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Selling your bright ideas
Transforming your brainstorms about the golf course into reality takes innovation and a touch of salesmanship.
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Some of the most important skills that superintendents and golf course managers can possess have little to do with their technical knowledge or turfgrass know-how.
Today’s professionals need to have a significant amount of sales and marketing skills as well, especially when pitching their course projects to club and/or board members who are responsible for approval of the budget. Indeed, superintendents are expected to justify such improvements and put their “salesman” cap on.
The need for such justification has happened several times to Ken Mangum, CGCS, director of golf course and grounds at Georgia’s Atlanta Athletic Club. As a result, he’s learned to take a proactive approach to the process.
“I’ve had to be a salesman plenty of times in my career,” Mangum says. “I just share the facts and give my objective opinion, but I am always prepared for any type of question that might be asked about costs, course details, and especially how it will benefit the members or players.”
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Kevin Pryseski, CGCS at Marin CC in Nevato, Calif., is overseeing an extensive renovation of his facility that will include new greens and bunkers, a new irrigation system and pump station and overall improved drainage. Pryseski used regular updates in the club’s weekly newsletter, plus a presentation at the club’s annual meeting, to convince club members that the renovation was necessary. Photos courtesy of Kevin Pryseski
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Making it personal
The first rule in selling an idea, according to most experts, is to concentrate the discussion on what’s “in it” for your target audience. Barry Maher, a nationally renowned public speaker and sales consultant who owns his own consulting firm, Barry Maher & Associates, in Helendale, Calif., says that the concept of keeping a presentation focused on the audience might be basic, but it is one even seasoned sales professionals often forget.
“You want to probe as much as possible for answers to your questions to help you better define the value points of your membership or management,” Maher says.
Visual aids can go a long way toward solidifying that personal connection with a project, according to former Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club superintendent and GCSAA Class A member Mike Pilo. When pushing course projects, the 15-year GCSAA member often takes committee or board members on the course before a meeting to show where a renovation or upgrade is needed and then retreats to the meeting room to show the same location on video or Microsoft PowerPoint slides, complete with additional visual aids.
“If you can show the exact location on the course, it tends to bring home your point more,” Pilo says. “It’s amazing what you can do with cameras today, and it is so simple and inexpensive that you can set up a time-lapse photography (session) in a matter of minutes and then upload the pictures.”
Show and tell
A prime example of that occurred several years ago when Pilo found himself struggling to convince his membership of the benefits of removing a certain grove of trees that was casting harmful shadows throughout much of the day on a green and part of a fairway. He tried to communicate to board members about the drawbacks, but quickly found that visual proof was needed to convince them.
So Pilo hotwired a deer camera into a tree near this area that behaved like a time-lapse camera, producing hour-by-hour images of the troublesome areas over the course of a sunny day. When members could see that certain portions of the green and fairway were seeing nothing but shade even on the brightest days, they agreed the trees should go.
Before Pilo developed this time-lapse photography plan, the club’s greens and grounds committee had withheld approval for removing the trees. The challenge wasn’t a financial one. Pilo said he simply needed to educate the committee members that removing the trees would benefit the course and playing conditions.
“I have run more into issues that have been political rather than financial in nature,” Pilo says. “It’s not really about the money, but these members often lack the technical experience to understand the basics of the profession such as turfgrass management and the effects of sunlight penetration. They are on the committee in a volunteer (capacity) and just don’t have the time needed to study the (course management) in advance.”
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From the boardroom to the golf course, CGCS Ken Mangum, (far right)the director of golf course and grounds at the Atlanta Athletic Club, has had to use his sales and presentation skills on an almost |
The use of such photography techniques has worked well for Mangum, who says that while the reasoning behind a course project might seem obvious to superintendents, that’s not always the case with the folks who will ultimately be green-lighting those projects.
“Seeing is believing, and that is especially true when you are working with individuals who aren’t trained in golf course management,” Mangum says.
The power of the fish tank
Trent Bouts with the Carolinas GCSA credits GCSAA Class A member Jeff Connell, the superintendent at Columbia (S.C.) Country Club, with another unique idea. Connell was frustrated with his membership’s multiple rejections of a plan to redo the course’s greens over a period of several years.
So Connell stuck a fish tank in the pro shop with a cross section of an existing green on the course in one half, the brand-new proposed greens mix in the other. Connell then watered the entire greens “sample” on a daily basis and labeled which half was the existing green and which was the proposed new option.
The results were exactly what Connell wanted to show his membership. The proposed redone greens mix became a brilliant green compared to the cross section of the existing green, which paled in comparison. The better soil profile thrived, and Connell began to communicate the reasons behind this to members in written handouts and through personal conversations.
The proposed renovation was eventually approved, thanks largely to Connell’s proactive idea.
“I still think that’s a brilliant and novel approach,” Bouts says. “For a $20 fish tank, he sold a $2.3 million renovation. Now that course has some of the best bermudagrass on its greens in the region. Because of it, Columbia CC has developed a great reputation for its playability and conditions, a reputation that is growing.”
