Lessons from the big boxes

Editor's note: this is an excerpt of our August cover story. Click here to read the full article.

Somewhere in time an unknown author penned the phrase, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” And while Thomas Wolfe declared, “you can’t go home again,” one green industry road warrior hung up his traveling shoes to get back to his propagation roots so he could spend more time with his family.

Anthony Hoke, owner of Silver Falls Nursery, admits he has been on an amazing journey throughout his green-industry career. He began in the corporate nursery world in 1993 selling to East Coast independent garden centers and rewholesalers with a nursery in McMinnville, Ore. From there he transitioned to a nursery who sold to mass merchants where he says he got a doctorate in “mass merchantology.” Next he forged out on his own as a nursery sales contractor, and for almost 15 years focused on sales to big-box stores or vendors that sold to them.

Anthony learned several lessons from the big boxes, and has incorporated those into his nursery business.

Working with the big-box stores taught him to know his costs and his customers, and the relationship between the two.

“The box stores are very good at several things, and one area is they have fantastic analytics and are able to truly understand their customer and product flow. I’m much more into my numbers than ever before,” he says. “In my twenties, Gary Brooks of Maple Tree Nursery got me excited about the value of having exceptionally tight costing models and knowing the accounting end of the business. When you combine that end of the business with the customer point-of-sale data at the garden center and sales reports on the wholesale end, it becomes very useful information. Now you have power and control of your business. Consistent, meaningful sales information helps you guide your inventory and production plan to a successful end.”

Inventory turns is another lesson he’s parlayed into his own business. Inventory is cash and you have to turn it.

“Small pockets of inventory aren’t an asset after a while, but rather, they become an expense and can slowly drain you through maintenance and handling costs. Plan your entrance into the market as well as your exit with each plant and season,” he says.

Planning is another tool he borrowed from the mass merchants.

“The box stores and large grocery chains are excellent about planning all aspects of the business, sometimes years out. The grocery folks in particular are very forward thinking, and that takes a while to get used to. But once you do, the ability to plan is welcomed,” he says. “Christmas is a great example. Many think of Christmas programs in June or July after spring is over. In the box store environment, Christmas begins in early January, and in grocery it begins in the third quarter of the previous year you’re selling. With sales planning, the further you can plan it out, the better you are.”

A critical lesson he’s adapted from his previous career is that sales budgets are not suggestions.

“You have 16 weeks to make your sales budget, and if you lose a day or weekend of sales, you have to figure out a way to get it back,” he says. “In the box-store environment, no one is satisfied with an OK sales day or weekend. There is a constant monitoring of inventory dollars, turns, and margins. On the wholesale level you have to do the same. Don’t look at monthly numbers, look at your daily numbers. Know each day what you have sold and what you need, and never feel comfortable. When Mother Nature is your silent partner, you must control cost and inventory, and sell, sell, sell.”

Read the rest of Anthony's story, including why he left the retail world, why he loves liner production, and how he selects his diverse plant mix in our August issue.