S1 EP 03: What can GBN do for you and your career with Patrick Seither (Part Two)

In this episode, we finish our conversation with Patrick Seither, the President and CEO of the Golf Business Network. He tells us what's happening with GBN and what services he's providing in the network to help solve some of the challenges that PGA Professionals face everyday.

GBN is the leading  private network for today's most successful PGA Professionals.  Exclusive events at premier facilities, vendor partnerships to grow your business, education to increase your knowledge, and access to the top Professionals in the industry are just some of what membership in Golf Business Network will get you.  Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com to find out more and become a member.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Speaker 1 0:09

Getting better now podcast presented by the golf business network, this show by golf professionals for golf professionals, profiling experts from inside and outside the golfing does drink to help you advance your career, make a lasting impact, and achieve your goal. Here's your host, PGA professional from St David's Golf Club, Dean Candle.

Speaker 2 0:35

Hello and welcome to this episode of the getting better now podcast. We're back today with part two of our conversation with Patrick Cedar, the President and CEO of the golf business at work in part one. We talked about Patrick and his career and his path to becoming a CEO at Gbn, his travels through his assistant professional head, professional director of golf positions that eventually got him to where he is today. If you're interested, go back and take a listen to part one, but in part two we talk about the golf business network itself, the programs that Patrick has implemented since looking over at Gbn that are built directly to benefit PGA professionals who talk about the problems he's addressing, that we see everyday in our positions that gbs trying to solve and where gbs going into future. So here we are, part two of our conversation with Patrick, either, I hope you enjoy it, we just want to get into a little bit about the programs that, that Gbn is running currently for, for those that aren't a part of the network. Talked a lot about the value that in your mission to bring value to the members of GPS, but you know, what exactly are some, some things going on currently with Gpn?

