Hole #9
Pay Attention to Customers and Suppliers
Par 5 • 507 Yards
Customers and suppliers rely heavily on the goods and services they provide to one another. Golf also has its customers and suppliers, but not in the way you might imagine. The golfer is the supplier of all the elements and factors that make up the swing, and even the frequency of the swing.
But then who is the customer? The answer is the ball! This particular customer is perhaps the most demanding, unpredictable, frustrating, and unforgiving customer in the entire world. The irony of this situation is that this customer is totally “driven” by its supplier. It might perform well for one golfer by staying in the fairway, and yet perform terribly for another by going everywhere but the fairway. Obviously, this customer has very demanding requirements that must be met if the desired performance is to be achieved.
Golf balls and customers are valuable, and everything necessary must be done to keep them. Unfortunately, whether it’s golf or it’s business, it doesn’t matter how well you played or met the customer’s requirements yesterday—just how well you are hitting the ball today. Customers and golf balls can be very unforgiving; if you fail to meet their requirements, you will lose the ball and the customer.
In the business world, customers also have requirements that must be met. In many ways they are just as driven by supplier performance as a player is by the ball; if a supplier performs badly enough, he too can lose the ball. Lost balls are occasionally found, and customers lost to the competition sometimes come back, but replacing lost business customers with new ones is not as easy as simply reaching into the bag to get another.
Scorecard
PAY ATTENTION TO CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS
Hole #9 • Par 5
Player:
Directions: Circle “Yes” or “No” for each question.
And don’t be too easy on yourself. Be as truthful as you can.
Do you know who your customers are?
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YES |
NO |
Do you know who your suppliers are?
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YES |
NO |
Do your customers charge you “penalty strokes”?
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YES |
NO |
Have you ever lost a customer by not meeting his or her requirements?
|
YES |
NO |
Have you ever picked up a customer someone else has “lost”?
|
YES |
NO |
Scoring key on back
PAY ATTENTION TO CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS
Hole #9 • Par 5
Player:
Directions: Record your “score” for each question in the space provided.
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Do you know who your customers are? |
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YES = 1 stroke |
NO = 2 strokes |
SCORE |
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Do you know who your suppliers are? |
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YES = 1 stroke |
NO = 2 strokes |
SCORE |
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Do your customers charge you “penalty strokes”? |
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YES = 1 stroke |
NO = 2 strokes |
SCORE |
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Have you ever lost a customer by not meeting his or her requirements? |
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YES = 3 strokes |
NO = 1 stroke |
SCORE |
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Have you ever picked up a customer someone else has “lost”? |
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YES = 1 stroke |
NO = 2 strokes |
SCORE |
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TOTAL NUMBER OF STROKES |
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