Park Seed Memories

WRG2: David and Goliath (the Giant Zucchini!)

Here at Park Seed, we not only do we work in the horticulture industry to serve gardeners, but also we are gardeners, too! (WRG2) Now, frankly, after the recent hip replacement, I personally didn't get to do any outdoor gardening this year. Happily for me, though, a fine gentleman in our Search department has had a terrific vegetable garden this year, and he has been kind enough to share the fruits of his labor! My family has feasted several times on summer squash and zucchini from David Wilson (left).

As you can imagine, I was tickled to see David outside my office door today, bearing yet another plump bag brimming with two kinds of squash and a couple of lovely tomatoes! I confess, however, I was rather startled when he whipped a giant green bat from behind his back. No, wait...it's not a baseball bat! It's a giant zucchini!

Apparently, while David was gone for a few days, the rain and the sun blessed his garden rather significantly, and a few of his zucchini got carried away! He brought in this Goliath of a zuke just for fun. We agreed that it might not be the tastiest veg in on the plate at this stage. We had a good laugh, and I suggested that he might try carving it into a Jack O'Lantern. (Hey, it's never too early to prepare for Halloween!) I'll keep you posted on any scary creations that emerge.

I asked David if I could share his biography here, but he's a very modest gentleman, and allowed as how he'd rather just share his picture. But I insist on telling you that in my observation, he's a polite, hard-working man. Certainly generous, as my dinner table will attest! And clearly, he comes from good stock. His Dad came to visit on Flower Day, and I had a chance to meet him. So thank you, David, for good fun, good food, and good fellowship!

Did you grow something large or scary in your garden this season? Email your pictures and stories to me (ckuhl@parkseed.com) and I'll post them here!

SC Festival of Flowers 2009 Promo Preview

While browsing the Internet this week, I found a nifty video promoting the South Carolina Festival of Flowers. Because the entire prize-winning festival grew out of Park Seed Company's annual open house, aka Flower Day, I though yiou might enjoy getting a preview of this promotional item:

As usual at this time of year, we are in a frenzy of preparation, getting the All-America Selections and our other row trials planted, tending all the display gardens, and gathering lots of bargains for the Garden Center sales. If you visit us on June 27th, I hope you'll stop by the Information Tent and say "Howdy!" My new hip and I will be sitting there, welcoming everyone and answering questions. Bring comfy shoes, sunscreen, and your camera!

Thank you to "Paul's World of Funky Stuff" blog for the video!

Seeing the Forest and the Trees

My, how time flies! I apologize for not posting last week. You see, I've been engrossed in a new special project. I'm a big believer in the power of communication. (Your probably guessed that, since I'm a blogger! J) To help with planning and to facilitate conversations across the Park Seed and Wayside Gardens brands and all the different functional areas, I've been compiling what I call The Big Picture!

It's really an 18-month calendar showing each area and the big tasks that they are supposed to deliver month by month. I've had fun and learned a lot from the process, as you might imagine. It's helping me see both the forest and the trees, when it comes to all the moving parts that have to consistently click into place in order to serve YOU, our customers!

Last week, I met with fourteen different areas to get their input, put the results into a giant color-coded spreadsheet, and posted it outside my door for people to start using. As I had hoped, folks are stopping by to admire the complexity, learn what other groups are doing, and doublecheck what I've documented about their own areas. In fact, this morning, I caught Stephanie and Denise scoping it out (above).

This week, I have several more groups to visit, as The Big Picture continues to come into focus. One thing that jumps out at me when I look at The Big Picture is just how far ahead of the game we have to be if we're going to get the right products to you at the right time. While you are ordering seeds for your spring garden, we are creating catalogs for the fall, and growing things to sell next spring...or even further into the future. I was told that if we want to sell you a Black Bamboo plant this year, we had to know three years ago that you were going to want it!

Well, I'm off again to interview more teams about their projects and plans. But wait...what's that noise outside my door? Ah, it seems that another Denise has come to join the fun! (We call them Denise 1 and Denise 2--just like Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and Thing 2.)  Yes, we are busy and work hard, but we do love to laugh and have fun! So have fun in your garden and enjoy the fruits of our Big Picture as you do so.

Do you have a Big Picture of your garden? How about a garden design that you are dreaming about while the snow flies? I love hearing your gardening stories and sharing your photos. Just send them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com, and I'll post them here for all to enjoy!

