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Welcome to another episode of The AceCall.ai Podcast, where we help golf club managers win with AI!

In this episode, co-hosts Clayton Elliott and Brad Milligan break down practical strategies and expert insights on managing difficult golf club members effectively.

Member complaints can be a major headache for Golf Club General Managers—consuming valuable time, disrupting operations, and creating unnecessary stress for both leadership and staff.

Some members seem to thrive on finding faults, making it feel like no effort is ever enough to satisfy them. So, how can GMs regain control and keep complaints from dictating their day?

Tune in as we discuss the best ways to handle challenging members with confidence, set boundaries, and implement solutions that protect your time and your team's morale.

Listen as we dive into:

✅ Why member complaints take over your time (and how to stop it)

✅ How difficult members create stress & low morale for staff
✅ 5 expert-backed strategies to handle complaints efficiently
✅ The Complaint Funnel system to filter nonsense before it reaches you
✅ How automation & AI can cut complaints in half
✅ Why rewarding great members can shift your club’s culture

📞 Tired of wasting hours on complaints due to your club's missed calls from members?

Try our Voice AI Receptionist today at 1 (866) 838-8581 and see for yourself how it can eliminate and replace your voicemail overnight.

🔊 Listen now & take control of your club’s complaint process!

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)

Dealing with difficult members and their complaints is one of the most exhausting parts of being a Golf Club General Manager. Their grievances—both valid and petty—consume time, drain morale, and make it harder to focus on the bigger picture of running the club smoothly.

In this article, we explore:

• Why some members seem impossible to please

• How complaints disrupt club operations and create stress

• Five effective strategies to turn member complaints into constructive experiences

• How our Voice AI Receptionist can alleviate stress by handling calls and complaints more efficiently

➡️ Want to reduce complaints and increase member satisfaction? Try our Voice AI Receptionist by calling 1 (866) 838-8581.

The Never-Ending Headache of Member Complaints

Being a Golf Club General Manager means juggling a hundred different responsibilities daily—staff management, course maintenance, events, budgeting, and ensuring that members enjoy their experience.

Yet, one of the most frustrating and time-consuming aspects of the job is dealing with member complaints. Whether it’s about slow service, course conditions, or club policies, some members seem to thrive on finding fault.

Instead of focusing on club improvements, you’re constantly putting out fires—handling complaints that range from legitimate concerns to outright ridiculous nitpicking. These interactions drain your time, energy, and patience. Worse, they create a toxic atmosphere for your staff, making them feel undervalued and demoralized.

The Difficult Member Problem: A Golf Club Epidemic

Every club has that member (or multiple members) who:
✔️ Are easily offended and demand special treatment.
✔️ Nitpick over everything—from tee time delays to the thickness of the napkins in the clubhouse.
✔️ Complain about staff behavior, course conditions, or other members.
✔️ Make life difficult for servers, groundskeepers, and front desk staff.
✔️ Expect immediate responses and VIP treatment, regardless of the club’s rules or limitations.

For staff, dealing with these individuals is stressful, draining, and demoralizing. Even if 95% of your members are great, the 5% who constantly complain can overshadow everything.

So, how do you manage difficult members without losing your sanity? Let’s look at five expert-level solutions.

5 Proven Strategies to Handle Difficult Members and Their Complaints Like a Pro

1. Implement a “Complaint Funnel” to Control the Flow of Issues

🔹 The Problem: When members complain, they often go directly to the general manager, even for trivial issues. This disrupts your workflow and creates unnecessary stress.

🔹 The Solution: Create a structured complaint process. Instead of having every complaint land in your lap, establish a funnel system:

• First Contact: All complaints should be directed to a dedicated member services team or reception.

• Triage System: Categorize complaints into urgent, non-urgent, and ridiculous.

• Escalation Policy: Only genuine, serious concerns make it to the General Manager. Everything else should be handled by front-line staff.

Pro Tip: Many clubs are now using AI-powered receptionists to handle routine complaints. Our Voice AI Receptionist can filter member concerns, answer frequently asked questions, and escalate only major issues. Try it now at 1 (866) 838-8581.

2. Set Clear “Member Conduct” Expectations and Enforce Them

🔹 The Problem: Some members believe that paying dues gives them the right to be rude or entitled. This creates a toxic environment for staff and other members.

