What's better than looking out your office window and seeing a parking lot full of cars? Simple, a parking lot full of cars in January! Not only are these cars visiting you, they have the intention on spending money. How much better could it possibly get?
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Our nursery, South Pleasantburg Nursery in Greenville, S.C., decided to take a chance and host a "Backyard Birding" seminar in the dead of winter, with the hope that we'd get a few people visiting us when typically not shopping with us. By using some clever tactics and utilizing all of the social media ties that we have, we were able to round up an excellent crowd. Not only did the crowd visit and take genuine interest in our seminar, they spent money, too! Some of them spent upwards of $100 each on products that would typically sit on the shelf and collect dust until the spring swarms of shoppers start rolling in.
To help us draw attention to an otherwise forgotten about section of our store, we decided to adopt a little mascot to help us out a bit. Instead of relying on a boring clip-art derived image we decided to go the unique route. So, a with a little bit of imagination and a pot of coffee, our "Bird Nerd" was created. Using a simple piece of scrap paper, a blue pen, a red pen and a scanner, we were able to place this image around the store reminding people of our class.
We lost some awesome points, however, in the event management on our website and within the store personnel themselves. Not all of the employees were on the same page as to when exactly our seminar was going to be held. A few people who had signed up for the class came in the week prior and were improperly informed that the class was actually two weeks away, not the upcoming weekend, (which was the correct weekend). Continuity throughout the staff will greatly help in organizing the next event, and perhaps a meeting about the event itself would have done wonders. Next time, we're saying, next time!
Being on a tight budget, being extravagant wasn't quite in our cards. We weren't able to offer free food and drinks, but we were able to offer the gift of learning and knowledge. That will go a long way toward making your customers loyal to you and trust you as a professional.
Nikki Weed is a horticulturalist and professional adventurer who uses her experiences and knowledge to manage a successful garden center in Greenville, S.C. She can be reached at pepitaweed@gmail.com.