A New Year Has Arrived!

http://youtu.be/vdLuk2Agamk

A New Year has arrived upon us like a new born child experiencing the world.  Unknowing, eye opening, mysterious, bewildering, amazing, enlightening, and yes at times just plain frustrating as we lie on our back looking out upon the world/new year.

Little by little we figure out how to move our legs/arms, make sounds, roll over, get on our knees, get up to our feet and then walk with help.  The day comes where we take our first steps on our own and then begin running and we never stop.  So goes the life of our Country Club starting anew in 2015, just as a newborn child, we are preparing to get on our feet and begin running for the upcoming year.
As I was going through my twitter feed the other night, I saw a tweet from Chris Brogan who provides leadership development and business strategies for individuals and organizations.  He made a blog post/tweet regarding  my 3 words for 2015 and asked his followers to join in the fun and what could be a thought provoking experience for the beginning of the new year.

A lot of great suggestions, business buzz words of all types but my three words were pretty simple as a golf course superintendent/manager at Glen Echo:

Sell

Service

 Satisfaction  

Allow me a few moments to give my thoughts why I chose the three that I did.

SELL

As a manager, I must sell the product I'm producing not only to my existing membership and guests but to future members and guests.  It is important that I use my influence to explain what our staff is doing to contribute to your positive experiences at the club.  Positive experiences mean a continued use of the club.  Every time you are out with friends or business associates and Glen Echo is mentioned in some form or fashion, it is my hope that a smile comes to your face and your thoughts go to your next potential experience that you have at the club and that it is shared with all that will listen.  Yes selling does mean increasing our revenue levels.

SERVICE

I was given great example of how to provide service to others at a very young age by my my mother and father while working their jobs as a teacher/nurse and community volunteers.  Very simply put, it is my hope that we provide a level of hospitality and service that will allow you to relax and enjoy the time that you and your family spend at our club.  

In the fall, our members were surveyed and some very valuable feedback was given to us.
Mr. Hardcastle sent out a letter a couple weeks ago with some generalized data regarding the survey. The Board and Strategic Planning Committee have been evaluating and making detailed plans regarding this information.  Additional discussions with membership will be taking place in the near future.

We appreciate the positive comments the golf course received but we did also have some areas of improvement or concern that were mentioned.  You know I'm one that is not satisfied in things staying status quo.  We are always looking at ways to improve our facilities and operation.  I will be discussing the golf course evaluations in future blog posts.  Some we can address fairly quickly and others will take some time and need to be developed in a Master Plan.

It is important that you know we want to meet or exceed every one of your expectations and provide great service in whatever area of the club you are utilizing.

SATISFACTION

Our members will not be satisfied if we have not first sold a great experience through our efforts as well as providing great service.  Hospitality which is the backbone of our business is defined as being cordial and generous in our treatment of our members/guests.  I know you have many choices on how to spend your discretionary income and I appreciate the fact that you have chosen us.  Of course we must also be trained in proper techniques, dedicated and highly motivated so that our members/guests are completely satisfied.  Laughing and being cheerful/friendly is just a part of being Santa Claus, if you can't deliver the packages to the right houses you will have disappointed many people.

Over the next few months as we begin to make our plans(move our legs), implement our plans(start running) evaluate our progress and make necessary changes/improvements (pick ourselves up after we have fallen), I hope each of you will be encouraged to spend more time with us because you have received the type of hospitality that you deserve from our staff and this great Golf and Country Club.

Great Health and Prosperity to you and your family this year!