Love & Respect in Your Golf Shop

In the past 30 days or so, I’ve been going through a small group study called “Love & Respect” (by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs) with my best friend (and wife) and some other couples. Even though I have been married happily for more than 23 years, I have indeed learned a great deal about how I can grow as a husband, father, son, friend and golf professional.

In the book/video series, Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerich, 7,000 were asked: “When you are in a conflict with your spouse or significant other, do you feel unloved or disrespected?” 83% of the men said “disrespected” and 72% of the women said “unloved.”  An interesting distinction between Men & Women: (generally speaking)!

Several key learnings have come to the forefront for me that I believe can be applied to the golf business we are all a part of. Here are a few of them:

“The way to motivate someone is to meet their deepest need.” – Dr. Emerson Eggerich. If we apply this concept in the golf club/golf shop environment (generally speaking):

  • If you want to inspire loyalty in a woman (who is your customer, who you work with, or who is your subordinate) be caring to her through appreciation, validation; reach out to her in an inviting way and genuine concern for her, her family. In short, value her for “who SHE IS” to you, your business, your operation.
  • If you want to inspire loyalty in a man (who is your customer, who you work with, or who is your subordinate) be respectful to him through appreciation of the value he brings to your club as a customer; respect him for what he does in working there; respect him for “who HE IS” to you.

The differences between men and women are real. Generally speaking:

  • If you want to “get a reaction” from and/or into a conflict with a man, disrespect him.
  • If you want to “get a reaction” from and/or into a conflict with a woman, be uncaring and unappreciative towards her.

Understanding these differences is the start. The question every customer/member is asking of us is:

  • Do they “value/appreciate” me enough to consider how the world is occurring for me? If not, I won’t do business with them.
  • Do they “respect/honor” me enough to consider how the world is occurring for me? If not, I won’t do business with them.

With the departure of retail giants from our business of late, it’s clear to me that we can no longer rely only on price for creating loyalty, motivating sales and creating loyalty. If that is true, it would seem these concepts (if put into practice on an individual basis, and as on an operational basis) could truly make a difference for each of us as we seek to grow our business, develop our staffs and live better with our significant other.

If you’d like to learn more about the concepts in Love & Respect or how you can put them into practice for best use in 2017, I hope you’ll reach out to me so I can assist you in preparation for next season. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

 

Monte Koch, Certified PGA Professional/Player Development
Player Development Regional Mgr/Mentor**
PGA of America (Greater Seattle/PacNW PGA Section)
Email: Mkoch@pgahq.com  Cell: 206/335-5260

< Menu | Pacific Northwest PGA