April 2004
Customer and Plant Care By Carrie Burns

The future depends on what we do in the present. — Mahatma Gandhi

You hear it all of the time — You have to please your customers, so they keep coming back to you. Learning from your peers can be one of the best ways to find out how to keep your customers happy. Here’s an example: Wenke Greenhouses, Kalamazoo, Mich., provides its customers with free fertilizer for their plants. And, you probably know as well as I, people will take just about anything that’s free.

In this situation, giving something away could actually get you more. Because the customer took the fertilizer home and used it, her plants look better than ever. Making consumers successful with their purchases is the end goal, and providing free fertilizer will also relay to the customer how much her success is valued. She’s surely coming back for more free fertilizer, and while she’s there, she’ll realize she needs more soil, plants and containers. So, now Wenke has a loyal customer, who tells all her friends about the free fertilizer. Who knew fertilizer would not only make plants grow better but make your business and customer base grow too?

You could present the idea to a fertilizer manufacturer and suggest they donate the fertilizer and in turn, you will post signage that states the free fertilizer is from that particular company.

So, post the sign for free fertilizer in a high-traffic area; ask your employees to bring in their empty gallon jugs to give to your customers; create some pamphlets on the use of fertilizer and set them by the fertilizer for customers to take home and you’re set.



Carrie Burns

Carrie Burns is associate editor for Lawn & Garden Retailer.