Bring the growers in and what your sales go up!

For the past several years, ENZA New Zealand has been sending growers to North America. With their lovely accent (which for some reason make them sound smarter so don't get taken in), warm personalities and intimate knowledge about what it takes to grow apples, they add a welcomed presence to your produce department.

This shot was taken in 2006 and Andy, the grower, was sampling customers at Pete's Frootique - a small but well loved retailer located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They built an amazing wall of produce that could have been seen from the air! And it featured apples, pears and kiwifruit - all fresh crop products that are readily available in Canada during the summer months.

The key to success if you are bringing growers in - advertise them in an advance flyer, have posters at store level alerting customers that there will be growers in, build a dramatic display and a secondary one near the cashiers, announce the activity over the PA system if you have one and let the growers engage your customers.