Wish Fulfillment

E-Brief Editors Play Santa Claus

We have been asking readers to write in with their ultimate business wishes, offering those that do a free copy of SAF's The Marketing Edge. As the responses rolled in, we couldn't resist the urge to at least attempt to deliver on some of the wishes. We hope our answers help you, too. Here's a recap of just some of the wishes that came our way:

 
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Excellent Employees

Wow! Are you Santa Claus? If you are, please send me an employee who doesn't pout when corrected for any reason small or large. Also, if it isn't asking too much, Santa may I please have a color laser printer?
  
-- Claire Waldbart Kramer
Alex Waldbart Florist
St. Louis, Mo. 

Santa Says: We don't want to take the big guy's place, but we do want to make sure our members are fully prepared for the New Year. With that in mind, we thought you might find the following articles helpful: Keeping Good Designers from the Oct. 2006 issue of Floral Management magazine, Did I ask for Your Help from the Aug. 1, 2007 issue and You're Phenomenal. Now, Get Back to Work from the June 6, 2007 issue of E-Brief.
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Hardy Plants

What I would like for Christmas is an indoor blooming plant that blooms all the time, grows in low light and will tolerate desert to rain forest level water conditions.  

--Gini Perry
St Paul Floral
St Paul, Minn.

Santa Says: That's a tough one. But I'd bet a really good wholesaler would be only too happy to be given that challenge (especially if you'll order a whole sleigh full of them). Or, go to SAF's Ultimate Floral Industry Supply Guide. 

 
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Useful Web Sites

What do I wish for?  I wish for floral vendors and wholesalers to have very useful and functioning Web sites. Ever try searching for a stem cutter or stem stripper? What will you find?  If you finally find a vendor, its Web site is usually less than desirable. Why can't companies realize that their customers need Web sites that are user friendly and list their products with pictures and descriptions? 
 
--Jesse Pravecek
Mums & More LLC
Wagner, SD 57380

Santa Says: Wholesalers and suppliers with such Web sites, send your Web addresses to E-Brief  editors. Also, this is yet another job for the Ultimate Floral Industry Supply Guide — which makes it easy to cruise vendor Web sites until you find one that's useful. It is a one-stop shop for all of your floral needs. From the everyday to the unique, you'll find it here. This tool offers Request for Information (RFI) functionality — a new feature that allows you to contact participating suppliers with a click of a button and inquire about different products with ease. The guide also includes a desktop search mechanism. Just download the free application and access the Ultimate Floral Industry Supply Guide right from your computer's desktop screen.

 
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Local Loyalty

All I want for Christmas ... is:
• For all LOCAL retail florists to have more and more business come DIRECTLY their way.

•To have all deceptive order gatherers mysteriously have “server issues” in the next day or so, thereby preventing fraud and displeasing the ever-unsuspecting consumer.

•To have clear weather, that is — right up ‘till December 24th, say — 4 pm, when it can snow all it wants (you need snow for the roof tops, right Santa?).

• For every good flower delivery driver to have safe travels, everyone home, and abundant tips.

• For all good floral designers to have a minimal amount of sap on their hands, no cuts, and a tub of warm, sudsy water waiting for them at home on Christmas Eve for their exhausted, achy feet (oh, and a beverage of their choice would be nice too...).

•For all POS systems out there in flower shops across the land to, well, behave.

• For all professional florists in the world to sell EVERYTHING.

And, lastly...
For all in our beloved industry to have a safe and happy Christmas, with a BETTER New Year!

--Herb Rothe, 3rd, AAF
Rothe Florists
Philadelphia, Pa.
 

Santa Says: Click here to read more about the success your state has had battling deceptive listings. To help promote your services as a local florist, check out SAF's Marketing Tips and Tools page, and check back in Spring, 2008 for digital materials from SAF's 2008 Local Marketing Kit. As for Point of Sale systems, plenty of members have things to stay on our Tech Talk discussion forum.

 
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Marketing Help

I'd like to tell you that we wish for something really earth-shaking, like an end to the war in the middle East.  However, my wishes are much more modest.
 
We have two wishes in mind for 2008, money and sanity permitting...

We wish for a part-time person to help us with our direct contact marketing efforts and visits to businesses in our city. We also wish for the time and the materials to once again do some minor renovations to our store front to make for more appealing public appearance and better use of our space for the staff.

 
P.S. ... my 3rd wish is for a BRAND NEW Honda Element that could be an occasional delivery vehicle, but really MY CAR to drive!! (This one will never happen!!)
 

-- Cheryl Bakin
Parkway Florist
Pittsburgh, Pa.   
 

Santa Says: While you're waiting for that part-timer (and even after he or she is on board), SAF's easy-to-use MagnetMail system can help. This tool can help you start a stellar marketing campaign or e-newsletter. SAF also has uploaded new ready-to-use articles to MagnetMail's online library. Just point and click to insert them into your newsletter, load your list of recipients and send! Choose from one of SAF's customizable templates or let us create a special design just for you.

You also can start a direct-mail campaign with SAF's Custom Print Marketing Center. Simply choose one of SAF's attractive postcard designs (you even have access to our out-of-print designs), customize it with your information, upload your mailing list and place your order. 

