This time of year there is one category that stands out above all others. It's tropicals!
It's easy to understand why this expected pattern is an annual occurrence. It's wintertime and unless you are located in the very southern parts of the country, most likely being indoors is your best option (and best for your plants that are growing and not in winter dormancy).
As the road in this new year is currently being paved, and 2022 slowly appears on the horizon of your garden center’s windshield, it’s always a good idea to reflect on the past year that is disappearing in the rear-view mirror quickly before the lessons and blessings are forgotten.
Very few activities exemplifies TEAMWORK like being part of a competitive rowing crew. Though I have never participated in this sport, I think everyone being so in-sync to produce the best (in this case... fastest) results is a great way for us visualize TEAMWORK.
What about TEAMWORK in your Garden Center? The goal of every Garden Center should be to create a fun and rewarding environment for each team member to be excited, motivated and inspired to be an important part of your team with the purpose to ultimately serve the customer.
Does this get your attention? I hope so. The Garden Center Group's Winter Tour is very convenient. It can begin on that first cold winter day when you have plenty of time and a hot cup of coffee or tea. It will be time to explore dozen's of fellow Group Centers you have never seen or maybe haven't seen in years.
You can travel on your own schedule. Begin, then decide where to visit and pause when needed. At each stop as you see things you like or want to know more about, you can take a minute and send that Center a quick email.
by Danny Summers
Most of the time if you ask yourself this question, or even ask your team the question, the responses are likely based on overall feedback, aka "gut feel." While you may hear positive feedback, most of what comes to the surface are those customers who have a problem - the negatives. So in the absence of problems, you may think everything is GREAT. But is it?
You may remember this title and banner used earlier. Actually, it was July 19th of this year and we had just returned from Cultivate'21. It was the GROUPtalk edition where I shared the Cool Product Awards from Cultivate'21. It had been 18 months since we had attended the final trade shows before the pandemic hit. MANTS of 2020 was the last one for me until this year's Cultivate'21. There was a big 18-month gap and Cultivate'21 yielded many more new products being nominated than usual. As dramatic as the 18 months in between was for our industry and your business, I believe one of the biggest gaps we experienced was identifying What's New.
We want to pass along a short video message crafted by Robert Hendrickson (with a little help from Santa).
Robert sends this to all the Group Centers working so hard this holiday season. He received it as a going away gift from 'Bad Robert' (which sounds a lot like one of the kings in Game of Thrones) as a reminder that there's always another way to approach every challenge. You can see the special video message below!
When something is very special, you would often describe it as "one of a kind". That is certainly the case with our most special relationships. Our spouse, family and closest friends could easily be in this group. Most of us have very special things our family has passed down through generations that we hold so dear and treasure greatly.
So what about plants, or our garden? You might have a family heirloom plant that has been passed down to you from a parent or grandparent and that plant is so very special to you. Most likely you have favorite plants in your garden. Their blooms or fragrance or just stature earns them a place of high esteem in your garden. They make you feel good.
The historical supply chain shortage of 2020 and 2021 has made the work of acquiring plants from growers more difficult than any time in the past that I can recall. Yes, it was difficult, and a lot of extra work compared to years past, but you survived what is likely an anomaly of a historic and catastrophic, but episodic event. The dust will clear and our vision will clear again. The question is, will it ever be that difficult again? More importantly, will you do yourself more harm than good if you start the also very difficult process of growing?
A favorite and universal definition of Success is whatever we define it to be for ourselves, should we decide to define it. It is always better and more likely that we’ll achieve the success we ourselves define. Celebrating success is encouraging to ourselves and others and an important part of belonging to groups, whether they be our family group, a company, or The Garden Center Group. It is even more important to understand the success we’re celebrating.
Twenty-twenty vision. It is something everyone wants but often it is not what we get.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary says twenty-twenty vision definition is "Good vision : the ability to see without glasses."
I liked the movie “Back To The Future”. Cool plot, great title. (Although the phrase was first coined by Ray Bradbury in his 1951 book, The Illustrated Man.) Looks like I’m going to do exactly what the title suggests beginning January, 2022.
A friend of mine operated a book store in Evergreen, Colorado where our band was located in the early ‘70’s. During the day I stocked shelves at his store. At night he was our roadie to get into performances for free. It was a nice trade-off. The first time I saw a copy of Mother Earth News was at his store, then read every new issue that arrived. The enticement of gardens, goats, chickens and woodstoves pushed music to the side, so I headed back to Illinois and found a farm house with a barn, pond, chicken coop and deep, black soil. It was a fun but difficult ten-year learning experience. (Chickens hate being planted too deep.) A forty-seven-year detour into the garden center industry followed. But that’s coming to a close.
