Companies with head in sand lose customers and sales reps

Was talking with a friend about a tennis pro who was coaching a huge named player on the ATP tour. Couldn’t believe how little this coach was being paid for his time. His weekly salary was comparable to that of a wallpaper hangar. No diss intended to wph’ers just making a point.

Got me thinking about the Matt Kuchar saga.

In case you haven’t heard, Kuchar played and won a golf tournament in Mexico, the 2018 Mayakoba Classic. His regular caddie couldn’t make it so he used a local guy named David Ortiz from a local club.

Kuchar won the tournament (first win in 4 years), and a grand prize of $1,296.000 of which Ortiz received $5000.00.

That’s .0039% of total winnings!

PGA Tour caddies typically get 10% of earnings, expenses paid and bonuses if their player finishes within the top10.

That’s bad.

Not only was it a measly pay-out but a really poor look for Kuchar, his “brand” along with his agent Mark Steinberg the worlds premier golf agent who also happens to manage Tiger Woods.

It gets worse.

Social media blew up calling Kuchar ”el cheapo”, jackass and worse yet he continued to hold his ground not budging from his defense.

Adding insult to injury, when asked about the evolving debacle Kuchar’s response was “I certainly don’t lose any sleep over this”.

Ouch!

Eventually Kuchar caved-in and paid Ortiz $50,000 plus an additional donation to charities in the Cancun area.

By denying the problem and defending his actions, Kuchar created a PR mess that could have long lasting negative effects on his career.

The point here is golf manufacturers help drive sales and create staying power by listening to customer and/or sales force complaints, admit when they are wrong, are open to change OR better yet, fix the problem.

Companies who make promises they can’t keep or slack on quality control or have chronic difficulties with recruiting and “high” turnover or struggle with brand recognition, don’t last very long in the golf industry.

These are the same organizations who are closed minded and get defensive or “ghost” when complaints appear…a recipe for disaster.

Instead be smart, listen and adapt.

Oh…one last thing…if you’re fortunate to have a few great salespeople or two on your team, treat them like gold!

It’s very difficult to recruit and keep honest, hard working independent golf reps. The good ones will “work their buns off” for you and become loyal brand ambassadors if treated fairly.

Speaking of recruiting, if your company needs sales talent exclusive to the golf industry check-out details below regarding our recruiting services.

Dawn Schlesinger
Chiefgolfjobologist

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What’s donuts got to do with resume?

Let’s face it, it’s tough to get a good job in the highly competitive golf industry.

At GolfSurfin.com, I’m always preaching that candidates need to stand-out, do something different, take a different tack when applying to jobs.

Heres a great example.

A few years back a new young transplant from Lithuania named Lukas Yla was seeking a marketing gig in Silicon Valley, another nasty competitive industry full of talent.

Lukas got real creative by dressing-up as a Postmates delivery guy and delivered boxes of Mr. Holmes Bakehouse doughnuts to some of the biggest Bay Area tech companies like Lyft, Uber, Instacart and Postmates with a pitch: give him a job.

The result?

He scored over 10 interviews with the companies and ad agencies.

According to Yla “People appreciate this approach. They understand that it requires time, creativity and a hustler attitude”.

This approach may be a bit too extreme or gimmicky for you (I for one think its pretty ballsy) but this story does make the point that creativity is rewarded for those bold enough to be different.

Not everyone has to dress-up as imposter to get her/his foot in the door.

There are various ways to make a good impression during the job application process.

One way is to use the easiest, most cost effective job seeking tool in the industry called GolfSurfin.com’s “White Glove” service.

Through White Glove your quick-read headline will highlight your unique qualities and great benefits you will bring to the table and send it directly to hiring managers, HR executives and golf company owners.

We’ll help present the best “you” possible in a timely, profession and honest manner at a price that won’t break the bank.

Want more details? Click here to get started.

