HonestFlorist.com - one to keep an eye on

[LJVF]

Cathy, not sure how your website is set up, but with my TF site I wanted to have a separate delivery fee and service fee and was told I couldn't, my delivery fee and service are bunched together and then I separate and send the delivery fee onto the florist and keep my service fee...Until the web changes this is how I have to do it...as a matter of fact its been a while since I asked about this maybe it has changed, I'll have to check..

I know for a fact that this feature (separating charges) is available through FTD, not sure about TF.

 

[CHR]

Originally Posted by bloomz
Two questions - Are you saying someone would get a different bouquet in your shop by going direct than they would get choosing the same bouquet on my site and me sending it to you?

Not here, but I know a lot of shops do.

But he said (as would any other local florists) that $80 in total spend from his shop will get a customer more than $80 in total spend from an OG with a service fee.

 

[lori042499]

But he said (as would any other local florists) that $80 in total spend from his shop will get a customer more than $80 in total spend from an OG with a service fee.

When speaking in gross dollars this statement is true anywhere for a local delivery.....

If a customer spends 50 dollars in any shop with a 10 dollar delivery added and tax that is what they will get....with any wo, og or otherwise they will be spending the extra service fee...so on average people shopping with anyone other than the local delivering florist are spending 10-15 dollars more than they have to. They may or may not be paying for a worthwhile service depending on the shop thsy use...

I would imagine that most any of our shops they get the true usefulness out of their service charge...We all do our best to pick a good reputable florist that does not skim the order, if we do pick a lemon we make it right with our customer even if it means us losing money, the consumer is able to find us when they have a problem with the order that have placed and it is taken care of quickly....not so with the order gatherers...but alas, none of this matters as the service charge is a chrge that most consumers don't understand never mind even contemplate why they are paying it...

 

[bloomz]

But he said (as would any other local florists) that $80 in total spend from his shop will get a customer more than $80 in total spend from an OG with a service fee.

Dude I gotcha on the warpath with old bloomz yeah? sorry.....I guess it's my lot in life.:corky

ahh well if you can't argue with a friend - who can you argue with? It's all good.

If they spend the money with me - they will pay $9.95 labeled as service/delivery - guess why?

Because sometimes it's service and sometimes it's delivery. Sometimes I get to keep it, often I don't. With virtually all the lower priced items it goes along - with any price changes it goes away, and you have no idea how often this happens (I do - often). As well as, often more needs to be sent than the 9.95 collected as well, and that comes from the pool of times it didn't need to be and I got to keep it.

But again we're arguing marketing vernacular. And honestly I don't care who thinks I should or must say or label specifically what - that's why I am my own boss. Opinions vary!

I think Art does it the most plainly where it is all inclusive pricing - cuz that's what the consumer gets - the total price to have those flowers sitting on someone's table across the country or across the street. Line items schmine items. How much does it cost me?

What else does it get them to spend that 9.95? Access to our list, and not getting one of the crappy florists that are so easy to find. The list we have spent years compiling, that separates us and makes us Long Distance Delivery Specialists..

Now another question asked earlier I had no an answer for at the time - what increases chances of getting a HOG over a DOG and why is this better than a crap shoot?

Because of the sheer numbers of Hogs vs skimming senders are way better than the numbers of quality florists vs crappy ones.

I can't speak for TF, but with ftd's largest senders there's only 1 that I know of that I don't fill for because I know money has been clipped from the order - and I'm fairly astute as finding out if an order has been clipped - it's very important to me putting my/our shop name on that delivery.

Now - how about that preposterous claim that OG's don't care about customer satisfaction?

:rofl:

 

[goldfish]

Hence - the consumer who has no experience with finding a quality florist is often better off using an honest order gatherer (generally speaking).

That depends on the quality of your sacred preferred florist list.

It's analogous to the question of Index fund vs actively managed fund. Unless the manager of the active fund is really good at picking right stocks, both funds behave similarly, thus negating the higher cost for the actively managed fund.

For most florists it is a list of shops that you sent to and didn't receive any complaints.

If that's the strategy for creating a preferred florist list, it is theoretically impossible to make the list significantly better than a random list.

You cannot create a list of quality agents simply by eliminating an agent that failed. In this elimination strategy, a good florist and a bad florist would have an equal chance to be eliminated, if you happen to send orders to the good one more frequently than to the bad one.

In other words, a bad florist in a rural area (who rarely receive an order) would have as good a chance of staying preferred as a good florist in a metropolitan area (who receive more orders).

Eventually, even a good florist in the metropolitan area will be eliminated in this strategy, because even they make a mistake, however rare that might be. Then eventually, a "preferred" list maintained this way will simply be a rotating list of random florists.