Park Seed Trial Gardens Win AAS Award!

Well here's a great way to start the new year--we just found out that our 9-acre trial gardens have been recognized for excellence by the All-America Selections folks! Each year, they honor the AAS Display Garden that provides the best educational AAS programs during "open house" or "field day" events during the peak season for garden flowers and vegetables. Here's what the congratulatory letter said:

"On behalf of All-America Selections, congratulations are extended to Park Seed Trial Gardens, as winner of the 2008 AAS Display Garden Exemplary Education Category II Award. Your entry is an excellent example of an outstanding educational field day event."

Those of you who visited us on Flower Day 2008 won't be surprised at all to hear that we won the award! Here's a terrific picture from Flower Day 2007, taken by Christa Hanson.

I understand that we'll be getting a  nice plaque for our "wall of fame," plus some visibility on the AAS website. You can be sure I'll share some photos of all that when it happens. But for now, be sure to let Stephanie Turner and Chris Browne know how proud you are of their accomplishment in leading our Trial Garden team!

The Creative Kids Get UGLY for the Holidays!

  If you've ever read this blog before, you know that the gang here at Park Seed/Wayside Gardens loves to get a little silly at times. And today, as the December holiday festivities approach their peak, my friends in the Creative Department got really creative and downright UGLY. Pictured above are the contestents in Creative's first annual ugly sweater contest. (Pssst...Stephanie, lower left, with the purple Christmas cats, is an imposter. She doesn't really work in the Creative Department. But her sweater was SO ugly, they had to include her!)

First, let me hasten to explain the creative thing. There are many of us here who fancy ourselves to be quite creative! But the art directors and associates who design all our catalogs and print materials laid claim to Creative as their official department name.

Next, let me tell you why I contend that these talented folks are downright UGLY. You see, in my book, that stands for:
Understanding
Generous
Lively
Young

The gang gathered in the Garden Center for the picture, and then returned to their lair for a pot-luck feast. I hung around for a bit in the Garden Center to admire the amaryllis and this poinsettia "tree." It offers me the perfect festive footnote to close out this year, and to allow me to wish you a very merry Christmas, a happy Hannukah, an inspiring Kawanza, or even a spectacular solstice! I'll talk to you again next year.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Park Seed and Wayside Gardens!

Customer Claire Promotes Customer Care

Once again this year, Park Seed/Wayside Gardens associates had a howling good time on Halloween! Last year, I showed you pictures of my eCommerce pals in their costumes, but I didn't really dress up for the occasion. This year, however, I had an inspiration for a costume that was both fun and useful!

As you know, I spent most of the last five weeks doing customer service training. Our owner and our president have joined together in taking a strong stand on the need for our company to keep our  focus on our customers.(Ya gotta love that attitude!) I've spent many, many hours lately exhorting my trainees and colleagues to deliver Thumbs Up! Customer Service--that is, extraordinary customer service that delights our customers and exceeds their expectations!

So in pondering what to wear for our "Spooktacular" costume contest, I decided to be...YOU!

Yup, as you can see here, I am dressed as a happy gardener, sporting my National Gardening Association hat (on head) and gloves (in breast pocket), my Garden for Victory tee-shirt, and a real rose (from my recent thank-you bouquet). And if you look closely, you can see, posted on my rake, the instruction to everyone at the company: "I am your customer--delight me!"

To my delight, dozens of my students throughout the day grinned and gave me a big Thumbs Up! when they saw my get-up. People held open doors, fetched treats for me, and shouted "Thank you for coming to Park Seed. How may I help you?" I was even pleased and surprised to win an honorable mention in the costume contest.

It was definitely great being YOU for the day! It was a fun way to bring to life a key message for all our associates--customers are real people who deserve all the courtesy and respect we can give them. And best of all for me, unlike friends who were itchy in their gorilla suits, drooly from their vampire fangs, or sweaty in their ghoulish make-up, I was quite comfortable in my gardening garb!

Have you called our customer service department lately? If you have a story about great customer service, please email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com and share it! And if you were not satisfied, please email me so I can help fix it. We want you to have a predictably positive experience with us...every customer, every call, every day.

Behold--the Queen Speaks!

