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Distributing success
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Your member-guest tournament kicks off in two days. Your golf course is looking as good as it ever has. You think you’re 10 steps ahead of the game, and then a greensmower limps in. You’re sure it’s nothing, until your equipment tech tells you he needs a part that he doesn’t have in stock. This is your most important mower, with no backup. You order the part, and it is promised to you the next day. But will it get there?
You’ve been spraying through an unprecedented streak of heat and humidity. Earlier in the week, you called a sales rep for more disease control product, and your order didn’t arrive yesterday as planned. You know you don’t have enough product to finish what you need to do. UPS arrives, and nothing today.
Has this happened to you? What do you do?
In this world, the ability or inability of distributors to get parts or products can sometimes spell success or failure on our golf courses. Thousands and thousands of dollars are spent with the companies of choice for reliability, dependability and service. Some sales people are former golf course personnel, while others have never maintained a blade of turf in their lives — yet they can make or break us professionally and cause an undue amount of extra stress. So what should we expect from those who service our industry, and in return, what should we as superintendents do to be better customers?
Sales and service
If you ask most superintendents, almost all would say the two most important functions of a distributor are sales and service (or support), whether it is equipment, parts, seed or fungicides. We expect that our money is worth those two vital elements.
Note that price wasn’t mentioned. Price would be number three, but not at the expense of the other two. Ask any superintendent if he or she would pay a little more for guaranteed on-time delivery (and delivered right the first time), and most would say yes. So when orders are placed, they expect, within reason, that their orders be handled as precisely and delicately as possible.
What frustrates superintendents is a lack of attention from some distributors. Phone calls unreturned for days, four to five phone calls made in a week to get a response, sloppy order taking and items missing are just a few of superintendents’ biggest complaints.
One major issue is the back order. Anyone dealing with parts or products understands that sometimes items run out. But it is extremely frustrating to order something and not be told that the item is backordered or not in stock. A week goes by on an order with nothing to show for it but frustration. If one simple phone call could be made, or at the time of ordering, a simple notice given that the item is out of stock, superintendents would have the information needed to decide if they want a needed item shipped direct or sent by next-day air.
Another frequent frustration is being told that a common part is out of stock. Ever been told a bedknife, reel or common fungicide like Daconil is not in? You have to wonder about the level of service this company provides if it cannot keep common items in stock or it cannot check its own inventory and order when supplies are low.
Building relationships
It all comes down to communication. If one more step were taken, there would be few, if any, issues that were unexpected. What some distributors don’t understand is that superintendents deal with the unexpected each day, and that is stressful enough. With these thoughts in mind, how does a company earn our business?
The ones that go above and beyond the norm to provide superintendents with what they need always get attention. Most superintendents have stories of equipment going down, only to be saved by a distributor who drives overnight or early in the morning to save the day with a piece of equipment. Other stories are told about a sales rep who drives early in the morning to deliver a pesticide or part desperately needed by a superintendent.
Wonder why they do it? It really is simple. Those distributors know that, in the end, a customer will remember what they did for them in a pinch, and with that, will give them more consideration when ordering large equipment or pesticide purchases. I’m not saying that is what it takes to get a super’s business, but it may be the difference in one’s preference over another distributor.
An experience I had during my first year as a superintendent began a relationship with a local distributor that has continued for the last 12 years. We were aerifying and topdressing greens at Brookwoods Golf Club, located just outside of Richmond, Va. We were using an old mounted topdresser, one that had seen much better days. Halfway through the front nine, this topdresser topdressed its last green. The drive mechanism basically fell apart, and I was without a topdresser.
With that, minor panic set in. I called Smith Turf and Irrigation (then known as Virginia Turf and Irrigation), my local Toro distributor, and spoke with Dan McGrory, sales manager. I told McGrory of my predicament and asked if he had any demo topdressers around that I could use to finish my greens. He told me he would check and call back.
Within the hour, he called me back and told me he had a new unit sitting in the shop that had just been assembled, and he would allow me to use it to finish the course. It was delivered early the next morning, and we finished topdressing easily. For us, it was a savior. For Smith Turf, it was customer service, which turned into a sale the next day. We bought the unit on-site, and with that, created a bond between us that has continued to this day. More than a few times over the next 12 years McGrory helped me out of situations where equipment broke down and we needed something fast. With that kind of service and support, it is easy to see why I have been a faithful customer. There have been a few times when Smith Turf and Irrigation couldn’t help, but the fact that they try is paramount.
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The two most important aspects that superintendents look for in a distributor are sales and service, according to Fultz. Pictured above is the 570-yard par-5 third hole on the Creek Course at Fultz’s course, Shenvalee Golf Resort. |
Horror stories
Obviously, not every distributor relationship story has a happy ending.
While I was superintendent at the Country Club of Culpepper (Va.), I began to use a line of soluble products from a newly established company out West. Initially I was buying direct from the company because it didn’t have a distributor in Virginia. I never had a problem getting product within a week of ordering.
Within a few months, a distributor was found and I then began to order through them. I placed my first order for about 10 cases of product, and asked if everything was in stock. They said yes, and I should have everything within a week.
Late in the week I received my order, partially filled. I called the salesman and asked what was going on and he checked. It seems as if some of the product I ordered was backordered. I asked how long it would take to get it in, and they said within the next week.
Two weeks later, I got the last of my order. I called my sales representative and asked if this was going to be an issue, and I was assured that it wouldn’t be.
The next month rolled around and I again placed my orders for the month. I asked again if everything was in stock, and was told that one of the items I wanted was backordered, but should be in my hands in seven to 10 days. I placed the order and within the week, only half of my order showed up. The one thing I knew wasn’t going to be there wasn’t, but another product I had ordered also was missing.
This time, a little more agitated, I called the distributor headquarters and asked where the rest of the product was. I was told that part of my order had been backordered. I followed that up with the question of why this was an issue again. They couldn’t answer. I again called the sales representative and told him if it happened again, I’d cancel my account. The rest of my backorder arrived three weeks later, not in the seven to 10 days I was promised.
Maybe I’m too patient, but I decided to place one last order, giving them an opportunity to remedy the situation. It was my last order with that company. Only a third of my order arrived as promised, and the other two-thirds was spread out over the next three weeks. I canceled my account with this distributor, and I haven’t dealt with them since.
Distributors and superintendents share a common relationship with each other. Each is dependent on the other for success. Through some common threads they can foster a relationship with the other that is beneficial to the success of both operations. Their livelihood ultimately depends on it.
Leo Feser Award candidate
This article is eligible for the 2007 Leo Feser Award, presented annually since 1977 to the author of the best superintendent-written article published in GCM during the previous year. Superintendents receive a $300 stipend for articles. Feser Award winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Golf Industry Show, where they are recognized. They also have their names engraved on a plaque permanently displayed at GCSAA headquarters.
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