Originally published April 2007, Today's Garden Center

Execution, the Key to Success!

At Sunrise Marketing we are in the idea business. While many garden center owners recognize a good idea, it can be challenge to see it through when the spring season can take its toll on even the best of retailers. We have no shortage of ideas, but our process of cultivating a new product requires us to consider implementation at the retail level. Everyone knows what should be done; the difference between success and failure is what actually does get done.

A good example would be our ‘We Plan, You Plant’ program. Almost overnight, this has become a best seller. It is a tool we created to capture the booming consumer interest in design, makeovers and landscapes for living. But behind all the presentation tools and signage is a strategy. Whether used as a sales tool in the nursery yard, or to drive sales through consultative design work, the purpose is to sell product.

But to successfully integrate a program like ‘We Plan, You Plant’ into your business, you’ll need to do some planning yourself. Careful consideration needs to be paid towards defining the essential step-by-step process of the daily execution of this, or any other program. Karen Mantz calls them “targets for action.” She works as a change agent for 13 Saturn and Hummer dealerships in the northeast. More accurately, she refers to herself as a facilitator.

Karen shifted careers after 28 years of owning and operating a garden center greenhouse in White Plains, NY. I spoke recently with Karen about the challenges that face the green industry. We all agree that the difference between success and failure of any project or new idea is the execution. Success begins when you define the objectives. In the case of ‘We Plan, You Plant’ the goal is to sell plants – but how many plants? How does the program translate into sales? The key is to institute a method for measurement.

I have always felt that the most important number for any owner to get their hands around is the average sale. Growing your business is a function of systematically increasing the average sale and customer counts. A program like WP, YP generates significant sales. So what are the steps that will lead you to boosting your average ticket?

Start with your staff. Every member of your team, from the designer to the kid that loads trunks needs to know the details of the program and their place in the process. Promotions can begin with a simple button for your staff. Believe it or not, buttons work. Customers will ask “What is ‘We Plan, You Plant’? Can your staff answer in a sentence or two? They will if you script it.

“Our ‘We Plan, You Plant’ program highlights our in-house design service. We can help you plan and plant your next project!”

Interested? Great, now your team needs to pass the baton. If a customer expresses an interest then they should be introduced to your designated designer. The staff member then introduces him/herself and explains costs and schedules. A designer should be on staff each day, especially on weekends. Back to Sunrise Marketing – we know that weekends are a busy time – normally not the time to be conducting 30 minute consults. Taking that into account, we designed a project survey book for the client to take home and complete prior to the scheduled consult. After a brief introduction, your staff then schedules a time convenient during the week for your customer.

This is a tactical approach towards shifting customer visits from a busy time to a not-so-busy time. Tactics and processes are generally not associated with selling plants at a garden center. But the important thing about a process is that can be replicated with consistent results time after time – and it can be measured. Measurement becomes the responsibility or your core group – key employees designated to manage and measure a specific project.

What should you expect for a sale? Dave Williams of Williams Nursery in Westfield, NJ has been using a ‘We Plan, You Plant’ program for several years. His average sale after consult is around $500. That type of success will go a long way towards increasing the average sale. Of course that doesn’t happen every day of the week, but what if it happened just two or three times a week – or two or three times a day?

Signing your facility to promote your program will generate interest. That interest should result in a seamless transition to a sale. As a business owner or manager your job is to make sure that happens – and it must happen perfectly each and every time. To achieve this, your role will shift from boss to one as a facilitator. You delegate, and then help your staff - your core group - achieve the desired results.

When service becomes the product it requires a paradigm shift for how you manage it. Just like any other entrepreneurial process, the success is a function of eliminating problems and reducing risk. When we designed the ‘We Plan, You Plant’ promotional package we concentrated on a process that would work for any sized company with any sized staff – even if it was just an owner-operated business.

We know that one of the challenges in a sales process is qualifying customers. Every spring garden centers, or landscape companies, will receive plenty of calls from customers to come out to their home and quote them on a job or project. It takes time and manpower to do this, and the end result is often mixed. It is not uncommon for just a fraction of these sales calls to result in sales.

With the ‘We Plan, You Plant’ program we inverted the process. A request by phone can give you the option to point a customer to your website for more information, or an invitation to come in to discuss a consult. The customer is given a 10 point questionnaire in the form of a professionally produced project survey book. When a customer spends $50 (average fees vary by garden center) for a consult they are more inclined to participate in the process - it also puts a value on the service. When they return at a scheduled time for the consult, they come prepared. This results in a more productive design session and in the end the customer and your company both benefit.

The last piece of the puzzle is closing the sale. With the ‘We Plan, You Plant’ package we included a business card sized incentive card to place in the survey book. This is usually a small discount on material, free delivery, or a rebate on the design fee. It is the trigger to ask for the sale. When you go through this type of a process – easy on the staff, fun and easy for customers, the closing rate can be extraordinary.

In the end you have a sales strategy with a carefully crafted process designed to increase sales while meeting the needs of a changing customer base. Every step of the process is easy to identify, responsibilities are clear and the measurement tools are in place.

Plan your work, work your plan. For Sunrise Marketing we succeed when our customers succeed, and you succeed when you help your customers - truly a win-win-win.