Yes, Christmas time and the Holiday Season is here. You know it first-hand by just the hustle and bustle around your Center today. Most likely the sounds and smell of evergreens proves it.
I want to share a special message we have for you, our Group Centers, from all of our Group Team. You can see a preview of it by just clicking on the image above.
This weekly snapshot into what is happening during any given year has proved itself very worthy in the last two years. During the start of the Pandemic in the spring of 2020, it gave hope and direction to those centers whose seasons occurred later. They could see the South and Southeast Regions sales and customer traffic not only happening, but increasing over the last year. The WDR does this every year, but during that spring it was reassurance to those centers who could see what was coming and make decisions based on that.
A repeat performance in 2021? Almost. We didn’t know what the revenue levels would be, but with the pandemic still having a grip, centers were once again able to see what was coming. Being better prepared for it than they were in 2020, they were able to take advantage of the opportunity.
It is so obvious. All you have to do is observe advertising trends to see how plants and gardening are being used to capture attention. We see major brands trying to leverage the natural "goodness" of plants and the activity of gardening as they promote whatever they want to sell. Most have nothing to do with plants or gardening.
It must be one of two possible strategies for why they would position their product or services parallel to plants or gardening. First, it might be to just capture the attention of the audience, realizing plants and gardening are one of the top growth categories over the past 18 months. The second possible strategy might be simply trying to absorb some of the positive "greenness" and to it imply they care, their products are wholesome, or good for you or the environment. It's like saying, "Hey our products are just as good as plants or gardening."
Navigating or setting the right course can be tricky. There has been some Group discussion recently on how to see over the horizon into 2022 with the last two years in the rearview mirror. When I think of navigating and today's tools for today's travelers, I am reminded of the way our kids (grown adults today) navigate as they travel.
I admit, I am revealing what generation I grew up in and I am just as quick to rely on my iPhone to set the course by SIRI and Apple Maps. It's really cool and fast and I can almost be on autopilot. There's not much thinking needed except avoiding the other cars. But at the same time, I feel we are missing out on some very important skills. The art and skills of navigation.
As we round out the year with the holidays, it’s always important to begin to think about what 2022 will shape up to be…will it be like 2021? 2020? 2019? Or will it have a personality all of its own?
Whatever the story is to be told, having a plan that will address it is always better than having no plan at all.
Just imagine... No boundaries. No restrictions. No barriers. Nothing but "blue sky" space to think about things you normally don't. It's like those long summer days when you were a kid and had a world of time to dream big things and make stuff up. Let's open the doors and windows of your mind to just... imagine.
In 2015, The Fall Event was in Orlando and we had the opportunity to have Simon T. Bailey present to The Group. His presentation was based on his then most current book, 'Release Your Brilliance'. Simon said, "Up to the age of 4, most children are operating at a genius (or brilliance) level." He went on to say by the time they reach their early 20's only 20% are there and by their early 30's, only 2% are operating at a genius level. He added, by the time the average child is 17 years of age they have heard the word NO 150,000 times and YES only 5,000 times. Simon has continued on his quest to help everyone find their brilliance. Since then, he has authored five additional books to help encourage his audience's brilliance. You can see them HERE.
We’re in a group. We might be subject to Groupthink.
From Wikipedia:
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness, in a group may produce a tendency among its members to agree at all costs.[1] This causes the group to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation.[2][3]
As a Garden Center connecting with your audience is extremely important. It always has been. Connecting happens in a multitude of ways. It certainly happens whenever the customer enters your Center and interacts with your team, and shops for your plants and products.
The other ways of connecting has been changing over the last two decades. More connecting today happens through your messaging or sharing of information through the various channels of communication. At the same time, your audience is slowly changing and the way they want to receive your information may be different than how you are positioned to share information today.
When our girls were young, we stumbled upon a magical story crafted in an animated film titled The Man Who Planted Trees. The fictional story paints a simple yet powerful and unforgettable message set in the early 1900s. It introduced us to a shepherd named Elzéard Bouffier who quietly takes on the task of planting 100 acorns a day in an effort to reforest a desolate region in the French Alps. As the story unfolds, you see the shepherd's work transforming the region as life (and hope) returns and the world around is renewed.
