FLORISTS ARE NOT STUPID
It is cruel to say that florists are stupid. It would be more accurate to say that FLORISTS ARE TRAPPED.
There are thousands of very wonderful florists out there, some with amazing, creative talent. I wish I would
have learned a long time ago to be a designer so I would could not be held hostage to talented, temperamental,
artistic designers. But I am not a designer, nor is my wife. So that is a mistake I made. That does not make me
stupid.
I have been an aggressive retailer with strong focus on being a promoter. But that alone does not make me
smart.
Some florists have made decisions for their business that are holding them hostage today. I don’t think that
makes them stupid. In light of today’s market, what was a good decision back when is not a good decision
today.
I am speaking of an alignment with a Wire Service. It worked for florists up through the 1980s. Now less than
20 years later, it is an entirely different set of rules, none of which for good for the florist. When Corporate
America calls the shots according to what is best for the quarterly report, they are not going to make decisions
that are good for a highly seasonal partner who is relying on 4 to 6 flower holidays, funerals and weddings.
All florists today that are waiting for people to die, or get married, with some flower events in between are
never going to survive. Their future is in the hands of Corporate America and that is bad news.
I believe the only way that I am going to survive is to bring traffic back into my store, to my website, to my
telephone. But COME INTO MY STORE is the most important. I have been working on that for over a year
and if increased sales are any indication, we should be successful.
The florists to feel sorry for are those who relied on the Wire Service to do their advertising. They proudly said,
“I’m an FTD florist!”
They relied on their Mercury machine to spit out orders. Do you remember how much fun it was to come into
the shop in the mooring and find a bunch of orders waiting to be filled? Do you remember how good it felt
when you were at the top of the list in the directory, particularly during a non flower holiday month?
It took guts for me to get out of the wire services, and I used to belong to 3. And did I see a lot of profit on the
bottom line the next month? NO! The next year? NO! I did not adjust my payroll fast enough, I did not adjust
my occupancy expense [and some cannot]. I did not aggressively promote enough to get customers into my
store. Was I stupid? No, maybe complacent, but not stupid.
To stay in this business of selling flowers, it is going to require us to step out of the familiar box that was crafted
for and worked well in the 20th century. Those of you who came into the flower business in the 90s should find
it easier to change than my generation that started in the 50s.
The new rules of success are probably not carved in stone yet. And if they were, the stone would probably be
artificial and easily broken by forces from without.
I have been increasing cut flower sales every month since last August in excess of 20%. Now I have to figure
out how to keep it going in an ever changing marketplace.
Times are a changing. Are some florists waiting for it to change back? Are some florists waiting for something
to come along and lift them out of the doldrums? I’M NOT WAITING. Just hoping I have not waited to long.
Complacence will do us in. How long do each of us have to wait? The answer is scary. Tom Carlson
It is cruel to say that florists are stupid. It would be more accurate to say that FLORISTS ARE TRAPPED.
There are thousands of very wonderful florists out there, some with amazing, creative talent. I wish I would
have learned a long time ago to be a designer so I would could not be held hostage to talented, temperamental,
artistic designers. But I am not a designer, nor is my wife. So that is a mistake I made. That does not make me
stupid.
I have been an aggressive retailer with strong focus on being a promoter. But that alone does not make me
smart.
Some florists have made decisions for their business that are holding them hostage today. I don’t think that
makes them stupid. In light of today’s market, what was a good decision back when is not a good decision
today.
I am speaking of an alignment with a Wire Service. It worked for florists up through the 1980s. Now less than
20 years later, it is an entirely different set of rules, none of which for good for the florist. When Corporate
America calls the shots according to what is best for the quarterly report, they are not going to make decisions
that are good for a highly seasonal partner who is relying on 4 to 6 flower holidays, funerals and weddings.
All florists today that are waiting for people to die, or get married, with some flower events in between are
never going to survive. Their future is in the hands of Corporate America and that is bad news.
I believe the only way that I am going to survive is to bring traffic back into my store, to my website, to my
telephone. But COME INTO MY STORE is the most important. I have been working on that for over a year
and if increased sales are any indication, we should be successful.
The florists to feel sorry for are those who relied on the Wire Service to do their advertising. They proudly said,
“I’m an FTD florist!”
They relied on their Mercury machine to spit out orders. Do you remember how much fun it was to come into
the shop in the mooring and find a bunch of orders waiting to be filled? Do you remember how good it felt
when you were at the top of the list in the directory, particularly during a non flower holiday month?
It took guts for me to get out of the wire services, and I used to belong to 3. And did I see a lot of profit on the
bottom line the next month? NO! The next year? NO! I did not adjust my payroll fast enough, I did not adjust
my occupancy expense [and some cannot]. I did not aggressively promote enough to get customers into my
store. Was I stupid? No, maybe complacent, but not stupid.
To stay in this business of selling flowers, it is going to require us to step out of the familiar box that was crafted
for and worked well in the 20th century. Those of you who came into the flower business in the 90s should find
it easier to change than my generation that started in the 50s.
The new rules of success are probably not carved in stone yet. And if they were, the stone would probably be
artificial and easily broken by forces from without.
I have been increasing cut flower sales every month since last August in excess of 20%. Now I have to figure
out how to keep it going in an ever changing marketplace.
Times are a changing. Are some florists waiting for it to change back? Are some florists waiting for something
to come along and lift them out of the doldrums? I’M NOT WAITING. Just hoping I have not waited to long.
Complacence will do us in. How long do each of us have to wait? The answer is scary. Tom Carlson