🔹 The Solution: Establish and communicate strict member behavior policies. Make it clear that:
✔️ Abusive or rude behavior toward staff is not tolerated.
✔️ Complaints must be made constructively and respectfully.
✔️ The club reserves the right to suspend or expel members who create persistent issues.

Pro Tip: Post these expectations visibly in the clubhouse, member handbook, and website. When difficult members cross the line, refer them to the policy instead of engaging emotionally.

3. Master the Art of De-escalation Without Giving In

🔹 The Problem: Some members complain not because they want a solution, but because they enjoy stirring the pot.

🔹 The Solution: Train staff to use the L.E.A.P. De-escalation Method:

• Listen – Let the member vent. Sometimes, they just want to feel heard.

• Empathize – Show understanding. “I can see why that was frustrating for you.”

• Ask Questions – “What outcome would you like to see?” This redirects the complaint toward a resolution.

• Propose Solutions – Offer reasonable, club-approved options instead of arguing.

Pro Tip: Do not reward bad behavior. If a member is known for excessive complaints, document their behavior and set clear boundaries.

4. Automate Complaint Handling to Minimize Disruptions

🔹 The Problem: Repeating the same explanations about club policies, tee time availability, and maintenance schedules is a waste of time.

🔹 The Solution: Automate responses for the most common complaints.

✔️ Use AI-powered receptionists to field and resolve repetitive complaints before they reach management.
✔️ Create a dedicated complaint submission portal where members can submit grievances.
✔️ Publish an FAQ section that addresses common complaints about policies and expectations.

Pro Tip: Our Voice AI Receptionist can instantly respond to frequent complaints about tee times, reservations, and service issues—reducing call volume and staff frustration. Test it at 1 (866) 838-8581.

5. Reward Good Members and Reduce the Power of Chronic Complainers

🔹 The Problem: Constantly dealing with difficult members distracts from making the club better for well-behaved members.

🔹 The Solution: Shift focus away from complainers and towards rewarding great members:

✔️ Introduce loyalty rewards or VIP perks for positive members.
✔️ Give priority reservations to members who don’t cause frequent issues.
✔️ Encourage staff to recognize and appreciate pleasant members publicly.
✔️ If a member repeatedly disrupts operations, enforce disciplinary action instead of catering to them.

Pro Tip: When difficult members see that good behavior leads to perks, they may adjust their attitude.

Final Thoughts: Take Back Your Time and Sanity

Difficult members will always exist—but their complaints don’t have to take over your job. By implementing structured complaint handling, automated solutions, and firm member policies, you can reduce frustration and create a more enjoyable club environment.

🚀 Want fewer complaints and a smoother operation? Test our Voice AI Receptionist at 1 (866) 838-8581 today!

Let technology handle the nonsense, so you can focus on what really matters—running an exceptional club.

Podcast Episode Transcript

Clayton Elliott (00:02)

Welcome to the ACE Call AI podcast where we help golf club managers win with AI. Running a golf club today is harder than ever. So we created simple AI solutions and a podcast to make it easier for you. I'm Clayton Elliott.

Brad (00:17)

And I'm Brad Milligan. Together we bring a mix of entrepreneurial innovation and decades of golf club management experience to help you optimize your club, increase profitability and elevate the member experience. So let's dive in. Clay, today we're tackling a huge challenge that many golf club managers face, which is handling difficult members and their complaints or difficult customers. Just lump them in all together. It's a challenge that can...

can really affect the club's atmosphere if it's not managed well. But it's also something that every manager needs to learn to navigate.

Clayton Elliott (00:56)

Yeah, absolutely, Brad. There's no avoiding it. There's no running from it. There's no hiding from it. There's no evading it. It will find you those, those, those fun people will find you. And you know, what's tricky about this is that it's not just about handling one complaint, right? It's about managing those complaints in a way that keeps the other members expect experience, positive, right? And that maintains the club's reputation.

Brad (01:06)

Yep.

Clayton Elliott (01:24)

And, you know, helps members expectations be met and exceeded still. as a manager, you, really can't let your emotions or frustration take over. You really need to channel and cultivate that calm collected and professional energy. And also if a member is, being abusive in any manner towards a staff member, know, this needs to be addressed as well. This can't be swept under the carpet.

The goal is to ideally avoid doing things that avoid the complaints. But then when you're dealing with these complaints, one is just a complaint from a difficult member. One is like an excessive or an abusive tone or manner or vibe that needs to be addressed.

