NURTURE
COMMUNICATION IS KEY AS GROWERS HAVE BEEN LEFT WITH LITTLE CHOICE BUT TO BROADEN THEIR COMMUNICATION MEDIUMS, LEWIS NORMAND URGES THEM TO CONTINUE TO UTILISE THESE POST-LOCKDOWN
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midst the world of sadness and loss that we have found ourselves in, there have been highs of positive responses to adversity, beautiful acts of humanity and glimmers of hope for our future. We need some of this in horticulture. Without a government bailout, the horticulture industry is sadly guaranteed huge financial losses as well as a significant shrinkage in the number of businesses operating. For such a huge sector (and let us never forget that we are a huge sector in the UK at £24.2bn in 2017, according to the HTA), we don’t get represented as we should in government and arguably in the media generally; on occasion, even certain ‘celebrity’ faces we might expect to support us come out against us and show how little they know about our offering. As an industry, we are much bigger than all English football put together (£5.44bn in 2019, Deloitte).
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We are also worth more than the total spent by everyone visiting the UK from abroad in 2019 (£22.9bn, ONS). Yet, we continue to be widely ignored and often confused with agriculture or treated as unskilled, compounding our lack of perceived value. Several excellent lobbyists work hard to have us heard, but much of it seems to be ignored when it comes to actual support for our work and value for our contribution from those in charge. Urgently, a Minister for Horticulture seems like a necessity to have our voice properly represented beyond being a poorly considered component of a Defra minister’s remit. So, as we hope for something better but expect little, most of us have quietly addressed some of the weaknesses in our businesses in order to grow stronger out of what remains after lockdown. One area, where I have always been critical of horticulture (and I try hard not to be critical in general as it is unproductive) is communication. We are all great verbal communicators, but our industry has lagged behind many others in terms of using contemporary technologies to communicate. Specifically, this applies to growers, a surprising number of whom still use the fax machine as their primary mode of communication with clients 20 years after the rest of the professional world focused on emails and social engagement. There may even be some younger readers lost at the mention of the word ‘fax’. It has always surprised me that this reticence from many growers to modernise exists and it surely has limited the people they can work with. Lockdown has brought a lot of people out of the shadows, with new Twitter and Instagram accounts being set up; companies that previously only spoke with the world through limited and often antiquated technologies now engage a new audience in highly visual and exciting ways. Over the last month, the number
of smaller nurseries making themselves known to the world beyond their local audience has been incredible. Equally, many larger wholesale suppliers have used social media effectively to offer new services and update their customers on the status of their businesses. Lots of
SOME GROWERS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACTIVELY MONETISE THEIR PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS inventive live videos, tutorials, Zoom garden consultations and so much more have shown that we can be hugely creative when it comes to communicating in innovative ways when we find or make the time to be. Some growers have been able to actively monetise their promotional videos selling plant packages based on their promotion and opening new future supply lines up for their businesses. If we should do one thing as individual companies coming out of this crisis, it is to keep this up. I know of many great growers producing wonderful plants, who simply never engage with their customers and never find new customers. It just isn’t sustainable anymore and there is a huge audience waiting to hear from them. The days of saying that we don’t have enough time to reach out to our prospective customers are over. We must invest time and perhaps even some money into being visible and available for an increasingly visually motivated customer. Being a Luddite may cost less, but it will surely lead to obscurity in a world that likes to know that you exist, and in a sea of quality suppliers be reminded why they should buy from them.
ABOUT LEWIS NORMAND Lewis has worked in a wide variety of roles within horticulture over a 20-year career. He has lectured on garden design and horticulture, and designed gardens in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Since 2011, Lewis has focused on nursery sales, now working as sales manager at Bernhard’s Nurseries, and has helped to launch a number of new plants into the UK plant market. He is a specialist supplier to show gardens, supplying more than 100 gardens at major shows.
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20/05/2020 18:35