Flowers All Hours - Word on the street....

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BOSS

BOSS

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Oct 31, 2002
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Word has it that FTD is moving 150-200 jobs covering FAH and the customer service staff for Da Dot outa the building...effective October 10th....

Where they going to?....drum roll....Little Rock Arkansas.....

My feeling is that this is an attempt to stop the bleeding, and an attempt to bolster the cash flow...the stock's kinda sick....

Editorial Comment:
Say what you like about Bad Bobby, back in the day at least they listened to the florists. They had florists working with and for FTD, these days the only folks left are the "DotCommers" that came with Soenen when he moved into the corner office.

FTD "could" be a strong, healthy company if they so chose to make the florists their top priority, but we all know that won't happen under the current regime....these days it seems like they are good at lip service, and not much else...

Put a FLORIST at the helm!
____________________________
Maybe I should take those folks that have asked me to be part of a National Retail Florist Association up on their offers of support and build Real Florist into the powerouse it could become with enuf folks involved...
 
I heard they were opening a new call center. Does it matter where they answer there phones? To me it’s important how they answer the phone with regards to flowers after hours. Personally we are open so many hours they don’t get lots of our calls.
I have never had better communications with FTD staff. They seem to all have blackberry’s and answer right away for me. At the convention all the top management was available to speak to and answered any questions at length. I found them to be very smart and knowledgeable. I see some of the products like Technology and Fol improving rapidly.
 
David said:
I heard they were opening a new call center. Does it matter where they answer there phones? To me it’s important how they answer the phone with regards to flowers after hours. Personally we are open so many hours they don’t get lots of our calls.
I have never had better communications with FTD staff. They seem to all have blackberry’s and answer right away for me. At the convention all the top management was available to speak to and answered any questions at length. I found them to be very smart and knowledgeable. I see some of the products like Technology and Fol improving rapidly.
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David,
I agree - I get issues resolved right away - err-a, with the exception of some littl' ol' Advantage issues! My field rep is TOP notch, with access always. She has been the saving grace for MANY members here in the philly area. Has saved some memberships for FTD too!

- H

PS - agree with BOSS-mas too...Bad boy Bobby was - shall we say ROUGH around the edges, but what he said was DONE and that was that. HOWEVER, he listened to WHOME he wanted to...if you 'cliqued' with him, you got heard. Quite frankly a lot of florists didn't get heard...but, some DID....
 
Did anyone ask them at the convention why they were competeing with their own florists, i.e. butterfieldblooms.com or filling OG orders? I'd love to hear their answer. Please tell me someone asked them these tough questions. :)
 
I have a tremendous....

relationship with FTD and it's staff, and though it will be very difficult to actually "transport" the brightest staff, to the new location, AND, there WILL BE "issue" with such a move, this is CERTAINLY not the last time we're gonna see "changes" in the way that FTD does business!!
I agree, as smart and wide focused Mike Soenen IS, I'm pretty sure that the very REASON that ALL the wire services are sometimes a pain in the neck, is JUST THAT...there are NO REAL FLORISTS running the place!!
 
my opinion

Dazeal said:
Did anyone ask them at the convention why they were competing with their own florists, i.e. butterfieldblooms.com or filling OG orders?...
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Because the florist's that FTD is really trying to destroy are the little guys, not the established big fillers, and many of the "big boys" (BBs) here on flowerchat are big order fillers who on one side talk bad about the OGs but on the other side are making good money off of their nationwide marketing efforts. Once big filling florist learn how to make decent money off wire orders by volume or sweetheart deals with the WSs, all they are trying to do is increase the pie, so to speak. OGs spend big amounts for nationwide yellow page ads and capture ALOT of orders, which get funneled to the BBs.

While all this hurts some big florists locally, they more than make up for it with heavier volume through the OGs. I feel this is one of the "dirty little secrets" of the industry, and sometimes feel that many BBs speak out of both sides of their mouths on this issue, at once talking up "real florist" issues while doing everything in their power to get as many wire orders as possible in their "districts".

Why else would otherwise smart businesspeople deal not only deal with the wires but actively promote them? And finally, can anyone tell me the difference between FTD.com and an OG?? For the life of me I cannot see any difference...

- mark
 
*runs and grabs his pop corn and sits back with a coke and a large grin*

This should be good! lol
 
12BucksFor2Dozon said:
Because the florist's that FTD is really trying to destroy are the little guys, not the established big fillers, and many of the "big boys" (BBs) here on flowerchat are big order fillers who on one side talk bad about the OGs but on the other side are making good money off of their nationwide marketing efforts.
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For the record, as this sounds like I might be considered a "BB"... I only fill for other REAL Florists...no OG's or Da Dot...

