Ask the experts

How do you define an ideal customer experience at your business?

Tom Taylor:
“I think the important word here is experience, because we’re competing with the Lowe’s and the Home Depots. People come here because it’s a social center for them. We know them, we know their names. When people walk into the store, they want to be noticed. ‘Can I help you?’ is the worst thing you can say to the customer. I say something that gives me a relationship with that customer. I compliment their hat or say something that gives me a quick bond with them.”
 

Duke Domingue:
“I try to give customers a lot of education about what they’re buying. I ask them about the conditions they are in. People think they have full sun, but they really only have full sun for two hours. I tell them to make sure they call if they have any signs of distress. I go out to customers’ houses all the time. They feel that they’re being serviced.”
 

Jeni Britton Bauer:
“We have long lines, and if one of our servers, or at any place, just looks up into the air and says ‘Can I help who’s next?’ I just feel like it’s weird. I like more direct, more personal contact, so that’s a big no-no in our world. You’re making the customer, say ‘Am I who’s next?’ You’re the tour guide, is how I think of it. It’s my responsibility to know who’s next, to know who’s waiting there in line, and I can do that because I’m the Jedi of customer service. You’re in charge of their experience.”

Who do they ask?
We regularly ask successful garden center operators and other experts to tackle a question or issue pertinent to the industry. This issue’s panel of experts: Tom Taylor, former customer experience specialist at B.B. Barns, The Garden Company in Arden, N.C.; Duke Domingue, marketing director at A Growing Concern garden center in Hendersonville, N.C. and Jeni Britton Bauer, founder  and chief creative officer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and OFA speaker.