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.
New customers have been a boon of 2020 in 2021. There are clear signs that the gain is slipping, and we need to take fast action to secure the customer. The first rule to building our business is to keep your customers (including the new ones) or it will take even more new ones to make up for those we don’t keep. By my definition, a new customer isn’t yet a real customer until they come back. They are a distinct possibility of becoming one if we handle their experience well.
Let’s pause a moment and ask ourselves, “Where have these new customers been?” That’s an important question, but one for another day. They’re here, and now we get to welcome them, integrate them, and keep their interest. Exactly how are we going to do those things? What is the plan?
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.
Having the right tools can make a world of difference. And knowing what tools to use for the job or task is equally important. If you've been around The Group and read my messages over the years you certainly have heard me refer to the POWERtools area of our WebSystem. It is located under the Clients-Only pull-down menu and contains all of our tools for download.
This week we feature two of those POWERtools in a message from Robert Hendrickson as he created both during his decades of helping Garden Centers. They are the Monthly Department Review and the Ad Planner, which are now updated for 2022 (both USA and Canada versions).
Circumstances no one expected created two great sales and profit years for the garden center industry. Expecting this business boost to become what cliché lovers like to call “the new normal” is short-sighted and risky. Better to spend time and attention on how you plan to spread the word that your company and the products you provide are important to the health and happiness of past, current, and future customers.
Ask almost any garden center owner or the person responsible for the company’s marketing decisions what they have planned for the upcoming year and the typical response will be… “We don’t plan that far ahead.” This usually means when it comes to marketing, they make last-minute decisions based on what’s selling, what’s not selling, or what other garden centers say they should be doing.
Does the image above look like your Marketing challenge today?
We know it has already begun. You've already started some of your planning for the next spring season. I know you have questions about what to expect and what you will need to prepare for as you do all of your planning. How do you budget for 2022? As a total Group, we ended 2020 in the mid +20% range ahead of 2019 sales, and it appears 2021 may be slightly into double-digit growth on top of that. But what lies ahead in 2022?
Just like the image above, your crystal ball may not be very clear. At the same time, both Steve Bailey and Tim Quebedeaux have been expressing some concerns about inventory levels as we near the end of the selling season. Will you carry over more products than you should? The answer to that may be in Steve Bailey's message in the Week 37 WDR cover page... do you need to re-read that?
The thrill of being a kid within local broadcast range of the Cincinnati Reds in the 60’s, and then The Big Red Machine in the 70’s creates lasting memories and impressions. It was all so incredible from the point of view of a kid in a small town an hour away like I was back in the day. I’m not much of a fan since then but I can tell you that back then you didn’t need to be a sports fan to be a fan of the Reds. It was infectious. It was contagious. And that’s enough of that talk.
Reminiscing is nice, and yes, this does have something to do with the garden center business. Quite possibly as big as the Big Red Machine itself was the sound of the games as broadcast by Joe Nuxhall if you were in range of The Big One - 700WLW radio. You just never forget Nuxy’s voice, and trademark closing to every game, "rounding third and heading for home" which is memorialized in a sign between 3rd and home bases high on the outside of the Great American Ballpark and visible as you drive along Interstate 71. Usually, Joe added, “and this one belongs to the Reds!
While the title for this message can be for you, I am really presenting this as an idea for our Centers to consider as a message to promote to prospective team members (new-hires) in the coming seasons.
Evidence is mounting that Garden Centers can be in a prime position to capture the attention of a large number of Millennials who have discovered over the last 18 months they really do not want to return to their typical work environment. I can see the job listing now... Find Your Work Zen at (insert your garden center name here)!
As we all know, the pandemic accelerated our need to embrace technology, e-commerce and innovation. From curbside pickup to on-line ordering, our garden centers jumped from 2020 to 2030 in just one year. It’s like we took a Quantum Leap (great TV show!) into the future, and are now wondering if we stay, or “leap back” to 2021.
That is the great big question for all of us. Go back to the way it was, embrace the way it is (a great song) or embark on the way it will become?
For everyone who has attended The Fall Event, you know one thing you can count on is recognizing the most successful performing Garden Centers from our two financial sharing programs, the Weekly Department Review (WDR) and the Annual P&L Study. During the first day of The Fall Event 2021, we did just that. In fact, this year we handed out more awards than ever before!
When Steve and Tim sent me the reports for both the WDR and the P&L Study, I knew there would be a lot of awards this year. But it was when I picked up all of the plaques at our trophy supplier that it really hit me just how many more there were this year. In fact, we had to rent a U-Haul trailer for the trip to Wilmington – for the first time ever!
Over the past two weeks, we have been experiencing Florence Williams' wonderfully impactful story of 'The Nature Fix.' It is the result of her multi-year work of documenting WHY nature is so important in the health and welfare of every human being.
Many of the details contained in her book support what we all have known for years about the importance of plants and the activity of gardening. We just did not have the science to back up our beliefs... until now.
Great ideas are in the making. I believe this to be TRUE right here within The Group. In the coming weeks we will have a whole collection of ideas that can help fuel your marketing message for 2022 and beyond! And it all begins at The Fall Event with Florence Williams and her book... The Nature Fix.