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Having reviewed Mike Van Zutphen's
book TENNIS MANAGEMENT in August of 2015 I was curious how his
new book TENNIS OPERATIONS was different. It is a little lighter
with 220 pages, has the same 8.5x11 format and is, again, jam
packed with information about managing a tennis club
Mike starts again with a Club
Audit to enable the reader to "meet the perceived needs
of our membership/guest." Then he made some changes and
goes into areas directly related to operations of a club like
the one he works for, SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach,
California. As a matter of fact, most work sheets and plans are
actually taken as examples from that club.
The book continuess with Staff
Information before going into the nitty gritty of outlining everything
related to the club, such as
- Court System, reservation policy,
game arranging
- Guest policy, dress code, web
site
- Leagues, junior tennis
- Gym, spa, pool
- Pro shop and Pro shop admin
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Mike Van Zutphen’s
Tennis Operations book may just be the best professional instruction
guide for Tennis Professionals. |
SERVICE is a very interesting
section of TENNIS OPERATIONS. The reader learns pretty quickly
the importance Mike is giving customer service in a tennis club
operation. Example:
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Business
Basics 101
1. Offer
a less than good product with less than good service and customers
will never return.
2. Offer
a less than good product backed by superior service and customers
will sometimes return.
3. Offer
a good product backed by superior service and customers will
return.
4. Offer
a superior product backes by superior service and customers will
return with more customers. |
From The 5 Easy Steps to Customer
Satisfaction to Front Desk Check List, Sales Goal Sheets, and
Special Events sheets, the SERVICE section is easily one of the
most important one in TENNIS OPERATIONS. It is followed by Member
Retention Guidelines, Activities (Rules and brochures) and The
Club ID (from defining members and competition to staff meetings
and demo racquet programs.) |
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Mike writes: This book
will help any Tennis Director, General Manager, Club Manager,
Resort Director or Tennis Management Professional conduct the
unique operations of running a tennis center. |
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Mike Van Zutphen
has had thirty years of experience in Tennis Instructional Program
Management, including the design and development of direct mail
and promotional campaigns. He's a Certified Master Professional
in the USPTA- one of 135 classified educationally at that level
in the world.
The recipient
of 5 Southwest Professional of the Year Awards, 2 time recipient
of the Southwest Coach of the Year Award, 2 time recipient of
the National USTA Community Service Award only Professional in
US to ever receive it twice. Mike was also the recipient of the
Humanitarian Citation given by then Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard
now serving as Attorney General State of Arizona.
Mike is a Board/Committee
Member of the USPTA National Testing Committee, designing and
administering content and certification for USPTA. Five year
member of USPTA National Executive Committee, representing Southwest
USPTA, four years as Divisional President.
Qualifications
include professional skills in all operations of club management
from proshop, programming, training and supervision of staff
along with skills in computer and point of sale systems.
Detailed
Bio here |
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Mike lives in Newport Beach California
and is the Director of Tennis at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington
Beach. He has 2 daughters and a wonderful wife of 35 years. He
is still coaching tour players in the 200 level ATP and 100 Level
WTA. He works on his website the one minute tennis lesson to
help his members and clients with mechanical proficiency.
You can purchase Mike's book
(and his other tennis publications) here: http://oneminutetennislesson.com
You can reach Mike at mikevz29@yahoo.com |
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The book ends with an entire
section on inventory and listing of actual physical inventory
sheets from SeaCliff. Very interesting and time saving tools
for a club manager.
When you write such an extensive
book and fill it with so much useful content, you can't avoid
typos. Self-published books don't necessarily have the luxury
of a professional proof reader. I tend to not dwell on mistakes
especially after reading and reviewing the late Vic Braden's
last book, which actually included a letter of apology for all
the typos.
If you know Mike Van Zutphen
you also know what not to expect in such a big book: structure,
page numbers, organization. But you don't mind because the sheer
amount of information is too valuable and will save you a lot
of time.
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