You’ll Never Have Enough Staff Until you _____ Enough Stuff.

Business Friends,

I’m taking the liberty to call all of you friends as some of you have taken the liberty to give me a new name when I checked out at your store. But before I tell you about that let’s begin at the beginning of my visit and work to the end.

As I shop this spring it is obvious that one of the biggest opportunities you have is to sell more stuff to the customers in your store right now. So what’s getting in the way of that?

Just the same as in previous years, I walk through stores from front to back and then back to the front and repeat the process. I am NEVER (okay, rarely) spoken to even though there are plenty of employees that I walk by as they are busy adding more stuff apparently for someone else who arrives after I leave to buy.

Instead of selling more of what you already have to customers already in your store, everyone is focused on adding more stuff that won’t be bought by the customers who are already there.

In my estimation, the lost opportunity from this lack of proper focus is in the 15-25% range. Can you really afford to miss that much? Are you confident that enough customers will keep on coming in to make up for what you’re missing now?

When you’re really busy you can’t have enough people to help every customer. I get that. Still, there is opportunity, but you’ll have to stop making it harder for the customers already in your store to shop. As I fight to get my cart through your stores I have to think that it might be better if you saved some room for me to get through to see more of less stuff. Think about it.

When I do manage to buy something and go to the checkout I am essentially ignored there too. The most recognition I get is to have my apparently new name printed on the receipt – “Cash Customer”. Since this is my last impression of your store, it is the most recent impression. If it is underwhelming I am highly unlikely to return soon, much less to excitedly tell friends why they should come to you.

So, what are you going to do about it?

Why Some ________ Cost More Than Others

Why is this salmon more expensive than others?

Salmon became one of my favorite foods over 20 years ago on my first business trip to the Pacific Northwest. The high benchmark was set back then with the Alder Smoked Salmon at the original McCormick & Schmick’s  restaurant in Portland Oregon. A pursuit of the perfect salmon occasionally comes close but has never matched the perfection of that meal, even on return trips to McCormick & Schmick’s.

Once I discovered the secret to better tasting salmon the pursuit became more intense. Dayton, Ohio’s Dorothy Lane Market provided the education, and inspiration to invest in a better fish. Lots of grocers sell pricy salmon but never before was there an explanation of why the price was higher when the flavor was often not exceptional. I came to the conclusion that the prices were higher because the store was expensive. Then the email newsletter from my friends at DLM gave me a real reason to pay more for their Honestly Better® Wild Alaska Copper River King Salmon. You may also want to know why (some) salmon costs more than others. Here’s a short story from my most reacent Fresh News from DLM.

Honestly Better® Wild Alaska Copper River King Salmon has Arrived at DLM!

This run of the Chinook Salmon (the King Salmon) is one of the most sought-after fish for those who appreciate the best of the best. The reason for its prized flavor is its high omega-3 oil content. The fish must build up such a large fat content in order to give them the energy to travel the long spawning journey up the Copper River. Fighting tidal currents through the sandbars of the delta, raging rivers from the mountain snow melt, and a never-ending line of bears dining at the salmon buffet, these fish deserve a break! So, plan on inviting one over for dinner. With the rich flavor this fish has, we recommend a little Vera Jane’s Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, kosher or sea salt, and fresh dill as the only seasoning needed to grill or broil. This is one of the most regulated fisheries in the world, so the supply and price are market driven (In other words

Moral of the Story

If we try to sell better stuff it should actually be better. We should invest the time to tell the story explaining specifically why it is better and how it got to be that way. The tasty salmon’s pursuit of the spawning grounds up the Copper River make it the best of the best salmon – well worth the $$$$. Are your products and services better? How? Why is that important?

Virtually Prepared for Spring

Bill Calkins

Guest Article from Flourish, by Bill Calkins – Business Manager, Independent Garden Centers for Ball Horticultural Company

Right now, an entirely new gardener is walking into garden centers across North America. They know a little bit about plants, a lot about the stores they visit and have specific projects in mind. The plant knowledge might have come from family or friends, but some of it was no doubt gleaned from the Internet. They certainly spent a couple minutes online poking through local garden center websites and box store specials before hopping in the car. And they do not see gardening as a hobby – it’s functional, adding visual impact and value to their home landscape, balcony, patio, deck, etc, etc.

