Now that your Christmas marketing plans are fully in place, what are your marketing team doing in preparation for next year?

It's only 20 weeks until Easter 2016 so now is the time to make sure your strategic marketing planning gets off on the right foot. That's where the HTA Marketing Forum comes in to help.

In just one day your marketeers and senior managers could be benefitting from the latest tips and know how from bite sized sessions on topics including return on investment from social media, making the most of local radio, digital loyalty schemes, door drop campaigns, using events to drive footfall, making better choices in who we want as our customer, digital marketing issues, attracting and keeping younger family customers, using EPoS as a marketing tool and engaging in stimulating discussion with other garden centre marketeers.  With keynote speakers Tim Mason (former Deputy CEO and Chief Marketing Officer for Tesco) and Gerald Ratner (ex CEO of Ratners) it really is an event not to be missed!

So what are your marketeers doing next Tuesday? A day spent at the HTA Marketing Forum taking in ideas and information from eighteen presentations could be your best marketing investment for next year.

And here’s a great marketing offer for GTN Xtra readers:  Buy one place at the HTA Marketing Forum and get another place for free.  Simply book online at www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum and add in GTNXtra when prompted for an offer code.

See you on Tuesday.

Here’s a great marketing offer for GTN Xtra readers:  Buy one place at the HTA Marketing Forum and get another place for free. 

A day spent next Tuesdayat the HTA Marketing Forum taking in ideas and information from eighteen presentations, yes 18 presentations in just one day, could be your best marketing investment for next year. 

Simply book online at www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum and add in GTNXtra when prompted for an offer code.

See you on Tuesday.

Generating coverage and awareness for your business is no guarantee to driving a return on investment. With every penny on marketing spend counting, this session from Jonathon Bates, Co-Founder and Head of Strategy at Thomond, will establish how businesses can make a tangible difference by reaching the right audience with the right message.

Jonathon Bates is a strategy and planning expert who ensures that every campaign is built upon strong insight and analysis to ensure success. Using audience research, industry analysis and good old fashioned experience, Jonathon has spent over a decade creating strategies for some of the world’s largest brands. Using this experience and knowledge of what it takes to create a household brand, Jonathon’s passion is working with high growth businesses and helping them develop the strategy and marketing plans that drive tangible growth.

If you want to make a tangible difference by reaching the right audience with the right message, book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

John Ashley, who has been involved with garden industry sales and marketing since 1972 will talk about the hugely successful way in which the award winning Scotsdales Garden Centre in Cambridge target key postcodes communicating the wide range of products and services on offer and entice the customer to visit and spend money through voucher offers. 

John joined Fisons in 1972 and held Sales and Marketing Management roles during the rapid growth of gardening during the 1980s.  He then set-up the Miracle Gro business in Europe in 1989 and integrated the ICI and Levington businesses. 

Although John retired at 65, he still assists Scotts with trade relations policy and Scotsdales with their marketing strategy. John is current Chairman of the Greenfingers Charity. 

If you want to learn the secrets of Scotsdales communication successes book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

Chris Corby, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Corby and Fellas, will talk about the way in which EPoS can help in the marketing drive, including the recently launched Hillier Gardening Club Card, bounce-back vouchers,  and how operator’s capture customer’s post code information to target specific audiences. 

Christopher Corby is the co-founder and executive chairman of Corby & Fellas Ltd, an IT company, which specialises in the design, development and deployment of high quality IT systems for retailers. The company, which has been established for 33 years, provides EPoS systems to suit the particular needs of Garden Centres. 

If you want to make sure you are making the most from a marketing point of view of your EPoS system book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

The modern customer is more demanding than ever – they know what they want, how they want it and when they want it. What does this mean for garden centres? Can we still do good by trying to serve all of the people? Or do we have to make better choices in who we want as our customer? To better serve specifically them and their lifestyle?

Addressing this point Laurens Doesborgh, Commercial Director of De Haan Group, will showcase how they use the 500 sqm Concept Store at the Spoga Gafa Fair in Cologne to demonstrate ways of interacting with customers and reaching out to new ones.

