After Cash Euphoria - Death by (under or over) Pricing

Pricing incorrectly is the most frequent disabling (if not fatal) error in horticulture.

I’m saying this without the support of statistical evidence to support the claim. As you know, statistical evidence can be unreliable and where pricing is concerned this is no less true. You probably learned in about fifth grade that great success can come from lower the price so you can make it up on volume. Or maybe you’re an admirer of high priced luxury goods and imagine that those businesses are making money hand over fist?

I come to you bearing the wisdom and insight that comes from extensive experience helping many companies work on the business side of the business. I’ve read the books on pricing, attended seminars, symposiums and workshops that are dedicated solely to the subject of the art and science of pricing. It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true.

HRI's New Wertheim, van der Ploeg & Klemeyer Fund

by Danny Summers


There will be a new named fund announced on Saturday, July 14th, during the Annual HRI Reception, held in conjunction with Cultivate'18. This one will honor someone who has been very close to many of you and very supportive of The Garden Center Group - Ernest Wertheim. Several of our Group have served on the HRI boards and committees. Currently, Steve Mostardi is on the HRI Executive Committee. The fund will honor both Ernest and his long-time partner Jack Klemeyer. HRI has received initial seed monies, reportedly close to $20,000 currently, in order to establish the fund and make the official announcement. The fund will be called the Wertheim, van der Ploeg & Klemeyer Fund and will support general HRI Research efforts. HRI's Administrator, Jennifer Gray, shared the following with us:

"We are excited about the establishment of this fund to honor both Ernest and Jack. We have several ways to give:

Reeling in the Non-Gardeners


An excerpt from Ball Publishing's GreenProfit
(With comments by Danny Summers)

This past week GreenProfit published an article as titled above. They posed the question: "How can you attract non-gardeners as new customers" to the three finalists in the 2018 Green Profit/Dümmen Orange Young Retailer Award competition, sponsored by Dümmen Orange and AmericanHort!

The Fall Event 2018
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) - Group Learning at its best!

by Danny Summers

We have the schedule set, speakers and sessions are in place, our hotel is ready for your reservations, and we have our registration now open and ready for you!

New for 2018: We have taken what we learned the last several years about Group peer-sharing and combined it with each presentation. We are calling it Peer-to-Peer (P2P). Each major session will follow this pattern. First the featured speaker will share his or her presentation. Then, we will have P2P Tabletalks on the subject, followed with the best ideas of P2P as well as Q&A with the speaker for collaboration and inspiration.

What is a Customer Worth?

by Danny Summers

Several weeks ago you may remember I asked these questions:

1. What is a Customer Worth to You (over a lifetime)?
2. What is the cost to obtain a new customer (in dollars)?

The reason I asked was because I was reading comments from owners or managers who were having issues with seemingly unreasonable customers and it sounded like they were ready to say "Good Bye" to the customer(s). Before you ever get to the point of "firing a customer," I believe you need to have at least an idea of your answers to the above two questions. I understand sometimes you just can't please everyone and the answers to these questions can vary greatly, but this is a fundamental idea.

Well that’s weird…

by Robert Hendrickson

or SUCCE$$FUL? Van Wilgen’s just recorded their biggest day ever, a $168,000 Saturday followed by a $150,000 Sunday. Other than being one of the coolest garden centers around, I wonder what kind of marketing is required to attract that many shoppers. Let’s see…

Preview - The Fall Event 2018

Yes You Can! - Retire Sooner Then You Think!

by Wes Moss

When is it Time to Change Your Business Name?

by Danny Summers

Building an Ad - Creating a Story

by Robert Hendrickson

One of many resources included in The Group's WebSystem is the fundamental principle Robert Hendrickson developed on how to create your messaging to your audience to build a lasting relationship. One that is not built around "PRICE" but around a connection. This is the most important time for all of our centers, the coming weeks. It is a great time to revisit these basic principles... [Danny Summers]

Leveraging Spring Fever!

Shared by Waldoch Farm's Andrew and Doug Joyer

This past week I saw a video (actually 2) Andrew and Doug Joyer of Waldoch Farm made. Keep in mind Waldoch Farm is about 20 miles northeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's a fun video showing how to plant pansies in the snow! The video, that pokes fun at having spring fever, has received lots of views. I asked Andrew how they got the idea. Here's their story:

"Spring has been off to a less than ideal start this year.  With the cool to cold temperatures with still frequent snows folks have become a little stir crazy. We haven't uncovered our perennials and shrubs we winter over because we haven't had a warm enough stretch to melt all the ice and snow from our coverings.

The 2017 P&L Study – Where Do We Begin?

by Steve Bailey

Where Do We Begin? Actually, I’m just messing with you, I know where to begin telling you about the 2017 Profit & Loss Study. But there is so much more than I can fit into one article that I’ll be dropping into GROUPtalk from time-to-time to give you even more information from the Study that you can use in your daily management of your Center.

