The Wrong Words Can Kill More Than Plants
Picture this.  Your tech is caring for a plant when the client contact, Janet, comes over to chat.  "How’s it going, Sue", she asks.  "Great", Sue replies, "except for this Palm. I’m treating it for "spider". Tech Sue, bent over her task, doesn’t see as Janet’s eyes widen and her face turns pale.  "Yep, says Sue anxious to show off her fifteen years of horticultural expertise.  "If you don’t watch out "spider"can multiply really fast and soon they’ve taken over".  She smiles and moves on to the next plant.

But She Didn’t Mean to do It
Meanwhile Janet, the client, is standing there stunned.  "Spider-SPIDER!"  In her minds eye all she can see are hairy, eight legged insects as large as dinner plates crawling, creeping, crawling.  Talk about miscommunication.  Sue thinks she has just demonstrated her skill as a horticultural technician when, in fact, the client contact is thinking "Ugh, those plants have bugs in them.  Get ‘em out of here". 

What Sue should have said was "I’m treating this plant for a microscopic organism that can cause leaf damage.  It’s known as "spider mite" because these teeny, tiny critters, almost invisible to the naked eye, spin a fine web and under the microscope look like tiny spiders.  They are harmless to humans, by the way".

Preserving the Image
Now, if that had been the conversation, the client wouldn’t have turned pale and no alarm bells would have gone off.  Instead of being frightened she would have been impressed and life would go on.

An exaggeration?  I think not.  Often we don’t realized how what we or our techs say can have huge impact on both for good or bad.  That is why it is a good idea to include how to relay information in our technician training.  Try role playing this little scenario at a future meeting and include it in your training regimen.  Come up with other potential communication pitfalls.  There are a bunch.

Educate the Client as Well
Some savvy plantscape companies give each new client a little pamphlet explaing plant pests, how they are treated, and how harmless they , and the methods used to control them, are to humans. 

In other words, just as an ounce of prevention can go a long way in preserving healthy plants, so can an ounce of prevention save a positive image and a client/’scaper relationship.

 And, that’s the name of this game.