De Haan Group is a consulting and shop fitting company focussing only on garden centres.  Laurens Doesborgh worked in a big garden centre for 12 years while doing his MSc Industrial Design study at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Developing shop concepts and store layouts is what he has been doing at De Haan Group for 6 years now. 

“Implementing local characteristics, but with respect to the increasing connected world and customers who see so much more makes a lot of fun, and still has so much potential to create different types of garden centres!”

Neil Grant from Ferndale Garden Centre, talks about some of the ways in which they are reaching out to new customers and keep existing customers, especially younger families, coming back. This is includes their summer beach project and also the National Children’s’ Gardening Week initiative. 

Neil Grant is Managing Director of Ferndale Garden Centre just south of Sheffield. Neil has been with Ferndale for 33 years, since his wife’s family bought a run-down existing garden centre business.  Neil met Linda, his wife, at Writtle Agricultural College, near Chelmsford while studying HND commercial Horticulture.  Having both passed with Distinction they started to develop the family nursery in south Sheffield before moving the whole family to Coal Aston to form Ferndale Nursery and Garden Centre in July 1982.  Neil is passionate about our industry and has previously been Midland area rep for the GCA and then an elected Director sitting on the national executive for 6 years.  Neil became HTA representative for Yorkshire in 2012.  Neil is also ‘garden expert’ for BBC Radio Sheffield every Sunday morning. 

If you want great ideas on how to attract younger families to your centre next year, and keep them coming back, book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

Neil Grant from Ferndale Garden Centre, talks about some of the ways in which they are reaching out to new customers and keep existing customers, especially younger families, coming back. This is includes their summer beach project and also the National Children’s’ Gardening Week initiative.

Neil Grant is Managing Director of Ferndale Garden Centre just south of Sheffield. Neil has

been with Ferndale for 33 years, since his wife’s family bought a run-down existing garden

centre business.  Neil met Linda, his wife, at Writtle Agricultural College, near Chelmsford while

studying HND commercial Horticulture.  Having both passed with Distinction they started to

develop the family nursery in south Sheffield before moving the whole family to Coal Aston to

form Ferndale Nursery and Garden Centre in July 1982.  Neil is passionate about our industry

and has previously been Midland area rep for the GCA and then an elected Director sitting on

the national executive for 6 years.  Neil became HTA representative for Yorkshire in 2012.  Neil is

also ‘garden expert’ for BBC Radio Sheffield every Sunday morning.

If you want great ideas on how to attract younger families to your centre next year, and keep them coming back, book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

If you are thinking of adding soft play to your offering, Boyd Douglas-Davies from the Hillview Group will cover the high and low points through the first year of operating a Soft Play centre in a garden centre. Since opening the Soft Play Barn at Hilltop Garden Store on 1^st October 2014, they have learnt a lot one year on!

Boyd J Douglas-Davies is Chief Executive of Hillview Garden Centres Ltd. The business acquired its first garden centre in September 2011 and now has 9 sites across the Midlands and is looking to add a significant number of centres to its portfolio. Prior to setting up HGC, Boyd was CEO of Webbs of Wychbold, the award winning garden centre in Worcestershire. In 2011 he created Garden Re-Leaf Day; a national day of activities for Gardeners, Garden Centres and Giving. 

Since its inception it has generated a huge amount of PR for the industry and raised over £270,000 for the Greenfingers Charity.  He is passionate about garden centres and relishes challenges that require creative solutions. In 2014 Hillview Garden Centres opened its first Soft Play Barn – a charged for Soft Play and Cafe Bar at Hilltop Garden Store in the Cotswolds. He has plans to open a number of these units in the next year. 

If you want to understand the ups and downs of adding soft play to your mix, book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

Mark Davies, Managing Director, Whistl (Doordrop Media) Ltd, will explain how to effectively plan a doordrop campaign so it delivers the best response using case study examples. 

