Now is the time of year, whether you’re shutting down for the winter or getting ready for your busy season, that you may be asking yourself questions about your business.
What did we do well this year? How can we improve our next season? or How do we set ourselves apart from our competition?
Through the power of surveys you can collect valuable information about how both golfers and businesses perceive your brand and ways you can improve customer service to build strong, lasting customer relationships.
How are you perceived? Are you a value operation or a golfer’s paradise?
Valuable answers can help you plan and set goals that will set you apart from your competition and it’s a lot easier than you may think.
With today’s technology, instant communication is the norm and with the right golf management software system, sending surveys is a simple, automated process.
How do I get responses?
The best way to get survey responses is to make it as easy for the golfer as possible, while enticing them with an offer they can’t refuse. You could offer a free range bucket, free lunch or free round; the list is endless. You really just have to ask yourself
“What is an honest answer worth?” Here are some ideas:
- Email Blasts
Email blasts are fast and easy to do because an integrated software system allows you to connect with your entire customer database at the click of a button.
- Outbound Follow-up Calls
Because every tee time has a phone number registered with it, why not call your customer back and ask them how their day was and whether they would be interested in filling out a survey. This way you’re performing two functions; a customer service courtesy call, while getting valuable survey responses.
- The Starter or Marshal
Using a tablet PC, the starter or marshal can perform surveys in person on the course and record answers while golfers wait to tee off.
- A Self-service Kiosk
A self-serve kiosk where golfers check-in or enter scores is a great spot to ask them to answer some quick questions.
- Pen & Paper
At your course’s restaurant or snack bar, a pen and paper survey at the table or with the bill can really help your responses add up. If you can get an email address or member ID, you can also enter this data against the receipt.
- Leverage Existing Relationships
If you have any corporate or charity accounts, find a way to entice them to complete a survey.
What kinds of questions do I ask?
The better question you should ask yourself is what answers do I want? Here are some ideas:
Basic Customer Satisfaction Questions
These questions revolve around overall quality in the clubhouse and on the course. These types of questions could be about:
- Pace of Play
- Conditions of the course and clubhouse
- Quality of food and drink
Experience Related Questions
These questions are more specified to help you develop sales and marketing or customer service strategies. For example, if 200 golfers surveyed said they would likely take part in a Scotch tasting event, you know you are likely to sell out. Other types of questions could be about:
- What brought them to your course
- Whether they a booker or a joiner. This way you know who is organizing the golf outings for friends.
- How many rounds do they play per year
- If they want to match back a handicap
When should I put out a survey?
Your survey project should always have a start and a finish date. The finish date is to motivate you, your staff and your customers to complete this within an appropriate timeline.
There are two types of surveys you may want to try. Annual surveys are usually bigger, capture more detailed information and are mostly used to assist planning and marketing strategies. Continuous surveys are smaller and quickly capture information giving you an opportunity to reinforce your plans.
I have all this data. Now what do I do?
Once you are happy with the amount of data you’ve gathered and you’ve reached your deadline you should:
- Review
Compile all of your answers into a single database and get ready for some surprises. You may be shocked to find that how you see your business might not always be how others perceive your business.
Review the response percentages and break them down demographically by age, sex, neighborhood, typical spends on green fees, etc.
Evaluate the tee sheet and your facility booking. You need to balance the desire of getting the maximum turn out and the best utilization of the tee sheet or banquet facility.
- Set Goals
Now that you have all of this information it’s time to set some goals. The goals will vary from course to course depending on survey responses and the factors that drive your business. Some goal setting examples could include:
- Capturing 75% of email addresses
- Increasing the number of campaigns sent out
- Increasing the type of rounds booked
- Increasing Pro Shop purchases
- Increasing Food & beverage purchases
- Increasing the net rate per round
- Increasing the number of events in the next 12 months
- Increasing size of your email database
- Improving customer satisfaction
- Running more events with higher average attendance
- Plan
Based on what you’ve learned about your golfers, their experience and perception of your course, it’s time to take action and make changes to improve your facility and the customer experience. You may wish to focus on the basic customer satisfaction responses and move down the list to more detailed data. Some planning steps include:
- Determining who is responsible for tasks, activities and deadlines
- Define new responsibilities
- Assign goals
- Execute
A good management system can help. If your golf management software can track customer desires & trends and how much and often they spend and play, then you can quickly filter and target communications to your golfers on an individual level based on their buying habits, age, skill level, sex, community and experience. For example, you could target a communication to golfers with lower skill levels by offering them a discount off lessons or a package offer.
- Measure & Evaluate
Periodically review your performance against your goals. If you run an event, evaluate the success immediately following as it’s fresh in the operators’ minds. Make sure you shine the light on your team and share the results with them as well.
With the right tools and efficient planning, your next survey project is now closer than ever before. Surveys will help you better understand your business, your customer and the way they interact. You may even see a bump in business simply because customers see that you are working hard to understand and service them better and there’s no end to what getting into your customer’s minds can do for you.
Total e Golf, an integrated management solution for golf clubs and retirement communities, has developed an easy way for golf club owners and operators to build, distribute and collect surveys. For information on Total e Golf’s integrated software solution, call 888.660.6131, email
info@totalegolf.com or visit
www.totalegolf.com.
