Ultimate Survival Guide for garden centers

Depending upon your locale, this month marks either (A) The start of your 2010 spring selling season, or (B) The end of your prep work in anticipation of the start of your 2010 spring selling season.

Wherever you are in the country – or in the process – odds are better than even that you’ve recently uttered this question to yourself: “Now, what am I forgetting?”

It’s only natural, the apprehension that precedes the rush of feet to your main entrance once the weather warms. No matter how many times you’ve practiced the ritual, something happens – or a series of somethings happens – leaving you smacking your head and wishing you had something at least as strong as a V8.

While you could settle for your favorite vegetable drink (or fermented variations thereof), we suggest you would be better served by this primer. The Ultimate Spring Survival Guide is a collection of thoughts and ideas and checkpoints designed to help the garden center operator touch all the bases before touching the button that opens the front gate for a new season.

Much of what you do – and even more of how you do – is rooted in preparation. Ancient Chinese philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu once said, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

Here’s hoping this guide helps you win big this year.

Training seasonal employees
The season opener is just around the corner! Will you go into it with well-equipped temporary help? Or will it be another spring dealing with overwhelmed and bewildered seasonal hires?

To ensure your success this spring, Garden Center has gathered some tips from recognized experts: Allen Martinson of Martinson’s Garden Works in Ridgeland, Miss., Alice Longfellow of Longfellow Garden Center in Centertown, Mo., industry consultant and Garden Center contributing editor Ian Baldwin, and Roberta Chinsky Matuson, founder of Human Resource Solutions in North Hampton, Mass.

1. Hire the right people.
A smiling face and willingness to listen outweighs an encyclopedic knowledge of plant species. Martinson and Longfellow both have favorite groups they pull seasonal employees from.

“Customers can make the best seasonal employees,” Martinson said. These customers already know the store, are pretty familiar with the layout and have an advantage over prospective employees that have never been in your store.

Martinson’s Garden Works assigns most of the temporary hires to work Saturdays-only. This policy gives the store a nice lift. “Those that work only on busy weekends energize the regular staff and bring a cheerful tone to the store,” Martinson said. His seasonal workers often bring in snacks for the staff and are removed enough from the daily grind of the store to attack Saturdays with enthusiasm.

Longfellow looks for employees among retirees or teachers. “Both groups have a standard income, can handle the work and want extra money.” She also looks for temporary workers who are affiliated with local businesses whose busy season is different from the garden industry’s.

2. Do your best to bring in repeat workers.
Consultant Ian Baldwin suggests a clever incentive program. At the end of the season, take aside the workers you would like to rehire next year. Tell them you will put aside a certain amount of money for them until the following year as a bonus for returning. It can be any amount—from a dollar a day to $20 a week. It’s all in how you phrase it. A few hundred dollars can mean a lot to an employee, more than that money means to you. The trick, Baldwin said, is to give the bonus at the end of the season they return.

Longfellow added one caveat about hiring return workers: “Don’t assume they remember everything. Still give them training. Not only will you reinforce past training, but you can introduce them to new areas, say perennials or annuals.”

3. Prepare your management team.
Baldwin said every garden center should have a spring readiness plan that includes how to handle temporary workers. Matuson agreed: “Consider offering a half-day workshop specifically geared toward managing a temporary workforce.”

4. Buddy up.
“Assign a seasoned veteran to buddy up with a new seasonal worker,” Matuson said. “This way the newly hired employees will have someone they can go to for immediate answers on questions they may have regarding operations.”

Some retailers have had problems putting this system in place due to veteran employees who don’t buy into the program. That’s where holding a training session for your management team can pay off. “I think the idea is very good, but you have to have your people buy into it,” Longfellow said.

5. Prune back your training and orientation programs.
Your seasonal training program doesn’t need to be identical to the one for year-round hires. “Figure out exactly what they need to know, and eliminate the rest from your program,” Matuson said.

Baldwin recommends that members of the permanent staff create a list of the most-asked questions and answers for a given period during the busy season. This becomes a streamlined training tool for temporary workers. Baldwin recommends updating this list each week.

