Frosty Field Day

       As I sat on my couch, after using up all the hot water in my house, trying to warm up from our field day Wednesday, for some reason, all that stuck in my head was Leslie Chow from, "The Hangover II."He had been locked in an ice machine and after being pulled out just kept saying
"Chow so cold, Chow so cold...". The planned set up didn't start off with excitement,with temps in the mid-twenty's at 7:00AM! We did catch a break for few hours of sun, but the cold rain starting during lunch and hit pretty hard during break down making it tough for our group.
       The interesting part of what could only be defined as raw weather, was it probably helped to make attendance at our field day so good. Anyone you talked to on the Sports Field Management side will tell you they are struggling to get fields open for play. From totally saturated conditions to frozen ground, getting fields open is an very big challenge. If the weather had been better, guys would have been at their own facilities trying to work on the fields.
Our program started with a heavy frost that caused us to change the schedule. Luckily we had the synthetic field maintenance talk with Chuck Hicks from Redexim ready to go. About mid-morning the sun started to peak out and we were able to break into our product stations. After about an hour and a half of product presentations, we were focused on the important part....Jim's Steaks!

     Our hosts at Episcopal Academy, CJ Lauer, Assistant Director of Facilities and Joe Beyer, Director of Grounds, were an unbelievably gracious and a huge help!
I also can't thank enough all of our vendors, who came in to support our field day.
The great  part was the feedback from customers and vendors was all very positive, even with the tough weather conditions.

LUNCH!

Mark Pena from Jacobsen

Chuck Hicks from Redexim talking Synthetic Fields

Sumner Cross from Lawn & Golf talking about Smithco

    

WJC

March Madness

       The first day of spring 6+" snow storm here in Philadelphia was about the last thing anyone was hoping for. Adding to a winter that has made it very difficult to do most projects, people have had enough. Visiting with most turf manager ,they are itching to get started on the season. One club even had an opening tournament planned for this past weekend, not so much....
       What is looking like a slow start, a super wet spring is probably coming our way. Following a winter where most clubs have had no golf in months, it's not what the doctor ordered for what ill's the business of golf. I spoke with someone this past week who attended the public golf course owners meeting recently and to say the least people, were very focused on the lack of play this winter and how many courses were still not open for play yet.
       Hopefully, we start to see some higher temperatures and some good weather, especially this Wednesday for our field day at Episcopal Academy!

WJC

      

And You Want To Be My Latex Salesman?

       Have you ever thought about leaving the turf management side of the business to go into sales, or the dark side, as many have referred to it? Job opportunities are harder to come by and the younger segment of turf managers ,though smaller in number, are spending longer at their first position. More and more, I am hearing of people moving away from the golf world for another job. You like the business, but just can't get a break. While sales is not for everyone, it is a way to stay involved in something you love.
      As Tim Moraghan, of Aspire Consulting, once said in an Assistant education program, "Everyone in the room can grow grass, but what separates you from the pack?" If you are thinking about sales, have you done anything towards opening that door? Even just to read a book on sales to see if it peaks your interest might be a good start. "The Little Red Book of Sales", by Jeffery Gitomer is one of my favorite books and gives an excellent vision of what sales is all about. Also, take a look at S. Anthony Iannarino's blog for another resource.
       The question that you need to look at is what does a sales person really do? Is it just driving around all day listening to sports talk radio and making an occasional stop to ask the question, "you need anything?". What is funny, if I asked a bunch of Superintendents what sales person drives them crazy and why, they could tell you immediately. That guy is the one that doesn't value my time and doesn't have a purpose for his visit. Now ask what they like about the guys who they do business with and why. I can almost guarantee that number one answer is that he gets back to me. There are definitely some other things that play into it, like value in the products they sell and in the end do you make it easier for the turf manager to do his or her job.
     I have some classifications I believe sales people fall into. Whether it is the professional visitor or the total account salesperson, you need to think about how would you do the job and be successful. Sales is definitely not for everyone, but it is an option to explore when you are ready to start the second phase of your career.

WJC 

Welcome Home

       For the first time, in over 20 years, walking on to the floor at the GIS and not wearing my standard previously required jacket and tie, felt a little weird. But as the day went on, the lack of razor rash on my neck from my collar and the comments about my bright orange Cutter Buck wind breaker, felt pretty good!
      The week started out pretty rough, as it did for many trying to work their way South. A phone call at 3:00AM telling me my flight had been cancelled, but my ride to the airport on the same flight telling me, "No it is not!" caused some confusion. I learned the drawback of the discount websites for tickets (Expedia) was that our connecting flight from Dallas to San Antonio had been canceled, so they bumped us off the first leg out of Philly and re-booked us for Wednesday afternoon. We got lucky and jumped a last minute flight with Southwest to make it in just about midnight on Monday.
        Tuesday was filled with training meeting with Smithco & Turfco in the morning and a cold morning out at Oak Hills CC. This was followed by the Jacobsen business meetings. I have to admit that by the closing speech, at the end by the President of Jacobsen, David Withers, I was feeling like I was back playing football and looking for my helmet to run out onto the field. His passion for the business makes him someone that people want to follow. I have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to be around while he interacts with people and it is why Jacobsen is a large company with a small feel to it. This was followed by the awards ceremony in which Lawn & Golf Supply Company won the "Service Dealer of the Year Award"!
       Tuesday night was my first chance to attend the Jacobsen customer party that I have been hearing about for years. And yes it lived up to all I had heard....Lots of refreshments, food and a live rodeo. Throw in a live band in one room, DJ in another and about 2000 people and I believe that's a party!
       Wednesday's trade show was very busy and lots of talk about Jacobsen's new heavy duty work vehicle. The trade show layout was different and the word "flow" kept coming up. The layout seemed very segmented. The day was spent visiting other company's we work with like Ventrac, Turfco, Smithco, Turflux, Par-Aide and more which led to some tired legs. Roll right into a post show meeting and then into the Pennsylvania Room and now your feet are feeling it.
       Thursday was more of the same in the AM with more of a look at competitive equipment and other products that might be in need of a distributor. After grabbing a bite for lunch the show became a pretty much ghost town.
        Friday's travel day, with a check out of the hotel at 7:00AM and the truck pulling up to the house at 7:00PM, was a long one. Our connecting flight in Dallas spent an extra 2 hours on the tarmac waiting to be de-iced and hoping we did not get the news that airport would be shutting down with the snow. Some people did not get out until Saturday.
        All in all it was definitely a different experience with the change. I was touched that some old friends in distribution and manufacturing made the point to come to the Jacobsen booth to find me. Some others I ran into throughout the week had some very nice things to say that I really appreciated!
        Another GIS in the books, now come on Spring!

WJC