Two weeks on from HTA Futures, GTN Xtra asked a handful of retailer delegates what they had gained from attending what was in our opinion one of the most thought provoking and inspirational garden industry conferences of recent years.
At a time when there is more change and uncertainty on the horizon we asked: What was the most useful thing you learned from HTA Futures? What/who inspired you to make radical changes back at the centre in the coming months? Have you already been able to use the content to motivate your team and get new thinking going for next year and the future?
Here are the responses we received:
Gary Carvasso, Coolings
“I totally valued the time out. The HTA team worked hard I felt to deliver and succeeded.
“As a mature, successful and profitable business we could easily be in danger of losing the art of start-up and introducing new services in particular. Leonard Diepenbrock, the German family business entrepreneur challenged our thinking and flagged up the dangerous path we could find ourselves taking as a business. The truth is we are so caught up in making things better and cheaper that we miss great opportunities.
“Dr Ross Cameron, from the University of Sheffield examined the climate predictions for the UK and looked at how this will affect gardening and garden retail, and has spawned an idea to include in our future.
“PY Gerbeau who has an impressive track record of turning around failing enterprises. The four things you need in order to survive: flexibility, adaptability, agility, and common sense. Leaders must remember that their best asset is not their product or their business strategy, but their people. We are currently working on a 10-year plan for our business and it helped me put in context the relationship between investment required for capital projects and the significant investment we need to plan for, in terms keeping AND adding the right people. It is our people who deliver the experience.
“Our management meetings will need to focus more about the future, and in fact 9 of us spent some time this morning considering this in light of the provocation from Leonard. How do we create an environment of a freedom to fail, possibly creating a start-up fund that our teams can pitch for? Paul Playdell suggested a good business is like a table with many legs and that led me to think what other services are we not offering on and off site, that make sense and offer solutions to our customers. Ideas are flowing already. He also reminded us that experience is vital when almost every product is available elsewhere: We must make customers laugh and cry, we need to be daring and memorable.
“As ever the value of meeting new people, catching up with suppliers and others in the garden retail trade, always produces bags of stuff that is useful in shaping your thinking.”
Julie Wigglesworth, Aylett Nurseries
“My thoughts are: To use a new measure: “smiles per square metre” to measure customer experience, and remember to tell the story rather than just put product on a shelf. The research into plant breeding and the future use of plants in our cities, thinking of trees as air conditioning units, and climbing plants as insulators.
“ Never do anything radical - customers do not tend to enjoy it! Continue to evolve and change, remember to keep up with ever changing technology - I had never heard of Amazon dash now I would like a button on my washing machine too!
“Continue to think about what we can do to make our customers life better.
“I think the day should be thought of as a training day, opening eyes and ears to different ideas, that can be used in the future. Not sure I have had time to put any of it into action yet but it is all in my mind and who knows when it may be useful. It is very easy to stay in your centre, getting caught up with the mundane and forget what a broad and fantastic industry we work in! The day should be used to motivate yourself, gaining an insight into many different ideas, it can be quite lonely at the top (or bottom depending how you look at it) and after a day like that, you hear that other people have the same frustrations and concerns and you are not alone. If the leaders remain motivated the team will follow.
Simon Fraser, Ben Reid
“It is the biggest investment in my personal development a year, so crucial to the business. I felt I had a full return on investment by the first coffee break this year so good was the content!
We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction. - Bill Gates
“Never has this been more true!
“The most useful thing I learned from Wednesday HTA Futures: Keep being the best, and make sure the team believe it too! The tale of the Boots employee sending PY to spec savers is such an important lesson for all retailers.
“Ibrahim Ibrahim and the future foundation guys inspired me to make radical changes back at the centre in the coming months: Understanding the many routes-journeys to buying and how we can engage with the consumer going forward.
“I’ve been on holiday this week but when I get back we will discuss how we can continue to add fun and knowledge into our product mix. I came home and signed up to Garden Connects personal email scheme!”
Tim Godwin, Fosseway
“The one who did it for me was Lenard Diepenbrock who has transformed his business by looking outside the box and being honest about the business to see that the was little opportunity to revolutionise what he was successfully doing already.
“I thought there was some good content from Ibrahim. I loved the measuring “smiles per square metre” as something a progressive garden centre should be measuring. With some very interesting stuff from the future foundation especially Joshua and his view of what might happen through this uncertain time. The digital age is upon us but good staff are a very strong key to the door.
“I have put a team together with a budget to look at what we could be doing and should be doing to develop the business over the next 10 years and have some answers by the end of January 2017. I feel doing this over the busy period will concentrate the mind further.”
Adam Wigglesworth, Aylett Nurseries and HTA President
“Remember the value of the front facing team - they actually deliver the service.
“These conferences are vital so you can get out and get ideas, it’s really difficult to be thinking strategically and managing the risks to your business when you are embroiled in the everyday hub-bub like most of us.
“It’s one day and a dinner - you and your businesses deserve it!
“Quite often you have a kernel of an idea and someone at these days will help you distil it.
“If you think what professional advice costs these days are really good value.
“We have an amazing industry and people share so much if you are not there you do not hear it!”
GTN Xtra comment:
In a market sector where independent retailers still hold the majority of outlets we wonder why more of the small to medium sized businesses do not take advantage of conferences such as these?
The HTA are doing great things to help everyone involved in our industry and the biggest potential benefactors are retailers. Our industry needs, and does have, a vibrant and helpful trade association but why are more members not attending events such as HTA Futures and making the most of their membership?
If you’d like to share your thoughts with us, please use the comments button below or e-mail: trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
Read Mike Wyatt’s reports from HTA Futures in the November issue of GTN that will be arriving in your post next week.
