You've Gotta Have Friends (as Customers)

I’ve learned a lot over the past few years.

I’ve learned that doing inventory in the rain is not my favorite way to spend a Saturday. I’ve learned that pruning a ‘Blue Point’ juniper into a spiral isn’t nearly as easy as it looks.

And finding a copperhead in the ball of a B&B tree is not the equivalent of finding a toy in a box of Lucky Charms.

But probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that people buy stuff from people they like. Your success as a nursery depends as much on you as a person as the plants you have for sale.

If you’re a likable person, you’re just going to sell more. That’s life.

If you’re a person that doesn’t get along well with others, then I suggest hiring people that do. And you’d better pay them a bunch, because you sound like a real joy to work for.

Can’t bust it
I learned a serious lesson about the power of personal ties about a year ago. I met a landscaper named Don installing a few replacement plants at my church one day.

I started up a long conversation. I told him we have a brand-new wholesale nursery not far from there and he seemed excited. I learned about Don’s business and we exchanged cards.

I thought I had a new customer in the bag. But two weeks later, Don hadn’t shown up. I called him and we had another 30-minute conversation (mainly just shooting the breeze). At the end of the call Don said he’d come by and see our new place real soon.

Fast forward six months. I’m still calling the guy every few weeks, and we have great chats, but he still doesn’t come in. I go out of my way to find mutual friends just to bring them up in conversation, and it still doesn’t work.

I go find his job sites, tell Don they look great, and tell him what I could have sold him those plants for. But the response never changed. “I’ll get out there and see you real soon.”

As it turns out, Don is best friends with one of my main competitors. He wasn’t hiding this fact, but he just didn’t see the need to tell me. He probably truly enjoyed our conversations, but there’s no way he was going to come buy plants from me.

That would be like Robin buying plants from the Joker instead of Batman. (Why Batman and the Joker would be selling plants, I don’t know. It’s not my best metaphor.)

Keep it light
Probably one of my biggest mistakes early on was assuming all customers were trying to break their necks to get in and out of the nursery. Sure, some are like that, but most want to spend at least some time shooting the breeze.

Find out their hobbies and what they like to talk about. Are they into fishing, NASCAR, college football, basket weaving? Do they have a photo of their kids taped on their dashboard?

We regularly have customer-appreciation events where we serve food and have some sort of entertainment. These are great opportunities to sit down and get to know your clients.

This year we leased a dove-hunting site about 10 miles away, and that was a huge hit. It’s another way to build that friendship bond with your customer.

And once the bond is there, you have gained a long-term customer and companion.

I’m proud that most of the customers I deal with one-on-one drive more than 30 miles to get here. Heck, I have family members that won’t drive 30 miles to see me. But these folks do.

That’s the power of relationships.

For more: Skinner Nurseries, (972) 939-1144; tdavis@skinnernurseries.com.