Dawn Schlesinger
Chiefgolfjobologist

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#1 question to ask in a sales interview

After working in the golf recruiting biz for so long – approaching 20 years – and helping countless companies with their sales recruiting needs including independent reps, I’m constantly being told about the trials and tribulations of finding and keeping good dependable sales people.

Got me thinking.

If I were a golf manufacturer talking to a potential sales candidate to fill one of my territories what would be the most important interview question to ask?

After much thought and ponder, cause so many topics running through my head like past production, tenure in a territory, account base, personality, reputation, existing lines etc., etc., I came to a conclusion.

If I had to narrow it down to one question it would be the following:

“Where does or would my line stand in priority to everything else she/he is selling?”

In other words, if a rep carries let’s say 3-5 lines including a major one (a top tier brand), does she present that top brand first OR does she ask the customer permission to start with other products/services. If given permission, where does my line “fit” on the priority list? Depending on the answer I can determine if my line is or would be receiving sufficient time and consideration from a buyer.

Again there are countless questions and concerns to discuss with a potential new hire and the better prepared and in-depth your inquiries are, the more valuable info you’ll uncover to help make the best hiring decision for your company.

Once you have your questions lined-up and ready to go you need to find candidates interview.

An awesome place to source golf sales pros is through GolfSurfin.com.

Why?

You get to post your ad on the #1 job board for golf and breeze through our resume database full of qualified sales candidates from the golf industry.

Ready to take a shot? Get started here.

Dawn Schlesinger
Chiefgolfjobologist
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GolfSurfin.com’s 2018 PGA Show Sales Rep Promo

November is filled with thoughts of falling leaves, pumpkins, hot apple cider & the PGA Show Sales Rep Promo…

It’s here!

Post your ad on the #1 job board for golf and reach thousands of qualified, experienced independent golf reps at a discount!

This is the only discount we’re offering in 2018.

Don’t be a turkey and ignore a chance to fill open territories at a discount.

Gobble it up now! Details below. Offer ends soon***

GolfSurfin.com’s PGA Show Sales Rep Promo

Package includes:

  • 90 day ad on job board
  • access to resume database
  • exposure to sales candidates who live and breathe golf
  • “Blast” to coveted golf rep database (over 4K contacts)
  • social Media exposure
  • one-time fee $329.00 – 15% discount

To get started click here, choose either Sales Rep Blast Package (state OR nationwide) and use discount code PGAPROMO at check-out.

***Offer ends January 21, 2019

 

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GolfSurfin.com’s – It’s baaaack – the scary angry sales rep

Sent this email before yet it’s a chilling reminder to beware of blood sucking, time wasting, money depleting candidates who lurk behind fancy resumes and howling bravado.

It all started when I wrote a blog entry about independent golf reps (Hiring Sales Reps – Promises Promises) who make empty promises to manufacturers. The point of the message was for employers to perform “due diligence” when hiring a rep before wasting time and $$$ on those frighteningly devilish candidates making empty promises.

An angry rep, who’s blood was obviously curdling after reading the entry, responded back that my commentary was offensive AND I should not criticize golf reps in general. In other words “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.

I was a little spooked at first that a sales person took the time to write such a scathing reply. In fact, he was even upset that I referenced “Zig Ziglar” ( Zig was the selling guru back in the day).

Booo…thats scary angry!

There are many hard working, professional, independent sales people in the golf industry who are trustworthy and do a great job with the lines they represent. I call them Superheroes. They are the good sales guys & girls GolfSurfin.com helps by connecting them with our customers.

The fact is that there are some bad apples, scammers out there who take advantage of golf manufacturers…especially companies new to the golf industry.

Beware. Bad reps come in a variety of disguises:

  • Ghosts or Mummies are the reps you never hear from once they get their samples
  • Ghouls tarnish your brand by lack of customer follow-up
  • Grim Reapers give wrong company information or make false promises to customers
  • The infamous Vampires/Vampiresses usurp all company resources yet never makes quota or significant sales; all they do is complain

To help avoid getting involved with sales Monsters, conduct background checks like:

  • call references
  • customers
  • former employers
  • other sales people
  • check social media etc.

