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Cultivating Gardening Personalities
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Have
you done everything you can think of to increase sales in your garden
center? Implemented creative displays? Provided customer education? Stocked the
newest products? How about catering to different gardening personalities?
In
her March/April OFA Bulletin article, "The Gardening Personality Perspective,"
Barbara Wise with Southern Land Company describes some of the most popular
gardening personalities. For example, "Jet Pilot" is someone with little time
that needs to quickly get in and out of the garden; they need a perfect outcome
but want to keep some distance from the dirt.
Translating a knowledge of personality types
into plant varieties, garden designs, and infrastructure support (such as
automatic irrigation), can lead to loyal customers and increased sales.
Read more about the different gardening personalities and other
OFA Bulletin articles in the myOFA section of the OFA website.
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Your Most Profitable Year Starts Here
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 During four days of educational workshops, seminars, and
roundtables, the 2009 OFA Short Course garden center track will provide attendees a
wealth of information to help them succeed in today's competitive market.
Whether for just a day or the entire event, "Make It Your Business" to attend!
You can scan the entire educational program and plan the sessions
you want to attend with the Map You Show feature. Just a few of this year's offering include:
Purchasing Secrets - Where the First Profits Are Made
Andy Buyting, Green Village Home & Garden
Saturday, July 11
As retailers, purchasing goods for resale is the single largest
expenditure every year, and it's the first opportunity to make real profits. Learn
purchasing strategies that will not only differentiate your store from your
competition, but also ensure healthier profitability.
Merchandising Plants & Products
Nancy Durand
Monday, July 13
You asked for it and here it is! This is an honest-to-goodness
hands-on learning lab. Small teams will tour the on-site Retail Experience:
Merchandising ShowCase and hear from featured merchandisers as well as
build a showcase of their own. Nancy
will share tricks of the trade and guide the creative process. Don't just sit
there ... do something and join the fun!
The Art of Giving Great Service Parts 1 & 2
Ann Lofgren, ZingTrain
Monday, July 13
Zingerman's has set the standard for great customer service in the
specialty foods industry. This success has come from combining an innovative
service philosophy with practical working systems. Zingerman's approach has
been successfully applied in a wide variety of businesses that are committed to
improving the quality of their customer service, including non-food retailers.
This seminar will be informal and interactive, providing opportunities for
discussion and hands-on practice. You will develop individual action plans of
customer service improvements that you can implement in your business. See this year's exciting educational program!
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OFA Member Embraces Spirit of Entrepeneurship
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Ever
wonder what the typical OFA member is like? Well, you probably wouldn't guess
anything like Josh Roggenbuck. Just three years out of college, this
20-something-year-old just celebrated his third business anniversary. Owner of
the Flower Farm in Bad Axe, Michigan,
Joshua built the garden center, production facility, and full service florist business with his dad
on weekends home from college.
Josh received a FIRST Scholarship in college
and benefited early from a complimentary OFA membership and trip to the OFA Short Course. Now
that he's a business owner, Josh said he values the benefits of his
membership and looks forward to the OFA Short Course each year. "There are always
ideas to steal; I use a ton of them," said Josh.
Read more about this next generation of OFA members.
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Get Hands-On at the Merchandise Showcase Display
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This year's independent
garden center events at the OFA Short Course will be highlighted by an improved
Merchandising ShowCase that will be more interactive, featuring displays
with plenty of ideas you
can take home and use right away.
Two educational sessions will be directly
tied to the Retail Experience: Merchandising ShowCase and will involve hands-on activities. And
the competition heats up with the first-ever merchandising contest, complete
with a merchandising showdown and winners you select. You'll want to be sure to
bring your camera and a notepad to all the events so you don't miss anything!
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A Great Time for Business Webinar Series
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 OFA is again partnering with several horticulture
associations to offer six webinars in 2009. The theme for the series is "A Great
Time for Business." This webinar series is being offered to you complimentary
since you're an OFA member.
Great Time for Business Webinar
Series
Session 1: The Power of
Commitment
Thursday, April 23, at 1 p.m.
EDT
Jim Paluch and several guest speakers from around the
country will be sharing ideas on how COMMITMENT fuels the passion that allows
business owners and employees to set goals, overcome obstacles, and achieve the
success they desire. Hear the success stories from some inspiring industry
leaders who made the personal choices and found the strength to lead their teams
to victory. Space is limited, register today.
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2009 OFA Scholars Announced
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OFA recently announced the 2009 OFA Scholars. For the first time since the program's inception, this year's winners hail from
all across the country.
Representing the best in young scholarship and
initiative, these six college students will be at
the 2009 OFA Short Course to gain invaluable exposure to networking and mentoring
opportunities.
Please join us in congratulating:
Alicain Carlson - North Carolina State
University
QiuXia Chen - Kansas State
University
Carola De La Torre - The Ohio State
University
Gretchen Giles - Michigan State
University
Jongyun Kim - University of Georgia
Nathan Thomas - The Ohio State University
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E-Source Spotlight - Open Forum
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Having
a greenhouse business is more than just growing and selling plants. That's why
you want to bookmark more than just horticulture sites, and the Open Forum from
American Express is a great place to start. Open Forum provides a wealth of resources for
savvy business owners, including videos, articles, blogs, and more on marketing,
finance, innovation, leadership, and management. Members can make comments as
well as suggest topics and ask questions of experts. This is a great opportunity
to become part of a business community that's much larger than the horticulture
market, with new ways of looking at problems and lots of new ideas for success. Visit Open Forum. | |
