| Tuesday
March 2, 2010 |
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lion or
lamb? |
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Even though a lot of us are still buried under snow, there is something
about flipping the calendar to March that is exciting. Each day it stays
lighter a little longer and I'm sure most of you are gearing up for Spring
right now. March may come in like a lion and go out like a lamb...only
time will tell. I'm hoping this industry has a lion of a spring with
"roaring" sales. We know we all need it.
Remember that some "Christmas" items
can be sold other times of the year too. Easels are Memorial Day staples,
Wreath Hangers work great for other seasonal decorations, and Porch Pots
are definitely multi-seasonal. The list goes on and on! Have extra
carryover? Dust it off and get it out there! Need something for spring?
Give us a call or send us an email. We can work with you and supply you
with some of our excellent nonperishable inventory items during other
seasons too. Even though our office hours vary, we are still around and
are happy to help you.
Here's an innovative reminder.....amidst all the hustle and bustle of the
Spring season, don't forget to throw in a little signage reminding your
customers to visit not only in the spring, but in the summer, fall and
winter too! You have a captive audience, take advantage of that and entice
them to return to you during other seasons, especially Christmas! That
will help keep sales "roaring" along (we don't want the tiny
bleating of a lamb....we want the ROAR!)
As
for me, I am working on 2010 pricing and am deep in the process of
developing our new items for 2010! We have some fun new fresh wreaths to
look forward too, as well as many other things! Stay tuned....and remember
to ROAR! |
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| Monday
February 1, 2010 |
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love is in
the air. |
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Maybe it is the clean white blanket of snow that causes this but by
February I am ready for a bit of color! I'm a visual person so researching
color trends for Christmas 2010 is one of the more enjoyable tasks that I
do this time of year. We just about have our 2010 themes selected but we
aren't quite ready to announce them just yet. I just have to say I am in LOVE
with the color schemes I am seeing for this year!
So....stay
tuned! The colors are fresh and fun and exciting and when the timing is
right, we will happily announce them... probably adding a bit of fanfare
to get you excited too!
I'm really enjoying this new electronic medium
too....the emailing and blogging allows me to stay connected with each of
you a little bit more throughout the year. I LOVE
it!
It really is true that we work on Christmas all year long.
Most of January was spent finishing out 2009 and starting on 2010 and that
will continue. I will keep blogging and emailing when we have something
really important to share. So stay connected with us......Christmas will
be here again before we know it! In the meantime, we LOVE
Christmas and LOVE
planning fun products for our customers. We hope you are finding something
to LOVE
about this wonderful industry that we share too! Happy February! |
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| Sunday
January 3, 2010 |
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a new
year...a new season. |
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I
hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I also
hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday selling season in 2009. In our
area, the weather was about as perfect as you could get....a bit on the
warm side but that made it all the more conducive to outdoor decorating!
After the bustling season, I will be honest.....I have allowed myself to
take a much needed break from work a bit lately and now feel refreshed and
renewed and ready to return and finish out 2009 details and also look to
2010 with exciting new ideas and plans.
There is just something so new and exciting about a new
year....like a clean slate waiting to be embraced and written upon with
fabulous, out-of-the-box ideas. Stay tuned. I have a feeling 2010 is going
to be a GREAT NEW YEAR! |
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| Monday
October 19, 2009 |
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it's
magical really. |
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Christmas truly is a magical holiday. Now, before you think I have sniffed
too much of the evergreens already, hear me out. I agree that for those of
us in this industry the holidays lose a little luster in the day-to-day
process of running our businesses. I certainly have moments where I get
bogged down, tired, and downright Grinch-like and I am sure most of you do
too. But then something will happen. Maybe it's something as simple as a
special telephone conversation with a customer but it makes me realize
that what we do for a living shares the magic with the world......one
person at a time. Think about it. From the careful pruning of the trees to
the person hanging the fresh wreath on their home all of us have worked
together...bonded really....to make an already magical holiday all the
more special.
As the season is just beginning I wanted to just take a moment and say
thank you. Thank you for sharing in the magic. I'm looking forward to the
holidays and hope you are too. After all, it's Tis
the Season Time
and what can be more magical than that?
I will attempt to blog periodically but if I don't,
know that it is because I am fully absorbing myself into the magic of the
season and I hope that you join me. Here's to sharing the magic!
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| Friday
August 21, 2009 |
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fresh,
new, and exciting. |
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That is the only way I can describe our new items for 2009. To make the
2009 items easier to find on this ever-expanding website, go to the
current news page by clicking HERE. There
you will find a list of the new items for this year. By clicking on the
new items, it will take you to the right page where you can find
them.
My advice to you? Don't be afraid to try
something new. Remember, we have no minimums! We do this so you can try
and test new items without a huge risk. The key is ordering early. I can't
tell you how many times I hear, "just duplicate my order from last
year". While this is a good strategy for covering your basics, don't
let your inventory become stagnant and repetitive by not taking a few
moments to add something fresh and new. Trust me, you will be glad that
you did!
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| Tuesday
August 18, 2009 |
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the power
of a porch pot. |
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One of the amazing things about this industry is the willingness I see in
my customers to share ideas with their "competition". I can't
tell you how many times I heard things like "what works for me
is...." and "you should try....." spoken from the owner of
one garden center to the owner of another garden center. (Feel free to
substitute "garden center" with "greenhouse",
"Christmas Tree Farm", or any other industry retail
establishment because I have heard them ALL be helpful to each other).
One
such idea I have heard shared numerous times is the "Returning
Customer" tip. This tip involves the many ways you can get a single
consumer to return during each season.....spring, summer, fall, and
winter. New for 2009, we have our own products and tips to help with that
challenge....the Porch Pot.