Don’t just accept a good sales pitch that winds up being just that…a good sales pitch.

To connect with sales Superheroes in the golf industry post your ad here.

Dawn Schlesinger

ChiefGolfJobologist

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Prepare for interview like a US Open tennis match

If watching professional tennis is your thing, it’s US Open just concluded and thought it fitting to apply a mental strategy used by a world-class athlete and use it in your job interviews.

Played a USTA doubles tennis match this Summer in the picturesque, cool, breezy mountains of North Carolina.

Although the weather was a reprieve from the scorchingly hot Summer conditions in Miami my home-base, the competition was fierce especially since I haven’t been playing much in the heat.

Needed to prepare mentally for the battle ahead!

My go to source for a quick “mental tune -up” is one of the best tennis strategy books ever written called “Winning Ugly” by the now famous tennis tv commentator Brad Gilbert…he’s all over coverage at this year’s Open.

If you’re not familiar with Brad’s pro tennis career, he was a journeyman on the ATP Tour (Association of Tennis Professionals). Of average ability and talent, Brad made a dangerous foe by figuring out and exposing his rival’s weaknesses. At the same time Brad used his strengths to slay some of the biggest names on the tour in the 90’s including Johnny Mac (McEnroe), Michael Chang, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.

Not too shabby.

So how can average guy with an average body type and skill-set, abused by the likes of McEnroe screaming during a match “Gilbert you are the worst. The — worst! …you don’t belong on the same court as me!” take down multiple titans of tennis?

Brad asked himself 2 questions before every match:

A – what do I want to make happen?

B – what do I want to prevent from happening?

This advice is golden for interview preparation.

Before approaching any interview, uncover what problems a potential employer may have and explain how you (your strengths) can help solve their problem/problems.

The goal is to not let personal or professional weaknesses sway an employer the wrong way. I’m not suggesting you ignore or lie about your shortcomings like a lack of experience. Instead, be honest and explain that a lack of tenure pales in comparison to the level of energy and determination you have to succeed (check out blog entry called “Make the Skeleton Dance” detailing a cool story about a guy who turns big resume negatives into positives during his interview).

Make the interview focus on the employer’s needs and your strengths.

Prevent weaknesses from putting the kabosh on a job offer by spinning negatives into positives.

Get your game on and attack your next interview like a pro.

Speaking of positioning, looking for a job in golf?

Get an upper hand on the competition by sending your resume to thousands of golf employers exclusively through our White Glove service.

It’s easy to use and effective placing you and your uniqueness in the spotlight.

Dawn Schlesinger

ChiefGolfJobologist

  1. Pic above. That’s me in white and my partner playing as deep underdogs. Won 1st round  lost in quarter finals.
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Resume writing guarantees – fact or fiction

Doing some poking around on the internet before writing a guide/ebook to help candidates find a job in golf.

After plugging in few key words and phrases, I kept landing on resume writing services. Didn’t I realize how many of these companies exist along with the unbelievable guarantees they make.

For example let’s look at a service called “Resumes Guaranteed”.

Their guarantee includes:

“If you are not HIRED within 60 days of receiving your new resume, we’ll refund your money, PAY you $50*, AND continue to help re-work your resume!*”

Wow not only will they refund your money but you can actually earn dough by not getting a job. Is this true?

Let’s dig deeper.

Continued to scroll around reading the fine print and wallah there in black and white was a major refund requirement stating:

“*Guarantee requires clients to submit at least 40 copies (hard copies) of their resume to prospective employers following our advice.”

It gets better.

“You must provide reasonable proof that you submitted your resume to at least 40 prospective employers in the form of certified mail, receipts or verifiable fax transmissions receipts (if you utilize an untargeted mass submission service, their bulk submission shall count as “one” mailing/faxing for the purpose of this requirement.”

I’m exhausted just reading these requirements let alone the thought of having to fulfill them.

In my humble opinion, if a guarantee sounds too good to be true it’s too good to be true.

