Doucette Makes Successful Switch From Head Pro To Best Sales Rep

Ryan Doucette

By GORD MONTGOMERY, Inside Golf

SPRUCE GROVE, Alberta — No matter what stream of the golf industry Ryan Doucette is involved in, he invests fully in his efforts and time. And that’s been the case over the last three years for the winner of the 2020 PGA of Alberta’s Sales Rep of the Year award.

Doucette, the former head professional at the Cougar Creek Golf Resort and two decades total iin that end of the industry before switching streams in 2018. At that time he signed on as the sales representative for northern Alberta with adidas/TaylorMade Golf. And like he did as a club pro, it didn’t take him long to make his mark in that side of the golf world by totally immersing himself in what he was doing.

Speaking to the fact he’s become a course’s head professional, the end-all for most golf pros, Doucette said there were a couple of reasons for switching job streams and going into sales, although still in the world of golf.

“Truthfully, I had always wondered about that part of the business. The only way I would have made that move would have been for a bigger job, one of the big brands, one of the top five to 10 jobs out there. You’re right. I was at the spot in my career where I was one of 20 or 30 head pros in the Edmonton area that assistants aspire to,” but  when the “right opportunity at the right time,” came along, he traveled a path that many would have chosen not to take.

A large part of the change was due to the fact he was a longtime adidas/TaylorMade staff player and as a pro he wasn’t hesitant to show off that brand in his gear and his clothing. He also carried adidas/TaylorMade in his pro shop. “I knew the product incredibly well; it was my uniform every day. This was a really, really god fit.”

Another factor in his switching from a club pro to visiting club pros was that he had a young family and had the desire to spend more time with his wife and son. As a club pro in Alberta, the spring, summer and fall months are dedicated almost exclusively to their golf course. This new role for Doucette allowed him time to spend with his loved ones.

And as it turns out, he also loves his new job.

Asked about switching jobs, and the challenges involved especially given his award season came in a pandemic year, he noted that having been on the other side of the counter in dealing with sales reps from all brands helped him immensely.

“My golf professional career probably allowed me take on that job as the adidas rep and be successful at it,” he explained. “I’d been the retail supervisor at the Edmonton Country Club. I had a similar role at Royal Mayfair when I was there. That kind of opened my eyes up a little bit to the retail side and while golf retail wasn’t our biggest revenue source at Cougar Creek, I was responsible for buying for the shop. I guess I was just much better at the (sales) role right out of the chute because of my experience. It was just kind of the perfect job at the perfect time.”

Doucette admitted it wasn’t a difficult transition from selling tee times and tournament bookings as a head pro to selling clothing, footwear and golf accessories. You see, he had a bit of an inside track starting in his early days with his new company.

“I was fortunate because there we're a lot of relationships that were already in place,” he said of having worked alongside, or of  knowing, many club pros in his area who did the purchasing for their respective golf courses. “I was at the age (when he started with adidas) where a lot of the people I knew were head pros in my territory. I think that gave me a bit of credibility right out of the chute.”

As well, Doucette received a lot of hands-on training with other adidas/TaylorMade brand ambassadors from across the country, including a somewhat hectic initiation. During the first week of his new career, he was at a major buying show in Edmonton where clubs place orders for the upcoming season. That helped build his knowledge of the products he was promoting in order to better serve his customers across northern Alberta, with his territory ranging from Red Deer northward into the North West Territories.

Having already reached the PGA of Alberta pinnacle for a sales representatives in only his third year on this side of the counter, Doucette noted he won’t rest on his laurels. After all, that’s not in his nature.

“I still feel like there’s a lot of opportunities. I try to do what i can but I always try to be very reactive because there are always a lot of opportunities that pop up during the golf season,” whether it’s a golf facility needing more footwear, branded merchandise, or hats and gloves. “I really kind of built up my business making sure I’m able to react quickly as possible,” which he did in a restricted face-to-face scenario of club visits in 2020 by moving to email and video streaming conversations.

And about taking it easy from now on, he stated, “I have tons to learn still. I’m far from the pinnacle in the sales rep world. There are still a lot of guys I look up to.”

“It’s been a huge honour to be recognized in this way. As a golf professional I’d been nominated a couple of times,” (as Class A Assistant Professional of the Year) but was never able to wrap his hands around that award. “Obviously we’re all competitive people and if you have the opportunity to be nominated for something you want to win that award. I was nominated last year for Sales Rep and (co-worker from Calgary) Jared (Engel, also an adidas rep) won, so that shows how strong a team we have.”

As the 2021 golf season approaches, the reigning PGA of Alberta Sales Representative of the Year says his territory has expanded a bit and as such, “I’m pretty excited about it,” and those he deals with know they’ll have nothing but top-end service, product knowledge and effort from a man who believes in being fully dedicated to his work.