The Art of Refining Numbers
Category: Danny's Blog
May
01
The Art of Refining Numbers
by Danny Summers
As of last week, "the number" is 864,936.
At this point, I hope I have your attention, and your curiosity is fully engaged.
Filtered by tag: Weekly Department Review-WDR Remove Filter
by Tim Quebedeaux
New in 2025
Category: Danny's Blog
Jan
02
New in 2025!
by Danny Summers
We are just 2 days away from the arrival of the New Year 2025 and in some ways, it has already begun. Just look at Week 1 above!
We have been busy working on a number of changes, tweaks, modifications and leap-forwards in a number of Group programs. Most of these have come through your input and suggestions along with sharp observations by our Service Provider Team.
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Valuable GROUP Insights
Category: Danny's Blog
Nov
08
Valuable GROUP Insights
by Danny Summers
If you have been into the flow of information within The Group this year, you know, overall sales year-to-date have been tracking about -5% down from 2023. While early weeks teased us with solid increases, some of the biggest spring weeks just did not keep pace with those same weeks of 2023, and that created the overall deficit we see today. By the way, those same big spring weeks where we fell short, we saw our Weather Rating reflecting downturns. Remember, we have always blamed the weather, but with our new Weather Rating we now have actual data to back it up.
But the sales at -5% is Total Group Average. All the Group Centers that participate in the Weekly Department Review (WDR) can login to The Group WebSystem and begin to explore in greater detail how the average develops, and much more importantly, who is well above the average!
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Are You All-In?
Category: Danny's Blog
Jan
14
Are You All-In?
by Danny Summers
It's only the 3rd week of January but still a busy time of the year with a lot going on. Group Centers are well underway with spring preparations. At the same time, several important programs are getting underway within The Group. The first two are included with your annual retainer.
Weekly Department Review for 2024
While the WDR is now more than 20 years in the making, last year was the very first year it became an online, live system. Group Centers accepted and embraced the new experience by uploading 5,506 weekly reports! That represented an amazing 97.3% reporting rate! The 5,506 uploads created a tremendous amount of data that is now available for comparison in 2024 and beyond. Tim Quebedeaux has been working on formatting the reporting so that the 100% reporting Centers don't even need to include any of their 2023 data this year... we already have it, saving them more time each week. We encourage you to report every week and save time the following year!
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Numbers Tell a Story
Category: Danny's Blog
Dec
17
Numbers Tell a Story
by Danny Summers
Last week I shared the message What a Story to Tell and focused on the stories of how plants were found or developed and by whom. I believe the more background information about our plants the better our Centers can connect plants to people. But this week, the Numbers Tell a Story.
Last Thursday, our final GROUPtalk LIVE Series session for 2023 featured Tim Quebedeaux walking Centers through the reporting process for The Group's Annual P&L Study for 2023. Watching Tim and our Centers in attendance interact gave me the idea for this message.
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A Season for Tropicals?
Category: Danny's Blog
Nov
27
A Season for Tropicals?
by Danny Summers
With the most recent week of the Weekly Department Review (WDR), Week 45, ending on November 12th, we see the expected seasonal surge of Christmas categories now at 17.5% of total sales. At the same time, we see the Standard Greengoods categories experiencing the seasonal shift downward, now down to just 31.9% of total sales.
At the same time the Christmas categories are gaining there is one more category gaining in its position, Topical Plants Indoor/Out. This observation presents us with the question...
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Spotlight on Ohio
Category: Danny's Blog
Aug
18
Spotlight on Ohio
by Danny Summers
As we see the year progressing in Week 32 just reported last Friday, there is one Group Region that is leading in year-to-date sales growth – OHIO. No other Group Region is a single state, but as we divide Group Centers into regional and sales groups we have enough Centers concentrated in Ohio to do so.
The Group as a whole is just about even with 2022 year-to-date sales. Here's The Big Three for the Ohio Region:
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Just Like Clockwork!
