Get Smart

Growing up in the wonder years of the sixties one of my favorite TV shows was Get Smart. Maxwell Smart - you know, "missed it by that much". It was one of the first major Mel Brooks hits. Agent 99 and the Chief; great stuff, but also a great lead in for a few words about 'smart phones'. For Max that meant the 'shoe phone' complete with rotary dial. For those under 40 you'll just have to google it.

These days 'smartphones'are everywhere. The estimated number of smartphones sold in 2009 is over 40 million. A smartphone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality. The most popular are iPhones and Blackberries; and their popularity has spawned over 75,000 applications for the iPhone alone. These applications range from simple directions, to a compass, to the best sushi, finding friends (by GPS) and so on. The trick for the IGC retailer is to understand how this will impact their business. My thought is that it will render a website to a secondary status and totally leap-frog e-mails. Yes, it has gotten to the point where even e-mail is too slow.

These days information can be accessed so quickly it is frightening. If you've got a question (on anything) the answer is just a couple of clicks away. So with all that said, again, why should anyone choose your business. Well, it gets back to the key points of differentiating your business - relationships and information. You've got to be top of mind when potential customers are looking for answers (as well as products and services).

So brainstorming about it I came up with a couple of ideas. All of them very simple, but reflecting a general need as it relates to success in the garden.

Number one: What plant is this? A customer can take a photo of a plant in question and either e-mail it to you, or more likely you might send it along with a text or even send it as a 'tweet' to your twitter account.

Number two: What's wrong with my plant? Again, take a photo, tweet it and connect with your friendly neighborhood garden center. That is if your twitter account name is easy to remember.

Number three: I saw this great garden I like, can you help me create this? See above.

How do you do all this? First you have to get up to speed on the technology (usually through younger family or staff)and second equip select staff with smart phones. Remember, standing out in business today is all about providing 'remarkable' service. Good news travels fast, so if you can get back to them quickly you can create a loyal customer. So, your staff would need to monitor Twitter, Facebook, etc. The reality is that is going to be a stiff learning curve, the good news is that you have time before this is mainstream.

The nice thing about a twitter feed is that your answer can be seen by all following your twitter feed. You can also connect your twitter feed to your facebook account (and vice versa) so that it also becomes a post on your wall thus sending it to everyone on your facebook network. I guarantee you Maxwell Smart didn't have a shoe phone that could do that.

Of course this is all predicated on the strength of your relationship with your customers. If you can't even identify them by a physical address, how do you think you are going to win them over to your facebook fan base? Begin by making the connection with your customers and position yourself as the expert. The next generation customers values expertise, and you and your business should represent the source for all things garden related.

This is not to the exclusion of traditional advertising or marketing. In fact you will really need to start marketing this capability.

Need to remember this post? Just remember to Get Smart!