Page 22 - GBC Spring 2021 English

Theresa Syer
Theresa is the founding partner of the Syer Hospitality Group and one of today’s most influential voices on Creating WOW Customer Experiences. With over 30 years of experience, she has worked directly with several private and public golf facilities throughout North America. Contact Theresa at theresasyer@ syerhospitality.com or 905-257-2636.
COVID-19 caused an incredible disruption to many lives and organizations and affected how we interact with our customers and each other. While some organizations struggled to survive, something truly unexpected happened in the golf industry. Golf had a surge in popularity and the game became one of the few silver linings in pandemic life.
The key now, is for course owners and operators to retain the surge in players. This is your opportunity to not simply survive coronavirus but to thrive by sustaining the momentum and creating loyal customers, with long-term resilience and growth opportunities. With people being isolated from so much, for so long, their priorities have shifted and their buying behaviours have changed. They are craving a sense of belonging, connection and engagement. They are looking for brands they can trust, that have their best interests at heart and are making a conscious effort to exceed their expectations.
Delivering renowned customer experiences will provide you the opportunity to do this. The customer experience is all about connecting with your customers on an emotional level. It’s about how you make your customers feel. That’s it!
Switching from
Customer
22 Golf Business Canada
Theexperienceisnotbasedon your preconceived ideas about what you think your customer wants. It’s about seeing and understanding the experience from your customer’s perspective. Perceptions matter in business; they influence behaviours and strengthen loyalty. Delivering a
Service
customer experience is very different from providing customer service. Customer service is transactional while customer experience is emotional.
Delivering a customer experi- ence is the positive emotional response that you create in your customers while service is being