Someday is Here And You Still Don’t Need That Stuff

Click Image for Larger Readable Version

“No one else sells this anymore.”

“People come in our store looking for stuff like this.”

“You can’t buy stuff like this anywhere else.”

“I might need that someday.”

These are all famous last words of hoarders. I know YOU are not one, in the extreme sense of those portrayed on the A&E hit television show. But are you a hoarder of a different kind?

A Bigger Slice of Pie

Get a Bigger Slice

So many businesses are trying so hard to be all things to all people these days. Do we just need to decide who we’re trying to serve? What would happen if we could confidently, and happily focus on one market segment? Could we be happy there if we did? Would our customers be happy if we did?

Pile-up on Groupon, Coupons, Discounts

Fenderbender to 20 Car Pileup

You can see it coming as pundits line up to speak out against the excessive discounting being practiced by recession fighting sellers. A 20-car pile-up is about to happen.

People who wrote books and articles about aggressive promotional marketing to drive traffic and build business are seeking to stand out as they speak out against the avalanche of discount oriented advertising that they themselves promoted to fill up our mailboxes and the center of the Sunday paper. All of a sudden it seems that coupons, Groupons, freebies and discounts are ALL bad.

Casting those who provide mindless marketing services such as Groupon, and those who aggressively promote discounting as being stupid is just stupid. Companies that fabricate ridiculous offers that destroy their companies are probably destroying their companies in several other ways.

New Friends – Comedian Drew Hastings

Drew Hastings, Comedian and Farmer

My mission this year is to make a lot of new friends. One of the best I’ve met is comedian Drew Hastings. I live in a small quaint rural community of Hillsboro located 3o miles East of Cincinnati, Ohio. Things change slowly out here for the most part, but the activity is picking up over the 15 years since I moved here. One of our most notable residents of the past few years is comedian Drew Hastings.

After becoming disgusted with living in Los Angeles Drew escaped to Highland County Ohio and bought a working farm. He’s also become involved in historic preservation and more recently, local politics. Unlike most part-time farmers, Drew does his comedy gig on weekends and farms weekdays. So what’s significant about this and why am I bragging about my new celebrity friend and neighbor?

FOR SALE – garden centers, nurseries, greenhouses, landscape operations

Do you know of garden centers, nurseries, greenhouses, or landscape operations that are listed FOR SALE?

Listings are scattered across the Internet but there is no other central location where they are consolidated. We have established a page where links to listings of garden centers, nurseries, greenhouses, and landscape operations are offered for sale. Links may be provided to Realtors, Multiple Listing Services, magazine and newspaper online classified ads, Craig’s List, eBay, BizBuySell, BizZilla, BusinessBroker.net, local newspapers, trade magazine websites, trade associations, and For Sale By Owner listings (if there is a website that can be linked to) etc.

Roll Your Sleeves Up – Higher

"Let's Roll"

Are You Guys Ready? Let’s Roll

If you are waiting for the economy to improve for your company to do better stop waiting now.

The phrase “Let’s Roll” was made famous when it was spoken by Todd Beamer, passenger on flight 93 over an in-flight phone before the fatal crash in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001. “Let’s Roll” can also serve as the battle cry of your company to overcome the market forces, excusitis, or whatever resistance you’re dealing with to make 2011 the best year it possibly can be.

It’s Never Too Late to Look Back

Friends,

Someone recently said something to me that makes complete sense.

“You’re not marketing for business today or tomorrow.  You did that months and years ago. You’re marketing today for business months and years from now.”

Didn’t we leave a generation or two of potential gardeners out of our current picture?

There are a vast number of people who grew up in suburbia, or disengaged from gardening. Most of us got an interest in gardening from a parent, grandparent, or other relative. (Some of you ended up with the whole business from them!)

But most of our non garden industry friends were left behind and in turn their offshoots have also been left behind because their parents and grandparents didn’t turn them on to gardening.