Mark is responsible for ensuring the growth of Whistl’s door drop business, formerly known as TNT Post. Prior to becoming Managing Director, Mark occupied several key sales roles at the company, which he joined in 2003. Before this Mark spent 10 years seeing the world in the travel and leisure industry and has lived and worked in Santa Barbara, Boston, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Mark is President of ELMA (the European letterbox Marketing Association), sits on the DMA Door Drop Committee with responsibility for Events and PR and speaks regularly on the door drop industry both in the UK and across Europe.  

If you want to plan a doordrop campaign to deliver the best results next year book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

Today, every business of every size has to understand how to engage with their customers via digital channels. Conor Mee from ProvenMentor, who deliver accredited and validated Digital Marketing Courses and Digital Marketing Training to businesses and individuals, provides an update on the key issues on the digital agenda.

Conor Mee, Director at ProvenMentor Ltd, a Digital Marketing Training and Consultancy, has over 20 years manufacturing experience and is the founder, owner and director of two software training businesses. He has a Digital Marketing Institute Certification, BSc in Food Science, and a Certification in Management Consulting (Chartered Management Institute & Institute of Business Consulting). ProvenMentor Ltd is licensed by the Digital Marketing Institute to deliver their Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing throughout GB. With a strong and proven business background in management, mentoring, training and applied business technology.  

If you want to be up to date with key issues on the digital marketing agenda, book your place at The HTA Marketing Forum now.  GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

GTN Xtra readers can take advantage of a special Buy One get One Free offer at: www.the-hta.org.uk/marketingforum using the code GTNXtra.

See you next Tuesday!

• The Greatest Christmas Display Team - awards for individual centres and centres that are part of groups, plus special awards for display teams that are being really innovative.
• The Greatest Grotto Team - regional and national award for teams delivering The Greatest Santa experience for their customers young and old.
• The Greatest Christmas Sizzle Team - for exceptional BBQ sales as gifts and for cooking the turkey in the run up to Christmas.
• The Greatest Festive Plant Sales Team - for planteria teams that really enter into the festive spirit to maximise the sales of plants and trees while centre footfall is at it’s highest.
• The Greatest Festive Catering Team - which catering team is The Greatest at converting footfall into dining and drinking.
• The Greatest Garden Centre Team at Christmas (customer voting) - decided purely by customer voting.  If you have a loyal and satisfied customer base let them make you The Greatest, they will love taking part.
  

To make you nomination and vote, please send an e-mail today to: thegreatestawards@tgcmc.co.uk with your name, garden centre name and your job title, telling us who is your Greatest Christmas Supplier of the year, what they do that makes them great and what is the thing they do best.

The results of The Greatest Christmas Awards will be announced at The Greatest Christmas Awards Party on Sunday January 10^th 2016 in the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate.  To book your tickets please call The Greatest Christmas Awards on 01733 775700.

Pictured: The current Greatest Christmas Supplier of the Year Premier Decorations receiving their award.

Wholesale Nursery| Sales Assistant | Hampshire (ref:DS7742)

Location: Hampshire
Salary: £23000-£25000
Date: 19 Oct 
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

Our client is a leading group of nurseries who sell an innovative range of plants to the garden centre sector across the UK. They are currently seeing an office based Sales Assistant to sell quality plants to their customers. The main purpose of job is to provide sales support for the General Manager and the Commercial team. Based in Hampshire.

