Cha-ching! (5-16)

Like every garden center, Sky Nursery in Shoreline, Wash., offers a wonderful array of beautiful plants and useful garden accessories. Just ask the staff members.

Actually, you don't have to. Sky Nursery lets staff members recommend various garden products on a page on the company website, thus ensuring that a new generation of customers that loves to pore over reviews before making a choice gets to hear what the people in the trenches think about various items.

For example, Jerry's pick of tools this month is the Nobi-Nobi telescoping long-arm pruner, while Linda and Jessica are partial to the Korean weeder. By seeking and then offering staff recommendations, Sky's management team has served aces on two customer fronts: Its internal customers (the staff) take ownership in the store's marketing message, while its external customers (the consumers) find expert advice from real gardening enthusiasts just like them.

In business parlance, that's called win-win. Not to mention "Cha-ching!"

Looking for a Cha-ching! you might have missed? Go to the search box and type Cha-ching! Items are listed by date.