SALES SKILLS FOR GARDEN CENTRE STAFF

Improve your sales skills or those of your staff! This 20-hour online course was written in conjunction with professionals working in this field. Students will learn the art of selling – understanding that a more professional approach to selling is the key to improved sales in today’s competitive environment.

A business cannot survive without great salespeople and garden centres are not excluded from this. Too often garden centres have concentrated only the plants – not how to sell those plants. If a garden centre is to survive today, then it needs great staff with the abilities, techniques, attitudes and approaches of professional salespeople. Just knowing about horticulture, although important, is not enough. A sales team or even a single salesperson can make a huge difference to the success of a business. Knowing how to open and close a sale and how to encourage add-on sales are fundamental to sales skills. This course covers that and a lot more.

This Course is for:

• Garden centre sales assistants
• Garden centre owners
• Small operators
• Larger operators with accessible and flexible staff training needs
• People (with some horticultural background) looking to break into garden sales
• Students of horticulture wanting to expand into sales

COURSE CONTENT

Lesson 1: Presentation, Personality and Communication in Selling

• Personality, Self-Awareness and Attitude
• Types of Shoppers
• Communication, Active Listening and Conversation Selling
• Communicating Confidence
• Trends in Garden Centre Customers

Lesson 2: Helping the Product Sell Itself

• Merchandising and Displays
• Signs
• How Customers Pay
• Garden Centre Products and Services

Lesson 3: Product Knowledge

• What is Product Knowledge?
• Knowing your competition
• Marketing For Garden Centres and Nurseries
• Lesson 3 Additional Reading
• Mark Ups in Garden Centres – What to Charge
• What is a ‘Reasonable’ Mark Up?

Lesson 4: Selling Made Simple

• Introduction – The selling process
• Steps in Sales
• Using Language to Promote Sales
• Creating Logical Sentences
• Reduce Confusion in Your Sales Approach

Lesson 5: ‘The Opening’ (Gaining the Customer ’s Attention)

• Introduction
• Timing and Opening a Sale

Lesson 6: ‘Closing a Sale ’ (COS)

• Add-On Sales/Upselling

Lesson 7: The Law and Selling

• Ethics and Selling
• Ethics in Sales
• Guidelines for Ethical Marketing and Selling

Lesson 8: Gaining and Keeping Customers

• Customer Satisfaction
• Promotions
• Measuring Success