Don't
let the name fool you, it's not only for porches. This item makes an
excellent memorial item as well. It's very sturdy with drain holes in the
bottom and it will easily hold your 10" pot.
And
the "Returning Customer Tip"? Decorate and sell this wonderful
item for Christmas.....with a program in place to have them bring back
their Porch Pot. You can plant it up for them in the spring, maybe plant
it again in the summer, plant it in the fall with Autumn-inspired colors,
and of course, redecorate it for Winter with Christmas Greens again.
With the sale of one porch pot you have the added bonus of creating a
program to guarantee plant sales in the other seasons too! It's a win for
both you and your customer too!
Click HERE to go to the Porch Pot page of our
website!
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| Thursday
August 13, 2009 |
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CD tips
& candleberry details |
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It's come to my attention that some helpful hints and tips about our price
list CD might be a good thing. This is a relatively new concept and I
apologize if our efforts to be more "green" and simplify things
actually makes it more difficult. I think once everyone is comfortable
with this new tool, they will find it so much easier to use.
First,
on the CD are 3 different types of files which I will break down into 2
categories. Those file types are Word documents, Excel files, and PDF
files. The neat thing about the Word and Excel files is that you can type
right into the fields on those files. You can then save a copy for your
own records and print and fax or even simply email back the file to us as
your 2009 order. You can fill out the forms that are in Word by typing in
the appropriate areas....then save a copy for your records and email (or
print and fax) the forms to us. The catch is you have to have Word and
Excel (which is part of Microsoft Office) in order to use these
files.
Since
we know not everyone has Word and Excel, we have also saved all of the
information as a PDF file. This file can be read, but not modified so you
can't type in the fields with the PDF files. However, you can view the
files and if you don't already have Adobe PDF viewer on your computer, you
can download it for free at www.adobe.com. Simply
click on "Get Adobe Reader" and it will take you to the page
where you can download it.
Back to the Excel files......in terms of the multi-page
lists (such as Regular Price List and Direct Ship List), you will see
little tabs at the bottom of the screen that say "Page 1",
"Page 2" and so on. You need to click each "worksheet"
as they call those tabs in Excel in order to view, modify, print that
particular page. Our Regular Price List has 22 pages (including the cover
sheet) and the Direct Ship has 5 pages (including the cover sheet).
As for the Candleberry details.......I had a customer
just today point out to me (and if you are reading this blog, you know who
you are....thank you for the feedback) that the wording on our price list
is a bit confusing as 12" shows up near both the Candleberry Wreaths.
On Page 2 of our Regular Price List, the Candleberry is a 12"
ring.....and that is the new wreath for 2009. On Page 3 of our Regular
Price List the Candleberry has 12" OD in the description but that OD
means "outside diameter". The ring size of that wreath is a
7" ring. That is the Candleberry wreath we have had for many years. I
hope this helps clarify things.
As I mentioned, I want this blog to be helpful
and informative. Please let me know if I can answer questions, or if there
is some other information that I can share that might be helpful to
everyone.
Happy Thursday Everyone! (P.S.....the deadline
for the PreSeason Sale is only 19 days away! Don't forget....it's
September 1st!)
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| Wednesday August
12, 2009 |
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the beginnings of a blog...and a ticking
clock. |
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Welcome
to our blog! Although we haven't yet joined the Twitter and Facebook
bandwagon, we felt it was time to create a blog on this website, with the
intention of sharing information and other fun and useful tips. Hopefully
you will enjoy your time visiting our blog and it will become a place you
frequent often!
Tick-Tock....Tick-Tock.....the countdown is on. Not just for back to
school but for the deadline to lock in pricing for our two fabulous
sales....the PreSeason Sale and the Swag Stimulus Sale. Take just a
minute.........find a pen, pencil, crayon....whatever it takes....and mark
your calendar now with the deadline of September 1st!
Okay, now that we got that important task out of
the way, let's chat about the upcoming Christmas season. Last month we
were exhibitors at the OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio. I will be
honest, I didn't know quite what type of "mood" attendees
would be in. We all know the economy hasn't been the best (to put it
mildly) and I wasn't sure how the spring season had gone for everyone in
terms of sales. I was cautiously optimistic going into the show....and I
was pleasantly surprised! The majority of the people that we spoke with
had decent to better-than-normal spring sales. They had also done very
well with our product during Christmas 2008. And....they were EXCITED
about Christmas and ENTHUSIASTIC about planning and ordering for the
upcoming holiday season.
There are many things to be positive about and
the economy is slowly improving. Christmas is a time of family....and of
hope....and that "staycation" trend from this summer will
continue during the Christmas season too. Look to the spring sales as an
indicator.....home gardening was big. People stayed home and planted
gardens. They are also going to stay home over the holidays and
"plant memories". Our product is at the root of those
memories......the fragrance of our fresh greens is such an integral part
of Christmas...it's a natural fit. There is nothing, absolutely nothing
that can be a substitute for that.
A lot of time and thought went into our
"new" items this year. We wanted to make sure we had a variety
of pricing points to allow for the possibility that consumers might still
be watching their pennies. We have found solutions for that.....such as in
our new 12" Candleberry Wreath. It's the same design as our
ever-favored Candleberry, but in a new door-size and at an excellent price
too. It has quality, distinction, and value.
It is very important that blogs cater to
their readers. So please tell me what you want to hear about. How can our
blog be enjoyable and educational? Send your thoughts to me at shannon@wintergreens.com.
I can't promise how often this blog will be updated, but I will do
everything I can to make this new blog something you want to frequent.
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Note: This web background was found at www.backgroundcity.com. |
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