With case studies, survey results, and parallels from other industries Phil will show your attendees what it takes to develop rapport with younger audiences, build subscribers, increase store visits and grow the average ticket. 

As an avid learner, Phil knows the importance of "educating" as opposed to "selling."  All of his teaching is geared toward a program that any garden center could do on its own.

• Areas that are covered include:
  • Building your garden center brand with every edition
  • Planning and building your editions in advance
  • Writing articles that get people off the sofa
  • Staying on the "white lists" so your mail gets delivered 
  • Getting your customers to refer you
  • Promotions that work
  • Software that can help make a great newsletter
  • Blogs & Forums

  Speaking Topics

Search Engine Optimization:

Situation:

“My garden center has a great Website, but nobody comes to it.  We have customers that look on the Internet and can’t find it.”

Solution:

This seminar will focus on using Internet search engines to drive “net new” customers to your garden center. 

Topics Covered:

Handouts:

Strategic Web design:

Situation:

“I wish I had more information to drive my e-marketing decisions.  I am interested in knowing what features make a garden center site ‘GREAT’.  I want to hear a business discussion on costs, return on investment, and how to measure success from a business owner’s perspective.”

Solution:

This seminar will highlight the most successful garden center sites on the Internet.  We will start with basic sites that offer an instant, inexpensive presence for garden centers.  We will then proceed with a typical growth pattern and consider each option with regards to cost and measurable result. 

Web topics considered:

Before the session begins, I will gather cards from several attendees so we can look at Web sites on the fly.

Handouts:

Attendees will learn how to use free site tools to build a site for less than $100. We will look at different sites from across the country to show a logical progression in cost and return. 

Building an E-Newsletter Program that Works

Situation:

“We started working on an E-Newsletter but it didn’t really work.  In the winter we didn’t have many subscribers, and then during the spring we got too busy.  People told us they liked it, but we don’t know if it really drove any sales”.

Solution:

This discussion will look at how to implement a successful E-Newsletter program.  We will hand out a planning calendar and work through the things that can be done before you start to assure your success.

Topics Covered:

Handouts:

Planning calendars will be provided in paper form, and emailed in Excel format to anyone that wants it.  We will provide a list of 1,000 article topics.   Participants will be provided with a list of Websites that offer free content.