Things to know if you want to sell wholesale and your sales approach

Prices differ considerably when you become the wholesaler. Then you are selling plants to the retailer, who may be a florist, a buyer for a department store or supermarket, or for one of the larger plant and seed houses. With these concerns, you are told exactly how many plants you will be expected to produce in a given time. The firm sends an order and takes the plants off your hands as soon as they are ready to be shipped. With deliveries dispensed with and no leftover plants, you can cheerfully sell them at about M or M the retail price.

But remember one thing: When you start selling specified quantities to dealers or stores, you are in the “big leagues.” Your greenhouse operation may lose all semblance of a hobby. You are a regular business man and as such you must live up to your commitments. The profits will be greater than in a smalltime operation limited to your neighborhood, but responsibilities will be greater, too. Your business will increase as your reputation for reliability increases.

The Sales Approach

There are several methods of letting the world know you have plants for sale. Your own city may be just the right spot to market your wares, If so, you can write to the managers of plant departments in the various stores telling them what you are growing. List the price for specialty items, making certain to show at least one “leader,” such as a common plant sold below the usual price (quantity limited to a certain number per customer). If you prefer not to start off by offering even one cut-price leader, offer at least one plant you have not seen in the stores and which you feel sure will be in demand once it is displayed. In this category would come any of the unusual gesneriads, “new” plants such as pink-flecked hypoestis or trailing plectranthus, or even an uncommon type or form of a common plant. Include with the letter your telephone number as well as a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Your letter might look like this:

John Q. Buyer, Purchasing Agent

Plant Counter

Review Department Store

Address

Dear Mr. Buyer:

I am able to supply unusual house plants and good gardenplants in quantities which I believe will be sufficient for your needs. I have attached a price list. You will find the prices attractive, and I can promise immediate delivery.

If you would like to see samples of these plants I will be happy to bring them to your office.

Sincerely,John M.

Smith House Plant

Haven Address-Phone

Or you can telephone for an appointment, but don’t try to make actual sales over the telephone. Most buyers disapprove of such methods, so why risk a potential customer? One of the best sales methods I have found is to put some plants in my car, drive up to a roadside market or to a store with a plant counter, and show them to the buyer.

We have a roadside market about 5 miles from us. The people who manage it are good merchants and their plants are always beautifully displayed. After looking at their house plant display, which consisted of the usual items, begonias, rather ordinary geraniums, and African violets with plain leaves and flowers, I suggested they add some of the species gloxinias, newer types of African violets, and some small foliage plants- hypoestis, in particular. They weren’t interested enough to ask me to bring samples. I decided, however, that this was a good market for these plants and that the proprietors had only to see the plants to realize their market value.

Accordingly, I loaded some of each kind into the car and showed them. These people had never before seen these plants and thought them extremely beautiful and salable. They bought all I had with me and since then they’ve been steady customers.

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