w 



hat do You Know About Your Customers? 



H By Ginny Hast 



Note: The following is a condensed 

 version of articles by Richard Ashley fo 

 TT\e Grower (Ociocer and November 



1991, University of C, 

 Cooperative ExtefLsion System. 



I As competition increases, 

 garden centers will need to work 

 harder than ever to satisfy their 

 present customers and bring in 

 new ones. To effectively accom- 

 plish this goal, the retailer must 

 develop a better understanding 

 of the customer and his needs. 

 The following questionnaire can 

 he used to gain this information. 

 It may be modified to suit the 

 particular operation; however, 

 there are some key points to 

 follow: 



1. Keep it short. 



2. Collect between 50 and 300 

 responses. 



3. Obtain a representative sam- 

 pling of customers. Distribute 

 surveys each day for a week. 

 Qive one to every third or 

 tenth customer, depending on 

 the desired number of returns. 



4. Have the most personable 

 employee greet customers with 

 something like:"HelIo.' We're 

 trying to make our garden 

 center an even better place to 

 shop. Would you please take a 

 minute and fill out this sur 

 vey? In at)f)reciation,«;e'll 

 have a little gift for you at 

 the checkout counter when 

 you leave. Thank you!" 

 Note: A free gtft will encourage 

 more participation! 



5. Surveys can be coded for 

 each day of the week to deter 

 mine any shopping patterns. 

 The survey can be repeated 

 throughout the various sea 

 sons to characterize the cms 

 tomer base. 



Gmn^ Hast ii Program Associate, Agri- 

 cultural Resources at Merrimack County 

 Extension in Boscawan. She can be 

 reached at (603) 524-1737.^ 



10 THE PlANTSMAN 



INTERPRETING THE RESULTS: 



Develop a table listing every possible response to each question. Transfer the an- 

 swers from the completed questionnaires to the table. After all are tabulated, take 

 the number of responses and divide by the total number of completed surveys. Mul- 

 tiply this number by 100 to get the percentage of customers giving each possible re- 

 sponse. It is now time to interpret the results! 



QUESTION 1: HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT OUR GARDEN CENTER? The 

 majority of the responses should be in the area of greatest advertising effort. If not, 

 look carefully at the appropriateness of the media and the makeup of the advertise- 

 ments. 



QUESTION 2: IS THIS YOUR FIRST VISIT? The responses should contain a 

 blend of old and new customers. If most are new customers, something may be dis- 

 couraging repeat business. If the majority are repeat clientele, it may be time to try 

 and attract new business. 



QUESTION 3: HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU STOPPED HERE? A high 

 percentage of repeat business indicates a good customer base and potential for sales 

 of secondary product lines. If frequency is low, the marketing approach may need to 

 be changed to encourage repeat sales. 



QUESTION 4: IS THIS THE GARDEN CENTER YOU PURCHASE FROM 

 MOST OF THE TIME? If the majority responded "no", changes must be made. 

 (See questions 5 and 6 for ideas.) 



If most responded "yes", congratulatiotis! Direct mailings are effective with this 

 type of customer; so, an up-to-date mailing list will be very useful. 



QUESTION 5: WHAT FACTS ABOUT OUR GARDEN CENTER INFLU- 

 ENCED YOU TO STOP HERE TODAY? The interpretation here is fairly simple. 

 Keep doing what customers like and improve on anything that received low marks. 



QUESTION 6: RATE OUR SERVICE AND FACILlTIES.Consider excellent and 

 good to be satisfactory and fair and poor to be unsatisfactory. Do not be concerned 

 about a percent or two of unsatisfactory responses. (Everyone occasionally has a bad 

 day!) However, higher unsatisfactory ratings must be corrected. 



QUESTION 7: HOW CLOSE EX) YOU LIVE? Horticultural retail facilities usu- 

 ally draw customers from a radius of about five miles. If this is not happening, re- 

 evaluate the current advertising media. 



QUESTION 8: DO YOU OWN YOUR HOME, RENT YOUR HOME OR 

 APARTMENT? Gear products to the market. For example, home owners tend to 

 want permanent improvements such as perennial plants. Renters often prefer annu- 

 als. Apartment dwellers are a good market for container gardens, window boxes, and 

 patio pots. 



QUESTION 9: ARE YOU MALE OR FEMALE? Response should be roughly 

 equal, although many businesses fail to attract male shoppers. This results in re- 

 duced sales of items like fertilizer, tools, etc. Advertising may need to be directed at 

 male shoppers. 



QUESTION 10: WHAT IS YOUR AGE GROUP? This will be most helpful in 



determining the advertising media. Also, older customers may desire more service 



than younger ones. 



QUESTION 11: DO YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE BOTH WORK? If a large per- 



centage of both spouses work, increased evening and weekend hours may be 



necessary. 



QUESTION 12: WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY INCOME? This information can help 

 in choosing appropriate product lines and marketing approaches. 



QUESTIONS 14, 15, & 16: RADIO, TV AND NEWSPAPER PREFER- 

 ENCES.Responses will help in choices of advertising media, and can be combined 

 with the answers from questions 7, 10, & 12 to target special customer groups. ** 



