Gary Mangum
Bell Nursey
Burtsonville, MD
In any industry there are those who volunteer their time to help the broader industry – and those who choose to focus more intently on their own business and personal endeavors. I’d like to suggest that each of us has some time inherently available that we can “give back” to the industry that helps us put food on the table – and brings joy to so many.
I owe just about everything that I’ve been able to achieve personally and professionally to the foundation provided by my parents. I was not a great student, and did plenty while growing up to skirt nearly every rule I could. My parents worked hard to teach us a strong work ethic and instill positive values that I only fully appreciated after they were both gone.
One of the things I learned from my father was the importance of participating in organizations that could help his young retail floral, and later tropical plant business grow and prosper. At the same time he was developing business contacts through committee work and leadership positions with Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce, Izaak Walton and others. He spent countless hours helping United Way and the Salvation Army. I clearly remember him saying that these efforts would each provide future dividends, and those conversations four decades ago were the first time I ever heard anything about “giving back to the community”
I don’t think there is anything more important in business than the relationships that we develop, and in many cases the enduring friendships that come as a result. In 1988, I started spending serious volunteer time in the start up effort that took the NASA research findings about plants and clean air, and made them available to the public. During the media tour that was part of the early effort, I was exposed to a buyer from the Home Depot (Vince Naab), in NYC, that I didn’t know was in the audience. A number of years later, he visited our greenhouses at the suggestion of a mutual industry friend, Mike Rimland – and today we’re doing very serious sales with Home Depot as a direct result of those entirely unrelated contacts. I often wonder if we as a company had not been a believer in volunteer work in industry organizations – would we have ever gotten onto Home Depot’s radar. Had Home Depot not supported industry events, they might have missed out on a good thing as well.
Organizations that benefit all of us personally and professionally deserve meaningful support. Finances, dues, PAC support, and outright contributions, are clearly important – but people capital in my mind is critical – and in short supply. Too often we see and hear the same names involved in organizations – sometimes for decades. These “givers” would all welcome new talent in their ranks – and depending on your willingness, maybe it’s you.
It’s amazing how few people raise their hands and say – I can help. I would challenge anyone reading this to examine your own situation – and see if there aren’t a few hours a month you can carve out to give back to the community. Whether that giving is expressed monetarily or through personal efforts I’m not sure it matters. I really do believe what my father said – and I can tell you that from my own perspective, the personal and professional rewards have been well beyond any investment myself and my partner have made.
Robert Hendrickson
Managing Director
The Garden Center Group
Baltimore, MD
I think I’ll call it the “LDG Approach To Business” short for “Life-Preserver Desperation Grab” which is the attempt to stay afloat by following whatever topic the industry seems to be peddling. Several years ago all the talk was about branding. But that band-aid short circuited when overly-aggressive vendors took control of the process focusing their attention on branding their own companies or products and lazy retailers did nothing more than throw up a bunch of posters. Then it was experiential retailing where every store was going to become a mini-Disney until people found out that would mean spending time and money on something other than products, mainly facilities and staffing. Then it was loyalty programs that ended up being nothing more than a new way to give away margins to the very people that were already spending the most money. And that doesn’t even include the long forgotten life-preservers called Christmas shops, water garden departments and garden gift products, which were later renamed garden decor when the first stuff didn’t sell. Gardening as a lifestyle is now competing for attention with the next industry Titanic... generational marketing. You know the drill... boomers are a dying breed of old geezers that somehow must be quickly replaced with one or more of the next alphabet generations. “Quick! Throw me a preserver! The industry says our only hope is to attract a brand new generation of people that could care less about us now. What’s a blog?! How do you pod cast?! Is that some type of fishing pole?”
For companies going down for the last time... sorry... there’s no magical ring for you to grab to stay afloat. The best companies in any industry, including the very best garden centers, know that no one element or demographic target is capable of producing long-term success. For them it’s always the on-going process of continual improvement that will position their companies as marketplace leaders. They don’t just get a toe wet on the shore... if something is available that could help their company grow... it’s full steam ahead... damn the torpedoes! Visit winning retailers like Best Buy and Whole Foods. Notice anything? Their stores attract people of all ages because they’re great places to shop for any age. Work on becoming a truly great company and exciting place to shop. The next generation will find us when they’re ready.