12BucksFor2Dozon said:
While all this hurts some big florists locally, they more than make up for it with heavier volume through the OGs. I feel this is one of the "dirty little secrets" of the industry, and sometimes feel that many BBs speak out of both sides of their mouths on this issue, at once talking up "real florist" issues while doing everything in their power to get as many wire orders as possible in their "districts".
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I have a hard enuf time speaking out of one side of my face yet alone both....it's true some florists do attempt to get the majority of both the inbound as well as the outbound biz...BUT there are also those of us working dilligently to try and correct some of this industries ills...

12BucksFor2Dozon said:
Why else would otherwise smart businesspeople deal not only deal with the wires but actively promote them? And finally, can anyone tell me the difference between FTD.com and an OG?? For the life of me I cannot see any difference...

- mark
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Not poromoting them here...and there is NO DIFFERENCE between the two...
_____________________
Seems the thought nobody continued was the financial aspect of this move. Yes there are still some very good people at FTD, yes there are even some that listen, even if their hands are tied about doing anything about what they hear. The move to Little Rock is to lower overhead...yes can;t fault them for that, but you mark my words...the next thing will be to cut the field staff...

Oh and Herb...wonder when they'll move the Tech Support to India to save a few more bucks...TF already has part of theirs in the Phillipines (is it?)...
 
BOSS said:
For the record, as this sounds like I might be considered a "BB"... I only fill for other REAL Florists...no OG's or Da Dot...

I have a hard enuf time speaking out of one side of my face yet alone both....
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LOL! I almost spit my coffee out my nose when I read this. Boss, far be it from me to try to identify any specific FC member who fits this description, and I certainly did not think of you when making my comment. Its not that I even blame anyone for playing both sides of the field on this issue, we ALL have obligations to keep, staff to pay, etc etc. and we are all competing for a shrinking pie.

BOSS said:
it's true some florists do attempt to get the majority of both the inbound as well as the outbound biz...BUT there are also those of us working dilligently to try and correct some of this industries ills...
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I know, I see it here, but sometimes it looks to me like your trying to stick a finger in a crumbling dam...

I have been very busy lately trying to drum up business and make sales, so I have not had time to look into this "Real Florist" movement here on FC...it sounds interesting, but we work in such a small market that we would rarely if ever get orders for the 16,000 or so people in our delivery area...also, I suppose I have a deep-seeded distrust of "groups", and often use that old Groucho Marx bon mot "I wouldn't want to be a part of any group that would have ME for a member!"...

- mark
 
BOSS said:
Not promoting them here...and there is NO DIFFERENCE between the two...
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The black & white definition of this scope is narrowing, and because many of us here have "caught on" to the many little dirty tricks that Da Dots are playing, the "grey area" has widened substantially in thae last couple of years!
To be real honest,we REALLY THOUGHT we could take back control of our businesses, in the "traditional sense", but, that proverb is now highly unlikely!
I still believe that THOSE shops that DON'T play the cloak and dagger game, still have as good a chance at making good money in this biz, however, the past has come and gone, and the past is NO LONGER a reference
 
i talked to fah last monday about a problem and it seems they did this the week before. fah in downer's grove only answers the phone between 7am and 7pm and any calls inbetween go to their "back up" call center in oregon
 
12BucksFor2Dozon said:
"I wouldn't want to be a part of any group that would have ME for a member!"...

- mark
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Welcome to the club :)

mark
 
About that Arkansas call center...

From http://arkansastonight.com/2006/03/st.html

A top executive of FTD Inc. on Thursday hastily disavowed a local employment official's e-mail warning that the corporation was close to closing its central Arkansas call center, which employees 600 in Sherwood, after less than six months in operation. The e-mail, obtained by the Arkansas News Bureau, said FTD.com was "disgusted by the quality and quantity of employees" at the new facility. It was sent Tuesday by Rebecca Addison, president of Quality Employment Services Inc. of Little Rock, one of the employment agencies contracted to recruit workers for the center.
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Are FTD members experiencing issues with customer service since the Arkansas move or is this center primarily handling consumers?

Think they'll go back to Chicago or head off-shore?
 
We dropped FAH - too many problems. Couldn't even get our orders to us... some wound up in Florida, New Jersey, etc ... enough was enough.

I liked the Arkansas accent when I worked with TF, but it's not a good way to greet a Canadian customer :)

Ryan
 
We've used this service for over 3 years. Never have had a problem. The one thing I have noticed since the move....the grammar & spelling in the messages they relay to us has gotten much better.
 