Speaker 3 2:02

Sure. Well, you know, I think it's, uh, it's evolved in the last four years and there's been a lot of, uh, a lot of changes. I think, you know, we, uh, we developed a new website a couple of years ago and just brought that up to speed, you know, we have, we've added people, um, you know, human resources, whether it's through my new partners or other PGA professionals that we have on our staff now, I'm all in an effort to be able to provide more value and benefits to the golf professionals that are, that are in the network. So, you know, we've, we've introduced, we've always had a job board on the website, but um, one thing that we're doing more of now is recruiting underneath that. So, you know, a job board is great. It's, Hey, I've got an opportunity for whatever that position is an assistant, but we, um, we want to get, we want to get deeper into that and I think ultimately I could almost see the board going away and we, us Gbn becoming more just the truth, just recruiting service, hey, tell us what you want, what are you looking for? And then we'll go find the four or five assistance that you know, meet that criteria. So in order to do that, you've got to develop a real deep profile and knowledge base of everybody that's in the network, um, and, and then be able to match those up, right? So if, if dean, if you're looking for an assistant, you know, we have a, we have a form that we ask you to fill out. So if you posted a job, we're going to send you a form to complete that's a little more around, you know, like where do you see this person, where their expertise, you know, when you rank those things out, then we look at our network and say, okay, well who has these, these areas of expertise and you know, knowing where their career goals are and things like that that we can help identify because you know this as well as anybody else. I mean, recruiting is tough. I mean, it's a challenge right now. Probably the number one thing you hear from people when they're there, it's, you know, it's tough. So, um, if you could come to us and then us turn around pretty quickly and say, you know, here's four or five guys, you know, and then us do some outreach to them, hey, you know, Dean's got an opportunity, are you interested, um, that's going to be beneficial for everybody as they move forward in their career. So hopefully save you time. Um, and, and also, you know, give that individual a benefits. So that's, that's something that we're doing. Um, you know, we've increased, uh, you know, I mentioned this earlier, the communication, so we'll have, um, you know, kind of newsletter or network updates every tour, you know, probably every other week. Um, you know, we do a question of the week on a every Wednesday. So that's a mechanism to um, you know, basically share ideas, right? And we get a lot of those questions from our members, you know, that are looking for, uh, you know, information or ideas in a certain aspect of their business and we can tap the network to get those, those ideas back. So, um, that's something that we've done. You know, we've, we've introduced what we call a tournament team share, which is a, a, a program, whereas head professionals can host assistant professionals from within the network where, you know, so if you've got your member guest tournament and you want to have to assistance from the network, come and volunteer their time, we'll identify individuals that, you know, whether wherever they're coming from, they have the time or the, uh, the ability to do that. And um, it's a great benefit for them. They get to see a new operation just like we talked earlier. Um, see things from a different perspective, good ideas, grow their network, uh, also good for you and that you would have a couple of extra. I'm qualified individuals now you probably not going to have him do the, uh, the scoring or the, the announcements, but they could be doing things that you and your staff don't need to be doing, um, but also, you know, would benefit you. So that's, uh, that's been well received. Um, you know, we have the reciprocal program within the network has really grown, you know, really that's, I'm not a big fan of the word reciprocal, but it's more of a, you know, a member, um, you helping your members play golf elsewhere as they're traveling and connecting you with other professionals. So the reciprocal program, I think we probably had like, I don't know, 50 clubs when I first arrived here. Now we had probably 150 that are registered on the program. Um, and we make it easy. We've introduced a, an interactive map. So if most of your members comes to you and says like, Hey, I'm going to Chicago and like to play golf, do you ever get that? Every now and then, right? So, um, you know, you probably, I don't know what your process is, you probably know some people out there, but you know, who do I know, what's there? Unaccompanied Ray, what's her a company policy, you know, all those questions and there's a lot of back and forth. Well, we house all that information on this, um, this interactive map so you can just zoom in, it's a google map using been to Chicago and you just click on a couple of the different links there and you'll see what club it is, what their rates are, any, uh, you know, um, any of the information you need and can actually make the request right through the website. And we get a lot of that activity through, um, through the network. Just connecting golf, professional, the golf professional. So on your end, you know, if, if you're on the reciprocal program, you get that request. You've already answered a few questions around like, you know, maybe who is this person, you know, where are they, where are they coming from and all that. So you now, you know, hey, it's coming from a trusted source. So there's benefits both to the person that's making the request and also, you know, I would say potential benefits of, uh, increasing revenues if you know, you get a couple of groups of uh, unaccompanied play. It's not for every club but, um, but a lot of our clubs are open to that and we're just trying to connect those golf professionals through that. So, you know, there's a couple of those things. Um, you know, we're, we're also working towards a, um, a database of interns, you know, there's really no clearing house of who the WHO, who are the interns that are out there, where are they in their schooling, where did they work here recently, you know, um, we want to be able to grow that, that knowledge and our relationships with the PGM programs. So we can help the golf professionals like you when you're looking for your interns to be able to say, okay, similar to our other other recruiting efforts, have that database to be able to say, okay, you know, I need a five month intern from these months to these months and you know, some, maybe some other criteria. We can go to that database and say, okay, here's a couple and make those introductions. So, you know, it's a lot of it is about just making connections to people and growing through the network if that makes important in this business. Yeah, absolutely. You know it. And um, I think, I think, you know, I know it more now than I did seven, six, seven years ago. Um, I should have done more of that, uh, you know, when I was in the business. But it is, it's very important. I mean, we, we get phone calls a lot of the time where somebody will call us and say, Hey, I've got this issue. You guys have any information on it. We may not always have the answer, but I, you know, I'm fortunate because I have people like Phil and b that I can call and say, Hey, do you know anything about this or Bob for that I can call or you know, other individuals that are in the network and in, you know, we can connect those people to help give them ideas around whatever issue they might be having. And some of that is, you know, needs to be very confidential and we can provide that, um, you know, and that's, you know, we have that kind of leads into another thing we've introduced which is our hotline, you know, so it's basically, hey, you know, if you've, if you need something, just call our hotline, you know, where that's going to ring through to somebody and Gbn and you'll, you'll get somebody to pick up and we'll be able to help you. Um, because a lot of people are sort of on their own, right? I mean, there may not sure. It might be things like that come up at your club that you can't go to your leaders about. Right? And, but you in, maybe there's people in your network, you know, but maybe you want to not, you want, it needs to be more confidential, then you can come to us and we can, we can help you with that. So sometimes you want to go

Speaker 2 10:14

side of the network to. I mean, I have kind of a constant email trail going with, you know, seven, eight, nine local clubs around here where everybody's always just asking a quick question. Uh, but sometimes you want, want an answer that gets outside of your area. Sometimes you want an answer that comes from somewhere else. So, uh, it sounds like the really cool thing is that you've, you've addressed some issues and some challenges that we face on almost a regular basis and just trying to make things easier for us. Uh, the golf professionals, the members of Gbn so.

