By Glenda Rueger Payne
One of the great things about working in the gardening industry is the opportunity to connect with new gardeners. At a recent open house event, one of my favorite returning customers stopped by our Fresh-from-the-Garden Salsa demonstration booth.
She was all agog over a basket of fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions I was using to make the Salsa. I asked her how her garden was coming along. With a shy blush, she announced that she had recently made an emergency phone call to her mom, a veteran gardener.
She said, “mom, I don’t know what I am doing wrong. When I pull my radishes, I only get one at a time – not in bunches like I find them at the store.” Her mom politely explained that the farmers pick them one at a time and bundle them for the store. She said, “Oh – is it that what’s happening to my carrots, too?”
She’s learning a lot in her first year of gardening: like, it’s not necessary to plant every seed that comes in the packet of cucumber seeds. When a visiting neighbor looked in on her progress and saw her profuse plot of blooming cucumber plants, he exclaimed, “How many people are you planning on feeding?” This very petite young lady meekly replied, “Just me.” She indicated her coworkers and the food bank were very happy to receive the rewards of her innocence.
We had a good chuckle. Then looking again at my produce basket she asked, “How do you get your peppers to grow so big? Mine are very small” I replied, “What are you feeding them? With a stunned look, she said, “feed them?”
We’ve all been there!
About Glenda
Glenda Rueger Payne is the Dealer Sales Manager for Adaptive Plastics, Inc. Glenda brings more than fifteen years of sales and marketing experience to the function of developing and growing the national dealer wholesale program. Her background includes formal training at Penn Valley Community College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City as an English/Communications major and several years as an entrepreneur.
Her natural enthusiasm and outgoing personality were honed into a strong professionalism by her varied career pursuits. Each of her experiences from her early days as a professional magician’s assistant working on cruise ships, then as a professional track reporter for the Salt Lake Valley Racing Association to several years of owning her own successful publishing business has helped her develop excellent people skills and business savvy.
This has contributed to her ability to create strong relationships with the dealers built upon excellent customer service and inspiring enthusiasm for the Solexx™ product. The result has been increased sales due not only to bringing new dealers on board, but to growing loyalty and trust ensuring repeat business from the existing dealers as well.
Glenda is an avid "urban gardener." Every square foot of possible space has been converted into raised beds for growing food, herbs and edible flowers. She is also the proud owner of a Solexx™ Harvester greenhouse and one custom-built Solexx™ covered greenhouse. She has found many other ways to incorporate Solexx™ into her home.