If you have visited this blog before, you know that I really enjoy my friendship with Stephanie Turner, Park Seed Company's Director of Seed Product. You also know that I really enjoy ribbbing her by referring to her as The QUEEN of Seed! Turns out that in addition to being a queen, she is also a GIANT!

Yup, that's the opinion of SeedWorld magazine. And in our industry, that's an opinion that definitely matters! They have on their website a terrific interview with Stephanie where she shares her thoughts about trends and topics in the seed industry. So now's your chance to hear what The Queen has to say. Enjoy!

If Only You Could Smell My Blog!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. One of the best things about working at Park Seed Company is getting to know and spend time with all the really nice people who are part of our corporate "family"! As you know, I've been doing a lot of customer service training lately. It's something I enjoy doing, and it's a subject I strongly believe in.

To put the frosting on my cake, two of my colleagues sent me these gorgious flowers to thank me for the extra effort involved in developing and delivering that training.  WOW!

As you can imagine, I've been smiling all week, thanks to my generous friends! And people have been popping into my office every day to admire the flowers and exclaim over the delightful fragance that is wafting into the hallway. Too bad Typepad doesn't offer a "scratch 'n' sniff" blog feature!

In any case, in addition to customer service training, I also have been designing and delivering a leadership training program. And one of the things we stress as a good Rule of Thumb is to "Maintain constructive relationships."

I'd have to say that there's nothing more powerful for building strong relationships than saying "thank you" to teammates and coworkers. It doesn't even have to be anything elaborate, like this huge bouquet. Just a sincere word or quick note can really make a difference. So take a moment to let someone know that you appreciate them. You'll both have something to smile about!

New Friends on Campus

I mentioned that I've been extra busy of late, and I am certainly enjoying that. One of the things keeping me busy is designing and developing training programs. Some of the training has been for our existing directors and managers. And most recently, I've been working with incoming Customer Service Representatives--you know, those nice folks who answer the telephone when you call any of our Park Seed or Wayside Gardens 800 numbers!  I had a lot of fun with the group that started training last week, and thought you'd like to see some of their smiling faces, since you won't get that pleasure on the telephone.

We've spent a lot of time talking about you, by the way!

Yup--we've been focusing on who our customers are, and how we can find ways to delight you with our products and services.

You know I love hearing from you, so email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com if you have thoughts to share about your experiences chatting with our CSRs. Or to send us a picture of yourself and your family in your garden. We keep customers' pictures posted all over the Customer Service area, to see your smiles and enjoy the beauty that you create in the world through your gardening. Keep in touch. And keep smiling!

Hello, this is Beverly...How May I Help You?

I admire the folks who work in our Customer Service department. They have to know everything about everything, and always be upbeat and friendly, even if they're having a bad day. It's a challenging job, but the CSRs I know love working with people--helping them with their orders, answering questions, and solving horticultural problems. And our CSRs especially appreciate it when happy customers send letters and include pictures of themselves, their gardens, and their families.

Beverly Pilgrim [left], one of our Customer Service Supervisors, recently brought me a file folder bulging with letters, cards, and photographs sent in by some of our customers. Since this blog functions as the company scrapbook, she thought  it might be fun to share some of them here. I couldn't agree more!

So here are some excerpts from a few of our correspondents who felt particularly pleased with the service and products they received from our team.

Dear Beverly,
Thank you so much for going above and beyond to restore my faith in your company. ... The roses are going in the ground today and everytime I look at them, I will remember your thoughtfulness and high level of professionalism.
Warmest regards,
Susan L.

Way to go, Beverly!

Dear People at Park Seed,
Thank you for your friendly, informative, and prompt service. I am amazed at the personalized attention I receive when I phone your company!...and the delivery of items is always prompt. I am a comparatively new Park Seed customer, but I am already an enthusiastic fan!"
Virginia. H.

P.S.
My amaryllis bulbs arrived in record time, carefully packed and much fresher than anything I could find in my California plant nursery!

Virginia, we appreciate your taking time to write and brighten everyone's day with your kind comments.

Thank you so much for going above and beyond the normal customer expectations in supplying us with healthy, PERFECT plants from Park Seed. We will only buy plants and seed from you for our 15 acre horse farm, garden, and home. You are the best!
Sincerely,
Tom & Ann E.

Tom and Ann, it is our pleasure to serve you. We'd love to see some pictures of your farm and gardens. I'm sure they are spectacular! Send them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com and I'll share them here.