Why is this Titleist golf ball up a tree? Well… it’s how I felt almost exactly seven years ago. The moment I became serious about my career, my passion for Titleist and Instruction is vivid: I didn’t have the “case-file” documentation.
Since then I’ve documented or tracked every lesson, fitting, phone call (Google Voice made things so much easier), email, meeting, brief encounter, everything to prevent that very same feeling from happening again: up a tree.
After reading through seven years of notes I thought “this could be a book!” Pretty arrogant I know, but the stack of information forms the basis of my business and teaching philosophy and even led to my first ever speech about business at the World Golf Fitness Summit. Not bad for a Political Science/Psychology guy who wanted to be in the FBI.
If I were to write a book, “the moment” would have to be the first story chronicled. It explains everything about who I am, what I believe, and what we do at The Studio. Currently titled “Introduction” and edited by Tim Weldon here is what a book could read like…if I decide to write one…
Please let me know what you think here on the site, or Facebook.
– Introduction
His name was Dick Brecken. Well, at least that’s what I’ll call him in order to protect what’s left of his reputation.
Dick seemed like a good enough guy. He was a good club member, played every so often, and he was genuinely interested in his golf game. He came to me looking to get fit for a new set of Titleist 762 irons, and the fitting session could not have gone better. Within a week, Dick was playing some of the greatest golf of his life.
But then tragedy struck. Someone broke in to Dick’s house and a stole Dick’s golf clubs. It was a crazy ordeal, but luckily insurance was going to cover his entire set—even the golf bag. This was a big ticket sale for a young golf pro…again!
Dick and I spoke on the phone, and decided to match all his new clubs to his previous specs. I even used the serial number on his Titleist 762s to match his lost irons. I told Dick that it would be about 10 days or so until the clubs arrived…and we agreed that he would come by and pick out a brand new bag for his 14 new custom clubs.
Once all the clubs arrived and we confirmed the specs, we placed them back in the shipping boxes and stored them in our Accountant’s office since Dick had yet to pick out his new bag. A few days later, here comes Dick…and he is pissed.
I wasn’t in the shop at the time. I was actually playing a round with a few of our members. But from what I heard, Dick was causing all sorts of trouble. They had to send an employee out on the course to look for me.
Just as I’m walking off the 5th tee, the employee comes racing up to me in a panic: “Dick’s at the shop and he is f’ing pissed. He says you screwed up his order and he can’t find his clubs. We don’t know what to do!”
I, of course, knew this wasn’t the case. The order had not been screwed up. So I thanked my playing partners and quickly made my way to the pro shop. I arrived to find Dick pacing back and forth outside.
“You scored a touchdown then dropped the ball in the f’ing end zone!” said an irate Dick Brecken.
“What…what’s going on?” I asked. “You said on the phone you were going to pick out a bag once you saw what we had in the shop and go from there. Did you find a bag?”
“Yeah,” said Dick. “Got this burnt orange one. Where are my clubs? You said everything was here and ready to go! I show up at the course and nothing is done! Everything was supposed to be here and ready to go and you dropped the ball, buddy! NO clubs! NO bag! Nothing is done!”
Just then, out walks one of the pros with Dick’s clubs in the new bag. “Here you go, Dick,” he said as he put the bag on the cart. “This new set looks awesome!”
Dick once again turned to me and said, “You dropped the ball in the f’ing end zone.”
I tried one more time to argue my case, pointing out to Dick everything that we’d agreed to on the phone. But it was no use. Dick walked away mumbling more curse words and left me there scratching my head, wondering what had just happened.
This event really inspired me. It was my first bad experience being on the “service” side of the customer service equation. Even though I knew I was right and this Dick guy was an idiot, he still had a bad experience. And for whatever reason that day, confused or otherwise, Dick tried to beat down everyone in sight. I needed to figure out a way to prevent this type of situation from ever happening again.
The first thing I decided to do was to “fire” Dick. There would be no smoothing things over on my end. I told all the pros that I would no longer deal with him. He was no longer a member to me. “If he calls the shop, someone else is taking it. If he needs help buying a shirt, someone else is coming in. If he needs to set up a caddy or lesson, it’s not going to be my job. Dick is a dick and I want no part of him!”
And in honor of the original Dick, I declared that any clients who wrongly abused me and the staff would also be named “Dick.” That way, if someone ever overheard an employee complaining about a difficult client, the codename “Dick” would protect everyone from backlash. Plus it was just plain funny!
My second change was to document everything moving forward. Every voicemail, email, phone conversation, lesson, fitting…they would all be documented to ensure that something like this would never happen again. My personal service and my personal brand were at stake!
And lastly, I decided that all players needed to have every club in their bags fitted correctly. It was the only way I could successfully teach them to be a better golfer.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but these changes would form the basis of my business philosophy:
1. Fire high maintenance customers and focus on your superfan customers.
2. Document everything.
3. Meet your players’ every need…even if they didn’t know they needed it.
These three golden rules truly launched my career as an instructor. And now, in the following pages, I will show you how I expanded from one irate Dick to hundreds of happy players around the globe. And in the process, became one of the top Titleist businesses in the world.
Amazingly, this true story unfolds at one of the most secretive clubs in the land. There’s not even a sign out front—and that’s how they like it.
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