Funny Ha Ha

       I have been very lucky to experience some things in the last few months,that not many get to do,which is to get factory training from multiple competitors. When I first started back last fall with Lawn & Golf, I was sent down to Jacobsen's factory in Charlotte. That was an enlightening experience, with having been to the Toro factory multiple times. Now this past week, I had the opportunity to go to factory training, out in Ohio, for Ventrac. To say, not what I expected, might be an understatement.
       Ventrac has it roots with the old Steiner company. As a matter of fact, I believe that 9 Steiner family members are currently working at Ventrac. In 1988, the Steiner turf division was sold to Ransomes in England, while the Ag division was sold to a group of employees. In 1996, that company was renamed to Venture Products. This is one of those stories, in our business, that is incredibly interesting to me. Not a part of the big 3, but  Ventrac has had double digit sales growth over the last six years and they built a new factory, that  is 3 years old, and they have already outgrown it!
       It is funny to me how a few years ago, when one of the other salesmen and I where both voicing our concerns about the recent increase of Ventrac sales in our area, we were not taken too seriously. After seeing the Ventrac factory and full product line of over 30 attachments and multiple tractors in a demonstration training event, it is funny alright....

Brian Carr of Ventrac on a 30 degree slope!

WJC

Timing Is Everything

       I saw a couple of great tweets this past week from Eric J. von Hofen of Riviera CC:

I really wish every salesperson used #Twitter or social media to follow me and see I'm in the middle of two large projects. I can't see you!

Then later....

Now time to thank all the sales people that do follow, help out and promote what we are doing. Others should follow your lead.

This is a great example of the conundrum that salesmen run into that is the tricky question of when to visit. While you have a job to do by making sure that people know the products that your company has to provide, you also need to respect the hectic schedule that a turf manager has going on each day, especially during the growing season or doing a large project. Obviously, there is not an easy answer. Depending on what part of the world you are in, the amount of visitors you get will vary. I know here in the Philly area, between equipment, chemicals & other products, my guess would be there are somewhere in the high twenties number of Reps. Everyone is competing for a piece of a smaller pie and the sales process has become much longer in most instances. I know for me,there is more texting and emails, but you hope you are doing your job correctly when you are told one of your competitors calls everyday asking if the decision has been made. Obviously,good communication in the relationship is one of the hardest parts to keep flowing with how busy things can get. I think it is a pretty inventive idea, using social media to get the word out that right now is not the best time to stop in for a visit.


WJC

   

Reversal of Fortunes

       When you said this morning to take out the new triplex out to mow greens, does the "new triplex" have over 3000 hours? Lots of clubs have fallen behind in their equipment replacement plans and now have been trying to get the process restarted. While the clubhouse gets new rugs and the golf cart fleet lease keeps on rolling, you are using equipment that was meant to be replaced years ago.
       Recently, I had the chance to work with a golf course that was at this tipping point. Their main rough unit was purchased used and had over 10,000 hours! Yes, that is not a typo, over 10,000 hours.
The club has been doing well with play and would buy a piece when something would get to complete failure. The need for investment was obvious, but how do you get the board to understand where you are in your fleet needs?
       We put together, what I would call for lack of a better term, a reverse proposal. I took pictures of all the equipment that needed to be replaced. Then, we collected the hours and years for each and put it in to a formal proposal, almost like you would for an equipment quote or bid. The part that I think helped to sell it to the board was the formula on each page showing the hours on each unit and how that would translate to car miles. I used 75 miles=1 hour on piece of turf equipment. I have heard all sorts of different conversions, but that is the one I use. Then add in multiple operators, being run at full throttle and what translates to off road use to help drive home the point,and hopefully,they see a clearer picture. Obviously, not an exact science, but it helps to speak a language that the board or owner will understand.
      

WJC

Steak Or Sizzle?

       Recently the GCSAA had started the "Thank a Superintendent" marketing campaign. I think this is a excellent way to attempt to grow the understanding of who is providing these great playing surfaces. But I will tell you, there are many Turf Managers who do not like to talk about themselves or their accomplishment. However, there are definitely more and more Superintendents who are using what is available to communicate to their members  about what projects and day to day maintenance is being completed. The guys who made comments about ,"you and your Twitter" , a few years ago are now realizing it is not going away.
       As the social media world continues to grow, I think it will become harder and harder for a Superintendent not to become a part of it. I have had the discussion,over the past few years, with many turf managers, who want nothing to do with any of it and that is their right. If it is not who you are, it is tough to change. The problem is the way people communicate and get their information is evolving.
       What is interesting is how is it all perceived. Absolutely, it is an easy way to get information out quickly, but there another part of it that people struggle with....self promotion. Self promotion is not something that many of us are comfortable with, but often it is something that is an unwanted necessity. The discussion of is it the steak or the sizzle, I have had many times with people. The guy down the street has pretty much the same conditions as you and for some reason they are getting seen as more than they are. Why? Well they have a weekly blog explaining the past week's projects, they tweet great pictures that make the course look good constantly, they have been posting You Tube videos of projects and equipment in use. What are you doing to communicate with your members?
Your blog was set up two years ago and you posted something last November. You think Twitter, Instagram and You Tube are for teenage girls , but you are frustrated when you keep getting comments about what they are doing at your neighbor's club!
       The truth is the current expectations of people is to have instant information and it is not going to get any less. The days of the article in the club's monthly newsletter with your recap of the past few weeks, is probably not going to cut it. While finding your "voice" in social media is not easy, it is something I would urge you to consider starting.




WJC

Check the Flux Capacitor

        Last week, Andy Billing, VP of Turflux, delivered the first GPS Sprayer unit sold to White Manor CC here in Philadelphia. While there are multiple users in the Pittsburg area ,where Turflux originated, this was the first here in Eastern Pa.
       In the morning, Andy started by driving the border of the property with the unit on his trailer on the streets surrounding the golf course, to start the mapping process. He was  also controlling the unit remotely from the cab of his truck with his laptop. We then spent some time going over the nuts and bolts of the system and some of the recommended processes.
       The next step was the mapping process. With the request of  multiple maps around the greens complexes, it would have been a good day to have a FitBit. Following the painted lines to mark each map needed, made walking required. Once everything was mapped, it was time to see how the sprayer was reacting to the parameters that had been locked in. To see the unit reacting with individual nozzle control and sub-inch repeatability, I got to say was pretty cool!
       From our first meeting with the Turflux group back in the fall, I really thought this was going to be something special. To be able to control your chemical applications so precisely and the ability to be this exact, it is truly amazing. Then throw in that you can put it on any type of sprayer, old, new, Red, Orange or Green.....and I think we have a winner.


       

Andy Billing giving the review of what was done to the unit to upgrade it from the standard spray system to the Turflux system

Starting the mapping process

More of the mapping

 WJC

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