But for right now, let’s get into the who, what, and where of the P&L Study participants. Although we were down a few centers in reporting compared to 2016, the Revenue level remained steady. The seventy-one participating Centers as a whole generated more than $150,000,000 in Revenues.  That means that the average reporting Center came in at about $2.1 million. If that is more (or less) than your Revenue level, don’t think these results are not relevant as there is much more for you to compare with on the Sales, Mode of Operation, and Regional group level.

Putting “Success" into Succession Planning

By John Kennedy

There are three types of change that we come up against in our lives: "change by crisis", "change by drift" and "change by design".  In the approach to succession planning, our industry has witnessed many unfortunate and tragic stories of “Change by Crisis”.   I have known four green industry owners that have suddenly passed away (I’m sure we all know a tragic handful or more as well), and we all continue to pray for their families.In the case of sudden death, the company is forced to “react” to the need for immediate transition and often times finds itself ill-prepared for the task.  Who is going to run the business? What is the financial health of the business?  Will it remain in the family (are the kids interested in taking over)?  Which employees might step up or step in? And finally, can we survive such a loss of this great magnitude?

New Low-Cost Sign and Tag Printing Options

By GrowTech Solutions

Are you printing signage for your Garden Center?

Garden Centers that have teamed up with GrowTech Solutions have realized the benefits of having more informed customers in their stores which results in increased sales! If you have not yet jumped on board with signage for your plants and hard goods there is no better time than now to team up with GrowTech Solutions. New improvements in technology have resulted in better, faster, and cheaper printers to perform the task of on demand sign, tag, and label printing. Entry level printers such as the Phaser 6510 can be acquired for as low as $249 and production model printers like the VersaLink C600 can be had as low as $1129.

These are the lowest prices in the history of printing for the horticulture industry! These low prices, however, do not sacrifice speed or quality. These new printers allow for extra tweaking to the printing settings which allow the end user to perfectly match the printer to the exact LaserTag™ or LaserLabel™ material they are using. The Versalink C600 boasts the best print quality at the lowest ever cost per page on heavy coverage for outdoor signage at 14-15 cents per page and comes with an intuitive touch screen display.

Learning - following your passion!

by Danny Summers

Last week you may recall I shared some ideas on learning being a life-long experience. Learning is a process we all are participants in. Whether you describe it as a class, a moving sidewalk, or even journey, each of us are responsible for making the decision if and when to stop learning. As I gave several famous quotes last week, the one from Albert Einstein said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” I believe we should awake every morning with the goal or passion to learn something new today.

A Passion for Learning!

by Danny Summers

To begin, can we agree... Sharing is a function of Leaning!

Same As It Ever Was… Sorta.

by Robert Hendrickson

My last article for IGC magazine is scheduled to run next month. The article is supposed to be titled… “That’s All Folks”… informing the industry that my efforts trying to help have gone on long enough. Besides, ever since Danny and Karen purchased The Group, people have been telling me, “I heard you retired.” Lately my response has been, “I didn’t retire… I quit!” Retiring sounds like some old guy shuffling off into the fog. Quitting sounds like I’m doing what I want to do when I want to do it. You can read my farewell article HERE.

As far as the “industry” goes… I did quit. No more articles, presentations, tours or trade shows (except when shopping for plants for 3GFarm.)

John Kennedy is Now Available "On-Demand" 24/7/365

by Danny Summers

I have an important announcement!

Every Plant has a Story!

by Danny Summers

When Karen and I were at the new SNA Conference at MANTS last month, the Conference Chairman, Dr. Richard Olsen, Director of the US National Arboretum, suggested one of the roundtable topics of "sharing more of the story behind the plants." Obviously, when I heard this I immediately thought of Robert's constant encouragement. But how does this relate to the plants we sell or help us in the garden center?

Value Up! Eliminating Value Confusion – (Part 2)

By Sid Raisch

In the first part of this article we discussed why the word “value” is easily misunderstood, and how this misunderstanding confuses our people. CLICK HERE to read it.

Now that we've cleared up the definition of value, let's use the word in its highest value. The best way to do this will be to get clear on the levels of value.

Ten Emerging HR Trends for 2018

by Jean Seawright

Paid sick and parental leave . . . pay history bans . . . predictable scheduling statutes . . . mandatory E-Verify . . .  compensatory time off . . . an increase in the guaranteed salary level for White Collar workers . . . The list goes on. Which of these employment regulations will impact your business in 2018 is yet unknown, but regardless of your revenues, location, or number of employees, one thing is certain--it will be challenging to find and hire qualified workers. And the challenges won't subside any time soon. Macroeconomic realities, including a workforce that is growing at its slowest pace in over a half-century, aging workers exiting the labor force, a widening skills gap, and faster-than-average employment gains in several occupational sectors, indicate that labor shortages are here to stay.