Customer engagement with the product after purchase, or activity level, can be a good predictor of purchases. Bridget shares a recently published study on how activity level can be used both as a screening question to suggest product purchases as well as an indication of how much a customer will spend.

In today's business climate, being a local business can gain you customers. But often horticultural firms aren't very good at telling their story. This week, Bridget focuses on four ways to tell the story about the business that will resonate with consumers. Focusing on employees, business facts, product sourcing, and pro-environmental actions can help you better connect with your consumers.

Understanding how the product life cycle (explained in episode 38) and product adoption (explained in episode 39 last week) work together can help every business with product management and customer targeting. This week, Bridget puts those two curves together to show managers where and how profit is earned and when to consider deleting products or cultivars from the lengthy list of skus.

Ever wonder who buys a product first (or last)? The product adoption curve helps us understand who buys a product (or adopts a technology) first, second, third, and so forth. This information is so helpful to understanding the market, who is risk tolerant, and what price someone is willing to pay for a product. This week, Bridget discusses the Product Adoption Curve and how you can use it to help your business grow and thrive.

Products, like insects or diseases, go through predictable stages or phases. Understanding where your key products are in their life cycle can help you more strategically price products. It can also help you understand when it's time to eliminate a product. After all, it's so easy to add an SKU but when do you let one go? Bridget talks about this fundamental marketing concept to help you get a better idea of which products are generating profit for your company.

Bridget and Trey continue their discussion from last week on some better social media practices, especially for Twitter. Do you have a selfie-station at your business? Be sure it has your business name and hashtag. What Millennials in your family or on your payroll could help you with your SM campaigns? Have you thought about giving incentives for posting good comments? Listen this week for some great tips to improve your SM effectiveness.

Dr. Trey Malone returns to talk with Bridget about some better practices for using social media, especially Twitter. Listen to this episode to learn about good times of the day to take photos, creating and using hashtags, as well as telling your business' story and sharing company values. These practices all contribute to more effective social media use.

Bridget has Charlie Hall return as a guest to discuss the MBA-like management & leadership program he and several others developed called EAGLE (Executive AGricultural LEadership Program). It is all focused on nursery and greenhouse management topics. Starting with strategy and then moving to implementing the strategy. A one-page strategic plan? Yes! That's his tool of choice. Also marketing and finance. There's also a capstone exercise.

Nearly 70% of the U.S. population owns a pet and 90% of them feel like they are family members. It's the emotional connection to pets that makes Americans spend more than $22 billion on our furry (feathered, and scaled) friends each year. Consider a pet-friendly policy in your retail outlet and take the extra step of merchandising pet-friendly plants.

Price is an essential piece of information consumers use to make their purchase decisions. Where to put the price information is a critical decision for the retailer. Bridget talks this week about using some of her eye-tracking research to build better signs with more emphasis on product benefits and less on the price itself.