Face-to-Face Marketing: The Power of the Smile

by Kelly D. Norris

By this time, many nursery owners have finished their whirlwind tour of the trade shows that occur in January and February.  Mid-Am, CENTS, Western, Mid-States, and state nursery and landscape association conventions are but a few on the itinerary of the enterprising plantsman.  The trade show season is followed by consumer shows and home gardener events in March and April.  A list of these would take pages as many large cities host flower show exhibitions while smaller communities support their master gardeners through day-long workshops and symposia.  Many of the latter often have an exhibits floor, the show ring for smaller, perhaps more localized, businesses.  Most likely running solely on the fuel of volunteers, these shows, seminars, day camps, workshops, and symposia feature an array of educational and economic opportunities for the gardening public.  Enter the nurseryman.

If your business is like mine, it can’t afford to spend four weeks on the road to major trade shows nor should it aspire to.  I run a specialty nursery with a diverse clientele of collectors, advanced and novice gardeners.  Yet the underlying concept between trade and consumer shows is the same.  A business is trying to make an impression on that group of people which is most economically valuable to its livelihood.  This concept is of immense value to our industry and not a concept that has caught on in all niches of the global economy.  Yet a surprising number of nursery businesses neglect these convenient opportunities to market face-to-face to potential clientele.  A tiring list of excuses undoubtedly ensues.  The most common excuses are too little time, too little money, nothing to supply a booth with, those aren’t my clientele, and that the task of assembling a booth is a hassle.

Time and money are the timeless and classic variables of human existence.  Few businesses that attend consumer shows will regret the experience.  Many can’t wait to fill out the applications for next year.  In just our fifth year of business we have to prioritize the applications that come into our office.  We’ve exhibited at several throughout that time and have come to find which ones net us the most customers and inevitably the greater share of sales.  If we are unable to attend an event we inquire as to whether or not they have a catalog exchange.  

You always have something to supply a booth with.  Even if your booth is as simple as YOU, a sign, and some flyers or business cards your face-to-face encounter with the human form of purse strings can prove of monumental worth.  Now you’ve not only put a face to the name of your business but people know who to look for when they walk in your nursery or garden center in May, armed with a checkbook and a long list of wants.  If you have actual green product, that’s even better.  None of our booths (with the exception of one or two where it was used as decoration) have had saleable green product.  Remember those applications that we have to prioritize?

The penultimate “excuse” is potentially valid if you’ve been to the show and found it not to be of your sorts.  Some consumer shows masquerade as “home and garden shows” when really they are “home shows with the garden section over by the restrooms”.  But you have to attend before you can truthfully make this assertion.

As I see it you are only hassling yourself by not going!  Our regular attendance for three years at a major garden show in central Iowa is still proving valuable to us.  We’ve had customers as late as last sales season who found our card in their files.  Despite the hours spent in setting the booth up, commuting to the event site, and the pain in our cheeks after smiling so much, I hardly consider all of this a hassle when I realize the opportunity it has created. GG

Kelly D Norris is a contributing editor for Garden & Greenhouse, farm manager for Rainbow Iris Farm and is working on his undergraduate degree in horticulture at Iowa State University. You can reach him by calling 712.621.5399 or by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can read his blog at http://e-gardenalmanac.blogsport.com .