To help land corporate accounts, you might consider using SAF's Business-to-Business materials.

As for the car, well ... how about a free Marketing Edge CD-ROM instead? 

 
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Cost of Goods Control

I wish for a no fail way to control COGS. Good luck with that one!

-- Rhonda Sexton   
Flowers By Guenthers
Onalaska, Wis.

Santa Says: Try SAF's Retail Pricing Worksheet. Many florists have used this tool to significantly reduce their cost of goods sold (COGS), saving thousands of dollars a year. All you have to do is plug your flowers, their wholesale prices, and your markup into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file and the worksheet calculates the price for you.
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Event Templates

Dream wish: another one of me to do all the things I want to do, but don’t have time for.
 
Realistic: someone to come up with some spreadsheet templates for pricing parties and events, flower inventory, etc … similar to the template for flower pricing that SAF has now.
 
Victor West
Vanessa’s Flowers
Plymouth, Mich.  

Santa Says:  A great way to find the help you need is on our Discussion Forum. Here, you can search for answers in the forums, or start a discussion of your own. For your specific wish, you may want to try the Weddings and Special Events discussion. Also, check out SAF's Wedding Flower Calculator.
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Booming Business

I wish for enough business to maintain the shop and keep my one and only designer employed. We are a small shop with one owner and one part time employee who does wonderful flower arrangements. I would like for her to be able to continue working for me. That would be my dream.
 
What I also would like for Christmas for our shop is eight to ten simple Kitchen Cabinets installed to store our vases and supplies. Currently we have everything stored under tables covered with our ribbons and other materials on the top. It always looks unorganized, no matter how much we clean up and store things away in the back room (which is so packed full with baskets and silks). Our shop is only 1,000 square feet total space and we have an 8' x 10' cooler, which has large shelving to keep boxes with greenery and tables for the buckets. I wish somebody could come in and organize this place for us, somebody who has expertise in organizing a flower shop and who also is a carpenter who can mount things on the walls and build and install cabinets.

--Sylvia Harris
A Pleasant Grove Florist
Texarkana, Texas

Santa Says: We are not much help on the "handyman" side of things, but if you want more business, SAF's Web site has a wealth of ideas on how to improve sales through effective advertising and marketing. Go to the Sales and Business Tools and Marketing Tips and Tools pages so you can access all of SAF's sales and marketing advice and professional printed materials. And if you are looking for space-planning and organization tips, go to the Discussion Forum and post a question.
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Mark Your Calendar

Upcoming Events

• Deadline for SAF Awards nominations and PFCI and AAF applications: Feb. 1, 2008.
• SAF's Congressional Action Days: Feb. 25-26, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Register online.
• SAF's Pest Management Conference: Feb. 28-March 1, 2008, in Atlanta. Register online.
• SAF Palm Beach 2008: Sept. 17-20, 2008, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.
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Regular Features

Reader Feedback

Roy Sabo, AAF, MCF of Sunnyslope Floral in Grandville, Mich., alerted us to the FOX 17 story that aired incorrect facts about poinsettia toxicity and pet poisoning —which we covered in the previous week's E-Brief. Here are his thoughts on the matter:

As I thought about this topic, it occurred to me that if "no one knows about pet/plant toxicity" when they adopt a pet, the proper adoption process is not in place. It certainly seems that the place for "consumer education" about this issue is from the agency, store, or other business/location that is providing the pets to the public.

That is the true, natural and ideal location for the education to occur — not as an "after the purchase /delivery of flowers" from a florist. The florist alone should not be singled out to educate the public about every possible pet reaction to specific products. As part of the bigger picture, if that is true, then every retailer of any type that sells flowers, including supermarkets, farmers markets, on-line floral e-tailers, etc., etc., should all be part of that process if the person making the comments in the news story truly "wants to provide a warning card on certain flowers."

Marvelous Marketing

Heading into the New Year often puts one in a good mood to reflect on all of the good things that happened during the year. With that in mind, tell us: What were your BEST marketing ideas of 2007? E-mail vmachir@safnow.org with your tips.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Product Spotlight: FloraTrac

Want to know how you measure up to the competition? Try FloraTrac, SAF's market share reporting system. This powerful tool will allow you to get month-to-month and year-to-year comparisons of your business against operations with similar revenues or geographic locations, as well as against all program participants. Enrollment is currently free for members.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Inclement Weather Affects About Half of Florists

About 54 percent of readers responding to the previous week's e-poll say their business has been affected by inclement weather in the past three weeks. Forty-six percent say their business has not been affected.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Top Ten Items Sold for Christmas

Top Ten items that sold during Christmas 2006 were seasonal floral offerings (88 percent), fruit and gourmet baskets (85 percent) and wreaths (84 percent) — followed by home decorations and accent pieces (78 percent), candles (73 percent), ornaments (67 percent), balloons (65 percent), candy (65 percent) greeting cards (61 percent) and tabletop decorations/novelty ceramics (61 percent). 

Source: SAF 2006 Post-Christmas Online Survey of retail florists. Based on 358 responses (response rate 9 percent).

--Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org

 
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