Category: Danny's Blog
Aug
12
Just Like Clockwork!
by Danny Summers
Clocks are something I have always had a fascination with, especially the old ones. I'm talking about mechanical clocks, not electronic ones. One of my fondest memories is sitting on my Grandpa Chet Summers' lap listening to his Hamilton Pocket Watch. Something so small but so accurate and dependable, to me, is the perfect example of amazing craftsmanship. This Hamilton Pocket Watch, model 992B was required for all Burlington Northern Railroad employees in the early 50s (I can share more sometime on this piece of family history that I still treasure today). A cousin of mine recently gave me a Seth Thomas Kitchen Clock that was our Great Grandparent's – my Mom's Grandfather. Once we returned home with it, I found the manufacture date on the back of November 1890. And it still runs great and keeps accurate time today –133 years later.
The message Just Like Clockwork, in my mind, refers to something or some process that works so well, it is as dependable as the family pocket watch or even kitchen clock that runs today, just as well as they did when they were first made. It's something you can count on... Just Like Clockwork!
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The 2023 Mid-Year in Review
Category: Danny's Blog
Jul
15
The 2023 Mid-Year in Review
by Danny Summers
Last week we received the special Mid-Year edition of the Weekly Department Review (WDR) from our resident Numbers Guru, Tim Quebedeaux (aka, The Cajun Cash Man).
I am always excited to see this edition as well as the Year-End edition. These are pieces of the puzzle that go into the Annual P&L Study. With our new WDR Online System that launched in January of this year, quite a bit has changed and each week we are able to see more of what I grew to expect from our two special editions. But there are still several areas I'm watching and waiting for and, of course, Tim always will surprise us with some new amazing details and views. This year is no exception. The following are a few of my observations from the special Mid-Year WDR as well as a few extra details Tim provided to me. (Thank you TQ!)
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Apr
28
For Busy Times – New WDR Online Quick Views
By Danny Summers
The Weekly Department Review, known by all of The Group as WDR, has seen great change and development over the 20+ years since its beginning. First beginning as a fax-based composite report, then moving to an email and spreadsheet-based program, it has become a unique tool for knowing the pulse of business activity. It began with only a handful of Centers participating to well over a hundred reporting today and has seen much growth, further development, and acceptance through the years. Since its beginning, the WDR's most unique feature is that it is fully open (not blind) and you can see each Center's name.
Just as the jump from fax to email meant a major milestone, so has another been set beginning this year as the WDR moved to a web-based system. This move has changed the WDR from a static report, a snapshot at a particular point in time, to a position of LIVE DATA with tremendous data mining capabilities. In January, as we introduced the new WDR Online, we did so with over 9 different views for comparing, filtering, and analyzing many points of data. And now we have added even more.
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Visions of Spring
Category: Danny's Blog
Apr
03
Visions of Spring
by Danny Summers
How big will the Spring Season be in 2023? That's a common question we all consider for months. It began last fall or even earlier. But here we are the first week of April and while most central to northern locations are just getting started, we have the benefit of seeing what's happening at The Group Centers in more southern regions.
We have been watching intently, every week when we get our WDR Reporting. And so far what we see is pretty encouraging. We all remember how 2022 gave us higher Average Sales but lower Transaction Counts. And most recognize that was a result of a compressed season last year (late Spring and early Summer).
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New Year = New Opportunities
Category: Danny's Blog
Dec
10
New Year = New Opportunities
by Danny Summers
We have some big news as we look forward to the 2023 new year. If you have been reading recent GROUPtalks, I hope you have read about our Weekly Department Review (WDR) program going online, beginning Week 1 of 2023.
Participating Group Centers will access the WDR through our WebSystem, both for uploading their data and seeing weekly reporting when complete. (If you need help logging in please let me know.)
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Nov
25
WDR 2022 - Weekly Department Review
by Tim Quebedeaux
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.