Brad (02:12)

100%. I've had to deal with this multiple times in my career, in my life. Everybody's had to deal with this, right? Complaining people, difficult customers who may be right, may be wrong, right? But the first thing I always tell people is to listen. That's the key here is to listen. When a member walks into your office with a complaint, the worst thing you can do is interrupt them or brush off what they're saying.

They will lose it if you do that. You have to let them vent. You just have to let them vent and you have to listen to what they're saying. Even if you've heard it a hundred, a thousand times before.

Clayton Elliott (02:43)

Yeah, I can imagine.

Yeah. And even if you heard it from this member before, if you've heard it from this member before and they're saying it again, you might want to listen. This is where the discernment where you're like, is this just Jimmy again? This is a thing that Jimmy's got going on. And I got to ignore it. Learn to ignore Jimmy on this because Jimmy's a silly. This is very silly. Jimmy's very particular. Or you're like, no, this is important. I need to do this. And you fix this thing for Jimmy or he's he's going to make it very difficult for me. You know?

Brad (03:03)

Sure.

Clayton Elliott (03:24)

So yeah, that's great advice. think the hardest part, especially for a busy club and for busy club managers is not getting defensive when the complaint seems unfair, or unjustified, or completely out of left field. But the reality is, it's not personal. It's not about you. It's about the experience the member is having.

and it's your job to manage it, this is what you signed up for.

Brad (03:56)

Yeah, yeah, exactly, right? I'm a firm believer that addressing complaints, it's basically an opportunity to improve, right? You have that chance now. When you address them the right way, you often end up with more, with a more loyal member who feels heard and respected. But here's a big point, Clay. You don't just want to listen. Make sure you repeat back what you heard to show that you're actively engaged.

It helps to reframe the situation in a way that shows you're taking their concerns seriously.

Clayton Elliott (04:33)

So almost like reflecting what they've said back to them in your own words. I think that also helps with emotional de-escalation because the member knows you're trying to understand them.

before jumping into problem solving, before trying to like save the day or fix it, you're really putting that extra effort into making sure you get it, that it's clear to you. And yeah, even just in doing that, it will, you know, take them down a notch or two.

Brad (05:12)

Definitely, definitely. You also don't want to match their energy. We use that term energy, but if they come in hot-headed, what are you going to gain from it by going off at them? You just need to allow them, and this just goes back to being heard. They just want to be heard. Then once you've acknowledged their concerns, you need to shift to problem solving.

Clayton Elliott (05:18)

Yeah.

Brad (05:41)

But here's the thing, and I've seen this first hand, you can't always solve every problem the way they want you to. There's gotta be some common ground here. That's where managing expectations comes into play.

Clayton Elliott (05:58)

Yeah. And this is where I see how AI, right? This is it can come in and the part that it can play. I think a lot of the times the technology can help take some of the burden off managers by automating some of those expectations or providing members with clear options before they even step into the office. I think.

you know, if someone's expecting an email or expecting some kind of follow-up that could be automated or scheduled or, you know, there's the, from the simplest automation to the most advanced automation, it can really take a burden off a manager with a manual task to remember and to complete.

that makes sense.

Brad (06:54)

Yeah, yeah. No, that's right. AI can basically help you set realistic expectations. For example, if a member is unhappy with tee times or course conditions, let me just touch on course conditions, because this is, and if you're a golfer listening to this, you're going to know what I'm talking about here. But I've showed up to a golf course before and, you know, I've been ready to go out and play and it's the fall.

and they've punched their greens, which means they've aerated their greens. That's a common practice at a golf course, you aerate the greens. It's a normal thing, but it makes the green surface super bumpy. It's not fun to putt on, it's like Plinko, the things bouncing around all over the place, there's sand all over the golf course. It's not pretty. Now, if I don't know that, if I'm a paying customer and I arrive and I don't have that information, I'm just gonna be like, what are you doing? It's like ordering...

you know, a pizza and like there's no cheese that comes on the pizza, right? It's like a very disappointing event. Whereas, you know, if you had AI, having AI driven communications to provide updates and automate appointment scheduling and green conditions, all of that stuff, it can help prevent frustration before it even happens. It's more of a proactive approach, right? So, so AI can also gather

Clayton Elliott (08:17)

Yeah.

