St. Andrews Looked Inviting

The extensive coverage provided to the Open Championship recently was terrific. The weather that participants experienced at St. Andrews is probably fairly close to what I would imagine to be the ideal links golf experience....some days warm enough for no sweater....a good solid breeze (changing directions), some rain to settle the dust, firm fairways & greens...it all combines for a golf experience unlike any other. The Old Course looked to be in excellent condition, but when you speak with someone who has never played links golf, they opinion ranges from one;"...that looks like so much fun" to "...you call that golf?” Regardless links golf is the very soul of the game of golf and your desire to experience is one of personal interest & expanding your horizons.

The service business is a finicky affair, and for my own sanity developed the, "Three Golden Rules" which are written in the context of our business. Expectations…have you met reality? The first order of business forever must be to create a sense of expectation with the client that is reasonable and shall be met. Whether it is when you will reply to him with information or what he should anticipate receiving, the list is endless. Specifically relating to his future trip, it is as simple as ensuring that when he walks through the door of a hotel, he will be satisfied. If he is expecting the Palace of Versailles and sees “early attic” furniture, we have a problem. The same person could walk through the same door and like what he sees…if he has different expectations in his minds eye. You can trace many, many of (the few) problems we encounter to this simple concept. It is difficult to share too much information with a client, for it all adds to the picture he is painting in his mind of what to expect. For example; we set up expectations as clearly as possible with respect to the delivery of caddies, we do not guarantee them, for if we did, and then failed to deliver, we have violated this principle, we do not provide odds of being successful in the Old Course ballot, but rather try to provide a better understanding of how it works or indeed, we do not indicate the summer weather in Ireland is dry, calm and warm without fail, for that would be creating an unreasonable expectation…with the wrong clothes in the suitcase! I think I have made my point, but this simple concept is the foundation for a memorable travel experience.

No surprises. Our clients typically do not like surprises when they travel (we are not speaking of gifts), for most surprises have some negative connotation. People like to set expectations and then for everything to run smoothly thereafter, no surprises. Simple. A surprise is to turn up to your favorite restaurant with your seven golfing friends and discover your reservation was lost and they are fully booked, or a surprise is to be handed a hotel bill at checkout for accommodations when you paid as part of your package. Our clients particularly dislike surprises in front of their peers. When we know of potential problems, one of our jobs is to navigate them away from the situation, as we did with the protests in Edinburgh around the G8 Summit Meeting. We proactively avoided surprises caused by traffic tie ups. There are many examples of this, it adds to the experience of traveling and reflects positively on the memories of the trip. From a practical standpoint, if we are not proactive, very often the situation will return to us, requiring additional effort in the future, with less client satisfaction.

When mistakes happen, how do we respond? Invariably, at times, as hard as we try something may not operate as planned. Human error or bad communication, or whatever it may be. The client is upset & annoyed, with reason. This is your opportunity to quickly address the issue, make it right, and more importantly leave the client feeling better than he did prior to the problem. The worst we can do is let a problem fester, make a client repeat their concerns three times to three different people…now we have a combustible situation. When you resolve, make it clear to all parties what is being done, what will be done and what any other actions will consist of, preferably in writing, or at the very least in very concise terms, so the resolution does not collapse due to miscommunication and misunderstanding. I have learnt that one of the measures of a successful business is how you tackle these situations and very often, you create a more loyal client because educated consumers know that the world is not perfect, and want to buy from a company that can fairly and correctly redress issues when they arise.

I think that the above can be equally applied to most service businesses.