Working Dad

        When I started working at Philadelphia Turf back in 1992, there was another salesmen hired at the same time as me. His name was Bob ( last name withheld to protect the innocent). The reason I mention Bob was I believe he lasted less than 6 months. He had a legendary ending when he went into the owners office, with a paintings falling off the wall door slam ending with our Sales Manager, Tom Drayer, going in after him and telling him to just leave the building....Now maybe his personality was a little high strung, but I truly believe the survival at a new job, with no sales experience, is tied directly to a mentor.
I spent my first few days with some of the veteran sales reps traveling to see how to do the job. The majority of the time was spent with Scott Keener. Scott had the territory next to my original area of Central PA. What we still laugh about today is how he felt me out for a few hours before giving me the real scoop on what was the important parts of the job and how to stay out of trouble.
       That first year and pretty much ever since, Scott has been my sounding board on how to handle situations and those times when I just needed to vent some frustration. The first few years, I would call him almost every night (pre-cell phone) and review what happened that day. I would explain how I handled each situation and he would walk me through what I should have done or did right. What was picked up on by most in the company was how close Scott and I were. Kenny Myers, one of our parts men, stated one day," I just talked to your father and told Scott I just talked to your son". The father-son relationship just stuck.
       A few months ago my 10 year old was by me when I was speaking to Scott and I said " talk to you later Pop.". Pete looked at me and said "who was that?". I answered, "it was Mr. Keener."
I guess it is not the easiest thing to explain to a 10 year old about how someone at your work is known as your Dad.

I am incredibly lucky to still have my own Father around in his 80's to talk to and go to for advice.
I have also been very lucky to have a second father and mentor in Scott and his guidance throughout my career and life has been invaluable!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

WJC

Digging In The Dirt

       The past few weeks I have been in numerous discussions regarding using turf sensors. The first time was a few weeks ago, at a breakfast meeting with Bill Brown, Group Vice President from Toro, and some local superintendents . One of the discussions centered around the thought that using sensors were a valuable tool, but the debate was is the cost justified when dollars are tight with the final question being, " Should I buy multiple sensors or a greens mower?". (I voted greens mowers...)
The comments definitely created some discussion of the true value, and in the end, I would say the consensus was that it is helpful, but the only way to really know is to stick a knife in the dirt!
       Then this past week, we had the Toro Precision Sense unit in our area at multiple locations. The Precision Sense is another tool to dial in your programs. The unit measures soil moisture, soil salinity, surface hardness, plant performance, NDVI ( measuring plant density/color/stress) and topography. Really incredible technology!
      As with any new technology, it can not replace the ability to dig in the soil and use your specific experience with your turf.
      In the end it all comes down to one of my favorite Jim Nedin sayings " If you have happy grass, your members will be happy and you will be happy!"

Toro Precision Sense in action






WJC