Private vs. Public

       As we all know, the competition for a superintendent's position in today's market has gotten pretty crazy. The theory of supply and demand is in full force with lack of positions and candidate pool full of qualified and sometimes over qualified turf managers. Here in the Philadelphia market, there have been recently more positions open on the public golf side. I know that 20 years ago, it was not a big transition to go from an Assistant at a private club to a Superintendent at a Public course and then land a Superintendent job at a good private club. Recently, it seems that to make that move is not as simple.
       If you are currently an Assistant at a Private facility and feel you are ready for a Superintendent position, do you pursue a Superintendent position at a Public facility? While the chance to run your own operation is what you are most looking towards, in the long run, it may have some other factors that make it not for you. While there is an immediate opportunity to make more money now, in the long term, shot at the gold ring of running an operation that has a large budget and the salary that is commiserate with it becomes harder to reach. What has always been the strength of many Public golf course managers, is the ability to do more with less. For some reason, this has not translated recently when opportunities appear.
       Obviously, no one has the crystal ball to see what is the right career move, but judging recent history and looking at the current market, there are some interesting choices to be made.
In the end, it is about what is best for you.....


WJC

Lunching With The President

       This past week, I was on a day trip down to visit the Jacobsen Factory in Charlotte. While the trip with a customer was thrown together quickly, in the end it was excellent. When I was telling another customer the day after about how impressed I was with everything, he said,"drank the Orange Kool Aid did you?" and I just laughed and said, "it tasted great!".  From a factory tour that completely blew my expectations out of the water, to a distribution center full of new products and even getting to see the new Cushman being built on the assembly line, the day was very productive. Finishing up with lunch ,with the president of Jacobsen, David Withers, and the Vice President of Customer Care, Brad Adamson, it was something I hope that I can replicate in the future.



WJC

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

       When I see or speak with anybody lately, especially customers I have called on for years, I get the same question, "So how is it going?". To some, my answer has been with a laugh, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!". When you start a new job, there is always a transition period. For me, it is mostly learning how to do the day to day things at Lawn & Golf, like knowing how quotes are done and expenses. In the end, sales is sales. You visit customers and discuss their challenges, and hopefully, you have a product or a service that makes sense to help resolve it. Sure, product knowledge is still a work in progress, but that comes with time and working with people who know more than you.
      The plans for the future at Lawn & Golf are exciting as we learned in a company wide meeting this past week and I am glad to be a part of . As a few people have said to me, " you are back to your old self. You can even hear it in your voice." It is good feeling to get up in the morning and look forward to going to work. You might say it is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!




WJC

History Repeating Itself

       The advantage of experience is it gives you a very clear perspective on how things change. This past week, we hosted an educational event with our partners from Turflux. While GPS technology will be talked about more and more as the turf industry continues to evolve, the reality is that to me it is eerily similar to the transition to the Raven controller from a manual sprayer. On the sales end, we spent a bunch of time trying to be comfortable with how the Raven worked. For many customers, the thought of  letting a computer be in charge of chemical applications on their turf was unthinkable. Currently, if you were to sell a manual sprayer without any computer system, it is almost unheard of in our area. I truly believe that in the next 5-10 years, GPS spraying will be the same. The reactions to technology challenges are not seen the same as they were. I know for me, I am on about my 5th smart phone, with the last few phones meltdowns catastrophic for the phone, but not my information. With all the advantages that come with GPS technology and the bugs having been worked out on the Ag side, I think we are at the start of a new phase in turf management.



WJC

Confessions of a Paperwork Hoarder

      I believe I can trace it back to an incident at college, where a note from the Registrar's office that I had held onto, saved me from having to take one extra class and I was able to graduate on schedule. This past week, I spent time clearing out my office of all of my old paper work. It was long over due! I have always been one to keep things, just in case I needed the information (OK, I am a hoarder!). From the first Toro Selling System book from the 90's, to an old Milorganite sales binder, there was way too many things that needed to be tossed long ago.
       I admit it felt pretty good loading up the back of my pick up to head to a local club's dumpster to get rid of it. It is especially refreshing with the change in jobs, that I have the chance to start fresh on how to arrange my office. It is funny to see how many things had been in paper form, mainly copies of old call reports. Now with the world of "paperless" offices, it is nowhere near the report generation that was done in the past.
       When you add in the handing off of my prize closet full of hats and other promotional stuff and giving my old Toro wardrobe to former co-workers, it was a cleansing holiday season!

