Help with wire services

BloomersAsh

New Member
Jul 4, 2011
1
0
0
Ashtabula
State / Prov
OHIO
I am a new flower shop in ashtabula OH.

There is one shop already with teleflora and FTD. I had a call from Floral source international about joining them, also from teleflora.

What should I do.

I am kinda not sure about FSI Teleflora is more reptuable
 
You really don't need any of the wire services. Your own ecommerse website would be best! If you send a lot of wire outs and really feel you need a service, check out flowershop network (fsn) It's around $300.00 for the year. I think almost $700. if you want their website. Best Wishes!
 
A wire service like Teleflora can be expensive with all of its charges for directories and selection guides, especially if you buy in to all of their computer services dove networks etc. If you are small depending on the demand for sending orders out of town, I would go with placing the order directly with a shop in another town, use a company credit card and making your money off of the fee to handle that for your customer. You can find a florist in almost any city by looking online. It is VERY VERY hard to make money on the wire service by the time you pay all the fees associated with it. I can not speak to Flower shop network.
 
Why do you want to belong to a wire service? When I first started my business I didn't have a wire service. I was fine without them. Then I let myself be talked into joining them, letting them convince me I would do better with them, more business and orders to fill. I wish I had never joined any of them. Now I am in the process of getting out of them and just servicing my very own customers. They (the wire services) are more trouble and money than they are worth. Do some research on the subject of wire services here on Flower Chat. You will get an ear full! I wish you the best!
 
I would say avoid them for now.

do a year or 2 with out them.

we have tried teleflora and ftd at different times and they don't bring in the income they imply they will.
for sending out we use a shop credit card and we have the flowershop network for oversea orders and our website.

I would honestly say do NOT join a wire service until you feel you really need one..... and honestly i can't see that you really NEED one ever.
 
I also suggest you not join a wire service right now. The whole wire service industry is going through a LOT of bull right now. There is serious debate on this forum about the future of that business model. The sales reps for wire services get paid by commission, so they will tell you ANYTHING to get you to join. The contracts are ironclad in favor of the Wire Services, and they are incredibly difficult to get out of once your name is on the dotted line. They also will not hesitate to sue you if you realize that you cannot afford to continue until the end of your contract.

One thing is, the wire services will always be there IF you ever decide to join, so there is no reason to add another incredibly difficult responsibility to your, already, hectic schedule while you get your new business venture going. The offers also get better the longer you wait (which should tell you something).

I suggest doing the following BEFORE you decide:

read every thread in the Wire Service forum to get an idea of the what you will be getting into

Also, feel free to google any shop in the country and ask the owner to give you his or her opinion on the wire services.

Go introduce yourself to the other shops in town, and ask them what they think about the wire services. I have found that there are only minor differences between the services that I have dealt with and looked at.

Open your yellow pages and look at how many of the shops with big ads are wire service order gatherers that you will be delivering flowers for. Google Florist {your town name} and check for the same. I would guess that AT LEAST half of the orders going through wire services now are from what we call Order Gatherers. They are the crooks who use low prices to lure in customers and then pound them with back end fees. They use deceptive photography and fine print to fleece customers in YOUR TOWN then you are expected to fill a cheap order for a huge discount and put your shop's reputation on the line when you deliver it to the recipient. When the customer calls the order gatherer to complain (and they will) the customer service rep will blame you for ripping them off, offer some money back, and you will foot the bill.

I am quitting both my wire services. I will be out on September 1. I made some money with them because I live in a decent sized city and did a lot of volume, but they are destroying my reputation. I would not stay in FTD even if it was a 90/10 split and there were no fees. They have proven time and again that they only care about the quick buck, not the long term customer relationship.

One last thing, there are many options for point of sale and eCommerce websites. The wire service options are INSANELY overpriced. Don't let the sales reps try to convince you to join for that crap either.

I would buy a pro account on this forum, and get some input. There are hundreds of years of experience here and as many opinions.
 
Stay away, far away. You don't have to have a wire service to be a successful shop. They will promise you anything to get you to join and don't come through with what they promise. The last time a Rep came by my shop, I told him the same thing I told him a year earlier, "I don't need a wire service", he just can't believe I don't need them. He says they can help me build my business. I say the will help drain my bank account.
 
My shop has only been open for 1 1/2 yrs. During this time I signed up to both FTD and Teleflora.
Teleflora was for a 6 month "free" membership. After filling over $1,000 worth of orders, they still figured
out I owed them in the end. Told them I wouldn't pay till I saw rep. Never saw rep. My FTD membership
ends the last day in August! I will gladly email you some of my statements. FTD basicly gets 29% of order,
plus membership fee. In a year, my membership fee went from $50-$200.
 
I agree with the sentiments expressed so far. Get some time under your belt and figure out your financials before you even CONSIDER making any kind of committment to a wire service. We had both Tel and FTD years ago. Then we dropped Tel and just had FTD for a couple of years. Now we have also dropped FTD and just have Flowershop Network for sending orders out of town. FSN is very affordable and doesn't compete with you for orders in your own town.

When we dropped the wire service, our sales went down initially, but our profits went up. There is not point in paying more labor and carrying more inventory to fill orders that make you NO profit.

I'm glad you asked the question here before making a decision. Smart.