compatible with the culture of the club.
Empowering Employees
Much has been said about empowering employees. This is an excellent concept, but only will work if you have properly calibrated your employees to make sure that when you empower them, they are judicious in their use of power. Empowerment, done properly, can be an extremely effective member service technique. Not done properly, empowerment can be dangerous.
Summary
Our 34 years of experience has shown us that the steps to developing top quality customer service within a golf club are:
- Proper selection of the general manager and club employees.
- A video-based training program that encourages interaction and discussion among participants.
- Proper treatment of employees by management.
We hope this information will assist you in making your club a truly enjoyable one for your members.
About the author... Harris Plotkin is the author of the published book, Building A Winning Team, and creator of the ABOVE and BEYOND customer service training program designed exclusively for the golf industry. For more information about employment tests and training programs, call The Plotkin Group at (800) 877-5685. This 34-year-old management consulting and training firm uses the latest scientific employee testing and training programs to help organizations select and train employees. They have several hundred clients in the golf industry, including many golf management companies, numerous resorts, private country clubs, and municipal clubs. Their ABOVE and BEYOND customer service training program is approved by both the PGA of America and the CMAA for continuing education credits. They travel around the country training PGA sections and CMAA chapters in that program, as well as their BUILDING A WINNING TEAM and TAKING THE GUESSWORK OUT OF HIRING workshops.
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