Dan Gingiss 

8:30 am - 9:30 am
A Remarkable Experience Is Your Biggest Competitive Advantage 
Dan Gingiss, The Experience Maker™

In today’s competitive retail environment, garden centers can no longer rely on price or product alone to stand out – customers have more choices than ever. So, how can your business cultivate long-term loyalty and turn shoppers into passionate advocates? The answer is customer experience.

In this engaging keynote, customer experience expert and former Fortune 500 executive Dan Gingiss will show you how creating remarkable experiences can drive sales, increase customer retention, and generate powerful word-of-mouth referrals. When you delight customers at every touchpoint – from the moment they walk in to long after they leave – they’ll keep coming back and bring others with them.

You’ll walk away with actionable strategies to differentiate your garden center, foster deep customer connections, and thrive in a crowded marketplace. And because Dan doesn’t just talk about experience – he creates one – you’ll see firsthand how CX can help your business flourish! You'll also walk away with his recent book titled The Experience Maker™!

DAN GINGISS is an international keynote speaker and customer experience expert with a dynamic and engaging speaking style that has captivated hundreds of audiences around the globe. Believing that a remarkable customer experience is your best competitive advantage, Dan shares insights from his 20-year professional career that included leadership positions at McDonald’s, Discover, and Humana. His speaking engagements are enriched by real-world examples and effective strategies that inspire immediate action.

Dan is the author of The Experience Maker: How To Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait To Share and Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media. Dan also co-hosted the award-winning Experience This! podcast.

For 20+ years, Dan led teams in customer experience, marketing, and customer service. He learned by doing, whether it was building a customer-centric culture or developing the leadership skills to get the most of employees. He became known as an outside-the-box thinker and the boss that everyone wanted to work for.

Many speakers and consultants have never actually experienced life “in the trenches” at a company. Dan understands those dynamics and challenges and provides unique credibility, including a J.D. Power Award for Customer Satisfaction.

Following is a quick introduction to The Experience Maker™ - Dan Gingiss!

Go beyond theory and hear
directly from the people
who matter most – your customers.

9:30 am - 10:30 am
Live Customer Focus Group
Dan Gingiss, The Experience Maker™

Go beyond theory and hear directly from the people who matter most – your customers. Dan Gingiss will host a Live Customer Focus Group, a dynamic 30-minute session where real customers take the stage to share unfiltered insights about their experiences, preferences, and expectations. This session puts the actual voices of your customers front and center – offering a rare opportunity for franchise management and operators to listen, learn, and take action on real customer feedback.

Dan expertly moderates the discussion, asking insightful questions that uncover what customers love, what frustrates them, and what would keep them coming back. Then, the audience gets the chance to ask their own questions, diving deeper into what matters most to their business. The session concludes with key takeaways and actionable strategies – what to start, stop, and continue – so participants walk away with real, customer-driven insights they can implement immediately. If you want to truly understand your customers and elevate your brand, don't miss this immersive session – it's an eye-opener and a game-changer.