This past Sunday, I spent the day golfing with some of my colleagues. It was 90 degrees, and the four of us were out to enjoy the nice weather. Walking in to the clubhouse, I immediately noticed the television showing the British Open, so I struck up a conversation with Chet, the club pro, about the leader board. We started talking about how tough it must be to have the pressure of being in the lead on you all day. Chet checked on if I needed any tees, any golf balls, or any other golfing paraphernalia. And then, he asked the magic question:
“Is there anything else that I can do for you?”
“Actually, it would be nice to have the beverage cart stop by a little more frequently, with an update of the leader board,” I responded. “If I can have those two things, we’d be willing to tip extra for the information.”
“No problem, sir. I will mention it to the two attendants, and have a great round.”
 
This is going to be awesome, I thought as I walked onto the practice green. Cold beverages on a hot day AND updates on the Open. How could it not be a great day on the links?
But nothing could have been further from what Chet and his team actually delivered.

On the sixth hole, we had to call the clubhouse to get a cart out to us. The cart finally showed up as we were on our way up the fairway on the ninth hole.
While my golf partner wanted to tell the cart to keep moving, that we would get our own drinks from the clubhouse, I suggested we take the drinks from the cart attendant to make the turn to the back nine faster. We ordered our beverages, and I was about to pay when I asked,
“What does the leaderboard of the British Open look like?”
The cart attendant looked at me, confused, and didn’t respond. Apparently, she didn’t realize the British Open was even going on. No extra tip for her! In fact, I stocked up on ice and drinks for the rest of our round.
Being a student of the sales process and of customer service, I asked myself why I was so disappointed in my overall experience. My initial conversation with Chet was on the money, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized he didn’t listen to me. I felt like I had given him a great idea to make us loyal customers, and to make the cart attendant a little happier with a chance for a better tip. I told Chet exactly what I wanted my experience to be like. And he failed.
Why didn’t Chet listen to me or follow through?
– Too busy?
– Too hot?
– Lazy?
– He relayed the message to coworkers that didn’t think it was important to go out of their way?
As the customer, I didn’t care about any of these excuses because Chet had given me his word. He had engaged me to the point of telling him what I wanted, and led me to believe there would be a solid follow through. But instead, there wasn’t even an attempt, making me feel cheated and misled.
This lesson that Chet taught me is a powerful one: Always work to find out what your customer really wants, and listen to what they say. Deliver on these requests, and you’ll have a customer for life. Fail to deliver, and you’ve lost more than just a few bucks.

Like many of you, Captain Reman’s King of Core & More, Patrick Gerbyshak, is a student of sales and customer service. Get in touch with Patrick about his very first Reman U article by emailing patgerbyshak@etereman.com.