After nine long months of living with a pandemic, employers and employees alike are exhausted and stressed. Thankfully, the end is now in sight, although it won’t be fully realized for several months. For now, the virus is surging again and, this time, in the midst of the holidays that even in the best of times can create anxiety for many people.
My “body guy” (body shop, not gym) has not had such a good year this year. With commuting and shopping trips down overall, there are fewer accidents, especially deer hits that tend to happen more during commuting hours. This means his business and his family hasn’t been spending as much locally or otherwise. Same for his employees, suppliers, and their employees.
While this writing is heading down a not-so-positive path, it is for a good purpose, so please hang in here with me. Every cloud has a silver lining, even 2020. Our industry has been the silver lining as compared to many others. There’s a tendency to revel in glory and a good year, no matter how it happens, is certainly to be appreciated and celebrated. From what I’ve seen and heard, you don’t need more encouragement to do that.
Seeing so many REAL Christmas Trees atop cars this week is a wonderful sight. By REAL of course I mean LIVE Christmas Trees. It is a tradition which began in the 1500's long before the automobile and is credited to German-American immigrants bringing the tradition to North America. You can read more of this story HERE. Allow me to finish the title for this message... "Only REAL Christmas Trees... deserve to be named."
This is an idea shared several years ago and has spread in more of our centers. Growing a live tree takes time – 6 to 12 years which makes it much more special than a mass-produced "live-like" (a.k.a. fake) one. The use of evergreens for decorating "the halls" also brings the wonderful scents we all remember during the holidays.
As this year comes to a close, and we review our lessons and blessings from 2020, we should already be looking to what 2021 will become for your Garden Center and your team. This edition of “By The Numbers” focuses on how to build the team that you will need to tackle the known and unknown elements of the new year ahead.
As we continue to adapt and accept the new landscape of the garden center industry and find peace, gratitude and joy in the cracks and crevices that appear, I feel a new “rebirth” approaching…a new outlook…a new view over the horizon.
Nearly 70% of employee turnover is a direct result of owners and managers falling short in feeding & growing our teams. Join John Kennedy in his latest “Insights” video series as he addresses the Three Top Motivators of employees in the workplace.
After the record growth this year in our garden centers, what efforts are being made to recognize & reward the outcomes your teams have delivered? John tackles the top three things employees look for from their leaders and provides insights into the retention and motivation of your top talent.
Enjoy.
There’s no question that employees are more effective when working in an environment that promotes regular communication about expectations and results. People want to know where they stand—even if it isn’t good. A performance review can address this need by answering the burning question every employee has: “How am I doing?”
Unfortunately, in many organizations, performance reviews have gone by the wayside, even though the younger generation of workers—the Millennials—are known for their need to receive regular feedback (and praise!) from management.
Most sources you read and people you talk to are pretty much in agreement... the general public is going to be staying close to home this fall and winter throughout the Holiday Season.
We have recently seen some Group discussion on this subject in our GroupEs eList and the consensus is this could be a bigger than normal Fall and Christmas decorating season. Hosting more close family gatherings is likely and bringing Fall and Holiday color home may be just what everyone needs to create a comforting environment.
When I was growing up in rural Maryland in the late sixties and early seventies, there were only a few homes and farms that populated the countryside. When we youngsters were all out in the fields, woods and creeks, the time to come home was announced with the “sound of a bell.”
[The following article is referencing "Who's Your Competition" shared HERE.]
When asked this question, I know the usual answer you might give is the garden center across town or even the big box down the street. It is a natural reaction. But the best answer may be quite different. It is normal to think about others who are in the same business as you and consider competing with them in a battle for the same business or customers.
New rules about what we do and how we do them have emerged going into this new decade.
For many of you who have known me over the years, my son Benjamin has been a constant guiding light of purpose and passion in my life since the day he was born.
The most important and impactful effort we make in our lives is the role we play in crafting the moral compass of values and behaviors that impact our children, our loved ones and our companies. I am no different and I am blessed to be part of the family of families in the Agritourism Life.
Foodies, Home-Grown, Garden-to-Table, Modern Homesteading, and More
We all remember historic events that occurred in our lifetimes. Whether it is 1945 when V-Day celebrated the end of WWII, 1963 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, 1969 when man landed on the moon, or 09/11/2001 when the twin towers were bombed. I don’t think I will forget where I was and what I was doing during the pandemic of 2020. A key part of my memory will be the WDR. I was anxiously awaiting report after report every week to see what was happening. It was my weekly peak into what was going on across the country at Garden Centers, and the Mid-Year Report summed up what we all were seeing.
I share how to manage your day so it doesn’t manage you. In this short 7 minute video, I identify the top five things to keep in front of you each and every day. In this crazy chaotic world of the “new now”, there is no way we could ever get everything we need to get done, done! However, focusing on the right things to get done and mastering the art of triage will give you more focus and clarity in your daily priorities.
Be safe and be well.
Consumers have been flooding into garden centers to soothe their case of RGS - Restless Gardening Syndrome, a craving desire for all things related to plants.
The important thing is not only that people are consuming our industry’s products and services with such vengeance. More important is WHY they are doing this. Pay attention to the reasons people are interested and focus your communications to promote these six major opportunities and you cannot go wrong.
The following is the Part 4 of the series... Category Growth Strategies: Moving Toward Improvement. This was originally published in the June edition of greenPROFIT magazine and can be seen HERE. If you missed the Part 1, you can see it HERE, Part 2 - HERE, or Part 3 - HERE.
Earlier this year, Ball Publishing's Bill Calkins approached Steve Bailey about co-writing a series of articles that could lead garden centers through the basics of analyzing category performance and some of the measurements developed for The Garden Center Group Clients through the Annual P&L Study. The result is a series of four articles published in Ball's GreenPROFIT magazine in this spring.
There are three types of economies that exist in the world—Price, Convenience and Experience.
To zero in on increasing sales, average transaction, and average items per transaction look closely at the individual building blocks that make up each sale. There are three basic building blocks to this empire.
