SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/765909
50 SportsTurf | January 2017 www.sportsturfonline.com Q&A with Dr. Grady Miller Questions? Send them to Grady Miller at North Carolina State University, Box 7620, Raleigh, NC 27695-7620, or email grady_miller@ncsu.edu Or, send your question to Pamela Sherratt at 202 Kottman Hall, 2001 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210 or sherratt.1@osu.edu Professor, North Carolina State University Q: Hearing some of the speakers and looking at all the new products and equipment at the NC-SC Sports Turf Managers Association Conference and Trade Show made me think about how I do almost the same thing with the same products every year. How do I know what to buy and should I change what I'm doing? A: A number of years ago I wrote about shopping for a new grass and used the story of my wife and I selecting our next family car as a metaphor to picking a new grass. As I summarized then, our laborious research ultimately resulted in our getting the same car model only newer. It just so happens that your question coincided with my replacing my trusty old truck. Years ago we were replacing an 8-year old car, whereas this time I replaced a truck twice that old. I found the jump in truck technol- ogy over 16 years is pretty significant. It sounds like you are in a similar situation. Things can be better with new products and practices. I do find it interesting how quickly early adopters jump on new things while some people (the laggards) just never want to change anything. Then there is the major- ity middle group that needs some proof before they will dip their toes into the "new pool" of products or practices. For instance, a new herbicide gets released on the market. A few managers will immediately go out and purchase it for future use but others scoff at it while thinking there is nothing wrong with what they have been using. The majority middle group considers it for a while but forgets about it until a year or two later when they are visiting another facility and get curious how the field manager has kept his fields so weed-free. Upon asking they find out that the not-so-new product works much better than what they have been using for the past 15 years. After this confirmation they get a sample to try out during the year. If they are pleased with their own test results, then they will adopt it as part of their program. Sure, not every new product or practice performs up to the hype, but I would add that many new products and practices are not as new as you may think. They may be new to you, but they are often not new to others. Highly regulated products like pesticides are often tested for a decade before they are ever labeled. And innova- tive turf managers are constantly tinker- ing with new practices. So your challenge is finding out good information on these products and practices. This is where doing your homework becomes important. Today, with the Internet, email, cell phones, and old fashion networking at STMA meetings, one can learn a lot about products and practices that you are not currently using but others have already refined. Use all your resources to investigate and you can become comfortable with change. With a little time you can open up a new world of opportunity. It reminds me of how we went about purchasing that car 8 years ago versus the truck this year. To narrow down our selection back then we went from dealer- ship to dealership driving cars, asking salespeople questions, and looking at brochures. These were traditional, effec- tive techniques to learn about a variety of cars and their options and performance. The research took a lot of time driving around and visiting with salespeople and managers, but in the end we were educated on what we wanted and we got a nice car for an acceptable price. For my recent purchase all the research was done using Internet searches while eating lunch at my desk. I targeted web- site forums for vehicle models that I was interested in purchasing. This allowed me to learn about vehicles from owners that were already driving a model I thought I might want to buy. Rather than trying to separate the sales pitch from perfor- mance, I read the good and bad from people with actual experience with their trucks. To this vast network I could post questions for them to answer and then use their responses in my considerations. I believe this research technique provided me a greater understanding of what to expect with each vehicle rather than talk- ing to a salesperson. After making a decision on the make and model I wanted, finding "my truck" took about 20 minutes on the Internet. A few emails to online sales representatives at nearby dealers and I had a negoti- ated price for "my truck." Most of the purchasing paperwork was handled via computer correspondence. The next day I showed up at the selected dealership for a quick test drive to be sure it was what I expected, signed my name a few times, and then drove "my truck" home. Despite my old-fashion tendencies, I had taken a new path and embraced change. I believe you can have the same experience evaluating new products and practices to better help you make a deci- sion. Look on the Internet for research information. Find websites that people openly share their experiences. Go to STMA meetings and other people's facilities. Ask questions. This industry will openly share information especially when asked. In the end you need to be comfortable with the product or practice because change really can make your life easier and your fields better. With careful research there should be minimum sur- prises (if any) when using new products or practices. Now if I can just figure out what all the dashboard symbols represent on my new truck. ■ ST How to bring about change