Retailer Checklist

We know you are busy all year long, so we’ve assembled a handy checklist to take full advantage of the many benefits of being a Proven Winners retail customer. Check them off as you go so you won’t miss a beat!

FALL CHECKLIST

Deadline: November 1st

1. Order the National Plants and National Recipes of the Year from your preferred broker or sales representative. We’ll do the work to promote these award-winning plants with consumers, you just need to have the plants available when they are ready to shop.
2. Attend a Proven Winners Roadshow. Held annually each fall in multiple locations, this is the best place to learn about the new plants and products coming down the pike, stay current with business tools and trends, and network with fellow retailers.
3. Learn from our fall webinars. We bring in top notch speakers each fall who host free webinars on current topics like email marketing, AI tools, customer service and much more. Can’t attend on the day of the webinar? Register and we’ll send you a link to the recording to watch at your leisure.
4. Meet with your Retail Solutions Manager. Fall is the best time to review your Connect+ tools and retail programs to be sure you are taking advantage of each without missing important deadlines.  

WINTER CHECKLIST

Deadline: January 10th

1. Order your customized Gardener’s Idea Books through our Connect+ program or purchase semi-custom or fully customized books separately from Connect+ by the January 10 deadline. If having your name, address and company logo on the back cover of our most popular marketing publication is important to you, be sure to wrap this project up by the deadline.
2. Take our Connect+ quiz to see which benefit level is the best fit for your garden center. It’s time to make a decision! Will you stay at the same level as last year or bump up to the next level to receive more marketing services?
3. Assess your POP signage needs and place your orders. Take a look through the signage you’ve saved from last season. Are any of your posters faded? Is the pricing on your benchcards outdated? Do you need new signage for new plants and products you will be carrying this year? If so, it’s time to place some new orders for POP.
4. Learn about new plants. Each winter, we publish a comprehensive set of information about all of the new annuals, perennials and shrubs hitting the market the following year. We highly recommend looking through it, as well as watching our annual new variety video, to stay up on all of the new and improved plants coming from Proven Winners.
5. Brush up on your plant and gardening knowledge with Proven Winners University. Browse over 100 short 3-5 minute videos we’ve curated on key topics that you can add to your staff training program or use during weekly staff meetings.

SPRING CHECKLIST

Deadline: May 1^st

1. By now, we hope you have taken advantage of our free staff training program and become a Proven Winners Certified Retail Garden Center. If not, you have until May 1^st to complete your certification.
2. Line up your social media posts using Promoboxx^®, the simplest scheduler you’ll ever use, that’s an optional Connect+ benefit. We will provide you with ready-to-publish content that is co-branded and customizable for your business. 
3. Remember to use your Connect+ or Certified coupons! They’re a great way to make last-minute POP purchases before your store opens in spring.

SUMMER CHECKLIST

Deadline: August 1^st

1. Participate in our summertime social campaigns. Join us in getting your customers excited about key plant categories and welcome them back to your store during Summerific Week^® and Supertunia Summer^™.
2. Plan a Pink Day for a summer or fall event. Apart from the obvious benefit of increasing foot traffic in your store during a slower time, the goal of Pink Days are to raise funds for breast cancer research. Focus your efforts around the sale of Invincibelle^® Spirit II hydrangea, from which a portion of all proceeds are donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  

1. Enroll in Connect+ or upgrade your Connect+ service level for exclusive local IGC marketing solutions.
2. Dig into fast, up-to-date staff training as a Proven Winners Certified Retailer.
3. Take advantage of our national marketing campaigns. Grow and sell the National Plants of the Year and National Recipes, and be the local place gardeners can find the varieties they keep hearing about.
4. Join Brandfolder for access to a complete library of Proven Winners marketing assets like professionally produced photos and graphics.
5. Reach your audience where they are. Get our guide to social media best practices and campaigns, and access readymade content with our Connect+ marketing solutions program. (Available Winter 2023)
6. Build social media campaigns to drive the first day of spring sales using the free tools in Promoboxx that come with Connect+.
7. Grow your staff expertise with continuing education opportunities like Proven Winners University, IGC webinars and Proven Winners Roadshow events.
8. Use our design inspiration guide to create irresistible displays that move product and grow your bottom line.
9. Consult with your retail solutions manager to explore ways you can grow your business through solutions like POP signage and bringing in additional product lines.