Pro Landscaper’s Most Influential Best Customer Service winner, J.A. Jones on how it has continued to be customer orientated for the last 125 years.

Established in 1900, J. A. Jones specialises in field grown trees, with a growing site of 130 acres; the Southport based nursery has been recognised for its top-quality customer service, a recognition director Mike Vickers says is a “testament to what we’ve achieved throughout our history”, adding that “for the last 125 years we’ve been customer orientated.”

J.A. Jones director, Mike Vickers

Much like the rest of the industry, J.A. Jones continues to evolve not just it’s product offerings, but also, its service offerings, as Vickers notes “everybody wants everything in a hurry”, noting that the nursery works to meet tight deadlines regularly – “if you want something, and we’ve got it, we’ll do it.” Adopting a never say no attitude that sees the nursery delivering stock around the country night and day.

With this mentality at its core Vickers says the nursery has become “increasingly good at anticipating what [our] main customers are going to want…A majority of our customers are old existing ones who have been with us for years.”

To maintain its current production rate of over 800k container grown plants, covering over 600 species, the nursery has developed strong trading links with independent growers throughout the UK and Europe, vetting those that match the same high quality standards.

Vickers comments:

“Everything has to come through us so that we can have that level of control and inspect the stock to make sure we’re happy with it before delivering it to our customers.”

Operating at this level of overview on all its deliveries, both in and out bound means it is crucial the nursery maintains open and reliable lines of communication through its workforce and customers; “we probably speak to all our major customers every day.”

Reflecting on the nursery’s journey thus far, Vickers says: “We started with a little that quarter acre market garden, and now we’ve got seven nurseries in the Southport area covering 130 acres with over 100 plus staff – we’re a normal business just trying to do a good job, and that’s the ethos” – an ethos that clearly resonates with its long standing customers throughout the UK.