It’s also my opinion that if anyone in the employment biz i.e. consultants, writing services, job boards, headhunters etc… – no matter the industry – charges a fee then guarantees employment is full of horse poop!

Now for the good news.

While further perusing the long list of refund requirements I came upon a link called “Our expert resume distribution guide” which is actually a little nugget of great advice for job seekers.

In fact, there’s so much good advice I could write about them for days.

Check out their guide by clicking the following link:

https://resumesguaranteed.com/resume_distribution_guide.pdf

This is the stuff they should be selling vs, resume writing.

Odds are if you have no contacts decision makers are never going to see your brand spankin new, perfectly key worded resume.

There’s no point spending $$$ on a resume if the right girl/guy doesn’t read it.

I’ll skip the “days of writing” and summarize some key “guide” points like:

  • candidates seeking employment in golf should not rely solely on job ads to find opportunities (our White Glove Service reaches decision makers directly)
  • research the contact and club/company of interest before making contact
  • send a copy of your resume along with a targeted cover letter describing why you’re unique and how an employer will benefit by hiring you

Hope I’ve given you some job seeking food for thought…now go Weedhopper, seek and conquer and land your dream golf job!

Dawn Schlesinger

Dawn@GolfSurfin.com

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Old school hiring practice “at work”

Was looking to replace a technical manager for my website.

Used a tech job board where you can view the candidate’s resume along with the types of jobs they completed with ratings given by past customers.

These tech girls/guys are independent contractors and work by the job and/or hourly fee. The job board earns a % of what the employer (me) pays the contractor.

Received a bunch of candidates within a couple of days after posting my ad – all had high ratings and job completion rates.

Sounds good right…if everything written were true.

So I practiced what I preach requesting references from each glowing candidate including a contact name and email address.

The majority of candidates responded that everything I needed to know was right at my finger tips listed on their profile page including former project completion, rates and customer reviews*. No need to bother former customers with inquiries from potential employers like me. I’d say maybe 10% of the applicants (3) who applied to my job gave me references. Of those three, one former customer was surprised he was being used as a reference (from this particular candidate) and eager to speak to me by phone.

His surprised reaction to my inquiry peaked my interest.

We talked the very next day. After exchanging introductions and niceties the conversation kinda went like: I’m surprised Ben (the tech candidate) gave me as a reference because frankly he didn’t do a great job. Ben’s ok for basic work but anything more advanced like app design or writing code forget it – he’s not very good.

Toward the end of our conversation I thanked the Jerry (the reference) for his time and feedback and then asked “…have you used any techs from this site who are good? Yes! Let’s look up his name together on the job board to make sure you get the right guy.”

It was my lucky day…I fortunately asked the right question.

Since then I’ve used Ben multiple times. He’s done a “bang-up” job at a fraction of the cost I was paying my former tech guy.

Point is employing “old school” recruiting methods like picking up the phone and chatting with references is just as valuable today as it was back in the day **.

Not only did I avoid a headache by hiring a sub par candidate l actually found a winner.

Another point.

In today’s world we have technology that often does the busy work for us like ratings and rankings (i.e. Amazon product reviews) sometimes called social proof. I don’t always trust reviews provided by the very same job boards and companies who will profit from my sale. If another source avails itself to help me make a smarter decision, business or personal, I’m going to use it …regardless of whether its “trendy” or not.

If judging a candidate by measures like a solid handshake, eye contact, good phone skills, manners, ability to ask questions and show interest in my company during an interview, thinking before speaking etc. is considered “old school” then I’ll gladly wear the label.

If you’re a little old school too and looking to fill a club position, consider using our Target Search service.

Where vintage recruiting meets technology!

Say your club needs a Chef or Membership Director. We’ll contact just about every qualified candidate actively employed, starting locally and moving our way through out the state, and apprise them of your opportunity via email. It’s tedious work, yet creates results.

It’s budget friendly too!

Check out Target Search details below.

