for dual WS members, question

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jbarb

jbarb

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Oct 31, 2002
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For those of you that are both TF and FTD what is the main reason that you choose one over the other when sending out an order?
For the month of March, I recieved 3 to 1 Dove over Merc orders. There must be a reason for this. I have been trying to figure this out and I usually try to cross reference the shops. In almost every case the sending shops have been both FTD and TF.

There is no hidden agenda to this question. I'm not trying to compare who is better or anything. I'm just curious as to why this happens. At the FTD meeting that I attended even Bob Norton commented on the fact the TF gets two thirds of the orders so there must be a reason why shops tend toward sending TF.

Jim
 
Jim there seems to be no rhyme or reason for this....

1/ FTD rebates are higher $4.50 verses $4.00 cdn.

2/ FTD has a higher send quota 20 orders verses 10 or less if you talk nice to them (and no you don't have to show them your FTD statement)

3/ FTD shops are supposed to have higher standards???

These three things alone should make FTD incomings outstrip Teleflora, but it's about the same here and I'm the only FTD shop in the County and there are 2 other Teleflora shops but only 1 with Dove.

I think that it's a lot of little things....

1/ Much better containers (until lately)

2/ Much more popular selection guide (our customers hate the FTD one)

3/ Dove is much more user friendly than the Mercury Direct system (and FTD tried to copy and improve on the Dove)

4/ Customer awareness of Teleflora's advertising which actually sells product and not Wild Things!

5/ Teleflora's commitment to it's customers (us the florists)

And then the biggest one as far as I can tell by talking to my peers...........Bob Norton and his childish ploys and games!
Most of the real florists can see right through his B.S. He claims we should think outside the box and dang what does he do??? Copies everyone else!!
Look at the new rose program.....just because 800 flowers is doing it he has to copy them.
Look at the new Christmas C1 Ornament.....Looks just like the last 2 Teleflora keepsake specials, you could take off the Ornament and replace it with a Cottage and guess what, oops I forgot, take out the FTD banners.
FTO transmission......he put that in because Teleflora was doing it.....but he forgot to look at the fact that (at that time) Mercury access fees were $59.95 and Dove was only $26.95 cdn.
Not to mention FTD dot com steeling orders and no find a florist link anywhere, or putting FTD fresh product in Wallgreens, or what about the nice QA fees charged members just after selling Extra Touch?

So I guess maybe the real florists would rather give the business to the wire service that does not try to get a cut out of every flower sold in America!!!!
 
Yep ditto too, except for one thing, I think the simple truth is that Teleflora clears at least double the order volume that FTD does. I have heard something like 10 million FTD out of 30 million orders, then when you take that 10 million and wonder how many of those get diverted into drop ship product, well...they just have nowhere near the order volume. Funny when I got into this biz 10 years ago FTD had 70% of the whole ball of wax and TF and AFS fought it out for about 10% each! (I think Carik and Redbook had the other 10). My my my how things have changed!:confused:
 
No more FTD after April 30th, but had both for quite a few years so I will answer. I have a very specific reason for sending FTD or TF.

FTD and TF now both require 20 outs or you pay $19.95 low sending fee. I called them and asked specifically as there seemed to be differing opinions on the amounts. They are the same now. I don't worry about the reciprocity fee as we ALWAYS have more than 5 to 1 ration of ins/outs needed.

On a non-holiday month on the 1st day of the month I send FTD until all 20 are sent. If they are merc-ed I stop at 20, if there happens to be any called on the phone I go over and above that many as many florists do not report their phoned in orders on time and then I don't get credit. Then I start on TF. TF month runs
from the 6th until the 5th of the next month. If I have to go until the 5th with TF's then FTD's don't start until the 6th.

The reason I do this is that we used to send them according to selection guide picture chosen or our mood. I ended up being short 2 or 3 on both and paid $19.95 to both. That ended real fast. Recently TF was only 15 and $14.95 but not anymore.

For holiday months it does not matter. After sending 20 FTD's we usually send TF as it is much more user friendly and more coverage.

That's the reason. Nothing to do with liking one more than the other. Nothing to do with containers.

It will be so nice after April 30th to have only one. I loved having only one wire service for many years before we joined TF in 1999.:cool:
 
It may also be, that is is faster to send teleflora then Mercury direct or Merc 3000. THe dove may be already on a computer that is accessable to the cash register and they just stay there and keep writing the order. Or they may have the Daisy system and it is easier to send daisy then merc with one step less to take, I found that My staff tend to use teleflora first before sending FTD because of one less step. I do check weekly to see where I am in sending and will balance it out by the end of the month if I have enough orders to fill my quota.
Luc
 
When we had both services, we sent based on which service our favoured filling shop was with. Quite often, the best shop (in our experience, from our feedback) was TF. Our complaints in the last years with FTD were 5:1 FTD shops over TF. And our sending volume was 2:1 TF over FTD.

Also, with Daisy it's much easier to send TF - and the Dove is a nicer system IMHO.
 
We receive about 2:1 FTD over TF. We have 3FTD shops and 6TF. We sent out 50/50. We find that our orders FTD are for a higher value and more varied products. We prefer the look of FTD holiday branded as of late - though I loathe this FTD C1. They were doing so well too...

Audra

:(
 
we are just the opposite out here. The FTD ins are usually less than the TF ins. We almost never get an FTD specific order. It's usually something like "mixed spring arrangement" for $30
 
With us, we find the average TF is about $45, the average FTD is $60 (all prices in Canapesos). We also see much more in the way of add-on with FTD orders - cards, candles, plush, balloons.

Audra
 
One thing I see about those FTD .con websites is it has a lot of add on features for arrangments and such...

TF sites do not have this only the standard price and deluxe price.
It should not be too long before those stale TF sites have new templates and maybe add on features?. Naw..just dreaming
 
Add-on features

Right now, any florist with a Teleflora-hosted web site can customize their add-ons - both content and price. We have used them quite effectively for 'suggestive selling' as well as offering delivery upgrades (guaranteed before noon and guaranteed beore 10 AM.)

There are lots of bell & whistle options - myteleflora.com lists them.

BTW our average incoming order was 53.07 in 2002 - average outgoing was 67.60 Z(in US$). This year, so far, its 62.90 incoming and 73.97 outgoing (V-Day does have a way of raising averages...).
 
For the last year we were with both services, avg TF in was $62.66, avg FTD in was $62.08. Avg TF out was $81.54, and avg FTD out was $77.98.

Of course ... all prices in loonies :)
 
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