Re: No Continuity!

BOSS said:
Editorial Comment:
Say what you like about Bad Bobby, back in the day at least they listened to the florists. They had florists working with and for FTD, these days the only folks left are the "DotConners" that came with Soenen when he moved into the corner office.
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Yes Mark, small bob DID LISTEN to DA FLORISTS!

However, my best recollection is that, while he listened (placated and patronized) to some florists, he and his underlings turned around and did their own thing anyway.

I distinctly remember the Tamya Zygmund debaucle when US WEE BEES wanted them to launch a GIFT PROGRAM for WEE FLORISTS using those Nationally Known Top Quality Gift Brands to implement in OUR SHOPS and as a DROP SHIP PROGRAM for US TOO, just like DOT.CON already had.

Well then, Tamya and her Cave Women came up with the NO NAME SECOND RATE NO VALUE line of junk, which they had a sub-contracted vendor produce. Since they had to have a LARGER PROFIT MARGIN rather than be content with a 5% or 10% margin through the BRANDS, we got screwed again.

Of course, that whole program was doomed to fail and put that vendor OUT OF BUSINESS TOO, not to mention the JUNK PILE we florists were left with. I remember one florist having drop shipped one of his own family members a Gourmet Basket, was embarrassed when he went there at Christmas.

He broke the contents down and came up with a total cost of goods at around $15.00 for an item which had an SRP of $79.95 for which his shop was charged $39.95 plus shipping.

Of course, small bob placed the blame on Tamya's back and fired her and her staff of cave women. I named them the CAVE WOMEN because anytime we talked on the telephone, it was on their SPEAKER PHONE and they all sounded like, THEY WERE INSIDE A CAVE!

They did the same thing when it came to US WEE BEES on the FLORIST ADVISORY COMMITTEE critiquing the FUTURE BRANDED as we threw out the junk and had to choose from the LEAST OJECTIONABLE. After which, Tamya and her associates decided on the JUNK anyway!

As to MY FAH? Well, back in the day and when we started it back in October of 1990, Liz Stallone ran it and she and her staff did a really fine job.

She eventually moved on and was replaced by another really great lady named Julie Stotler.

Julie was also a really great manager of FAH and on one BI-POLAR INC DAY, Van SLEEZE called her into his office and gave her DA BOOT without any warning and after Julie's continous EXCELLENT employee reviews.

Suffice it to say that, their MANAGEMENT TEAM hasn't had a clue since Meg Whitman threw in the towel to start EBAY!

Even Mike and when he first went out to Downer's Grove was nothing more than PERRY'S EYE IN THE SKY while reporting back to him on what Dick Boyce and Meg Whitman were doing.

Then and when small bi-polar bob got in the picture, even Mike couldn't get along with bi-polar and moved the DOT.CON office out of the building and to another office on the property. I always got along with Mike from day one but that had no bearing on his management skills.

Anyway, they'll be FARMING out all of the FAH calls to some CALL CENTER who doesn't have a clue, can't guide the floral consumers into making the right choices at the right price points, and TAKE THEIR ORDERS for ANYTHING at ANY PRICE and for ANYTIME THEY WANT IT, so NO CONTINUITY!

This will be the same kind uv call centers at which, in one call, they'll be selling JANE FONDA'S EXERCISE TAPES, in the next call, they'll be selling a George Forman Grill, and the next call, someone's MOTHER'S CASKET BLANKET!

And the casket blanket will be made up of Calla Lillies and Gardenias because those were her favorite flowers, the price will be for a total of $100.00, and it must be there in time for the first viewing at 1:00 PM tommorrow with the caller calling your shop at 8:00 PM that evening because, THEY FORGOT ABOUT ORDERING MOM'S FLOWERS!

Just another cost cutting measure which eliminates payroll while the CALL CENTER will be working on COMMISSIONS ONLY which is why, they WILL BE TAKING ANY ORDER at ANYTIME for ANYTHING you probably don't have in your cooler for the next day, nor does your wholesaler.

Fact is, IT'S BEEN OVER for some time now as, NOT ONLY HAS THE FAT LADY SUNG, she's now in total cardiac arrest.
 
Costs

I'm kind of wondering about the costs of FAH. I have not been FTD for a number of years now, but when I was I dropped FAH because the cost per order was high.

I know most florists watch their costs when it comes to wire in orders, but is everyone watching the cost per order on FAH?

It would be interesting to know just what it costs today per order when you figure in the monthly fee to belong and the per order charges and all the other charges? And are these costs really worth revenue? And in todays world, aren't there a lot of other options available which can do the same thing for less money?

Just wondering?
 
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