Have your people text my people...

Talk about Deja Vu - or just a coincidence, but I visited a garden center client yesterday and they listened so I talked (and talked), but finally the conversation turned around to website strategies. My feeling is that most garden center websites are nothing more a bad brochure. In designing sites we try to find a compelling reason for people to visit the site - repeatedly. I believe the key point of differentiation for more retailers is their relationships with their customers and their expertise (and how well they market it).

I think most garden center owners realize that they have riding the crest of the boomers for the past 15-20 years, but boomers are getting older. Not so interested in digging holes, kneeling down and the like. Which, as it should, puts the fear of God in them. Trade show talkies and trade publications have been trying over and over again to explain the 'next' generation. In my opinion gc retailers need to work hard to re-invent themselves in order to be relevant to the 25 year olds (like my daughter Erin) who will be in the market for their first home in the next 5-7 years. While a percentage will be interested in gardening, most I fear will view the yard as an extension of the home's living space. Which isn't all bad.

The tricky part of all this is how do we get these now and future customers to connect with the fact that your garden center has cool stuff and lots of expertise (and is much nicer than Home Dumpo). The answer is time and money. They are smart and they know how to find the value of something really, really fast. Faster than it takes me to write this sentence (and I type pretty fast). They will instinctively reach for the iPhone or Blackberry. These 'smart phones' are getting faster all the time and offer the chance to NEVER disconnect. (Actually, gardening would be a good break for these guys).

So when I was at garden center guy's garden center I talked about how fast information is accelerating. Long story shorter I told him he should supply key staff with a smart phone, promote a phone number for customers to text whenever they had a question. Sort of the Garden Guy on Crack (crackberry, that is). They smiled and joked about the manager getting an iPhone out of the deal. So I filed it and moved on with the presentation.

So we fast forward to dinner and one of our favorite places has a wait of an indeterminate time. The options are to stick around at the bar, (yes, please), or take a walk and we'll text you. What? Got to try that one. So, we walk, find a bench and take in the late afternoon sun. Sure enough, text message comes over that our table is ready. Cool.

We are seated and I asked the manager about the texting. Turns out the VP of this restaurant chain has a friend who wrote the software for Mobile VIP. They were just giving it a spin. Hmmmmmmmmm.... things that make you think. My immediate reaction was how do you get one of those easy to remember text numbers. I will keep you posted on that one.

Turns out the future was quite literally, right around the corner. And to think if I would have had a drink at the bar I would have missed out!