*Beware of customer ratings – I dug a little deeper and found out that tech candidate ratings can be skewed by customers since the customers themselves are rated by the techs and if given low enough ratings, no-one decent will work with the company seeking help. 

**Some club policies do not allow the release of a previous employee’s information. At a minimum, most will provide start and end dates and position titles. If you are not able to get the information you are seeking, you can ask the candidate to provide another reference. 

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Learn interview technique from the King of all Media

Finally finished reading Matthew Berry’s book Fantasy Life”. Yes I’m a very slow reader (like a turtle) but  consider it “quality vs. quantity” reading.

And you’re probably wondering why a middle aged lady living in Miami would be interested in fantasy football (ff).

Because its challenging and fun!

I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy, followed sports when I was a kid and got the fantasy sports bug about 4 years ago. I’m now approaching season #4 as Commissioner of the “Real Housewives of Miami” ff all women league. It’s been a blast and I’m really proud of the ladies who step-up trying something new, something they know nothing about and end up throwing trash talk like T.O. or Richard Sherman by season’s end. Pretty cool to observe.

Anyway back to the book and lesson for today which I’ve discussed in the past (take a look at blog post Stick Out in a Good Way).

At the end of the book Mathew added a “bonus section” to update his story and probably to sell more books. One of the major events he talks about is getting an interview with his idol Howard Stern on SiriusXM radio show.

Matthew Berry was a pretty seasoned host and guest on sports radio shows yet he was so psyched and nervous about his interview with the one and only, King of all Media, the most successful and outrageous radio personality ever to hit the airwaves, that he could barely sleep the night before.

Of course he made it through the interview with flying colors even took a picture with Howard at the shows conclusion.

A couple of days after his appearance Berry received a handwritten note from Howard.

In his words: “I got a note at home. From Howard. Thanking me for being on his show….in all the years I’ve been interviewed by every type of show, it’s the first time I have ever gotten a personal note like that. The whole thing, start to finish, was a complete and total class act. I didn’t think it was possible but I became a bigger Howard fan in those few moments off-air than I had in 20 years.”

If The King of All Media can send a ff analyst show guest a handwritten note thanking him for his time and making a huge, positive impression doing so then wouldn’t make sense that candidate who wants to stand out from other applicants do the same after an interview with a potential employer?

The point being is candidates should want to take any/every advantage to positively separate themselves from other applicants.

One effective way to do this is writing a handwritten note to the person/people conducting the interview.

Another way to stand out is through our White Glove service.

Take a peek at White Glove details.

PS. here’s a pic of some of my ff league mates during awards night.

 

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Magically hire as many golf reps as you need

If you or someone in your company can magically recruit solid sales people without having to deal with issues like brand awareness, demand, quality, delivery, compensation etc then don’t read any further…you don’t need GolfSurfin.com.

However if Houdini is missing from your management team and the above issues must be addressed,  you probably need our help with recruiting.

And another dose of reality… if your company has failed to address these issues sufficiently, regardless of where you advertise or how much money you spend recruiting, no one decent is going to apply.

I’ll share a recent experience I had with a customer who was pissed about their ad response…or lack there of.

A fairly new apparel company used our service to recruit salespeople. They needed lots of hand holding posting their ad and using our resume database – which is cool by us. In fact in most cases we go the extra mile to insure customer satisfaction because we want you back. In the end, the customer was not happy and wanted a refund. We make no guarantees with recruiting results because too many factors are out of our control…like the issues listed above.

Moral of this story is every company who advertises to hire employees, particularly independent reps, has to explain why their product or service is special, how they set themselves apart from the competition, highlight unique qualities and benefits they offer then actually deliver on those promises.

Just because an ad is written and posted on the #1 job board in golf does not guarantee results.

It must be interesting and exciting with substance behind the text…not bs.

We’re not magicians.

What we do better then any other recruiting source in the golf industry is get your message out to the best sales talent in golf.

Our offer is pretty simple.

If your company offers a unique golf product/service where reps can realistically make money with your line, we will fill your open territories.

Make sense?

If so, click here to get started.

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