Longfellow also looks for ways to ease the learning curve for seasonal workers. “I don’t teach them how to answer all the customers’ questions,” she said. Instead, she trains them whom to ask or which employee to direct the customer to.

6. Invest in a well-written procedures manual.
“Having a document where employees can easily find answers will be a tool that gets used over and over again,” Matuson said. “And think of the time employees will save. They won’t have to run all over the garden center looking for the only person who has the answers—you.”

“It’s worth getting the advice of a professional with this one,” Baldwin said.

Longfellow said developing this kind of manual takes time, and that a retailer is likely to continue tweaking it over the years.

7. Keep the lines of communication open.
Matuson suggests you share how training is going. “Inform supervisors and managers when newly hired temporaries do not pass training,” she said. “This way they won’t be anticipating help on the sales floor when it’s not coming.”

Longfellow sets aside time each day to walk through the store, pausing to talk to each employee as she goes. “I’m there to answer questions. It lets them know I’m available.”

8. Accept turnover.
“In this business, there is no way to avoid turnover. But you can be prepared for it,” Matuson said. “Continue to accept applications and interview candidates even if it appears you are fully staffed. Like the weather, this could change tomorrow.”

9. Offer fringe benefits.
Discounts on purchases can be an extra benefit for seasonal help, particularly those employees who are also your customers. Longfellow also works to make sure seasonal employees are included in events during their off season.

“We invited them to the Christmas party and a local tour that’s popular, even though it’s been months or weeks since they worked at the garden center,” she said. “They’re part of our family. We include them even when they’re not working with us.”

10. Ask for feedback.
Baldwin recommends that after new employees have been with you a week or so—before they are ingrained in the store’s systems—to take them for coffee and ask them about your store.

The questions can range from overviews like “What do you find confusing?” and “What surprised you about working here?” to the more specific like “What have you still not found that you think we sell?” and “What questions have customers thrown at you?” New hires can provide valuable insight on how your store operates.

Closing the Deal
Use these practical tips to turn talk into action on the sales floor

By now, all the i’s and t’s on the Spring Season checklist are dotted and crossed. Your inventory is arranged in pristine order, each item anchoring or complementing a display that just screams “Look Here!” Your plants are equal parts colorful and green – and first-week fresh. And, thanks to tireless training, your staff is as friendly as it is knowledgeable. So you open the door for what promises to be your best spring in the history of perfect weather.
And the first customer you greet utters the immortal, balloon-deflating words, “No, thanks. I’m just looking.” Or, worse, she goes straight for the jugular: “Do you have something slightly less expensive?”

For all preparation you put into the process, ultimately your success comes down to this: Can you make the sale?
And by sale, we mean SALE!, as in not just a plant or a container or a garden gnome, but a SALE that will entail even/considerably more than the customer intended to purchase, when she walked into your garden center.

Here are some “sure-fire” sales tips:

>> Chad Harris // The Garden Gates, Metairie, La. // www.thegardengates.com
The Freebie – At The Garden Gates, we are known for our goofiness or playful personalities. Recently we made some one-of-a-kind t-shirts and posted them on our Facebook page (free advertising except for the cost of the shirts). We told people to just come and they could have it ... FREE … no strings. Of course, all the t-shirts were given away, and every person bought way more than I could have asked.

The Sucker – Really, a sucker, like as in lollypop. Whatever time of the year it is, customers always have their children in tow. Because we know how hard it can be to control the shopping experience with a toddler, we give them something to do. Candy, cookies, suckers … hell, anything to make those kids beg to stop at The Garden Gates. Mommy always leaves with something when junior is happy.

Chaos sometimes creates need – We are known for the switcheroo – not like in a scam, but as in changing everything in the store in less than 24 hours. Through the year, we continue to revamp, change, throw in the switcheroo, and everything else we can throw at customers to make them explore every time they come to visit. See, we know this: They got in their car and have their wallets in hand. We just have to take them on a new trip, and, wham-o, the sale just happens.

