Canada Has a Lot to Learn About Outlet Shopping from the U.S.

Two things that women love to hear:

1.   I love you

2.   That’s on sale

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Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool bargain shopper. If something’s not at least 50% off I won’t even waste my time looking at it. Even at 50% off I’m not likely to buy it; more often than not that’s my starting point. My late father Joe was the ultimate bargain shopper and no one loved a deal more than he did. His level of bargain shopping skill is hard to live up to and whenever I’m out shopping I guarantee you Joe’s circling overhead to see how I’m doing. After I’ve paid I can usually hear him say, “I could have got a better deal” and he’d no doubt be right. But, there are times he’d smile.

My friend Sue and I were recently in Michigan on our annual girls’ golf week at www.boyne.com in Northern Michigan. We drive to Boyne and on route there is the mother of all outlet malls - Birch Run, the likes of which you just can’t find in Canada. Sadly in Canada outlet malls are typically no more than a collection of big box stores. The deals aren’t any better than you’d find anywhere else. Their only advantage I suppose is that there are a bunch of them in one place. The reality is that I can do better at the Bay, so why bother? But, at Birch Run, Michigan the deals are amazing, regardless of the exchange on the Canadian dollar! If the exchange rate was 50% the deals that Sue and I got would still be worth it.

So why can’t Canadian (so called) outlet malls be more like their American cousins? I’d prefer to spend my dollars in Canada if all things were equal. But, they’re not. The reality is that the deals are in the U.S. and next year on our way to Boyne Sue and I will again stop at Birch Run and spend the better part of half a day scooping up the bargains that we can’t possibly find at home. And these are bargains that Joe would be proud of!

You had me at clearance.

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Make someone smile today.

Geri

My Outstanding Customer Service Award Goes to Boyne.com

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 10^th 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.

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Make someone smile today.

Geri