Take a bite out of the apple

Gardening is so much about experience and the process. Customers know this, but I think sometimes garden center operators forget about just how much it drives our business. Perhaps we should all journey down the street to the computer store.

My laptop has been teetering on the edge of death for some months, so I’ve been looking at new computers recently. I’ve been struck by how many venues put the marketing focus on the functionality of the machines, rather than on the machines and their technical specifications. You walk in and learn very quickly what the shiny little box will do for you and how it will help you do for yourself.

Computer stores—like Best Buy and Apple, especially—have learned to focus more on “the experience,” with the Apple stores as the undeniable leader. Twenty years ago electronics were a counter in a department store. Today Steve Jobs and his team at Apple have seen that one of the best ways to get his company ahead of the industry behemoth (Remember when Microsoft was going to take over the world?) is to make the product more experiential.

Selling the Experience
Going into the Apple Store, you don’t overhear a lot of discussion about technical specs. You hear people talking about how much music, or how many videos or photos an iPod holds. They may talk about screen size and streaming all their media to their TV or how they check their e-mail or Facebook on their iPhones. There are so many computers around, you can actually try them out for as long as you want.

The store’s staff is dressed to be seen and noticed. They’re taught to make direct eye-contact and ask you questions about what you may want or need. They encourage you to touch and feel.      

The crazy thing is that it’s always a zoo in my local Apple Store, and I never feel neglected. There are always people asking and helping. That’s so unusual in today’s retail environment, where you often have a choice of “Annoying Staff Stalker” or the “Aloof Associate” who is more interested in his conversation with his co-worker.

It’s the Same in the Garden
Our stores should be more about “the experience,” too, for the very same reason. Yes, there will always be a percentage of customers who want to get in and out with their two 12-inch hanging baskets. But what if those Two-Basket Wonders became more engaged in the process of gardening? 
    
If customers are engaged in the process, if they understand it—and if that process can be fun, interesting, educational, collaborative and healthy —there will be a much higher level of satisfaction. Gardening is often work. But it’s usually very satisfying work.

Columnist Josh Schneider’s daughters, Khaylee (17) and Olivia (14), helped pot combos at Plug Connection’s pre-pack trials this year. The experience has given them a new appreciation of gardening, he said. Gardening with my kids is something that I absolutely love. My own teen daughters help for a few days at pack trials and the preparation for it. They engage in planting and container design in a way that’s very different from many of their other endeavors.

Josh Schneider is a founding partner of Cultivaris, a hort consulting firm. E-mail Josh at josh@cultivaris.com.