Independent retail consultant, Liam Kelly shares his insight on what garden retailers should really be looking for when they’re hiring new staff
My meetings and visits to clients around the country tend to kick up all sorts of questions and enquiries on the many and varied aspects of retail from merchandising to layout issues, and purchasing help to management advice. But the two topics that are always discussed are recruitment and staffing. If I decided to set up a recruitment company for garden centres and other plant-centric retailers I’m sure I could probably retire on the residuals that would accrue from the ‘finder’s fee’ I could add to staff wages as a conscription tax.
And it’s not just about finding ‘horticulturists’ – a snooty sounding label I still hate to hear or see being used in garden centres – and throwing them into retail. Selling plants and gardening products, and imparting information, isn’t some easy-peasy task that anyone can master. There are certain qualities that are required – and some that need to be taught – before a plantsperson can be let loose in a garden centre, or any retail environment for that matter.
Back in the day, garden centres were really just plant nurseries that were open to the public with precious little retail savviness or know-how, but from the 1980s onwards there were a few of us working in the sector who started to apply shop knowledge, both training-gained and self-taught, to our repertoire so that by the late 1990s and early 2000s many garden centres were seen as proper retailers with everything you would expect from any shop or department store in other sectors of retail.
Even back then I often felt that newly minted, college-trained plantspeople didn’t have the communication ability nor the basic retail knowledge required for a job in a garden centre, and although that has changed somewhat since those times there is still a huge gulf of missing knowledge that
” I often felt that newly minted, college-trained plantspeople didn’t have the communication ability nor the basic retail knowledge that was required for a job in a garden centre “
needs to be taught in order to turn new recruits into retailers. Of course, there are many departments within modern large garden centres that require no plant familiarity; I won’t focus on those here, although the basic traits required are similar.
So what do you need to know to work on the plant side of garden centre? Obviously, some of the aforementioned knowledge of gardening is important as staff will be advising and helping customers with their plant and garden care choices in addition to maintaining stock. It’s the traits that are needed above and beyond this which can be in short supply.
Here are five other areas that need to be focused on in order to be a great gardening department operative.
COMMUNICATION
This is perhaps the most important attribute needed, as without the ability to pass on information in a friendly, clear and succinct way all of the above-mentioned gardenings knowledge is pointless. It’s difficult to create in a person who doesn’t at least have a grain of this ability in their persona and teaching it is certainly one of the most difficult tasks in a manager’s – or consultant’s – role in the garden centre.
“Simple housekeeping is often ignored in the plant sales area and the act of cleaning down benches or gathering up spilled compost seems an alien concept to many”
It can be improved by watching how others communicate, and this goes beyond retail to watching how interviewers, commentators and even politicians interact with those around them. Observing, mastering and applying this to one’s interaction with others can make a huge difference to verbal exchanges and, by default, to daily sales targets.
CREATIVITY
Another ability that is often seen as ingrained or unteachable but I rarely find this to be the case in retail. Sure, being able to draw or sketch is a difficult thing to train but the use of props, products and signage in a retail environment to create a selling display is teachable and learnable, and a satisfying task. It’s not rocket science and just needs a little bit of visual coordination and a good degree of common sense, and once taught is rarely forgotten and usually improved on.
NEATNESS
This is an area that tends to give me a bee in my bonnet when working with garden retailers, as I find it difficult to see how people have grown up without an inkling of how or why to use a sweeping brush and dustpan. Simple housekeeping is often ignored in the plant sales area and the act of cleaning down benches or gathering up spilled compost seems an alien concept to many. It goes beyond all of these basics to make sure that the labels all face outwards on plants and that stock is correctly spaced, how you deal with stock from when it arrives in the garden centre to when it’s placed in a customer’s boot. This is all immensely teachable too and I have found that it is possible to teach old dogs new tricks while receiving just the odd bite.
EMPATHY
This is a difficult one to master, but it is essential when dealing with complaints. We all know that the customer is actually very rarely right, but in dealing with problems there is a real need to see the issue from their side. Willpower and an ability to bite one’s lip are needed in order to shut up, listen to and hear what is being said and how it has affected the customer. It is only by seeing their side of things that you can deal with the problem. The first part of finding a solution is to empathise with the customer; this puts them at ease and makes your life easier as far as dealing with their complaint. The initial reaction is to go on the defensive and butt heads with the customer. This gets you nowhere. It’s a tricky task to get the hang of but once you get into that right frame of mind it makes dealing with customers so much easier and keeps them happy – and returning – too.
SELLING SKILLS
Last but not least is the ability to sell the product. It could be argued that this is becoming less important on the plant side of retail gardening, as customers tend to pick colourful, impulse-driven plants aided by all of that wonderful point-of-sale signage you have created. But there are two areas where it does make a huge difference. One is in selling bigger ticket items such as greenhouses, fountains, pots, furniture and barbecues. The other area is just as important as it is another bugbear of mine – link selling. For this, most of the aforementioned traits come into play either by creating extra sales via displays of products or by actual one-on-one interaction with the customer. Either way, it means having an almost psychic ability to know what the customer needs before they do and then making sure that they don’t leave the store without it. This isn’t a hard-sell pushiness, it’s more to do with making sure that the customer has everything they require to make their plants grow, whether that is compost, pots, feed or the myriad of garden care products now available in every garden centre, or a greenhouse to go with the tomato plants they just purchased.
SO THERE’S SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Those who do interviews for new staff members would do well to be aware of these attributes and how to check for them while talking to potential new staff members too. Even with existing staff members, it’s good for managers to spot areas of weakness that can be improved upon, instead of just shrugging and saying, “Well that’s the way Joe has always been.”
Surely everyone working in the garden retail sector should want to be better than they currently are and should strive to improve. And if they don’t? Then maybe it’s time to employ someone else. It might make me start that recruitment company sooner rather than later! ✽
 LIAM KELLY – Since establishing Retail Services & Solutions in 2007, Liam has become one of the most influential people in the retail side of Irish horticulture. His knowledge of the mindset and ethos of those in this sector, combined with his problem-solving ability, experience, and hands-on work ethic make him uniquely placed to offer advice and help to those who need it most.
Key to his success is his knowledge of purchasing, pricing and sales combined with his understanding of layout, signage and merchandising, and how the interaction of these can lead to increased sales and profits. His focus is on garden centres, nurseries, hardware and DIY stores, where discretion, honesty and unbiased opinion are crucial and appreciated by those who secure his services. Liam Kelly, Retail Services & Solutions, Garden Centre Design & Consultancy, 086 822 1494, 059 913 0176, lksolutions@eircom.net |
