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Successful Retail Mentoring Programme Launched in UK
Published: 04 Oct, 2009
Brett & Associates successful garden retail programme 'Making it Happen' is being launched in the UK in a joint venture with Ian Boardman's IBBIS consultancy
Brett and Associates have been training and consulting to garden centres for 14 years in New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
The ‘Making it Happen’ programme began in New Zealand five years ago in response to a request for assistance from Gillian Thrum, owner of Green Door Garden and Gifts in Havelock North, New Zealand.
After attending a retail management workshop conducted by Bill Brett, Gillian observed she knew less than she thought and her head was full of so much information, she didn’t know where to start. To a degree she understood what had to be done, but didn’t know how. She needed help to develop a focus and priority action plan.
Gillian asked Brett & Associates to come up with a mentoring programme which would involve:
- An onsite visit for a detailed audit
- Train staff in modern retailing
- Assist her to develop a business plan
- Ongoing assistance (weekly) for implementation detail of all activities and initiatives
- Monthly monitoring and analysis of KPI’s
- Meet three times a year to review all activities and results
The result at Green Door was spectacular. Three years of 30% year on year growth followed even though strong competition arrived in the form of a Mega DIY store, and a new branch of a large garden centre chain.
Eight more garden centres joined the programme in New Zealand and formed the Garden Independents Network. They meet three times a year to discuss Key Performance Indicator monitoring and benchmarking, and to network and discuss major topics of interest and benefit to improve results.
The programme focuses on:
- Practical assistance and implementation - many good ideas fail from poor implementation.
- Prioritising activities and initiatives to those that produce best return relative to input.
- KPI monitoring and benchmarking monthly in order to accurately measure all aspects of the business (eliminates gut feel, historical beliefs and emotion)
- Maximising results as opposed to winning awards.
- Turning garden centres from passive to very proactive at every level.
As a result of their spectacular success, it has grown to include 32 garden centres throughout New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland and members have achieved considerable success with growth in both sales and profitability.
In Ireland, the Garden Centre Association was looking for a programme to build on the Bord Bia awards programme, (a standards based accreditation system) which had been in place several years. The Brett & Associates ‘Making it Happen’ mentoring programme was exactly what they were looking for.
Although recession hit Ireland severely, the programme has done much to maintain sales, but in particular has improved profitability, through dramatically improved stock turn and reduced expenses, due to the efficiency gains from the programme systems and KPI monitoring.
“As a result of this success there is interest in the UK. Because of the size and nature of the market, Garden Retail Success looked to form an alliance and an approach was made to Ian Boardman, IBBIS Consultancy. We are pleased to announce a partnership has been formed to establish the ‘Making it Happen’ programme in the UK with a company that closely matches our philosophy ” says Bill Brett
Contact us to sign up or for information about being involved in the 'Making it Happen' Programme
