Commitment!

by Danny Summers

Commitment... It's a word that depicts The Garden Center Group experience in a number of ways. At the foundation of The Group, every Center joins with a commitment to sharing at some level. In the beginning, there may be some hesitation to jump right in but as they see others sharing they quickly see the benefits of having such an open-sharing platform. Certainly, the level of sincere helpful sharing that exists in The Group is a unique experience.

While there are a number of ways a commitment to sharing is exemplified in The Group, one of the strongest levels of commitment is sharing through our Weekly Department Review (WDR). And the Centers that receive our 100% Club Awards annually have made a firm commitment to share. This year, there are 115 Centers participating in the WDR Program, and 58 of these centers reported EVERY WEEK and received our 100% Club Award. Now that is Commitment!

The photo above is of the 100% Club Award Centers who attended The Fall Event 2022 and received their plaques. Here's a recap of all 100% Centers awarded:

And there's even more to this commitment to reporting in the WDR. It's a commitment to your own Center because in reporting each week, you also see what is happening across the country. I often describe the WDR as "4 quarts in a 2-quart jar" as it is more data than can be absorbed at any one time, but quickly reveals a vision of trends. Participating Centers have a commitment to their own success and are willing to share that commitment with peers in The Group!

If you are not participating in the WDR, you are missing out on invaluable opportunities! Get on board today... contact Tim for details. It's included in your Group Retainer!

Congratulations to our 100% Club Award Centers for 2021-2022.
Watch for more of our Annual Award Winners coming here in GROUPtalk.

For everyone that was with us at The Fall Event 2022, you know what an important message Darren Abbott of Hallmark presented to us. I heard numerous times… “It was Amazing.” His message of "The Power of Emotional Marketing” underscored the concept that every decision we make is rooted in emotion. These emotions influence your customers’ purchasing decisions and the actions they take in your Garden Center, the way they react to your messaging, your website, your emails or texts. Weaving emotion into your marketing can be the secret to success. Hallmark is in the business of connecting people through human emotion and the spectrum of human emotion is part of their DNA.

Darren’s presentation was recorded and he has allowed us to share it on a restricted Internal-Group-Only access basis. We have taken the recording of his presentation, added his slides and the videos he shared during the presentation, and now have it all combined into one video for your viewing. The total viewing time is 1:17.

If you were at The Fall Event, you can watch Darren’s presentation again and share it with others at your Center.

If you were not at The Fall Event, you still can see this “Amazing Message.”

The presentation is only available in our WebSystem. Login and go to the Clients Only Menu and scroll down to “Training - The Power of Emotional Marketing." Be sure to share this with as many of your staff as possible. I am anxious to hear what you and your staff think about Darren’s presentation. Please do not share any link to this video outside of your Center.

If you need help logging into the WebSystem, please let me know… send me a direct message: [email protected]

A special THANK YOU to Darren Abbott and Hallmark for this presentation!

We have so much more to share from The Fall Event 2022. Some are highlights from presentations. Others are recognition of more Awards Program Winners. And there are insights from both panel discussions and breakouts. All-in-all, this was one big think-tank of collaborative ideas...Thank you all!