      My name is Bill and I am a hoarder.....on the road to recovery!


Happy New Year!

WJC

The Great Turfstradamus Predicts.....

       The Great Turfstradamus will make a prediction: This upcoming year, you will hear more about GPS Spray application than any other "new" technology/products introduced at the GIS. Ok, this is probably not going too far out on a limb. I might even have just a little bit of insider trading information, but the end is near! I have heard many times, " They can do it in the Ag market, why can't we?" Now some of that discussion was during the demise of the centrifugal pump and depending on who you spoke to, it could be operator error by running the pump dry or the witches brew in your tank. One of my favorite lines from a technician, on the failure of a centrifugal pump years ago was, "Farmers are spraying paraquat through those pumps and they are not having the seals leak!". But I digress, we can talk pumps another time.
       As of today, we have the Smithco Star Command System (*disclaimer-unit I sell) and the Nu-Tec product. I have been on  the Smithco unit and am really impressed with the technology.
I did speak with the people from Nu Tec at last years GIS and have heard some positive feedback from some of the sales guys who had customers get units set up. The newest introduction is a company called Turflux out of Pittsburg. We got the chance to get a presentation at the Penn State Turfgrass Conference, a few weeks back, and will be working with them. I cannot give an overview that would do it justice, but I am a believer in what they are preaching.
       I do think that 2 of the other major sprayer manufacturers will have something at the GIS in this product line. I know of one prototype here in the Mid-Atlantic (might be green) and from prior to my exodus, there was talk of something on the near horizon on the GPS sprayer front in red.
      With the talk of savings from 15% to 40%, depending on whose literature you are reading, the introduction of a GPS sprayer into your fleet may be closer than you ever thought.

I have seen the future and it is coming to a sprayer near you!

http://turflux.com/

http://www.smithco.com/new-smithco-star-command-system/

http://nutecsoil.com/


WJC
AKA-The Great Turfstradamus

Extra Helping of Thanks

       Thanksgiving seems to be a more reflective time for me this year. I realize that I am very fortunate with good health,for the most part in my wives family and my own. Both our parents just celebrated (Ok they slightly acknowledged) a 60+ year wedding anniversary and other than a few George Costaza's parent moments, they are doing well.
       For me, this was a year with a lot of soul searching, as a job change was eminent. I looked to many of the people who had played a part in my growth throughout my career for support.I have been very lucky to have some great people whom I consider my mentors. From the early part of my time at Philadelphia Turf, men like Barney McFadden, Bob Stokes, Tom Drayer & especially Scott Keener were all big influences on how I learned to do my job. Barney and Bob are no longer with us, but still made a large impression on me that continues to impact who I am today.
       Two other people that I have looked to as mentors and are the definition of being at the top of your profession are Jim Nedin & Tom Hurst. They are two of the most knowledgeable technical experts I know in the Turf industry, but that is not what makes them extraordinary. It is their passion to take care of people and never leave anyone hanging! To quote Jim Nedin " While they might worship in different churches of grinding theory, they both have the religion of sharp reels make better turf conditions." I consider myself very luck to have had the chance to work closely with both and have learned a ton over the years, probably as much technically as much as they way to treat people!
      And I would be remiss, if I did not mention someone who has been over the years a great mentor to me, Frank Shuman. Frank was the owner of Philadelphia Turf, who retired back at the end of 2007. He has taught me a lot about business and his direction on how to do the right thing and often steers me when I know I need to not take the easy road. From all the conversations we have had, I always know Frank will give it to me straight and more often then not his advice is; "Cork, you know what the right thing is to do, so you just do it!" Frank got me the chance to be a part of the board of the First Tee of Greater Philadelphia, which I am really proud of being involved with. He also has taken me on scholarship to some really cool events, where I usually joke to the valet parker that I am pretty sure that my pickup would be the ONLY one he parked that night.
       These men all have had a profound impact on me professionally and personally, I probably can never say thank you enough for all that they have done.
I know that this Thanksgiving, I have much to be thankful for.....

Hope you and your family have a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!

WJC