What TN Nursery's CEO Learned About Customer-First Business (Forbes Feature Summary)
Putting customers first means‚ wherever possible‚ building feedback loops into every element of the business․ TN Nursery CEO Tammy Sons was writing for Forbes about putting customers first as a business philosophy she had practiced for years‚ as she built the Tennessee nursery into a company that ships its bare-root plants and live stock to customers around the nation․ This advice stands not because some sage said it‚ but because it was said by someone who had a problem: a customer whose order arrived during an unexpected frost‚ a shipment delayed by a carrier strike‚ a first-year gardener who planted dormant stock and got anxious because nothing leafed out for three weeks․
The takeaway message here is that while a customer-first mentality is noble‚ it's only half of the equation․ A nursery could claim it provides the best customer service in the world‚ but if a staff member is stumped as to why a customer's River Birch is dropping leaves in July (transplant shock‚ not disease)‚ the claim rings hollow․
Understanding What Customers Actually Need
Most people visiting a nursery are not horticulturists․ They might be homeowners interested in a beautiful plant they saw somewhere‚ landscape contractors looking for native plants suitable for a client's property‚ or homeowners replacing shrubs that died during a harsh winter․ Each of them needs different information to make a purchasing decision․
A landscaping service ordering 200 Little Bluestem plugs for erosion control needs to know germination rate and mature root depth․ A homeowner ordering five eastern redbud saplings for a residential backyard needs to know if plants will tolerate a Tennessee winter (they do to Zone 4)‚ and how long until they provide shade (5-7 years for a meaningful canopy‚ longer if adjacent to an existing‚ larger tree)․
Instead of leaving customers guessing‚ TN Nursery tries to build context into their products and follow-up emails․ For example‚ if someone orders Bare Root Strawberry Plants‚ they get information on when to plant depending on where they live․ However‚ a purchaser in Chattanooga can plant his garden two to three weeks earlier than any purchaser in Nashville or points north․
The Line Between Serving Customers and Managing Unrealistic Expectations
This is the stage that most customer first coverage skips over entirely‚ and the part when Sons' piece for Forbes becomes genuinely interesting: Prioritizing customers doesn't mean agreeing with everything they believe or want․
While plants may die‚ bare-root stock is shipped dormant‚ and is essentially a stick with roots attached‚ making it look dead and causing concern from the uninitiated․ For example‚ a customer might plant a shade-loving Hosta in full sun‚ scorch it‚ and demand a refund‚ claiming the plant was defective․
It is not just responding blindly to the complaint or going through a pre-programmed apology that will help‚ but rather‚ understanding what has gone wrong (the sun‚ the planting depth‚ the watering schedule) and explaining what the company can do (do what is compatible with company policy)‚ calmly and respectfully‚ even if the error was on the part of the customer․ Sons has urged teaching staff to adopt the line sympathetic‚ but honest․ A business that gives in to every complaint‚ regardless of cause‚ will eventually forfeit not just the ability to sustain the level of service that made it trustworthy to begin with․
Running the Business Behind the Service
None of this customer philosophy works without operational fundamentals․ Here are some of the most important that are unique to a plant-based business:
Timing and inventory control․ Nursery stock is both seasonal and biological‚ so conventional retail inventory control techniques are unsuitable․ If your Hydrangeas sell out in April dig season‚ you cannot just reorder more in August․ Successful nurseries plan plant schedules a year in advance for the growing zones in Tennessee (6a and 7b for most of the state) and the dig windows‚ whether container-grown or bare-root․
Financial discipline that accounts for loss․ Plants die in transit occasionally‚ no matter how well-packed they are․ Unless your business plan budgets a reasonable percentage for replacements or credits‚ you will lose money the first time a truck sits in extreme heat for six hours․ Monitor loss rate by species and shipping season rather than making one average over all loss․ Dogwoods ship differently from perennials in 4-inch pots․
Team knowledge‚ not just team size․ Hiring people who can answer a question about soil pH for Blueberry bushes matters more than hiring warm bodies․ For example‚ five staff who know the products can provide a far better experience than 15 staff reading from a script․
This often leads to better pictures or product specifications: with nurseries‚ for instance‚ customers can't touch the plant before they buy‚ so they rely much more on written descriptions․ It also tends to lead to better proactive communication: if something can't ship because of weather‚ for instance‚ customers hear about it․
Maintain flexibility without losing your focus․
An example of such flexibility is provided in Sons' article․ A few years back when shipping carriers changed their handling policy for live plant material‚ organizations with flexible packaging processes adapted the way they packed within a single season․ Companies that relied on one rigid approach suffered plant losses and customer complaints for months later․
This includes tracking weather patterns that may slow shipping (for instance‚ a late frost warning requiring that some orders be held)‚ tracking which pests and diseases are in which regions (intrusive species such as the Emerald Ash Borer have potential ranges that may influence which varieties are suitable for sale in which counties)‚ and tracking what is actually selling to customers as opposed to historical patterns․
The Actual Takeaway
This advice could be the basis for a successful nursery‚ a successful anything․ It's just three things: Know your product well enough to answer hard questions honestly․ Design systems assuming that things will go wrong (because they will)․ Consider user complaints as information you can collect rather than annoying things to be managed away․ But the reason Sons' Forbes piece was so popular is that it didn't have any of that motivational-language stuff‚ which turns out to be a good baseline for any business advice․
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