What Matters Most...

by Danny Summers

What Matters Most... are people. Our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. At times like the past two weeks, we quickly realize What Matters Most! Yes, our properties and businesses are important to us all, but most can be replaced. Our people cannot.

I wish to begin this message with a word of thanks and to say we all are extremely grateful to hear from all the Group Centers who have dealt with both Hurricane Helene and Milton over the past 2 weeks. We are grateful to hear their families and staffs were safe and most did not have extensive damage to major structures. While we are hearing them say clean-up and being back to normalcy may take quite some time, all know What Matters Most.

They expressed their appreciation to peer Group Centers with offers to help and support. Having Group Connections seems to mean a lot at times like this. Thank you to everyone who has extended offers and expressed concerns and prayers!

The Fall Event 2024 Followup
I am not sure that everyone knows so this is worth repeating... We had a SELL OUT at The Fall Event 2024. We maxed out our meeting spaces and even added a 5th bus on tour day. We also had a number of New Group Centers attending. It was the largest gathering ever in the 24 years of The Fall Event.

And yes, next year we will be celebrating 25 Years of The Fall Event!

During The Fall Event 2024 we promised to be sharing recordings of our major presentations in our WebSystem in the weeks following. This week we have Katie Tamony, Monrovia's Chief Marketing Officer's presentation, The Evolving Customer ready for Group Centers to experience. If you were with us, you should consider sharing with your team who were not there. And, of course, if you were not able to be with us, this is your chance to dive into these presentations.

Katie's message was a timely one as there has been considerable discussion of the changing dynamics Group Centers are seeing in the makeup of their customers. Even before The Fall Event 2024, there had been quite a lot of conversations of changes being observed.

Katie shared details of Monrovia's most recent consumer research just completed this summer. She walked us through some major areas of interests being seen in the responses to why people garden, such as "Seeing the Dream", "Feel Good", and "Worth the Time". Here's just a few trend highlights. Be sure to notice several changes in these over last year such as "Hopeful and Positive" and "New Hobby."

She also introduced us to three major consumer types being observed and what is most important to each of them, "Easy Seekers", "Wellness Gardeners", and "Ambitious Gardeners".

Katie's message had a large number of observations that are important to Garden Centers and everyone attending was making lots of notes to take back home. This presentation is important for both top and middle management and especially the marketing team.

Oh, and be sure to watch for her comments about the industry's new "Glamour Animal."

Group Centers, simply login to The Group WebSystem and there you will see Katie's presentation introduction and link. There are links for both the complete video presentation as well as her presentation slides.

All Fall Event 2024 Participants, you will receive a direct link via our Fall Event eList. Watch for that coming this week.

A special Thank You to Katie Tamony for sharing all the details from their marketing research... and to everyone attending who added to the Q&A time. This is another example of how the synergies of The Fall Event with Retailers, Service Providers, Partners for Success and Sponsors, all collaborating, can make a real difference!

Danny Summers
[email protected]
Tel: 678-909-7770
Cell: 678-761-7145

REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Tim Quebedeaux, Sid Raisch, John Kennedy, Jean Seawright, and of course Danny Summers are included in your retainer!