November/December 2024 - 38

POHMER ON ...
our challenges and obstacles: " The pessimist complains
about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the
realist adjusts the sails. "
The pessimist would rather complain than seek
solutions. The optimist's approach is one of hope and
expects everything to change to his advantage without
proactively making any changes himself. And the realist
takes a more practical approach by acknowledging the
current situation, taking steps, and developing solutions to
effectively navigate through it.
As my favorite worldly philosopher Lawrence Peter " Yogi "
Berra once said, " If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else. " You can produce the greatest
ideas, solutions and answers to your and your customers'
challenges and uncertainties, but they won't be realized if
you don't create a viable plan to implement and monitor
your success in implementing them so you can adjust
your sails. Doing the analysis to identify your customers'
issues and obstacles, creating solutions, developing goals,
developing a plan that brings cohesiveness and identifies the
implementation steps, and benchmarking your progress to
achievement and being flexible and agile in making the small
corrections will lead to success for you and your customers.
And as part of your plan, remember that there are only a
few ways to generate sales:
1. Attract and retain new customers.
2. Get your existing customers to purchase more often
and spend more money per transaction.
3. Raise prices.
(Note that in 2024, as an industry, we sold fewer plants
at higher prices to generate a sales increase. This is not
a sustainable pathway to long-term success! We need to
protect our existing customer base AND bring in more
new consumers AND increase transaction frequency AND
transaction value to expand our potential.)
Here's some great news: people genuinely like our
products. But we have to sell more than just plants and
flowers; we need to educate and give the consumer
compelling reasons to buy our products - think wellness,
physical and mental health benefits, quality of life, lifestyle.
By communicating the benefits, not just the features, we
open up a whole new market for product growth!
Every consumer and retailer will deal with the same
challenges in 2025; the formula to success will be in
your attitude and approach to finding and implementing
solutions to help your customers work through their
uncertainties. Have a plan, take good care of your customers,
and they'll take care of you.
       
Stan Pohmer is president of Pohmer Consulting Group in
Minnetonka, Minnesota. He can be reached at spohmer@
pohmer-consulting.com.
      
SEE SPOT RUNTM
    
    
    

 


           
38 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024

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November/December 2024

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