Why Certify?

When you become a Proven Winners Certified Garden Center, you'll be the first to hear Proven Winners news and you’ll have the opportunity to become an active voice among retailers in the Proven Winners network. Your garden center will be given active priority listing in your local area on the Proven Winners website.  Most importantly, you’ll have a trained, knowledgeable staff that can assist your customers and increase your sales. Did we mention that it's totally FREE? It's our way of saying thanks for choosing to carry Proven Winners plants. It's also a chance to show we're serious about helping you grow your garden center.

Certification can be completed online in about 45 minutes - time well spent to give your employees the confidence they'll need to sell, sell, sell! 

BENEFITS:
When your staff takes the time to become certified, there are some real benefits for your business.  Here’s what you can expect:

1. FREE Knowledge: Plant Expertise that Sells
   The greatest benefit of becoming certified is that you’ll have a more confident staff that is well-trained in the characteristics, growth habits, care requirements, and new varieties of Proven Winners annuals, perennials, and shrubs. Your employees will learn how to take full advantage of Proven Winners merchandising and marketing support in ways that will not only increase sales of Proven Winners plants but can establish your garden center as the resource for local gardening expertise in your area.
   
   
2. FREE Advertising: Active Priority Listing on our Website
   Following certification, your garden center will automatically be listed on the Proven Winners website for consumers who visit our site from your local area. That results in great visibility for your garden center since millions of customers visit our website every year. You will also be invited to display the Proven Winners Certified Garden Center logo on your own website and at your garden center so customers can easily identify your expertise with Proven Winners plants. That expertise earns the trust of your customers, from the beginning gardener to the passionate enthusiast. Your garden center will remain grayed out on our website until certification is complete.
   
   
3. FREE Resources
   As a Proven Winners Certified Garden Center, you will have access to tools such as our photo library, newsletters, and other marketing updates. You will be among the first to hear about new initiatives and will have the opportunity to be an active voice in the Proven Winners network.
   
   
4. FREE Pizza Party: Celebrate or Donate
   Want to really get your employees excited for spring?  Become certified by May 1st and Proven Winners will throw a FREE pizza party! That's right, every garden center that certifies by the deadline will get a free pizza lunch for all your newly certified employees or Donate the funds we have allocated for your pizza party to help stamp out hunger in the U.S. and Canada.
    
   
   
   
                   
   
   
                                                      
5. FREE Rewards:
   In addition to free pizza, we’ll send you a free reward of your choice for every certified employee. Choose from a Proven Winners T-shirt  or a $6 credit per certified employee to be used at the Proven Winners online store, redeemable for point of purchase materials (P.O.P).
   
   

Need more information?  Frequently Asked Questions

See What Other Retailers Are Saying About Our Certification Program

“The team at Mother Nature truly appreciates the time and effort that goes into the videos to make the certification process an enjoyable learning process. It definitely bolsters our confidence in promoting Proven Winners products. We take great pride in telling our customers our “Signature Hanging Baskets” are built using Proven Winners flowers because we know they will grow and bloom all summer long. Our customers now come in specifically asking for our Signature Baskets. The team also sincerely appreciates the certification rewards and of course the pizza party. It’s an annual event we all look forward to. Thank you!” - Mother Nature, Powel River, British Columbia

“Thanks for doing this! Gives us something FUN to pull off and reward our employees for taking more of a vested interest in learning about Proven Winners products and helping our customers. Also serves to celebrate surviving the spring rush (plus the early June heat wave) when normally we'd be too exhausted to try! Our staff appreciates it. Thank you, Proven Winners!” - Hill’s Gardens, Inc., Albert Lea, MN
 
“Thank you, Proven Winners! We had a fabulous pizza party after work at a nearby park while enjoying a beautiful summer evening. Continue to make great plants, we love them all!” - Brown’s Landscaping, Belmond, IA

“We want to thank you and Proven Winners for organizing and offering this program. Last year, only two of us completed the certification. This year, we shared it with more of our coworkers and enjoyed talking about it with each other, then sharing the info with our customers.” – Secluded Acres Farm and Garden Center, Rio Grande, NJ

“Thank you so much. Our staff is working so hard moving Proven Winners. We are selling as many as we can get!” - Teske Pet & Garden, Moline, IL

“Thank you so much! Our staff really loves this program. I also thought it was wonderful that you offered the donation aspect. We had already done a substantial donation to our local non-profits but will keep it in mind for next year.” – Winderberry, Windemere, British Columbia

“I’ve been in business for 16 years and Proven Winners is the only national brand that provides the marketing tools and assistance that we, as an IGC, need. We’ve never felt more supported by a brand, and we are proud to partner with them on the Proven Winners Destination in our store. We use the free staff training tools they offer to educate our staff on how these plants are different so that they are confident helping customers who come in asking specifically for Proven Winners.” – Sandy’s Back Porch, Belleville, IL