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Volume 23 Issue 2
One Good Idea! Ideas from the Virtual Business Conference, February 2022 Doug Wenger – You: The Tennis CEO of You, Inc. QUOTE from Kellog CEO Bill LaMothe – “You all come with a lot of experience and a lot of ideas. Beyond all of that, there is no substitution for hard work.” The Power of the Handwritten Note. From Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbell Soup. He wrote 20-30 handwritten notes per week. He did this for his entire career. He felt this had a significant impact. Bill LaMothe sent every person that received a promotion a personal note. Communication is important from the corporate level all the way to the tennis court. Doug spoke about industries that are notorious for not returning calls in a timely manner. This is very aggravating. He asked, “Are YOU communicating effectively and urgency?” This is not always an elegant method, but needs to be timely. He told a story about Dan Gilber, owner of Cleveland Cavaliers and founder of Quicken Loans. He requires all employees to respond to all calls the day that they are received. Another story was of a potential client contacting the club for lessons for an 11-12 year old. They were referred by other parents. After 4 tries and no follow up from other staff, Doug immediately returned the call, which was originally not directed to him. They became a 100 hr private lesson client, plays 6-10 tournaments a year, and participated in many clinics - all because of a simple call. Communication Health Check • • • • • • • • •
Voice Mail return the same day Text return the same day E-mail return the same day Other message forms the same day Lesson Summary to clients Reconfirm schedules with clients Regular general tennis news Client progress reports Regular communication with staff
Many corporate people have an assistant to help with communications. Should you hire on a person to help? A small investment may result in an increase in income with timely communications, and the burden is lifted from you. R&D and Market Research New Product Vitality Index (NPVI). New product revenue/services introduced the last 5 years. Track how much of product sales are from new offerings. As a professional, our education and health are our factory. They need to be maintained and improved yearly. Understand the industry, technology, and our role in the industry. What are best practices?
Tom Daglis - How to Keep Your Job The Tennis Ten Commandments 1) Thou shalt not kill the goose that lays the golden egg. These are your members 2) Thou shalt not steal from the beginner. Establish your credibility. Don’t sell a $300 racquet w/gut to a beginner. 3) Thou shalt not commit “Hanky Panky”. Be careful how close you are to your members. Rumors spread quick 4) Thou shalt not give false testimony against your members. Back up is important, so have a paper trail. Be honest with what you say. 5) Thou shalt maintain your tennis courts & facility better than anyone else in town. Make your facility a showplace, that your members can brag about. Audit your facility monthly for windscreen, nets, courts, etc. 6) Thou shalt not present yourself as a false idol. Don’t build yourself up bigger than you are. Be honest about your playing ability, tournaments played, etc. It is too easy to research the facts. 7) Thou shalt not take members’ or GMs’ name in vain. The walls have ears. NEVER bad mouth members’ or your GM. We are always on stage. 8) Thou shalt have no other sports before me. Tennis is your profession, and is King. Be wary of playing too much golf, or that you are working for golf privileges. 9) Thou shalt remember to keep the tournament day holy. When you put on an event, make it first class and visible. Dress up the facility, maybe ball kids, speakers & microphones, etc. Make it a production. 10) Thou shalt not covet your member’s car. You should not drive a better car than your members’. They will not like seeing you drive a better car. You work for them. League Team Management - always a difficult job for us. Suggest and Recommend, never mandate. There should be posted guidelines for moving up and down on a team. Same for playoffs. The structure should be known before the season begins. Create a survey of the type of player you prefer to play with, not the exact player. Deuce or ad, aggressive or baseliner, etc. Alan Cutler - Roles of Management A favorite quote of Alan's "If you change the way you look at things, the things that you look at change?." As a supervisor - Be friendly to everyone. but there is a difference between being a friend and being friendly. At the high level, it is difficult when you have to lay people off. This is the reasoning behind be friendly, but not their best friend. It will make having to do your job much easier.
