Horti-Zombies Come Alive!

Finding someone to blame for our woes helps somehow don’t you think? The weather, the economy, the fickle consumer, the grower, the banker, the liberal media, the conservative media, the government, the…oh those have all been covered. Well let’s talk about our own problems then.

Horticulture Zombieconomy

Mr. Umair Haque

There has been a quiet but growing sound  of discomfort over something a gentleman you have probably not heard of said about the state of the response of American business to the economic situation. His characterization was about the Zombieconomy, and those comments were subject of a Harvard Business Publishing Ideacast.

Mr. Umair Haque may eventually be recorded in history with the likes of W. Edwards Deming, the man who America sent to Japan to help their industry, and specifically their auto industry and Toyota aided by its customers bring down the still misguided and arrogant US auto industry. Actually I think Umair will be much bigger. More importantly, he may do it better than Demming and wake us up before it’s too late.

Recessionary State of Mind

“Recession is as recession does,”

This was the reported response (according to About.com:Retail Industry) from the fictitious Forrest Gump Worldwide Management Consortium to an October 2008 AlixPartners survey of consumers on the prospects of a recession:

• 86% believed the U.S. was in a recession or depression.
• 64% said they would spend less in retail stores to prepare for the hard economic times
• 46% predicted hard times would last three years.

The point of the article is that consumer response to recessionary news determines the level of recession at retail. More important, the response by retailers determines how well they do. The article cites cases during previous recessions where companies and brands such as Chrysler, Ivory Soap, Kellogg’s, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell successfully introduced new strategies that brought them greater market share both during and post recession. Time and again history has shown that retailers that respond with aggressive marketing of innovative strategies come through and out of troubled times better than those who do not.

Phase III – Significance

Editors Note: After giving our readers a peak spring break to focus on the business at hand I will resume posting several times a week to Strategies Blog. (Be sure to click here to sign up now to receive an email update of new posts.)

Flags of No Significance by Joel Bedford

Phases of Spring III – Significance

What is significance?

Webster’s says:

Something signified. Of meaning. Of importance.

Also, significant: having special meaning. Of considerable influence or effect. Of consequence.

Many of us do what we do because it’s what we’ve always done. We are flying flags of no particular significance. We went to school for it, were hired to do it, were born into it or were married into it. In many cases we’re doing the garden center thing better, but why do this in the first place? I know several garden center owners who have been doing a lot better in recent years. They live more comfortably and have debt in control. Their cash flows. But they still search for something – not something they can describe or show you a picture of. They don’t know what it is, just that they haven’t found it. Even they seek more.

Please Do This When a Customer Interrupts You . . .

A Strategy for Sales Success:

This?

“When a customer does interrupt you..just talk to them…and they’ll probably buy something.” As was told to me in February 2009 by the owner of a retail garden center concerning their plans for improving results for the spring of 2009. He figured that realistically, if he could just get his merchandise focused people to give a little attention to frustrated customers it would be an improvement over the previous years performance and would lead to increased sales. Kind of makes some sense does it not?

Anti-depressants – Lipstick and Flowers

Lipstick Flower

George Ball compares the economic blues fixing powers of lipstick to those of flowers in his blog post at Heronswood Voice:
Similarly, in the fashion industry, The Great Depression is noted to have given a boost to the then recently hatched lipstick industry. Like candy and movies, it was something inexpensive that lifted women’s spirits. Cut flowers grown at home rival lipstick in the “feel good” department”.

It’s worth it to read the whole thing, and while you’re there subscribe to receive an email whenever George muses and waxes. It will be worth your while in my opinion.

It is very easy to get caught up in our operations, our inventory, our stuff, and forget why the customer is buying in the first place.

The Customer Segmentation Gift

The Gift of Each Customer Comes in Many Sizes

The gift of today is the customer who finds your company and your products engaging today. They come to you for precise reasons, sometimes precisely different each time they arrive. What is it today?

Responding Positively when Big Boxes Arrive

Don’t worry about them, but definitely don’t ignore them either. When the big boxes come to your backyard it”s a battlefield. Treat it as such.
A new Dartmouth study confirms what we knew about Walmart, and as Inc. Magazine reports, what can be done to counter their effect: Walmart does kill: Click the cover for the story.

Recently I was traveling through an area north of Asheville, NC where a new Lowe’s and Walmart were preparing to open across the highway from each other. I stopped in a nearby independent garden center and just mentioned to the owner that I had noticed the new competition preparing to open. He curtly remarked that they wouldn’t be his competition and that they would help his business. Believe me I wish this would be true, however I don’t believe it is. It is not healthy to take competition for granted. Instead we should have a healthy fear (respect) for competition. In fact, there are specific counter-competitive measures that should be taken against new, or long-existing competitors. Most of the measures should be about fortifying your own position in the marketplace and ‘bulletproofing’ your customer base, which is the specific intent of our Client Advantage program.

So be truthful. Has the movement of competition to your immediate trading area had an impact on your transaction count? How have you responded with specific intent to counter the effect of big boxes,? Do you think you might have had better results if you had been more proactive?

How to participate in the recession . . .

How much are plants worth this spring?

How do the rules of doing business during recession apply to you?

While it could be good advice to follow a growing trend of people who have decided not to participate in this recession, even better advice may be to participate fully in the effects the economic downturn is causing.

Should you make sure you get your share of any government stimulus money opportunities? Or, should you pay more attention to the way you run your business and get everything lined up to increase sales and margin dollars this year?

The news on early spring gardening interest is much better than anyone anticipated six months ago, or even three months ago.  I hope you are not getting tired of hearing about it in all the garden center industry news yet! The question is, are you ready to make everything you can of it, without hanging your backside out so far you cannot recover if it falls short.

What will happen “Back in the Garden?”

When consumers get ‘Back to the Garden’ this spring, will it become  ‘Back-Ache in the Garden’?

Maybe you’ve read that gardening is vogue again. The origin of ‘vogue’ is associated with sailing in the 1500’s and meant “wave or course of success”. In modern times the  phrase “in-Vogue” meant that a product or idea was written about in Vogue magazine. Gardening is timeless, and also been proven to be somewhat trendy. Staying in fashion has never been more important – even if you are not the type of person who ever cared about fashion or being fashionable.

Is this just another flavor-of-the-year to read about in all the trade industry magazines, email newsletters, and blogs, or will it bring real gardening back – I mean forward? Only time, and possibly your response to the emerging trend will tell.