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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/560546
SportsTurf: How do you develop rela- tionships with turf managers? Fred Hoge: The key to developing suc- cessful relationships with turf managers, or any customer, is to meet their needs. That concept might seem simplistic, but it is a core principle espoused by such business icons as Jeff Bezos from Amazon and Peter Drucker. Customer needs related to product per- formance, on-time delivery, pricing, and customer service are all factors. Our objec- tive is to meet customer needs across the board, not simply in one or two areas. A few cases in point: When CoverSports began manufac- turing winter turf blankets/growth covers more than a decade ago, most competitive products were made without reinforced hems and grommets; the blanket was rolled on the edge and staked in place. During windy conditions, the fabric could tear and blow the cover off the turf it was to pro- tect. Turf managers expressed a need for a blanket that would resist tearing and stay in place. CoverSports introduced a cover with reinforced hems and heavy-duty grommets, virtually eliminating the tearing problem and assuring turf protection. The product met the need of turf managers and has become well accepted in the market. Every baseball season, a week or so be- fore opening day, we receive a call or two: "I just received budget approval for a new infield cover. Can it be delivered for our home opener?" As a manufacturer with 100+ employ- ees, CoverSports can adjust its production schedule to respond. We view this capabil- ity as another way of meeting an important customer need: on-time delivery. This spring I visited a minor league park during the NCAA Division II re- gional baseball tournament. I realized that the infield tarp and (unused) tube storage cover for the tarp and roller had been purchased from CoverSports. When I spoke with the groundskeeper be- tween games, he told me that the storage cover had mis- takenly been ordered 4 feet too short for the roller and could not be used. I asked him to ship the tube cover back to our factory, where we added the extra length and shipped it back to the customer at no charge. We had no obligation to modify the cover and there was some cost for us, but in line with our philosophy of meeting cus- tomer needs, it was the right thing to do. Of course, to foster relationships with turf managers, CoverSports is an active member of STMA and affiliated chapters (KAFMO, NESTMA, STMNJ, and others). We participate in national and chapter trade shows to make face-to-face contact with customers. The underlying mission is to understand customer needs and to fulfill them. If we employ that approach success- fully, the relationships with turf managers will be successful as well. ST: Do you have any recommendations for customers on how to get the most out of their supplier relationships? Hoge: With demands on time in the workplace today, it is often tempting to view contact with suppliers' salespersons as unnecessary. I know firsthand because I have done much of our purchasing over the years and still do some. Reputable sup- pliers, however, are resources not only for products, but also for valuable market and industry information and should be heard. To maximize the supplier relationship, the turf manager must invest some time to communicate with the supplier. To be most effective, the customer should schedule a meeting time (don't make it a practice to meet if the sales person arrives unannounced) and be prepared to cover the issues on his/her agenda. Specifically: Communicate needs. For example, years ago, turf managers requested field cov- TOOLS & EQUIPMENT STMA COMMERCIAL MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: COVERSPORTS USA Editor's note: This month we debut a new feature that will appear occasionally, the STMA Commercial Member Spotlight. To kick it off, Fred Hoge, vice president of CoverSports USA, answered our questions: 38 SportsTurf | September 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com Fred Hoge