Brad (08:20)

substantial data to prove to members and committees what reality is over opinions and self-serving agendas. That's a massive point here, is that you can take your data now and you can show it to your committees, especially if you have a golf committee in front of you of members, and you'll know this if you're a general manager, this is just reality. You will have members of your golf club that have self-serving agendas and they...

They want certain things to be done for themselves or their own personal preferences, but is that in the best interest of the club as a whole? And if you can provide this data that is being collected in the background from your various systems and you can get it all congruent, you can show that to these members and show the other members of the committee, well, hey, this isn't true. This opinion that this individual has isn't true. Here's the actual data here.

And then they can either, depending on your club's dynamic and how it's run, they can either run with that or they can just throw it in the garbage and move on with their opinions. at least, again, this keeps your job safe. This keeps your career moving in the right direction. You can say, well, at least I showed you what's going on here. My hands are clean. I can move on.

Clayton Elliott (09:38)

That's an amazing point, Brad. And that's like, you got the evidence on your side, right? You got the data and the evidence on your side. On top of that, if you built the system that gathers the data, now you have the ability to build systems that gather accurate data. You're capable to implement and set up and deploy AI systems in clubs.

Brad (09:44)

Sure.

Yeah.

Clayton Elliott (10:04)

think the kind of people that would reject and object to those, the data are people that probably wouldn't even let the AI system get put in place in the first place. So it's probably, there's probably a bit of that there, but it's, it's, it's so, it's a hundred percent true is that until you have the data, people are operating on hunches, gut feelings, opinions, maybe some data, but not enough to actually have like deep.

Brad (10:12)

Sure.

Clayton Elliott (10:32)

data analytics, data driven decisions. They're not making a data driven decision.

Brad (10:38)

Mm-hmm.

Clayton Elliott (10:39)

And the expectations, right? It's just really people can, I want this, I expect that. You're like, yeah, well, our numbers say we can do this. So realign your expectations with reality. And like you said, yeah, it can be used to set expectations upfront, right? It can send out automatic messages when something happens, you know, like a tea time delay or, you know, a green aeration, right? Or update members on course maintenance schedules. Like you said, it's...

Brad (10:49)

Yes.

Yes, big time.

Clayton Elliott (11:08)

If someone got a text or an email or a phone call from Voice AI, just letting them know this is what's happening or this is our schedule coming up, book accordingly, or this is the state of the greens today. If maybe something was done and there wasn't a schedule in advance to do it, people can cancel or reschedule versus finding it, like you said, when they're there, they're geared up, they get to the first one. They're just like, what the?

Brad (11:29)

Yep.

Clayton Elliott (11:37)

What is this? I want to play Plinko right now. would have, when it came today, I have other things to do today I could have done if I had known this. Why didn't no one tell me this? Right? So it's a, it's a great value add to keep those updates. And it really, it does. It makes a world of difference in managing members' expectations before they even have a voice, before they even have to voice a complaint.

Brad (11:38)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, very, very good points, Clay. And when you can't solve an issue right away, it's important to let the member know you're working on it. You can't just, you know, hide there. Offering them a timeline or action plan, it helps them to feel involved rather than just completely dismissed.

Clayton Elliott (12:23)

Right. And when it comes to diffusing difficult situations, it's all about your approach. It's all about your intention and your, your attitude when you're approaching it. Right. I found that it's showing empathy. As you mentioned, listening, eye contact.

nodding. If you're a manager of a golf club, you've, you know, people you've spent enough time working with people, you know, how to handle difficult people. wouldn't be in the position you're in if you did not know how to do it. but there's always ways to improve. There's always ways to get better at it. And, you know, doing this and having this approach, even with the most unreasonable members, right. It can go a long way.

the spirit of de-escalation. I call it the spirit of de-escalation to really kind of, you know, allow that to guide you.

Brad (13:19)

Yeah, yeah, 100%. I couldn't agree more. There's been tons of these situations in my career that I faced where you have to deescalate a situation. you know, for example, when a member is upset because of something, you know, when it's out of your control, it's like something I didn't even do, like a weather delay or a system glitch. You know, you don't just want to offer this standard generic, sorry, there's nothing we can do.

That's the worst thing you can do. Instead, try something like, sure. No, they don't want to hear it. Yeah, it might be true, but it's not what they're looking for at that point in time. So, I try something like, I understand how frustrating that must be. Let's see how we can work together to make it better. Something along those lines. That simple empathy, like you talked about, can really change the tone of the conversation.