Speaker 3 10:49

Well, the one thing, you're, you're right. And that's, that's well said. I think that we all can agree that the one thing that we can't, you know, get more of his time, you know, and time management is so critical and you know, being able to realize what's important versus what's urgent and you know, what emails you need to give back to and prioritizing all those things. So anything that can save you time, that adds more time to be able to do the things that you want to be doing. I'm playing golf or teaching or you know, whatever those things are, just building relationships, being in front of members, that's going to be a benefit. And that's what I want to be able to be providing through all of these things is, is, you know, uh, I guess helping save time for, um, for the golf professional and that, you know, one thing that I didn't mention that as far as programs, you know, we just launched at the PGA show, 'em something called the Alliance Golf Usa and this kind of goes to a, you know, saving time. Um, what it is, essentially it's, we, we're taking the business model of a group out of Canada that's been very successful for about 37 years as a, as a buying group and it's been tried before in the golf industry and they've, you know, many of them have failed. This is a, um, a very good business model and Alliance Golf USA is not going to be owned by Gbn. I'm just partnering to help bring this model here to the US. It's actually going to be owned by the PGA professionals that invest in it as shareholders and uh, and they're going to be able to benefit, um, you know, through, uh, through financially, but also time savings. The, the vendors that will participate in that. All of your invoices go into one a website. So you know, if you, whether you own your shop or you don't, that's going to save somebody a lot of time to, you know, you don't have to go to whatever it is, [inaudible] dot com or [inaudible] mag dot Biz or you know, whoever those vendors are, it all comes to one page and you make one payment a month for those. Um, so something that I feel is important is to provide more value again to the PGA professional. Um, saves them time, hopefully will be a financial benefit for them as well. And um, so we're excited about that. We've got a lot of, uh, a lot of interests. We've uh, we're over 100 on our list of shareholders and you know, we're in the process right now of getting our vendor a group together and um, later this fall we'll have that in place and it's going to launch out in February of Twenty 19. So I'm really excited about that too.

Speaker 2 13:23

Is there a place that people can go and learn more about that if they already know about alliance coffee USA or actually anything GBN right?

Speaker 3 13:31

Yeah. So, I mean, our website obviously, um, that are, uh, the Alliance Golf USA, our members can go into the, they can log in, excuse me, in, on the left hand navigation, there's a tab for Alliance Golf USA. Um, that'll give them a lot of information and then we've done a lot of webinars, a lot of, uh, a conference calls and, you know, we're, we're constantly communicating in our emails, you know, here's where we're at and, you know, they'll, so they'll see an update in our emails that they can, you know, send a request to us and we will get on the phone with them and give them, give them the information. So, um, yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of information out there.

Speaker 2 14:10

So in addition to these services that Gbn is now providing, you're also providing search services to clubs, correct?

Speaker 3 14:18

That is correct. You know, that's, I'm always been a part of the business model and um, I thought that there was an opportunity to do something, I would say different in the golf industry. You know, we know some of the other search firms that are out there, um, us being more golf centric, you know, I'm a PGA professional, have, you know, very fortunate to partner with Bob Forward as a PGA professional, Phyllo and BS PGA Professional. And, and then we also have partnered with a gentleman named David ransom who is an executive search expert. So I've put a team together that was really a different process that, that dave ransom brings and you know, I'm learning that process and uh, and then obviously the knowledge of, of Bob and Phil and then, you know, the, I would say the business component of Gbn to be able to do that. So that's really grown for us over the last two years. Uh, we did six or seven searches last year where we have three searches right now that are going on and, you know, that's a, that's an important component for us to say that we're, uh, we're in that space. I think we very quickly have become, you know, one of the leaders in that space for head professionals and directors of golf and we see other opportunities there. Um, but it's a different, it's a different model and uh, and we think, um, you know, the way that we're managing that for the client, but also for the candidates as a, a is different. Um, and we, you know, the confidentiality, uh, the communication, you know, we've all, probably you and your career and me and my career of going through different searches, um, you know, communication is key, right? Where, where, where do I stand, you know, are, you know that as a candidate you really want to make sure that, you know, you know, hey am, am I a viable candidate? And, and in the lack of communication sometimes is um, uh, you know, challenging. So, so there's a lot of things that we're doing there that, uh, I think are differentiating us in that, in that space. So we're, we're excited about that. Yeah, I think that's good. Taking the perspective of the PGA professional, applying that to the searches, that's not always the way that these are done at that, at that level for those searches. So, and keeping the candidate in mind. So obviously put a great team together. I think it'd be great, we'll, we'll jump back on another episode and we'll dive a little bit deeper into the search process and things that you've learned that we can all get out to, to the PGA professionals out there that are going to be in involved in searches and looking for jobs to progress their career because I think they'd be able to provide a lot of great information to people in that regard. Yeah, that'd be great. I'd love to do that. Great. So Patrick, I think that's a great place to, to wrap this all up and just want to thank you again for coming on today. I want to thank you for what you're doing with Gbn and all the services that you bring to the members and, and just keeping the, uh, the network growing, keeping the, uh, the services, um, come into to help us also. Thanks for all that and thanks again for your time today. Yeah, thank you dean. And, and you know, obviously this podcast series is a, is another step in that evolution, so really appreciate again, you being a part of that and, and you know, getting your time in which we talked about. It's so valuable, you know, thank you so much for what you're doing for not only Gbn but also just all the members and for any PGA professional. No, that's a passion of yours so it really shines through and we appreciate it. Thanks Patrick.

Speaker 4 17:50

Thank you.

Speaker 1 17:54

This was the getting better now podcast presented by the golf business network. Head over to itunes to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and be sure to rate and review while you're there. For more information, go to golf business network.com.