Employment Development and Training

We believe in the professional growth of our Associates so much there's a whole department dedicated to it! Our ongoing training helps Associates achieve career goals. Here's a glimpse of what we have to offer:

Hort 101
Perfect for the want-to-be horticultural expert. It prepares non-sale Associates for the sales associate test. It's not required before taking the sales associate test, but it should make passing it easier.

New-Hire Orientation Training and Regional Manager Tour
Our 2 day orientation training begins with classroom training on day one followed by a "hands-on" tour to various Armstrong nurseries with the local regional manager. Training topics include customer service, register training, uniform issue and signing required HR forms.

Hort 201
Offered twice a year, this is a prep class for our Associates taking the California Certified Nursery Professional (CCNP) exam. Like the CCNP exam itself, the class focuses on the three major areas: landscape design, plant ID and questions based on the new Retail Garden Center Manual. There are five 4-hour class sessions, held at the SJC classroom, including the Hort 201 Final Exam.

Management Trainee Program
We believe in promoting from within. This course is for designated management trainees and newly promoted assistant managers. The class focuses on operations and store financials; human resources; training and visual merchandising.

Assistant Manager Training
This course is for assistant managers and newly promoted store managers. It's a hands-on advanced management course with extra emphasis on leadership, store financials, human resource issues and visual merchandising. Half the class sessions are in-store with the Director of Learning and Development, the Regional Managers and the Visual Merchandising Manager.

Sales Skill Workshop
Offered Jan-Mar, this 3-hour workshop is a focusing tool on offering great customer service as we enter our busy spring selling season. Topics include: engaging the customer, tie-in and suggestive selling, benefit selling, closing the sale and how and when to overcome objections by customers to purchase suggestions. A final exam and three workshop scenarios reinforce topics discussed. For all store associates: managers, assistant managers, sales associates, maintenance associates, cashiers and delivery drivers since we ALL play a role in great customer service.

New Product Training
Developed to train our Associates on new product offerings: Monrovia in-store displays, Visionscape, Ponds/Pondless Waterfalls. In addition, a California Gardener magazine quiz is sent to the stores when each new issue is published so we're thoroughly knowledgeable on magazine product and plants featured.

AGC Trade Show and PK Fair
An annual event in January, this trade show is exclusively for Armstrong Associates and features all of our product vendors. We get a chance to ask our vendors answer questions and attend four training sessions offered throughout the day on hot gardening and retail topics.