Leveraging City Color Programs

Leveraging City Color Programs

by Danny Summers (with lots of help from his friends!)

Opening my emailbox this week and seeing a promotion from Tim Elbert's Four Seasons Nursery in Central Point Oregon gave me a flashback moment to last fall when there was a great discussion and swap of ideas (and important Do's and Don'ts). If you are a Group Client and were subscribed to GroupEs at the time, you may remember it.

It all started when JD Boone at Dothan Nurseries, Dothan, AL asked GroupEs... "I’ve got a city near us that is requesting a quote to do maintenance and installation of about 200 baskets throughout their city. Install and switch out Flowers four times a year. Maintain weekly most likely. Has anyone ever done anything like this and what are your thoughts?" JD Boone

There were a bunch of great responses to JD's question... Ben DeGoede, Tim Elbert, and Jonn Karsseboom all gave solid advice.

Ben was first to reply with... "We do several cities but do not service and water. Als Garden Center and the Garden Corner in OR do a service contract. Used to be about $1 a day, per basket several years ago. It's a lot of work, charge for it. Being in Georgia I imagine you can have basket program year round. Cool deal. Hope it works for you." Ben DeGoede

Then Tim added to the discussion with... "We do a basket program for several small towns in our area. We do daily watering on most and weekly maintenance on a few. We developed a watering truck for our program last year and it has worked well. We maintain the baskets at night to avoid traffic and the cities provide the water.

Getting a driver/ waterer is tough though because of the hours. Feel free to call me at the number below and I will answer any questions you might have as they relate to our program." Thanks, Tim Elbert (Tim attached a photo of their custom watering truck.)

Then Jonn added his thoughts and recommendations (and cautions)... "Hi JD!
I know this is a late reply to your previous question but I’m a very slow thinker. There’s a lot to say about watering and maintaining hanging baskets so I too echo Tim from Four Season’s excellent advice:  If you have further questions and (want good answers) feel free to call him. (He has taken watering and maintaining to the next level.)

Some abstract thoughts: Cities (and other governments) move very slowly and then they move quickly. If you decide on it, lay out your battle plans now because they will want you to move when you are at your peak demand. Unfortunately battle plans include a considerable amount of prep work and investment. Do it all now and more.

Another thought: If you think that this might get you publicity and good PR think again. Yes, you can brag and tell customers that those baskets come from your place. People may even catch a glimpse of your well marked watering truck(s). The city people can even sing your name doing what city people do. What may happen however is that other well-intentioned garden centers (and even savvy Home Depot GC managers) will tell their customers that they too have the exact same baskets. “These baskets are the same baskets found in the city of ….”  Incidentally, if you decide not to tackle this project this is your alternate line of competitive defense.

A funny story is that while we slave and labor over the baskets, our competition gets “misquoted” many times that they water and service the baskets. (See Ben’s email below: Al’s does NOT maintain the baskets and in general it isn’t their baskets hanging.)  I completely vouch for Ben’s honesty and upstanding character however.  Considering he’s honest and forthright,  this is an example of excellent marketing on Al's part. (And conversely, poor marketing on my part.) I currently, just barely, stave off deep dark bitterness and mind-numbing revenge fantasies by taking a few pills at night.

And speaking of nights: It’s the most economically feasible time of the day. This means you will, in the minimum, be taking calls at night. Broken equipment, accidents," incidents” any thing, and I mean any thing can happen as soon as darkness falls. Naked people hanging from your baskets? Yes. Hookers, pimps vagabonds want gardening advice? Yes. (And yes even in your town.) A broken fire hydrant surrounded by fire and police personnel at 3 am demanding permits and insurance and your driver no where to be found? It can happen. (Also, once the hydrant is repaired (late in the say on a Saturday in May) the sudden pressure can break old  pipes in downstream households… (Yes, they will find you and write you letters with copies of invoices.)

Which reminds me: Don’t forget to up your insurance policy. It will be required for any city because you will find that no one, no one will want responsibility for the basket if anything happens. A growing basket blocks a RR crossing light? Partially blocks a stop sign? A driver hits a pole and the beautiful hanging basket can be found in their front seat? Water on the sidewalk suddenly causes a slip and fall? Even drivers who parked under a basket want a free car wash every now and then because of the water spilled. I am here to tell you it all can happen.

There are (other) positives too. You may discover: Great, crazy ideas can come at night. (See Tim’s water truck photo.) Coyotes are actually quite shy animals. Young adults are generally well behaved. (Actual adults at night can be iffy.) Stay away from anything that resembles morning traffic. There’s an entire night peoples that keep the world operational until daytime. Talk shows are formulaic. Rebel On!" Jonn

Following these responses, JD came back and said... "Thanks [everyone] for the responses. I had already told them NO . . . . now I have no doubt I did the right thing. Thanks," JD

Now, back to the newest email this week from Four Seasons - here's how it looked...

 

Notice the tagline for this email header...

Home of the "Crater Lake Basket". Then the email goes in to invite the customer to pre-order their very own basket. If you click on the link to see the color combinations available you land on their special Hanging Basket page and here's what you see...

 

Wow... what a great sales line... You've Seen Them Around Town, Now You Can Take One Home!

Then, down the page Four Seasons says...Spring in Southern Oregon Means Hanging Baskets!

 

Going for a spring or summer drive in the Rogue Valley means one thing, enjoying the beautiful hanging baskets that line the streets of Medford, Ashland, Central Point and other cities. Where do these beautiful floral baskets come from, and how do they stay beautiful from spring all the way through fall? The answer is simple, Four Seasons Nursery!Four Seasons Nursery has been creating and caring for the city hanging baskets throughout Southern Oregon for years.

And now, you can have one for your home or business!

I am confident this recap and followup with Four Season's promotion to their customers will spawn even more Q&A in GroupEs. Be sure to ask away and I am sure Tim Elbert, Ben DeGoede, and Jonn Karsseboom (and others) will be happy to share more.

That's the POWER of The Group!

The Group's WebSystem: Do you ever try to find something in your mountain of emails; something you know is there. You've seen it but just don't know exact dates or maybe you even trashed it. Well if it is from one of The Group's listserves such as GroupEs, you can see all past topics in the websystem. That's how I found the about conversation. Here's a quick "how to" for you:

  1. Log In
  2. Click on MY PROFILE (in the green Member menu area just above the WELCOME BACK (you)
  3. Hover over the MY FEATURES in the black menu bar and select eLIST
  4. then you can see all eLists you are invited to join. You can click on the List Name and go to its page to see all past topics. (You can ever search for a word in the search box).
  5. Click on the Topic or Subject to then see all the discussion. (You can even post a reply to the topic there.)

Need help, just let me know.

Thanks for sharing!

Danny

A special THANK YOU to JD Boone, Ben DeGoede, Tim Elbert, and Jonn Karsseboom for their participation in this discussion! If you would like to see Four Season Nursery's Hanging Basket page CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

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