Clayton Elliott (13:50)

It's true, it's true, but you know, they don't hear it. They don't want to hear it.

Yeah, absolutely. And part of what makes, part of what makes that work is it's not just the words you use, but the way that you deliver them. Right. Remember, as they can tell, if you're gen, if you genuinely care about them, about whatever it is they're telling you that there's going on with them right now that they're upset about, or if you, you know, you're just going through motions, you just want them out of your face. You want them out of your

You have nothing to do with them right now, right? People can tell. And that's where you have the right training and communication tools, know, the right infrastructure in place, tools like Voice AI, the assistants or the chatbots, they can provide immediate support.

depending on the situation, but this can give members the attention, the immediate attention they need before they even escalate, before they even get all wound up and upset. someone, one of the brainstorming ways we were talking about the use of a voice AI line is just a central complaint line. Just like a central complaint, any and all

kind of like a feedback box. You can put a box in front of the managers comment box, It's a comment box. put the comment, any comment, here's a little pad. You write it down. You fold up, put in the note, put your name on it. We'll know to call you back about your comment, whatever. This is just a comment box anywhere you are. So you can be anywhere out in the, the, in the greens can be at home. You can be thinking about experience. had earlier today. Do you just remembered it? You want to comment, just call the number, leave a comment.

Brad (15:38)

comment box yeah yeah yeah yeah sure sure yeah

Sure,

sure.

Clayton Elliott (16:00)

So

if something's at a whack, the towels aren't in the change room. There's the food in the kitchen was cold. The food in the restaurant was cold. Your pop was flat. What does it matter? Does it matter what little thing that you think? that wasn't the way I wanted it. That wasn't how I expected it. It's like, great. Can you please let us know? We have a phone number. Keep it on speed dial anywhere you are. Doesn't matter if you're in the pro shop, front desk, restaurant, on the green. Doesn't matter.

admin phone talking to one of our staff on the phone, any interaction positive or negative neutral. You don't get to tell us about the neutral ones, you know, but if it made you feel great, it was a great, it was a positive experience. Call the line. Let us know of the star staff we had that helped you out. It made you have a great experience. Let us know if you have a subpar experience, call us, let us know, speak with that AI voice assistant, let them know.

what you want to let them know that goes right immediately to all the department heads goes right to the general manager. You could you could have one line in the club and that that's what it's for. Right. And so if members can do that as opposed to Stu and oppose as opposed to wallow and like kind of like

get kind of lost in it, you know, and let it kind of fester inside them, then it escalates internally in them emotionally. But just be able to call this number and say this thing to this bot, it's a good pressure release valve. If that makes sense.

Brad (17:30)

Yeah,

it's like a psychotherapist, a psychologist, right? They can actually get that out. Because they'll forget about it too. They'll just move on. They'll get irked by something like, there was no towels again in the men's locker room. Where are the towels? And then they go upstairs and they run into their friend Paul and they're like, hey, Paul, how's it going? And they'll completely forget about that moment. And they might be stewing about it, like you said, on the way home in their car. Yeah, and they're like, no towels.

Clayton Elliott (17:55)

later they'll be at home and they'll be they'll be they'll be on the

Brad (17:59)

My pants are wet because I didn't have any towels. And then, something along those lines, right? And then that gives them an outlet. Now they can be like, you know what, I'm going to call that bot and give it a piece of my mind. It also keeps it from, if they are in a negative mind frame and they want to share something negative, it makes that staff member that they would have called not be what I would call kicking the dog.

Clayton Elliott (18:02)

No, really, that's, that's, yeah, that's it is. It's a free it's.

Brad (18:26)

It's like you come home and you've had a bad day and you just kick the dog because you're like, well, somebody needs to feel my wrath. So then you have that chance to be like, okay, well, this AI voice receptionist has a nice sweet voice. It can take the beating. It doesn't feel anything. Yes, exactly.

Clayton Elliott (18:26)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah

It's always, it's always polite. never, it never, it never gets upset. It can, it can, can,

it can take your, your, your, your members. complaints. It never gets tired. It's never having a bad day. It never needs a weekend off. It never needs a holiday. It's just in a good mood all the time to listen to your most upset members. And it, and it's like, and it is, it's, the members also.

