Tough Economic Times? Know Your Value to Your Customer

Plant for Profits Column, Leslie F. Halleck

What are YOU Worth to Your Customer?

This past week in my “The Business of Horticulture” course, before we wrap up for the quarter, we’ve been covering the topic of knowing your value. While a lot of that conversation centers around understanding your own value as a professional in the horticulture industry and how to charge profitably for your products and services - and how you value your time - a big part of that equation is of course your customer and what they value about you.

VALUE. That’s what it all comes down to, right? In today’s increasingly uncertain economic and political times, with tariffs bearing down on American businesses and consumers, and prices going up, where how and why we all spend our hard-earned money is going to get a lot less casual. The horticulture industry really needs to double down on what we mean to our customers and how we bring value to their lives.

Ask yourself: What are YOU as a consumer willing to double down on even if you're being told to tighten your belt (while others get to loosen theirs). What experiences, plants, products, education, etc. enrich your life (beyond the purchase) such that you’re willing to keep investing in those products and services, even at a higher price?

I did some car camping at an area state park this past weekend, and I’ll be spending a good part of the week working from a camp site there next week. Why? The benefits to my mental health and well being are tremendous. The ability to get just outside a huge busy city to a beautiful piece of nature that offers me up some solace and peace is worth its weight in gold. In these stressful times I’m choosing to redirect more of my hard-earned money to organizations like the park system and reputable companies that sell nature gear- instead of spending on other things - because of how much experiential value they offer me.

I suspect many of your garden center, plant shop, garden design, landscaping, and plantscaping customers will be making the same mental adjustments when it comes to how they spend moving forward. Sure, price will be a more primary concern these days…but I think that the value of what customers are buying is going to become even more important. If I have to spend 30% more on something, am I going to get whatever it is I really want from buying it? What’s really in it for your customer and who exactly do they want to support economically with their money. Where do you and your business fall in that equation? What kind of experience and benefits are you offering customers beyond just your products and services that will make them want to maintain a buying relationship with you?

We’re talking emotional currency here, not just dollars.

Less fake, more real. Authenticity is key when it comes to creating and communicating your value. Influencer culture has become pure advertising these days. Many content creators channels have really just become today's product commercials of the past and consumers just aren't buying it the way they used to. Building trust and inspiring confidence by communicating a genuine interest and care for what your customers get from you is key. I'll dig to this topic more in next week's column.

I’d also like to talk about discounts and incentives…that whole stick versus carrot conversation. I see a lot of scrambling to discount products right now from many companies. If you’re a client or business student of mine, you’ll already know how I feel about discounts. While they do have their place, and can be effective from time to time, I’m generally not a fan. While I understand a lot of businesses are feeling the economic pressure right now and may not be moving inventory like they planned this spring, simply discounting products may not be the answer. Does a discount increase or decrease the value of that exchange with your customer? What impression does it leave them about your products…does it inspire confidence? And do discounts actually help your inventory velocity?

You might consider, instead, of offering more value instead of discounting cost. I’ll pull a quote from myself from a column I wrote in 2020 on discounting houseplants: “If you must offer incentives, then consider the psychology: Getting one free houseplant (of equal or lesser value) for every five houseplants purchased may be a much more attractive incentive for today’s plant consumer than a general discount of 10%-20% off all your houseplants. The former tells me you have lots of stock to choose from, the latter tells me you’re trying to get rid of crap. The former helps you move more volume, the latter results in low average sales.”

What can you add to the table during an exchange that increases the perception of value, inspires confidence for your customer, and benefits your bottom line. Versus what you are taking away. Carrots always taste better than sticks.

I apply the same carrot principle to things like service invoices. I ditched late fees many years ago. Why? They were confrontational and negative and they made customers upset. And trying to collect was a beat down for me. Even if that customer was late paying their invoice, and that was their fault, the negativity still trickled back down onto me and my brand when I asked to be paid. I decided, back when I was juggling a lot of bigger retainer clients, to add an incentive to my invoices instead of a late fee. Pay your invoice on time = get some free consulting time. Boy did my invoice closing time speed WAY up and clients were excited to bank some free time. And guess what? I didn’t have to waste my valuable time and burn good vibes on all that extra administrative time I’d have to spend trying to collect on late invoices. Win/win. These days I bill everything upfront and I incentivize referrals. You can apply these same concepts to just about anything you do in your horticulture business be it your customer loyalty program, special deals, and project invoices.

So that's your takeaway question for the week: What do you think you are really worth to your customers and can you genuinely and effectively earn their emotional capital along with their cash?