The Ordinary (every dumb Joe has to have it) – We tend to let Joe go somewhere else when he tells us every other place sells the widget, why don’t we? If you want to be in the business of competing with every other garden center, keep it up; you’re doing a great job of being ordinary. People don’t want ordinary; they want “superfabulouspecatular” rolled into one.
 

>> Jim Harvey // Harvey’s Farm & Garden Center, Westborough, Mass. // www.harveysfarm.com
The add-on adds up – Generally, if a customer shows interest in purchasing a larger volume of nursery stock, but needs a little “nudge” we will happily “throw in” some extra add-ons such as an appropriate soil or accompanying product. For example, if someone purchases a few rose bushes and is looking for a little extra incentive, we will add a Rose Care Package to their order at no additional cost. With smaller orders in the spring we’ll “throw in” a free 6-pack of pansies if the customer purchases seven packs – since eight 6-packs fit in one tray, it moves a higher volume of product, and the customer loves FREE.

Give away a small product; offer a big service – Especially in early/mid spring when many first-time gardeners are out and about, we will treat them to a free soil test kit (retail $1.98) with follow up advice and one-on-one guiding on the how-to’s of getting started with their particular project. We show the customer how to do an accurate soil reading and invite them to come back so we can “read it together” and we’ll help set them up with the products/advice they need to be successful at starting a veggie garden, installing a lawn, etc.

Let the staff staff – Most importantly, we’ve empowered our staff to use their judgment customer-to-customer; do what is within reason to make a sale, but don't get hurt by those just looking for an inappropriate discount/handout.

>> Sandi McDonald // Hillermann Nursery & Florist, Washington, Mo. // www.hillermann.com
Show AND tell – This year we are increasing our end-cap displays and cross merchandising in many new areas of our store. We’re working on a tie-in series of products for the cashiers to use. These displays will be changed frequently to “help the customer” solve plant issues. We’re also increasing in-store signage to be better “silent salesmen” throughout the complex. Not letting displays get stale and keeping them fresh will be a great improvement, I think.

>> Tim Lamprey // Harbor Garden Center, Salisbury, Mass. // www.harborgardens.com
“New” never grows old – We promote the appeal of an item being “new.” When Endless Summer hydrangea came out, promoting it as the “new” big plant made for an easy sale. “Used” isn’t bad, either – Hard goods is a little trickier. If you are selling a product, and you can tell a customer how well it has worked for other customers, the customer is likely to buy it. Bonide makes Mouse Magic, a mouse repellent. Many of our customers have tried it and it has worked. It makes for an easy sale when people know it has worked for others.

Merchandising
Trigger the buying impulse with thematic displays

In the hustle and bustle of spring, plants seem to fly off the benches. But you also need to provide an inspirational “spark” to help customers consider new possibilities. Here are five eye-catching theme displays worth considering for your store.

#1: Food for thought
We’re still riding the wave of the great veggie gardening craze. Use display gardens and colorful signage to keep the momentum going—and folks buying. Photo: Bucks Country Gardens, www.buckscountrygardens.com

#2 Garden for the cause
Is your store supporting a philanthropy or cause this year? Create a display to draw attention to your involvement. You’ll get customers buying, and feeling good about the purchases they’re making. Photo: Feeny’s, www.feenys.com

#3 Go native
Native plants are a hot topic. This section could be an ideal place to display your credentials as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. (Visit the National Wildlife Federaton,  www.nwf.org for details). Photo: Gateway Garden Center, www.gatewaygardens.com

#4 Play up perennials
Consumers are more likely to snap up perennials when they’re confident others have grown the plant successfully. Play up the popularity of plants  that have earned special honors. Photo Dehli Flower & Garden Centers, www.dehligardencenters.com

#5 Complementary components
How many times a day does your staff hear, “What grows well with this?” Answer that question and hone your suggestive marketing with pre-planned garden packages. Photo: County Line Landscape Nursery, www.countylinenursery.net