Performance Reviews: The Pruning that Leads to Blooming!

By Jean L. Seawright, CMC

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.

5 New Rules for the 2020’s

by Sid Raisch

New rules about what we do and how we do them have emerged going into this new decade.

Thinking: The New Muscle Workout

by John Kennedy

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.

By the Numbers: Five Things to Focus On

by John Kennedy

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.

Restless Gardening Syndrome

by Sid Raisch

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.

Category Growth Strategies: Moving Toward Improvement

By Steve Bailey and Bill Calkins

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.

The Economy of Experience Collides with the Economy of Convenience

by John Kennedy

There are three types of economies that exist in the world—Price, Convenience and Experience.

Operation: Engagingly Engage EVERY Single Customer Every Time

by Sid Raisch

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.

GROUPtalk-Live: Operation "Engaging the Engagers"

by Sid Raisch

Overwhelmed yet?

The past week brought many IGC’s to a new realization of frustration and awareness that this Curbside Pickup and Delivery thing isn’t scalable to meet peak Spring demand.

What to do about it?

Take a step back so you can take two or more forward. Things are about to get ugly, or we’re going to figure out how to keep that from happening.

Step in, and watch or listen to the recorded GroupTalk LIVE! You’ll hear, or hear again, why it is important to come up with your own plan for taking care of your customers who have been paying your bills all these years. Focus on that and you’ll be better able to cope with all of this.

The Journey of Lifetime Learning

by Tim Quebedeaux

It has been almost a year since I started work with Steve Bailey. During that time, I have done onsite visits, attended Fall Event as a service provider, compiled the WDR weekly, and helped complete the P&L Study. I have gained a great appreciation for accountability in numbers and in the resolve of Garden Center owners to succeed. From those early Garden Center days to today, I recognize valuable information that I could have used 20 years ago, when I started managing Garden Centers.

GROUPtalk-Live: Operation "Engaging the Customer"

by Sid Raisch

Can you make it?

The IGC Spring Sales Curve is about to be FLATTENED by the “flatten the spread of Coronavirus” efforts.

I fully support the need to flatten the C-19 curve, and to protect the most vulnerable from getting ill and dying in an overburdened medical care system. I’m hopeful that this can occur. But the practical reality is, while hope is essential, it is not a good business strategy. We are not going to hope our way out of the financial burden of this on your business.

Lessons and Blessings

by John Kennedy

As I say often, God gave me two hands to make life easier and decisions simpler.

It’s A New Financial Landscape

by Steve Bailey

As the COVID-19 event unfolds, we are seeing garden centers closing down temporarily or reducing hours. Either one of these actions reduce Revenues and the ability to fulfill your Center’s financial obligations.

Approach Spring, and Every Season Positively

by Sid Raisch

This is timeless information to consider as every season approaches every year – especially Spring.

Spring Fever infects 100% of people, at least to the point they’ll take a walk or open a window to breathe real, fresh air. Fortunately, almost all of them also buy plants.  This is a GIFT, to be anticipated, appreciated, and taken seriously. Remember, it comes only once this year so it had better be a great one if you can make it so.

Raising the Bar - in 2020

by Danny Summers

"A funny thing happens when you RAISE THE BAR. People find a way to get over it, once they realize it's expected. Human beings can do amazing things - if they're asked to." 

By The Numbers:  The Four Types of Thinking

by John Kennedy

Welcome to March and what looks to be an early arrival to Spring!

Make it up on Volume!
(Theoretically, you can do almost anything, but certainly not this.)

by Sid Raisch

We were brainwashed.

The Cost of Creativity

With Comments from Robert and Danny

[Robert] "Danny called me last Monday and asked about my Super Bowl commercial review. Old news now, so a quick response. For once, the game was way better than any commercial. Other than the extended spot the NFL ran at the beginning, then maybe the Bill Murray Groundhog Day one since it was groundhog day, there was nothing super about any commercial this year."

[Danny] In case you missed the one ad Robert mentions above, simply click on the image here to see it. Robert's top-pick of JEEP's replay of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day is actually the winner of USA Today's Ad Meter - See details here.

Sweat the Big Stuff…It’s Not All Big Stuff!

by John Kennedy

Welcome to the month of February and the month of FOCUS! 

As we gear up for our spring seasons throughout the United States, we have a tendency to identify all of the tasks that are necessary to get your business back into tip top shape. Those tasks are often many in number and certainly needed to meet the deadline of your kick off to the 100 days of sales that represent over 50% of your revenue for the year.

The WDR and the NEW Changes for 2020

by Tim Quebedeaux

A few years ago, when I was introduced to the Weekly Department Review as a Garden Center General. Manager, I was in awe.  There was so much data that I could use to analyze and improve how we were operating the Centers that I managed.