FROM THE BOARD 



You Can't Sell from Empty Benches 



Bob Demers, \r. 



I know it's August, but 1 hope every- 

 one is enjoying a great Summer 

 Season It's too bad that a lot of retail- 

 ers thini< of summer as their slow time 

 and treat it as such. A lot of you gear 

 down, but are you gearing down too 

 much? How many people did you turn 

 away this summer because you didn't 

 have the product they were looking 

 for? Put a dollar sign in a notebook for 

 every customer you turned away; then, 

 at the end of summer add up the dol- 

 lar signs and multiply the total by the 

 price of a jumbo annual. That's the 

 money you lost. And remember — only 

 a third of your customers will actually 

 ask for something; the other two-thirds 

 turn around and leave Where are they 

 going? Someplace else 



Don't train your customers into 

 thinking that the only time they can 

 get plant material from you is May — 

 because that will become the only 

 time you'll see them. A lot of cus- 

 tomers work around their yards the 

 entire summer As they sit by the 

 pool or on their deck, they're con- 

 stantly thinking, "How can 1 make 

 this place more enjoyable?" Hope- 

 fully, they will ride out to their local 

 garden center and find the answer: 

 jumbo annuals, one-, two-, and 

 three-gallon perennials, 12-inch (and 

 up) color bowls... 



zd, 



New Members 



CAMERON'S HOME & GARDEN 

 CENTER 

 PO Box 536 

 Farmington, NH 03835 



LEO |. ENOS LANDSCAPING 

 jason Ave 

 lefferson, NH 03583 



VAN BLOEM GARDENS 



1295 Bluegrass Lakes Parkway 



Alpharetta, GA 30201 



At Demers Garden Center, we 

 start with jumbo material as early as 

 Mother's Day Father's Day, when it's 

 all jumbo annuals and all the cell 

 packs are gone, is when we start our 

 summer season. We clean everything 

 up — everything that's been hanging 

 around and not looking too good 

 goes into the compost pile. If it 

 doesn't look good now, it won't look 

 any better later. Plus, it's taking up 

 valuable bench space. 



We've been doing this for many 

 years. )umbo sizes are a lot easier to 

 keep watered and customers like the 

 large size and instant color We grow 

 what we can and buy in the rest. 

 People will know that if they come 

 here, they'll find what they're look- 

 ing for. Sometimes hanging plants are 

 lost while a customer's on vacation, so 

 1 even grow 8-inch hangers especially 

 for July and August so there will be 

 fresh plants to choose from 



Keep your benches full. In custom- 

 ers' eyes, empty benches mean you're 

 running out, you're done, that's it for 

 the season. We live and breathe an 

 impulse business — so fill up your 

 benches — give people something to 

 be impulsive about. Impress them 

 with quality. Create an environment 

 they enjoy being in — shade your 

 houses; widen your aisles; give them 

 carts so they can fill them with pur- 

 chases 



Price your material reasonably — you 

 don't have to pay for the heat A lot of 

 people are looking for the biggest 

 bang for their buck, so don't scare 

 them away with the prices you have to 

 get in May We make (we use the 

 odds and ends that haven't sold yet — 

 you can get great combinations you 

 never would have thought of) or buy 

 in I 2-inch color pots that we sell for as 

 low as $14.95. They're the perfect size 

 for people to get into their cars to 

 transport easily. They can be used for 

 pools, decks, patios, even as a gift for 

 a friend putting on a barbecue. 



Selling big sizes is one way to keep 

 things going Another is to create spe- 



cial events, such as Customer Appre- 

 ciation Day Or maybe invite all your 

 neighbors over and have a giant yard 

 sale. We do — customers go nuts for 

 this and it draws a lot of business 



There are lots of things you can do. 

 I hope this article inspires you to do 

 some. Now, while this year's Summer 

 Season is still here and before you get 

 started with mums, is the time to start 

 planning lot down ideas for next year 



Don't be foolish and turn away cus- 

 tomers because you think you've 

 made enough in the spring. When you 

 turn people away, they go someplace 

 else. They may even find a place they 

 like better. An empty bench doesn't 

 sell plants. 



Bob Demers. jr., is at Demers Nursery 

 & Garden Center, 656 South Mammoth 

 Road, Manchester, NH 03103 He can be 

 reached, when he's not with a customer, at 

 603-625-82Q8 



Classified 



FOR SALE: 150-gallon sprayer, ex- 

 cellent trailer — pump and motor 

 haven't been used in two years. 

 Asking $200.00. for details: H.W. 

 Parker, Parker's Tree Farm, Green- 

 land, NH; phone 603-436-0478. 



SITUATION WANTED: I am currently 

 a senior at Ohio State University 

 majoring in floriculture with a minor 

 in Agricultural Business & Applied 

 Economics. I received an Associate 

 of Arts degree from UNH and will 

 be graduating with a BS degree 

 from OSU in June, 1995. I plan to 

 move back to NH and am currently 

 seeking employment in southern NH 

 in either greenhouse production or 

 in an assistant management position 

 in a garden center. If interested, 

 please call Glenn Carey at 

 614-294-8347 or e-mail me at 

 carey.72@osu.edu. 



PLANT MATERIAL REQUEST: Nurs- 

 eryman in Oregon looking for Acer 

 pensyhanicum 'Erythrocladum' speci- 

 men tree. If you can assist, call col- 

 lect Bill Moss at 503-233-9233. 



August & September 1Q95 



