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 Keynote speaker Anne Obarski challenged attendees to answer this question: Are you a retailer or a garden center? She urged all garden center operators to see their business through a woman’s eyes, as women are a store’s primary customers.New England Grows’ Garden Center Success Seminar featured a heavyweight speaker lineup that packed a wallop, giving attendees plenty to think about —and to implement this spring when the busy season commences. Here are some of the highlights from the day-long event devoted solely to retail garden center operators.
Featured speaker Anne Obarski’s talk focused on “Are you a Retailer or a Garden Center?” The executive director of Merchandise Concepts had several key points:
- Upscale merchandising defines a retail business.
- Marketing is the new hidden persuader for 2011.
- Make a point to see your garden center through a woman’s eyes.
- “Bring me back!” is the theme— and the new look—of events at garden centers. Everything planned should include elements that ensure shoppers will make a return visit.
Ken Lain, owner of Watters Garden Center in Prescott, Ariz., was another keynote speaker. Here are high points of his presentation:
- “I don’t have buyers; I have investors,” he said. “I go to a trade show, give them $20,000 each, and tell them to go out there and turn it into $100,000 each for our company.”
- Regarding product lines, he noted that customers don’t really want “green,” per se. “They want it to work,” he said. “First it has to work, then it has to be natural, then safe and then all that other ‘feel good’ stuff. Give them that, and you’ve got the sale.”
- Regarding staff training, he said a key tactic is teaching prospective employees and current staffers about reading people. “This is my staff training: I teach them to find out what the customer’s favorite color is,” he said. “It’s easy, what color is her blouse, her ring? Say it’s red, that’s her favorite color! Now it’s your job to show her our biggest-margin red-flowering plant.”
The third keynote speaker was Jonn Karsseboom, owner of the The Garden Corner in Tualatin, Ore. He talked about how his experiences helped him learn many valuable lessons, including:
- “Firing myself was an enlightening and empowering experience.”
- Flat sales are an immediate call to action!
- Communication (marketing) is a daily, essential task.
- On when he knew garden center operation was a full-time job, “One night I Googled my store,” he said, and this is the review I found: ‘Once, it was a nice place’.”
Garden Center Success also featured local perspective from 10-minute “burst” presenters, along with some great ideas. Among them:
- Tom Estabrook, owner of Estabrook’s Farm & Greenhouses in Yarmouth, Maine, recommended mixing it up at the store. “Are you offering enough reasons for your customers to come back every week?” he asked. “Be sure to identify key areas that will change weekly to keep things fresh.”
- Charlie Cole, general manager of Cole Gardens in Concord, N.H., said your relationship with your vendor sales-rep is key. “The rep makes more money when you make more money,” Cole said. “Their success is based on you being successful, so leverage that relationship.”
- Michelle Harvey, president of Lakeview Nurseries in Lunenburg, Mass., had this advice on how long videos should be: “60 to 90 seconds seems to work for us. People don’t want to listen to me for longer than that! Make it quick, grab their interest, then ask them to come into your store.”
- On how to get more fans for your Facebook page, Harvey suggested that you let your staff post. “Before you know it,” she said, “their friends, mom, dad and assorted aunts and uncles will have ‘liked’ your page.”
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