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Generating New Business

Helping maintain public tennis courts in your community is one way to increase your customer base, gain exposure, and generate new business. Clean, well-maintained courts are an enticement to play tennis. I stop by my local courts regularly, pick up any trash, report any major problems to the recreation department, adjust net heights, and repair nets as they fall into disrepair.

In my community, the threads that hold the headband to the net disintegrate over time, leaving a gap between the two long before the nets are replaced. I bring an awl, snips, and used tennis string to reconnect the net to the headband. I punch two holes in the headband about a half-inch apart horizontally, lift up the net and insert the tennis string through the two holes catching a vertical net string, knot the string on the other side, and snip off the excess tails. It only takes a few minutes to make several such ties and close the gap.

Many people see me maintaining the courts and come over and thank me for my efforts. I get to know them, they get to know me, and many of them give me a call when their racquets are in need of repair.

5 sets of Gamma Zo Power 16L, Zo Hat, and Zo T-Shirt to:

Michael Shaughnessy, Wakefield, RI

Editor’s note: If you’re really want to become ambitious, you can set aside one or two days a year for a thorough clean-up. Use leaf-blowers and brooms to clean the windscreens and court surface, trim up any encroaching vegetation, and then hose down the windscreens and courts. Heavy-duty tie-wraps are good to have on hand, too, as they can be used to reattach windscreens, and to hold the net to the net cord after the headband splits on top. You can even lubricate the hinges on the gates, and make minor adjustments to hinges and latches with a pair of wrenches. If you put out fliers to advertise your clean-up efforts beforehand and ask for volunteers, you should be able to get a lot of help, and there will be less risk of angering those who show up to play, only to find the courts out of service. It’s also good to let your local parks and recreation department know what you’re doing, not only so they see there is an active tennis community, but also because you can oftentimes get them to provide extra trash receptacles, so you don’t have to haul away bags and bags of trash and leaves after all your other hard work. In between your major clean-ups, carry a small leaf-blower with you, so you can “touch up” the court surface before play anytime it’s needed.

From the August 2005 issue
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