Turfgrass Articles

Since I last wrote an article, many things have changed in my life.  My family is larger and in case you do not know, I am now the Central Territory Manager for Walker Supply, Inc. or in other words… a salesman.  What prompted this change you may ask?  Well, the biggest reason is that I was tired of working long hours at the same place, tired of depending on people who I needed to motivate, and tired of missing out on family time that was quickly passing me by.   So I thought I would let you know what life is like on the other side of the fence.

Even though my life has changed, there are many things that are still the same.  I still communicate with many people in a day, still rely on many other people, and I still get up early in the morning (no one wants to see a salesman at 3:00, unless they have beer.), still do plenty of paperwork, and still do not care for hot weather.  On the other hand, many things have changed in my life, including:  I now drive a great deal, now know where all the golf courses are, and now know many other superintendents and assistants who I had never met.  Also, getting to see areas of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio that I have never seen.  I am looking forward to fall this year to see the foliage from Erie, Pa to Elkins, WV.  There are many little towns that I have never heard have that are really great.  Wait for the public television special chronicling my travels.

What have I learned you may ask?  Well, I have learned that as much as I thought I knew about turfgrass management, I did not know much at all, and that I could learn something from everyone.  I have learned from not only Bill Walker, Keith Perl and Mike Sekula from Walker Supply, but from the company representatives, superintendents, assistants, mechanics, and everyone else who I have met.  I found that I learned a great deal at Valley Brook CC, that was only growing grass on that 300 acres and there was many other ways of attaining the same goal.  So keep in mind that many people have good ideas, so do not hesitate to ask you salespeople for ideas.

Something that I have found is there is a great deal of competition for the turfgrass maintenance dollar in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  Some of these companies I had never heard of, but that does not make them any less of a competitor.  You do not get into turfgrass sales without having a solid background in turfgrass maintenance and expect to do well.  With my territory running up and down Interstate 79, I run into a lot of people that I consider friends of mine that are now on the other team.  That is somewhat of a strange feeling with some of those people.  But as long as I deal on the up and up, that is all I can do.     

As time goes on, this job gets both easier and harder at the same time, the more I understand what I have to do, and the more pressure there is to do so.  While it is true that most salespeople do not have to work every weekend, they are still putting in long days driving, time spent over nights away from home, time in front of the computer, so at this time I would not say I spend that much less time working than previously.  But I would say that I have the ability to use my time as I see I need to.  If I need to take the afternoon off to take the family to the zoo, I can do so, and not have to worry about fairways burning up (even though I do sympathize with the superintendents who have this concern).

In conclusion, even though there are days that I go to a golf course and think to myself, that I would like to being taking part in that project or mowing that fairway, I do not think that I will be hopping back over the fence anytime soon (I hear Lancaster is nice and $80,000 - $150,000 is a big chunk of change).  So the next time you see your favorite salesman come down the road, now you know what they are thinking.