Reporting to the General Manager.
Work closely with:
Internal: Sales Colleagues, Commercial Manager, Growing manager, Operations
Managers, Office colleagues
External: Customers, Prospective customers, POS suppliers

The candidate:

The role will be predominantly office based but with a requirement to visit trade shows and key
customers on occasion. Showing customers round the nursery and talking to them on the phone,
managing customer orders in the office and keeping accurate records will form the core.
Essential

• Attention to detail and accuracy
• Accurate record keeping
• Excellent IT skills, ability & desire to learn new systems
• Good telephone manner
• Tele sales experience
• Ability to take responsibility for resolving customer issues
• Flexibility in hours to suit seasonal business
• Full driving licence
• Smart and tidy appearance
• Horticultural experience
• Good Plant knowledge
• Knowledge of web sites
• Experience attending Trade shows

The role

• Assist the management team in achieving or exceeding sales budgets.
• Manage sales orders to garden centres and multiple retailer accounts on an agreed frequency,
• communicating amendments / issues to the customer where necessary.
• Develop a range of options for the sales function to improve customer service and business
• efficiency.
• Manage timely communication of stock availability to customers and resolve customer queries.
• Maintain an accurate stock system, update stock systems daily and report promptly on issues
• relating to stock shortages.
• Provide relevant information in a timely manner to the Operations Manager to ensure prompt
• order collation and excellent customer service.
• Report on weekly, monthly sales as required through existing reporting mechanisms.
• Prepare and deliver business presentations to key accounts.
• Assist in product costing, range development and market/competitor research as required.
• Assist in preparation and distribution of marketing materials including catalogues, e-marketing,
• Webshop updates and maintenance.
• Represent the business in a polite and professional manner, targeting key accounts and
• customer visits as agreed with the General Manager.
• Represent the business at internal and external trade exhibitions.
• General office duties including filing, answering the telephone and visitor reception.
• The above is not an exhaustive list and you may be required to perform different tasks necessitated
• by your changing role within the business and changes of the overall business objectives of the
• organisation.

Buyer | Major Multiple | Plants (ref:BP7663)

Location: South East England
Salary: £40,000
Date: 05 Oct 
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

My client is a large national business which is seeking to strengthen their industry leading plant buyer team. 
This national brand is committed to developing excellence in horticulture and recognises it will need the best people to achieve their goal.

The Role

The Plant Buyer will report to the Lead Plant Buyer and will be tasked with finding and securing supplies of top quality plants to build a innovative and unique range. 
The role will be office based primarily and would not suit an applicant who would need to work from home. You will take regular ad hoc visits to suppliers and will also attend industry trade shows to source new lines. 
Relationship management will be a big part of your role as a buyer and effective management and negotiation will be essential to securing the best product at the best prices. 

The Person

We are looking for an experienced Buyer, who ideally has had experience of sourcing for a multi site business providing seasonal high care goods. 
Buying skills are first and foremost, a passion for horticulture is also essential but specific plant knowledge will be taught. 
You must want to commit to a career in the industry as individuals who don't love horticulture will not fit into the team. 
Experience in a production nursery environment would be advantageous but is not essential. 

Your current job title could be;
Plant Buyer, Assistant Plant Buyer, Junior Plant Buyer, Horticulture Buyer, Plant Buying Assistant

Plant Propagation Seeding Supervisor | Manager (ref:DS7708)

Location: North Yorkshire
Salary: £18,000 - £25,000
Date: 05 Oct 
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

We are currently seeking an experienced seeding propagator / seeding department manager for our client.

They are a leading North Yorkshire based Wholesale Nursery and Propagation specialist who supply young plants to the nursery trade.

The role

These well respected nursery growers are currently seeking either an experienced Nursery Person who is capable of helping to run the seeding equipment in their propagation department or someone with commercial horticultural experience who is capable of learning and growing into the role. 

The Candidate 

for this role will have previous experience in a commercial wholesale nursery and ideally be trained in commercial horticulture up to a level 3 diploma. 
Have reasonable plant knowledge 
Be capable of working to deadlines and production targets 
Have excellent communications skills and be able to manage a team 

Salary is dependent on experience and capability, they are open minded as to taking on a manager who can hit the ground running and is capable of taking on the management of the department but they will also consider less experienced growers and propagators who can learn on the job and develop into the role. 

Please submit your CV in the first instance or to discuss further please call Dianne Saunders at MorePeople on 01780 480530.

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2013 as well as 2014 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most up-to-date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Christmas Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.