Dollars and cents
Both Mangum and Maher offer cautionary tales about focusing presentations and sales efforts solely on the project’s cost or its budget impact too early in the process. Mangum says that because costs can vary weekly as specifics change, he recommends leaving some “leeway” in your estimates.
“Part of selling your idea is waiting as long as you can to start throwing out numbers of how much the project will cost,” he says. “Members don’t forget the numbers.”
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Ken Mangum keeps his presentation skills sharp by regularly speaking at GCSAA’s Education Conference, in addition to regional and international meetings. |
Before a project can be sold by a superintendent, the value that it provides must be established, Maher adds. That is why he joins Mangum in recommending not estimating costs or the price of a project until the value has been firmly established.
“Without establishing value you can’t sell a diamond for a dollar,” Maher says. “You want to get members to interact with you about the specifics of a project and only after they’ve asked about a price two or three times do you want to tell them.”
Another strategy is to manage pricing expectations, one that Maher recommends for superintendents with more selling experience. For example, a superintendent could initially promote a project as being “expensive,” so that when a more accurate price is offered, it doesn’t seem too overwhelming to the membership or management.
Image is (almost) everything
The manner in which superintendents tackle presentations advocating for projects on the course is just as important as the nuts and bolts of those projects. Developing an informal marketing strategy is key, along with speaking skills that can help convince members that projects are a must, says Jamie Ryder, the president of Ryder Golf Events, a full-service golf outing and tournament planning and marketing firm in suburban Detroit.
Ryder says that presentation skills can help a superintendent truly “sell” a project and that superintendents could benefit from reading books and taking courses that help them improve their personal sales skills.
“As a superintendent you’re fighting for every dollar you can get in your budget, and your competition is every other department within the facility,” Ryder says. “It certainly helps to be able to feel confident enough to sell your plan even if you have to do some politicking.”
That confidence can come from developing effective public speaking skills, according to Mangum. This often requires golf course management professionals to “leave their comfort zone” and even formally educate themselves on public speaking tactics. Mangum said one way to do this is by joining a local professional or networking organization or by working with a local Toastmasters group, whose main focus is to improve members’ public speaking skills. GCSAA also presents a whole host of seminars annually that focus on presentation and public-speaking skills.
Yet no matter how polished at speaking a person might be, the presentation might not be effective if the speaker isn’t properly prepared.
“You need to know your audience and anticipate the types of questions they will be asking,” Mangum says. “I used to make a presentation in front of a member who was a lawyer and when he was asking me questions I always felt that I was on the witness stand. But when I was prepared for that type of questioning, I was fortunate to have left (the members) with a better impression.”
Pushing the point
Marin Country Club in Nevato, Calif., is in the process of an extensive course renovation that includes rebuilt greens and bunkers, improved drainage, a new irrigation system and pump station, and the regrassing of fairways and roughs. Kevin Pryseski, CGCS, who came on board at Marin in late 2006, receives much of the credit for this renovation after taking a proactive stance that renovations were needed almost as soon as he was hired.
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Kevin Pryseski knew that improved drainage would markedly improve the conditioning at Marin CC, and was able to successfully communicate that to members. “Once you plant some seeds … momentum will build from there,” he says. Photo courtesy of Kevin Pryseski |
“It is a great layout in a great location, but the course was simply past its prime — it had been 50 years since the greens and bunkers had been touched,” Pryseski says. “I compared it to an older house that hasn’t had a new roof in five decades.”
Pryseski says the last strategy a superintendent should use is to insult the golf course, but it is necessary to point out obvious projects that need to be completed and educate members on why updates are necessary. So the 22-year GCSAA member used a weekly column in the club’s newsletter as a forum to inform members of the renovations needed on the golf course and how those renovations would benefit their playing experience. He also used the club’s annual meeting in January as a forum to promote his course improvement recommendations. There, he focused on the value that such improvements would deliver, such as the ability of members to play year-round.
“We had (substandard) drainage systems, and my message was that we can improve the playability of this course beyond your wildest expectations,” Pryseski says. “Once you plant some seeds, the membership will begin talking about the (proposed) improvements and the momentum will build from there.
“I also compared how the proposed changes would raise the profile of our course compared to others in the area, and that was a (positive selling) point.”
An inclusive approach
As part of making a project pitch to members, Pilo suggests that superintendents engage in a soft sell and make members feel a part of the process. He says the project is more likely to be accepted and passed by the membership if certain “key players” feel they had a key role in developing the idea.
“You need to ignore your own ego and not be worried about getting the credit for a project,” Pilo says. “If you can educate members about (golf course) management issues and convince them, then they can go to the membership promoting their idea. Let them have the credit — all I want as a superintendent is approval for a project that will improve the course.”
The main advice that Pryseski gives is to always remain available to members or your bosses if they have further questions. What is basic to a superintendent is a mystery to many golfers. A club newsletter article written by a superintendent, for example, should include an e-mail address where members or other interested parties can contact the superintendent or his or her staff with additional questions.
Any strategy to open the lines of communication can mean the difference between an approved project and one that simply gets “filibustered” on a regular basis.
“You have to constantly educate,” Pryseski says. “And you should do it in a humble, but confident way. Whenever you can, show examples of what is happening or could happen to a course if you don’t get your project approved.”
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