Selling a seedy situation

When a major car company offered a little kit consisting of a terra cotta pot, seed starting soil and four mystery seeds to all who visited its factory, it was onto something. This company decided that it wasn’t only going to let the visitors leave with a little something to remember it by, but the gesture also created a memory. Those mystery seeds sat on the windowsills of countless homes with people peeking at them daily to see what was going on with those little dicots. The constant draw to the mystery pot wasn’t all about the plant, it was also about the pot the seeds were planted in. The pot was covered in the company’s logo and included an explanation as to how it was helping to save the environment.
 

Indie advantage

Selling seeds is almost a given in any garden center environment, but it can be a total bust if you don’t play your packs right. You might as well not sell seeds at all unless you’re committed to selling not only high quality seeds that are guaranteed to germinate. Customer frustration is quite typical from those beginner gardeners who try to start from seed but find no success. There can be multitudes of reasons as to why they failed, but most of the time it’s a simple lack of quality seed and appropriate soil media.

Novice gardeners who walk into big box stores often naively think that the only thing they have to do is grab a pack of seeds and throw them in the ground, and harvests of vegetables and fields of flowers will be at their fingertips. How disappointed will they be when they stare at that same blank spot until finally giving up?

Selling seeds is so much more than just presenting fancy packets of dormant plants waiting to explode from the earth. It’s a lesson in agriculture, botany and horticulture all wrapped in one. As professionals in the garden center business, your staff should be able to explain the steps in the germination process. But for customers who insist on browsing alone or when things are busy, you can help them navigate the seeds and related products by:

• Assess the placement of the seed display and make sure it’s in a well-lit area where your customers can actually see what they’re getting into.
• The area where you are marketing your seeds should also have all the accessories needed to ensure success with your seeds, such as mini greenhouses, seed starting mix, fogger nozzles for irrigations purposes and transplant pots. You need to supply the tools for success if you want repeat seed buyers. This can go for grass seed as well.
• Broadcast spreaders and lawn amendments should be either in plain view or properly displayed on signage as mandatory for success.
• Carry some of the more exotic varieties of seeds such as odd shaped squashes. Make sure you have some of these weird plants growing somewhere on your lot for people to see, and to spark curiosity as to how they can grow their own weird plant.
  
   

Know who you want to sell to

The spectrum of people willing to start plants from seeds isn’t quite as great since we’ve become a society of instant gratification. Starting seeds from scratch really makes you wonder what the point is, but there is so much more than patience involved. You want to make sure your clientele knows that what you get in the seed packet can be exotic and not available in starter plant for or even easier to start from seed as opposed to starter plants (such as lettuce and nasturtium).
 

Get the kiddos in the garden

Children are curious creatures, so what better way to stimulate them than to present them with a little item that might just turn into a mighty beanstalk or a flower taller than them. Children are becoming shut-ins due to the overload of technology, and this has to change, primarily for their own health and wellbeing. Educating the younger generation about action and consequence can easily be demonstrated by using seeds. Reminding them that seeds are living, breathing things that need to be fed and watered will peak their curiosity and make them want more. In the area where you’re marketing your seeds, consider having an area where you can have kid parties and host readings of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and present them with all the different varieties of beans available.

Also consider targeting them as potential adult customers with fond memories of growing some really cool beans from your garden center. Kid-sized gloves, high-quality hand tools, and child-sized gardening attire are also pretty great selling points as well. Nothing is better than having a $2 seed sale turn into a $30 sale of other miscellaneous items.
 

Grown-ups can play in the dirt, too!

Investigate local gardening clubs and community gardens. These fine folks are always jumping at the opportunity to grow something new that promises a higher crop production. Feeding more people with fewer plants is always a great thing, and if you’re able to have some of the heirloom varieties at the ready, those seasoned gardeners will be grabbing them left and right. The “slow food” lifestyle has swept the nation, and if you think about it, you can’t possibly get much slower at getting food than starting it from a tiny seed. Marketing material should be on display such as posters encouraging seeds as a great opportunity to see every single step that goes into the food you put into your mouth.
 

Mind your P’s and Q’s

In this case, we’re not talking about pints and quarts, we’re talking about placement and quality.

Front and center isn’t always practical, but directional signs leading seed hunters in the appropriate direction is a good start.

Make sure to not only have tidy racks with neatly organized seeds, but that you constantly keep an eye on your inventory. Many seed companies will be glad to send you just a few packets of seed just to ensure your seed shelves are always stocked.

Sometimes seed racks can be boring. Take some time and jazz them up with either some vibrant paint or even build your own bins that are categorized by plant type and such. Bins are available for those less handy at IKEA and other home stores.

Quality doesn’t end at what you have to offer for people to actually purchase, the quality of customer service is almost as important. If you’ve got knowledge behind a superior product, you can expect success in your seed sales.

Your seeds should always be up to date. On every pack there is an expiration date, make sure you don’t have any oldies lying around. If you do, think about giving them away as a little “thanks for shopping here” token of appreciation. Do warn the customer, however, they are from last year, so the germination rate might vary. This shows you care.

Have an informative section of your website devoted to starting and maintaining seeds. This will create a great resource for those first timers looking for a little help along the way. Think about if you were to go to a friend’s house and they were eager to show you this awesome plant they grew from some simple seeds … your name will be mentioned in a good light.

Seeds aren’t going to sell themselves, and if you play your cards right, you might have trouble keeping them on the shelves. There are many sources out there to get your seeds from. Select wisely, and always remember, the prettier the packaging, the easier the sale.

Nikki Weed is a horticulturist and professional adventurer who uses her experiences and knowledge to manage a successful garden center in Greenville, S.C. She can be reached at pepitaweed@gmail.com