Top 10 things to know about program selling

Your customers aren’t just buying plants. They’re buying answers: What keeps deer out of the landscape? What replaces a struggling boxwood? What can go in the ground without becoming an invasive headache? Proven Winners® ColorChoice® programs like Deer Proof™, InCheck®, boxwood alternatives, native species and more, pre-load those answers into a collection of individual plants, giving each a story, a level of proof, and a reason to buy. Here’s why program selling deserves a place in planning your 2027 assortment.

1. The story’s already written. Deer Proof, InCheck, boxwood alternatives, natives: each program comes with a clear, built-in reason to buy, so your sales conversation never starts from zero.

2. The branding is already built. With branded containers and tags, and a wealth of point-of-sale materials ready to go, retailers can quickly build a display around these useful programs.

3. The demand is already primed. National advertising, PR, and creator content build consumer awareness for these programs before the plants ever leave your nursery. With over 3 billion consumer marketing impressions in 2026 alone, you’re stepping into demand, not having to create it.

4. The trend is already solved. Boxwood blight worries, deer damage complaints, invasive plant concerns: plant programs answer the exact questions customers are already bringing to the garden center.

5. The upsell is already built in. For example, a full bench of Deer Proof genera, instead of one or two SKUs, gives your customers a complete solution to offer resulting in a bigger order.

6. The differentiation is already there. On a bench crowded with unbranded look-alikes, a program plant stands out. You compete on story and proof, not price alone.

7. The pipeline is already growing. New introductions get folded into existing programs, so the plants you commit to now keep paying off as each program expands.

8. The relationship is already stronger. Retailers and landscapers come back to growers who consistently deliver plants with the marketing already attached. That’s repeat business, not a one-time sale.

9. The margin is already protected. These program plants aren’t interchangeable with whatever else is on a competitor’s bench, so you’re not competing on price, you’re selling solutions.

10. Trialed. Tested. Proven. Every plant in the Proven Winners ColorChoice line is trialed and tested to ensure it exceeds expectations, and now it’s easier than ever to group them by best use, so you can sell more of what’s already proven to perform.