March 2005 -- Anyone who has been to a business seminar or read a business book is aware of the concept of “Management by Walking Around.” This theory states that a manager gets in touch with what is going on in his or her business by just walking around and visiting the various departments of the business.
Walking around your tennis facility might just be the opportunity you need to get in touch with a lot of your members.
I first practiced this theory quite by accident. I was the director of racquet sports at a fairly large racquet club with both indoor and outdoor courts. The pro shop only had a view of the indoor courts. On many days, the activity on the outdoor courts was a mystery to the pro shop personnel. Members were supposed to check in at the pro shop to register themselves, as well as any guests they might have, for the outdoor courts. Sure enough, unregistered guests would appear outside. And sure enough, some members would report this to the board. And sure enough, the board instituted a large fine for not registering a guest. And sure enough, it became my job to hunt down the violators. And sure enough, the guilty member would become bent out of shape and take it out on me.
So I set out to get out of the middle. I would secretly take the reservation sheet on a clipboard and make the rounds of the outdoor courts as often as possible. Many pleasant things started to happen. First, I eliminated the unregistered guest problem. Members would see me coming and they would sprint toward me to fess up that they had forgotten to register their guest. But that was a small part of the pleasantries that came my way.
The members seemed to enjoy their pro taking an interest in their tennis. They would wave and smile. Naturally, I could only watch a few shots before I had to move on, but I was able to applaud good shots and notice things about their games. I did, however, make sure I never saw a bad shot. If anyone hit a poor shot and looked toward me, I made sure it appeared that I was looking away and didn’t see it.
What an opportunity this turned out to be. I could not only watch some of my students perform, but later, when I would see some of the people I watched, I could make honest comments and suggestions on their game. When I would see them, I might say something like, “Boy, your forehand is great, just get that backhand up to that level and you will be something.” Often they would respond, “You think you could help me with my backhand?” I, of course, always responded, “Sure!” And I would have another lesson. This is a low-key sales technique that anyone can use.
Of course, I could not make the rounds every court change- over, but I started sending my shop people out to the courts. The shop people were required to make several rounds a shift. And they were required to smile, wave and know every person’s name on all the courts. Knowing members’ names is a must at any place where I am the pro. I would also continue to make the rounds when I had breaks.
Another policy that I had strong convictions about was “touching” the members as often as possible. A simple “Hello” was a touch. Getting members into programs and such were big touches. Every member had to be touched several times a month. Sometimes, to touch a member, we had to call and invite them to a program or an event. However, our walking around certainly served as some of the touching. It turned out that only about one-third of the members would come into the pro shop. So our walking around allowed us to touch members we might not ordinarily have seen.
At this point the light went off in my head. Walking around really can pay off.
We expanded our walking-around policy to the pool, the racquetball courts, the squash courts, the fitness room and the dining areas. We always had a clipboard to sign up lessons or whatever. I had a shop lady who could sign up a whole clinic by walking around on a warm day at the pool.
Walking around and touching the members afforded us an opportunity to inform and to actually sell our members anything that we were trying to promote for the club or the pro shop.
Walking around also accomplished what the business manuals suggested might happen. We also spotted problems before they happened and got ideas about how to improve member services.
A lot can be accomplished by just walking around the ol’ tennis club.