Brad (18:51)

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Clayton Elliott (19:12)

they'll probably be a little more reasonable with it because they know it's not a person. A lot of members will not know this is not a person. I'll be totally honest. If members aren't like informed, they don't know.

They should know. You remember, should know if you have an AI receptionist and they know their time, but, but, but, but they'll, they'll know the purpose of this is to receive their complaint, but they can't actually punish it. Cause it doesn't feel anything. Cause sometimes people, say they want to kick the dog. There's like a sadistic element to it. People are just like, I'm going to take this out on you. Cause someone was mean to me today, you know, or like my, my, my, you know, they're just, they're just like, there's, there's a domineering element.

Brad (19:28)

They should, they need to be informed.

Mm-hmm.

Clayton Elliott (19:53)

But you can't dominate the computer. can't yell at the computer. just, it's just a software. You're just talking to software. So it might even calm them down a bit, knowing they're just talking to software and it can't actually, be upset. You know I'm saying? Like some people just get upset people cause they want to make you upset. They want you to feel upset. And so this actually stops a human from being the punching bag.

Brad (20:13)

Mm-hmm.

Clayton Elliott (20:18)

of your, your, your, your members when they are not in a good state of mind for whatever reason. Right. And it's a huge way to kill your morale, your team's morale. If they are the constant punching bags, even into the handful of times, it doesn't have to happen every day. It doesn't even have to happen every week. If it happens like a handful of times, it's enough to like, leave a mark on some people, you know, some, and maybe they're not supposed to be engulfed those people, but.

Brad (20:25)

Yeah, very good point.

Mm-hmm.

No, I mean, it could be your summer staff too, right? It could be somebody who's being paid minimum wage and they're just getting, they always get that same member and they're just getting, and I mean, this does have a positive.

Clayton Elliott (20:47)

I think.

There you go. Yeah. Yeah, that's one.

They don't get paid enough. They don't get,

they don't get paid enough for that kind of treatment, you know?

Brad (21:03)

No, definitely not. And they're like, should I even be here? And it's like, well, they're a great employee, and now they're getting verbally abused over the phone.

Clayton Elliott (21:12)

Yeah. And

all the employees could say, hey, listen, I'm sorry. That's not my department. That's not my issue. But we want to take care of it for you. It's very important that we take care of that for you. call our hotline. Excuse me. Call our hotline. Call our central.

Brad (21:22)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Clayton Elliott (21:36)

customer service line or something, whatever you want to call it. So your members know what it's the purpose of it. And you say, call it, let it know. And all the right people will know about what's going on instantaneously. And so the right staff, if staff find themselves in a situation where again, they should be trying to help the member, if the member is interacting with them, but you might find some staff being asked about stuff they have no business with. And if they can just politely direct the member to that line,

Brad (21:40)

Yeah.

Clayton Elliott (22:04)

And the members are like, yeah, the line eventually the members will be conditioned. Don't just bug random people that we're working with that are working here. It's not their, it's not their issue. It's not their business, you know? And if staff can go into work knowing like, I won't be randomly bothered about stuff that doesn't involve me or doesn't, it's not my business. I can't help with it. You know, there's just like,

line of defense, as they say, right? And your staff feel like they're protected, like they're respected, like they're not going to be just left to be abused by, you know, disgruntled members.

Brad (22:44)

Yeah, yeah, very, very good points. I think we're like discovering more uses always as we speak through these talking points, right? Because you could have, you brought up a good point there. You could have a, like say a Greens issue, a Greens department issue where let's say, let's say, know, Steve goes out there and he plays every Sunday and he's like, there's a rickety fence on eight.

And he hits his ball near that rickety fence. He's always hitting it. And he's like, that fence, it's gonna fall down at some point. And he might tell some subordinate staff member, hey, Jenny, can you pass this message along? And Jenny's gonna write it down. Maybe email the Greenskeeper, and the Greenskeeper's gonna go, eh, who cares? He might be one of those guys who's like, that's not a priority, that's at the bottom of my list. But if this gets blasted,

Clayton Elliott (23:25)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Brad (23:36)

right, to everybody and it's like, there's an issue out there on the golf course. It's a legitimate issue, like he's not complaining, right? Like this fence could fall down and hurt somebody. So it's like, let's get ahead of that, right? And let's, you know, he leaves that information, everybody sees it they're like, hey, what's the greenskeeper doing about this? Hey, what are you doing about this, right? Are we acting towards this, right? So it just, it also has some like staff accountability now that I'm seeing it, you know, more clearly.

