Health Concerns
A quick Google search for “health benefits of plants” can muster up 12,500,100 results in 0.29 seconds give or take depending on your Internet connection.
I went ahead and clicked on the first result, which just so happened to be from America In Bloom (www.americainbloom.org). Here are just a few of the many things I learned:
In one study, reaction time on computer tasks improved by 12 percent for employees working in close proximity to plants.
By increasing humidity and decreasing dust, indoor plants have been shown to reduce cold-related illnesses by more than 30 percent.
Studies have shown patients in hospital rooms with garden views often recover more quickly than those facing a wall.
Filling a vase in your bedroom with Gerbera daisies can improve your night’s rest, because the flowers release oxygen at night.
I’ll risk to assume you’re well aware of these bits of info. If that’s true, then let me ask, when was the last time you shared any of it with your customers?
Despite the fact this kind of compelling information about your products (indoor or outdoor) is so readily available, we can’t trust consumers to find it on their own. That’s why the Internet gods gave you Facebook, Twitter and Enewsletters in addition to store signage and personal interaction.
perfect timing
Leading up to the new year and right at the start of a national flu outbreak (scare), the marketing department at Armstrong Garden Centers updated the company’s blog with the post: “Ten Most Popular Houseplants for a Healthy New Year.”
It was perfectly timed and proactive.
What are you doing to show local consumers you’ve got the goods, literally?
As you’ll read on page 42 in “Let Me Explain…,” restorative garden designer Annie Kirk says, “You’re invested in their well being … and you have an inventory” that can make them feel better. “Open up a conversation beyond simply making a sale. This will have a
lasting effect.”
How do you do that? Sell them the “why” rather than the “what,” she says.
Greenscape Gardens’ Jennifer Schamber agrees and in “Putting the ‘Green’ in Greenscape”on page 10, she says, “Sometimes that’s the best thing you can do at the store is tell the whole story” and bring things full circle by connecting a product to its origin, its purpose and to the way it positively ties into your customer’s lifestyle.
So there you have it. You’re clearly the greenest business on the block. Whether through social media or bullet points on a store sign, now’s the time to reconnect your customers to nature. Their good health depends on it.
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