Page 6 - GBC spring 2015

Message From The Publisher • Jeff Calderwood
The First Tee
When you get right down to it, your business is all about the customer. Nothing works without them, and all of your strategies, systems, capital investments and employees are targeted to successfully handle them.
So, Golf Business Canada takes direct aim at the customer experience in our feature story by Pierre Demers, “Are You Customer Obsessed?” High performance on customer service and related elements is critical, so why not take your strategy to the limit and make it an obsession for your team?
CUSTOMER OBSESSED CULTURE
In the feature, Demers challenges you to view the golf experience through the eyes of your golfer. He poses various questions that should be asked as you focus on your customers. It should stimulate some new brainstorming with your team, and a deeper commitment on attention to detail.
Simultaneous to this issue of the Magazine, the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada conducted this year’s Golf Business Canada Boot Camp, also aimed directly at the customer.
Held in Orlando, internationally renowned business catalyst, Toni Newman, worked with our delegates to design new strategies to Attract, Keep and Engage More Golfers More Often. Her concepts overlap nicely with the theme of Demers’ feature story.
One particularly noteworthy principle from Newman is that being better at your customer strategies each year is simply not good enough anymore. You must be better AND different to win. That theme pushes all of us toward more innovative ideas as we create that customer obsessed culture.
So, I encourage you to embrace becoming a Customer Obsessed Golf Course, and to do so with an innovative flair that differentiates you from all others in your market space.
Happy obsessing, and all the best for a successful 2015 golf season leveraging these strategies.
Jeff Calderwood, CEO NGCOA Canada jcalderwood@ngcoa.ca
6 Golf Business Canada