Do your customers need a coach?

Sometimes good ideas have to hunt you down and club you over the head. That happened to me in July when I was reading the lively gardening blog Garden Rant.

Allow me to give a little background. In mid-June, The New York Times published an article about the rising popularity of garden coaches. Coaches are usually experienced gardeners, many with an official horticulture background, who hire out by the hour to travel to a newbie gardener’s home and advise him or her on how to grow plants and design a landscape.

The article reminded me of the Budding Gardener series in The Washington Post, which follows the progress of a new homeowner as the newspaper’s resident garden expert, Adrian Higgins, leads her through the joys and labor of her first year as a gardener. But that’s about all the thought I gave it.

Then a month later, I saw that Garden Rant was revisiting the garden coach topic. Did any idea about how our industry can cash in on the trend even glimmer in my mind? Nope. That idea didn’t dawn until the writer, Susan Harris, specifically said she would visit Open Register and tell retail nurseries that they are perfectly positioned to offer garden coaching service.

As I said, the idea had to knock me upside the head.

The garden center-based coach

So how would a garden coach service work at a garden center? It seems to me such a service would center on three things: employees who want to participate, scheduling and prices.

Employees. If you encourage employees to gain state nursery or master gardening certification, then those employees should be the first to approach. For one, certification would give the service added legitimacy. For another, your state association may count acting as a coach toward the points needed for renewing certification. If you do not have certified nursery professionals on staff, then turn to your most friendly and knowledgeable employees. As far as the new gardener is concerned, the person you send to their home will define your store.

Scheduling. When employees visit customers, they should obviously be considered on the clock, including travel times. If you have a tight schedule for employees, be careful to not overburden those who remain at the garden center during coaching sessions. And it would be a good idea to double check liability issues for your coach.

Pricing. Make sure you charge enough to cover the cost of the employee’s salary, as well as a fee for expertise. It wouldn’t be a good idea to charge too steeply unless there is such a demand for coaching that you want to use cost as a way to control demand.

-- Carol

Comments

[trey]

Be sure to read Susan's follow up comments at her site "Beyond sustainable gardening" http://takomagardener.typepad.com/tg/2007/08/full-time-caree.html

When I first heard about garden coaching from Susan, I had the same concerns that she eventually had after she tried to make it work.

It is something that garden centers can do. We have been doing it for years. We call it a consultation. We charge by the hour and it often brings in additional business to the nursery. The brilliance of the garden coach thing is changing the name from a consultation to "garden coaching". Often that is what makes a difference, but the concept is not new.

[Susan Harris]

Hey, Open Register, thanks for helping spread the coaching idea. Sunday on GardenRant.com I'll profile a terrific nursery in my area and their coaching services, plus how independent coaches like myself can most effectively work with nurseries. Susan

[Susan Harris]

Hey, Open Register, thanks for helping spread the coaching idea. Sunday on GardenRant.com I'll profile a terrific nursery in my area and their coaching services, plus how independent coaches like myself can most effectively work with nurseries. Susan