How to Hit a Hole-in-One With Customer Service

Apply the etiquette of a six-century-old game to the customer service side of your business.

Seasoned golfers can pick up on the behavior of a rookie quite quickly. Someone on the green chatting it up on their cell phone is just one tell-tale sign that guy’s not getting invited back.

Making it in the club is a sign of success. It’s a right of passage one needs to work towards that can easily be related to any business. Outlining a set of rules and social etiquette on the golf course can be applied to the guest experience at your hotel, restaurant, and, frankly, any business.

Below are easy-to-follow social queues you can take from golf and apply to the guest experience at your business…

Arrive early

The same way you would stretch out and warm up for 18 holes, you and your team should get to work earlier than the scheduled shift.

You can look at a team briefing the same as warm-up shots. Before any customer enters the building or makes a phone call, you and the team should catch up on the daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals.

Do you manage a restaurant? Go over the food and drink sales goals for the day. Maybe there is a sale or promotion you’d like to make a goal. Retail stores, hotels, and call centers can all push these same principles. The point: When management arrives early and sets the goals, those leaders can pass on those goals to the team with an example set of how to achieve it. Arrive early, and practice before you play.

Obey the rules of the road

In golf, players love cruising around in a cart. It’s fun and can provide a unique experience to the game. With that fun comes a responsibility to your fellow players. There are rules of who has the right of way to avoid collisions or confusion out on the green.

These same rules can be applied to the way hospitality heroes and all customer service employees get through a shift. In a restaurant servers enter and exit the kitchen – sometimes simultaneously. It’s common etiquette to announce you’re coming around the corner by simply saying, “corner.” It’s the same when a food runner is bringing food to a table behind a busy and distracted server. Simply say, “behind” – almost like a golfer yelling “fore” before hitting a ball.

By doing so, restaurant employees avoid a collision that can result in wasted product and potentially a server who needs to take time off the floor to change into clean clothes. Just because you sell tires and not food doesn’t mean something similar can happen in your store.

Respect other people’s space and obey the rules of the cart path. Don’t speed and honk your horn (or communicate) with others around you. An accident and potential loss to the company can be avoided.

Quiet while others Tee Off

When a golfer hits a ball, it’s customary for other players and observers to hush for the moment. This provides concentration in a stressful moment and allows a player to get their head on straight. It’s simply a sign of respect.

As people, we all learn far more while listening than speaking. Your team members all need to keep quiet and observe customers in all kinds of business. If you want to ensure your guests have the best stay as possible, listen to their wants and needs at the front desk.

In a team meeting, rather than speaking while leadership is outlining the sales plan for the day, be a hospitality hero and take notes. This rule to the game goes both ways. When you listen to others, they’re more willing to listen to you. It’s a simple rule of engagement to this game that can go a long way with your success.

Leave the phone in the locker room

Seasoned golfers know to never pick up their cell phones during a game. There’s nothing ruder or distracting than talking on your phone while others are trying to concentrate on the game.

Anyone in the customer service field should be mindful of when to use their phone. Yes, there are emergencies. But there’s never an emergency situation when a hotel front desk agent is doom-scrolling through social media. Customers shouldn’t see your phone.

It’s a bad look all around and workers should stow their devices away until break. There’s nothing more frustrating for a restaurant manager to see servers texting their significant other while sitting at the server’s station. Take care of customers and business. Then get back to it later. Being on the phone will only slow the game down for everyone else.

Be a team player

In golf, you may be playing for yourself but no one wants to play with a sore winner or loser. In your worst game, some words of encouragement can keep you around to play again in the future.

Look out for your team members like a true hospitality hero and help when you can. Boosting up the confidence of others will rub off on the whole team and in turn customers. Hospitality is a feeling. Guest experience gets in touch with those feelings. Customers are a lot like an audience to the game of golf. Good sportsmanship among the players will motivate more customers to have a better and more understanding attitude. And if the job’s pay is best on gratuity, you’re likely to see larger tips.

Hit a 54 on par-72

You don’t have to be a pro golfer to get a gist of the game. The same can be said for rookie guest experience employees. As leaders take these tips and make this game more approachable to the new members of your team.

Bubba Watson and Tiger Woods weren’t born great. They practiced achieving their greatness. Coach your frontline workers like you would the next greatest-of-all-time golfer and they’re sure to hit a hole in one time or two. As a hospitality leader, a time or two can lead to plenty of repeat business.