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So you made it to June! No major crises, not too many frivolous lawsuits, only a couple of employees going AWOL, and the registers were singing like birds.

Time to relax? Wrong! Although the hobbyists are now easing off garden shopping, for lifestyle customers the season is just beginning. They are planning projects based on entertaining friends and living outdoors as much as possible. So now is the time to lead the sales team into a new battle to persuade customers to purchase items for summer living.

Most garden center owners are determined to have a team who can answer questions, provide product knowledge and suggest-sell in the busy spring season. Ironically, these skills are just as important (maybe more so) in summer.

In spring, most full-service centers run, in reality, as self-service centers. The staff is so challenged by incoming products, a phone that never stops and the sheer volume of customers per hour, that a hand-holding, 20-minute listening-and-suggesting type of selling is just not realistic for most employees. The fact is for about six to eight weeks in spring, employees sometimes feel more like traffic cops.

So now the pressure is off a little; it's time to practice those sales skills.

Listen and learn

Unless you find out the customers' current situation and their desired end result, you can only guess.

It is important to create a picture in your mind of what's in the customer's yard. So questions on shade, exposure, soil type (such as: "Does it drain away after rain or lie there wet for days?"), space available, backdrop, surrounds and existing plants are vital. Some customers won't have a clue about plant types, so they may need to see examples or pictures.

Part of the probing and listening is aimed at finding customers' expectations. Again, use open questions to listen for timetable clues.

Are they busy working people or retirees who may want to enjoy more nurturing of their garden? Do they have short-term expectations of a gorgeous patio for a family gathering next weekend, or is this a summerlong project?

Defining needs also requires questions on style (modern or traditional), about existing colors of walls, trim and furniture or pottery and on what they may have seen already in magazines, neighbors' gardens or in your store.

Active listening

All these questions require salespeople to carry out what is sometimes called active listening.

Many of us do this all the time without realizing when we talk to customers who tell a story about their landscape, but sprinkle the tale with sidebars of stories and opinions about all sorts of connected issues that are not part of the core. For example, after 10 minutes of hearing a customer talk about her lawn, you might be able to boil it down to a few core facts. You'll ask: "Brown patches, 3-4 inches wide and increasing, no dogs involved and no fertilizer applied recently, right?" "Yes, you've got it!"

If customers end up with the wrong product for the situation, they probably won't blame themselves for inaccurate telling. So spending time by probing, listening and confirming the current situation is vital.

Summarizing at the end of the listening phase is a very useful sales technique in any situation. It shows you are interested and gives customers the chance to add to any point they think you may have missed or not grasped. A good concise summary focuses both parties on the current situation and sets the stage for the suggestion phase.

Thinking for the customer (TFC)

As well as the widely known TLC (Thinking Like a Customer), there are times when it pays to do their thinking for them. While most people know what they don't like, especially in matters of style, color and the more emotional aspects of plants and outdoor living, few really know what they should buy to get the results they want. This is where you come in. Let's look at a couple of case studies.

Case A. A customer comes in and tells you excitedly that she is going to be a telecommuter working online from home and is converting a small bedroom to an office.

Your questions find that she is self-employed and busy getting her new office established (this means no time for planting and watering small annuals, so put those back on the bench). You think of and suggest bigger, tougher plants in stylish containers and a simple plug-in irrigation kit.

When you ask about the view, you find she needs a quick screen to hide the street traffic. A trellis and a quick-growing vine come to mind. Your question about the neighbors brings an eye-rolling "don't ask" (but of course you did). This leads you to suggest a nice noisy fountain outside the window to drown out the sound of the dog barking. Next, you suggest a birdbath or bird feeder for those idle moments when people look up from their keyboards (she loved that).

Finally, you have her select her favorite wind chimes, which can either soothe her on a stressful day or get back at the neighbors for their barking dog. Suggestions sold; project done. She is happily on her way with a several-hundred-dollar sale and in less time than she would spend walking the aisles of non-service retailers where people like her are left to figure it out for themselves.

Case B. A couple in their mid- to late 20s are looking at pavers. Your questions soon find out that this is their first home. They have a baby on the way and want to build a small patio off the kitchen to relax a little this summer.

You confirm that the pavers can be delivered, give them tips on how to best tackle the job and lead them to a small bistro set in the next department.

On hearing that they are looking forward to sitting out in the evening in their first garden, you suggest a couple of ready-planted hay racks with fragrant flowers for the wall and a small fire pit to while away the summer nights waiting for the baby.

Then, being a mom yourself, you suggest she grow her own herbs this summer in pots in case she has a basil and chocolate craving at 2 a.m.

They love the fact that you listened, seemed interested and excited for their coming event, were conscious of their budget and gave them a great start to their first landscape project. Congratulations, they can do it, you did help.

Most garden center employees have all the knowledge needed to help most customers in this way, but often lack the confidence or training to bring it about. But when salespeople become engaged with customers, the homeowner's success will create a loyalty that other industries would love to have.

Suggestion selling, especially in summer, is the reason many of us stay in this industry. We love to help people succeed with what we love ourselves. Listening and collecting a customer's situation, followed by clear, simple suggestions of product benefits and the end result, can make a hot summer's day at work very rewarding.

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© 2007 Branch-Smith Publishing