Clayton Elliott (23:54)

Yeah. Yeah.

100%.

And that's the thing too, is that the difficult members and their complaints can actually be caught and handled quickly. So they don't, they don't fester with these people and the people that have legit complaints, but they're not necessarily difficult members, their complaints will also be handled quickly and promptly in a very timely manner.

Brad (24:12)

Yes. Yeah.

Yes. I think what we're seeing here is when used correctly, AI, when we're using it properly, can diffuse situations before they get out of hand. And let's not forget, one of the biggest challenges in managing complaints is not just the immediate issues, but the fact that these complaints often start to build up over time. That's a negative too. When you can track the concerns of multiple members and follow up with them in a timely manner,

You can spot trends and address issues proactively.

Clayton Elliott (25:01)

Yeah, that's a really good point too. Tracking complaints and addressing those recurring issues before they snowball and get out of control and even just fester for too long with the member. It's so key to creating a supportive and positive environment and culture for your members. A lot of members, well, a lot of managers, they really, don't realize how much that ongoing

attention can reduce member churn. They really don't understand.

Brad (25:36)

Exactly, exactly.

Yes, exactly. And creating that environment goes beyond just reacting to complaints. It's about preventing them in the first place. If you set clear expectations, kept the communication channels open, and made improvements based on feedback, your members will appreciate the effort and stay loyal to your club.

Clayton Elliott (26:09)

be right back.

Brad (32:15)

Right here. I highlighted it. Can you see it on yours? And I think that's AI does really well. You say that part.

Clayton Elliott (32:20)

Yeah, it's my turn.

All right.

Yeah. And I think that's something that AI does really well. It can analyze member sentiment. can provide feedback. Or it can actually, let me start from the top again. And I think that's something that AI does really well, actually. It can analyze member sentiment and feedback and provide you with insights that can help you improve whatever it is there.

know, complaining about or giving you feedback on. And by the time you have a conversation with a member, you've already got all the relevant information about their recent complaints and all their past complaints or feedback like right at your fingertips.

Brad (33:08)

Yeah, yeah, very, very good points. Which leads us back to why it's so important for managers to be open to new tools. AI isn't about replacing human interactions. We talk about this all the time. It's about enhancing it, making the process more efficient and helping managers basically make better decisions. We're not saying replace your personal touch, but...

Leverage technology to improve the process.

Clayton Elliott (33:40)

Yeah, absolutely, Brad. It's really about, it's about maximizing the personal touch. can help you maximize the personal touch. You'll be able to perform and provide a personal touch at levels that were not possible in the past before AI, right? And at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. It's all about creating a positive, responsive culture.

Brad (33:45)

Yes.

Clayton Elliott (34:08)

in your club, know, or perception from your, from your, from your, members, they want to perceive that your staff are a positive and responsive, right? And it takes listening, it takes problem solving, it takes managing expectations, it takes no, you know, timely and pertinent information and input and data. And quite often it takes, you know, at least a little empathy.

Brad (34:19)

Yes.

Definitely. And again, with the right technology, like AI, club managers can make this process basically smoother and more efficient. It's all about setting the right tone with your members and keeping them engaged with your club.

Clayton Elliott (34:57)

Yeah, that's it. so we can, I think we covered all our points really. So I think we can wrap up there. So if you're looking to take your member communication to the next level, if you want to get systems in place that can help you handle complaints at a whole other level.

and input and member feedback at a whole other level, we invite you to test drive our AI voice receptionist today. Give us a call 1-866-838-8581. It's toll free 1-866-838-8581. book a demo call with us.

Brad (35:41)

Yeah, that's, I mean, that's it for today, Clay. If again, if you found this episode valuable, share it with a colleague and subscribe for more insights on optimizing your golf club. If you're a manager at a golf club and are excited about the future of the industry and want to share your wisdom and expertise, please let us know and we'd be happy to have you on the podcast and be sure to tune in to the next episode where we'll talk about 21 ways golf club managers can use AI.

ChatGPT to work smarter and faster. Once again, I'm Brad Milligan.

Clayton Elliott (36:17)

And I'm Clay Nelliet. We'll see you next time on the ACE Call AI podcast where we help golf club managers win with AI. Take care.