Customers long to interact with – even relate
to – employees who act like there is still a light on inside.
Chip Bell, Founder Chip Bell Group
How often do you come
across a company that understands the meaning of customer service? Sadly, we
live in a world where mediocrity is considered a high level of achievement and
we routinely put up with much worse because there are few alternatives. Every
once in a while, if we’re very fortunate, we come across a company that truly
shines; and for me and my friend Sue Boyne
is that company.
Ten years ago my
friend Sue and I were looking for a golf resort for a “girls’ week” in the
summer. We wanted this resort to be within an eight hour drive of Toronto and
we wanted unlimited golf. As luck would have it I was reading about one of the
Boyne golf courses – the Heather – in Golf for Women magazine (now defunct and
part of Golf Digest). The Heather was rated as one of the top 50 golf courses in
the U.S. for women. And so the Heather brought us to Boyne. It’s in Northern
Michigan, an eight hour drive from Toronto and it has unlimited golf (and
unlimited golf carts). Everything looked great and we decided to book.
I remember calling to
make the reservations 10 years ago. Right off the bat I was entirely shocked.
The reservationist, or vacation planner as they’re called in the Boyne world,
was outstanding. Her name was Kelly (Kelly is still there and has made many of our
reservations over the years. No one ever leaves Boyne.) and she was outstanding
– friendly, efficient and welcoming. When we finally arrived at Boyne we discovered
that everyone at Boyne is friendly, efficient and welcoming, from the servers
to the bag staff. One morning Sue and I were chatting with a member of the bag
staff and we remarked on how wonderful everyone was. The Boyne staffer told us
that when you join Boyne everyone has to go a three day course; it’s the same
course whether you’re the VP or a member of the bag staff and over the three
days they only teach one thing – when a guest leaves the property they have to
know that this was the best vacation experience they’ve ever had. Sue and I are
two guests who can attest to the fact that our holidays at Boyne are always the
best vacation experiences we’ve ever had. Guests keep coming back year after
year and many like our friends Gail and Bob (who we met at Boyne our first year
there) from LA buy houses on the property. And it’s not just the guests that
love Boyne; the staff never leaves either. We’ve met several Boyne staffers who’ve
been there for 35 years.
In less than one month
we’ll be leaving for our 10th golf holiday at Boyne. Kelly made our
reservations and we can’t wait to leave. As soon as we see the sign “Welcome to
Boyne”, we’re home and looking forward to the best vacation experience of our
lives – at least for one spectacular week.
Customers may forget what you said but
they'll never forget how you made them feel.
Unknown
Make someone smile today.
Geri
No comments:
Post a Comment