Category: HORTICULTURE

Making the Sale

A greeting and offer of assistance should be made to customers soon after they enter the store, greenhouse, or sales yard. When the first con­tact is by telephone, the offer of assistance is immediate. The salesper­son must then determine the needs of the customer and set about to satisfy those needs. The approach must be […]

Characteristics of Good Salespeople

Customers deserve assistance from a salesperson who has the following characteristics: Friendliness Customer should be greeted soon after walking through the door or into the sales yard. If the customer’s name is known, it should be used. Not every customer warrants a handshake, but it can be appropriate with a regular customer. Salespeople need to […]

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

The other major group of people in the human relations triangle are the customers. They are the people who keep the business in existence. Their good will must be cultivated as carefully as the horticulture crops they purchase. Good will and sales are intimately related busi­ness objectives, and the sales staff must be trained to […]

Complicating Factors

Even in businesses in which the owner and supervisors are sincerely interested in their workers and make a concerted effort to be good man­agers, problems still occur. Assuming that an employee does not dislike the supervisor, but that they are still not communicating effectively, it could be for one of the following reasons: • Age […]

Qualities to Avoid

Certain qualities in a supervisor may cause negative feelings to develop in an employee or group of employees. The probable result of negative feelings between workers and their supervisor is low worker morale, reduced productivity, and even theft or vandalism. While no supervisor can expect to perform flawlessly, an effort should be made to avoid […]

Other Qualities of Good Leadership

In addition to realistic expectations for each employee, effective super­vision requires an understanding of what motivates workers to respond positively to their work and their supervisors. Most people respond in a positive manner to a supervisor whose competence they respect, whose expectations are fair and impartial, and whose attitude is upbeat. Consider the following qualities […]

A Diverse Workplace

The faces of America’s horticultural workforce are increasingly diverse as more and more companies are meeting their employment needs with nontraditional workers. Workers from Mexico and Central America have filled the majority of field positions in American nursery, arborist, and landscape firms since the mid-1980s. They are an increasingly impor­tant human resource in the turf […]

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

The direction of workers in a manner that brings out their best efforts and attitudes on behalf of the business is termed personnel manage­ment. While the owner of the business is the foremost personnel man­ager, other persons in supervisory or leadership positions must also develop good human management skills. Much of what constitutes good personnel […]