Buying Planters on which both the Bible and the local matchmaker agree.

 

My younger brother is getting married in February. Valentines makes it a good month for love and I’m happy for him!  When you get married, the hope is that you don’t run out and pick the guy or gal that was “adequate”, employing a “yeah, he (or she) will do” kind of attitude. I’m sure some people do that, and it scares me.

What’s also frightening is when a garden center owner/buyer or landscape professional does something similar saying, “I just want a basic planter.”  Big mistake. When customer Suzy Spender comes by your garden center, is she there to buy whatever boring selection might be available or to fall in love with a planter? Is it reasonable that we (and yes, I am in the garden center business as well) stand to make more money and create raving customer fans when our customers are truly pleased with what they bought?

Farmhouse Square Planter

Follow Suzy home and fast forward to her weekend party. This is the part where her friend John B. Boring exclaims, “Wow Suzy. What an outstandingly plain and ordinary planter you have by your front door! Wherever did you get it?!”  So, that never happens.  Ever.  Let’s be honest here:  Landscapers, if planters are a significant part of your design project, picking gorgeous ones may make the difference in getting the referral.  I can pretty much guarantee that no one ever raves about the extra average planters that Suzy Spender just bought.

 Right or wrong, there is a reason why matchmaking agencies don’t advertise plain-looking, prospect free losers on their websites.  Show yourself a winner.  What does your pottery selection say about your business?  I remember in Sunday school they told me, “Bad company corrupts good moral.”  If the Bible doesn’t lie, could it be that a lackluster selection in planters is tainting the way your customer sees the rest of your business?

Sonoma Bowl. Baltic Collection.

Having the same drab, ho-hum selection year after year is a mistake – period.  This is the reason Jackson Pottery has elected to keep innovation at the forefront.  We change and add selections more than any other planter company in the market because your customers love the “wow factor” of things they haven’t seen before.  Let’s give them something they can feel good about taking home to meet mamma.  No customer wants to settle for an ugly duckling, they want to fall in love.  Be a matchmaker.

P.S. – My wife once told a friend that she was really glad I wasn’t “too good looking.”

I don’t know how to take that.