Danny Summers, Managing Director/Chief Instigator at The Garden Center Group
DANNY SUMMERS possesses a wealth of knowledge in various business sectors of for-profit and non-profit business management. Prior to Summers & Associates he served as Executive Vice President of the Southern Nursery Association, a regional trade association with more than 1,800 members, for 18 years (1988 - 2006). Danny developed one of the industry’s largest trade shows, with more than 800 exhibitors and 10,000 attendees, and created and managed an education foundation for 16 years.
His for-profit experience includes, sales and marketing management of retail, wholesale, and manufacturing businesses. Danny’s areas of expertise encompasses association/foundation startup and management, consulting and strategic services, event and trade show management, grant writing and management, fundraising and marketing, and implementation of systems and workflows to support these programs.
Danny is known for his no-nonsense and straightforward approach, and his ability to see the “big picture” and provide a roadmap for a business to succeed. He currently serves as Managing Director for The Garden Center Group, Board Advisor of the Southern Nursery Association and Executive Vice President of the Sidney B. Meadows Scholarship Endowment Fund.
The Garden Center Group: It's simple ... You have a garden center. We have solutions.
Being independent is great, but you're on your own to figure out how to grow and manage your business. The Garden Center Group is a community of garden centers, consultants, service providers and vendors with one goal in mind... helping each other build successful companies. By building a community of garden centers and working toward a common goal, The Group is able to provide a network of professionals and business services most centers would not be able to afford on their own. And, unlike a buying group that boosts your purchasing power on products that you sell, we focus on business solutions designed to help you increase sales, improve operations and retain more profit.
Our Centers can participate in The Garden Center Group's Weekly Department Review (WDR), sharing sales and margin on our standardized chart of accounts covering 27 product categories plus Sales, Average Items per Transaction, Average Sale, Transaction Counts, Labor to Sales Ratio, and Inventory to Sales Ratio. Our Group Exclusive Annual Profit & Loss Study, now in its 18th year of extensive financial benchmarking, is the longest-running and most comprehensive study of its kind in North America. It is unmatched in helping garden centers make solid financial decisions. So why go it alone? Get involved in our community today!