A much better approach would be to actually know each florist and their competence level and use that as the guide to build a prefered list. Selection as opposed to elimination.

 

[bloomz]

Goldie I hope no one ever accuses you of over-analyzing things.....

 

[Bigted]

A much better approach would be to actually know each florist and their competence level and use that as the guide to build a prefered list. Selection as opposed to elimination.

Right -- maybe I was out of the shop when the reps for Just Flowers, FU flowers, weasly beary and FST came by for their quality checks.

 

[bloomz]

A much better approach would be to actually know each florist and their competence level and use that as the guide to build a prefered list. Selection as opposed to elimination.

Would you settle for a combination of ingredients?

Our compliment level is considerably higher than our complaint level.

Does that work for you?

 

[CHR]

A much better approach would be to actually know each florist and their competence level and use that as the guide to build a prefered list. Selection as opposed to elimination.

Well.... this is where my golden list can beat most any OG. Have met thousands of florists, worked with them side by side, visited their shops and seen their products, I'd put our ability up to find a great florist with just about anyone's.

I've long said if a few of us did a mash-up with our preferred florist lists, we'd have a killer directory.

Wanna know something funny? MAS allows users to bookmark shops and to globally update the ratings to other users if the shop so chooses. We can see recommended companies from other users and also see who's been marked 'never use'. The funny thing is that I've seen some of the best florists in an area marked 'don't use' and other marginal operations marked 'preferred'. My guess is those were done by users who primarily focus on orders under $40.

I don't think there's a recognition in the industry that different shops do different things really well which is why I believe a good WS directory should link to each members' website so other florists can get a richer picture of what a shop is really about.

 

[lori042499]

Well.... this is where my golden list can beat most any OG. Have met thousands of florists, worked with them side by side, visited their shops and seen their products, I'd put our ability up to find a great florist with just about anyone's.

I've long said if a few of us did a mash-up with our preferred florist lists, we'd have a killer directory.

Wanna know something funny? MAS allows users to bookmark shops and to globally update the ratings to other users if the shop so chooses. We can see recommended companies from other users and also see who's been marked 'never use'. The funny thing is that I've seen some of the best florists in an area marked 'don't use' and other marginal operations marked 'preferred'. My guess is those were done by users who primarily focus on orders under $40.

I don't think there's a recognition in the industry that different shops do different things really well which is why I believe a good WS directory should link to each members' website so other florists can get a richer picture of what a shop is really about.

But yet again that only works if the shop puts their work on the site....I know many a shop that does fabulous work but you could never tell by their site, not even a picture of the storefront never mind any designs....I have been checking out websites for any hint of what the shops do before sending a wire order....also looking at ratings...not very surprisingly there are many florists with neither, so sad..

 

[Queen of Weddings]

One thing is for sure on my preferred, I know what I am gonna get, and on that darn off beaten path, that I don't and after talking to them, and no faith or a drain of hope in hades that I will get what I want, then I fed-ex the darn item, to the recipent, Yes to long in the biz, and yes I do give everyone the benifit of the doubt and always available to teach folks, and yes, that is what I do, Some have been tested by me on the board, and some well, I was always told if you don't have anything nice to say then don't, So I will leave it at that, and I do know some demographic is different, So believe me , I do know that someone in ten buck two probably won't have james stoi orchids or cafe oh late roses, but that is my job to make sure , I know the area , I send the orders to, and I can tell you, I have very few complaints on items for customers, now for myself personally, heavens yes I have had them the biggest is getting them delivered, or even just call me, and tell me that you don't feel like doing the darn order, and I am not cheap on personal items I send out..

 

[LJVF]

I treat the good senders similar to my own house accounts. There are certain senders in particular that send me a lot of nice un-skimmed orders. Bloomz is one of those senders, which means I must be on his golden preferred list? I will go the extra mile and a half for him because he is one of my best "customers". I would guess that he has a lot of florists like myself on that magic list of his.

 

[CHR]

Just coming across my feed reader.....

Honest Florist Christmas Collection (which looks a whole lot like Teleflora's Christmas Collection.)

It's a mashup created on Animoto.com

 

[CHERYL BAKIN]

I guess we know which wire service Aaron will be send his orders thru...now don't we?

Cheryl

 

[bloomz]

Well.... this is where my golden list can beat most any OG. Have met thousands of florists, worked with them side by side, visited their shops and seen their products, I'd put our ability up to find a great florist with just about anyone's.

Absolutely unquestionably believe this is true and the very best way to find a preferred florist

Wanna know something funny? MAS allows users to bookmark shops and to globally update the ratings to other users if the shop so chooses. We can see recommended companies from other users and also see who's been marked 'never use'. The funny thing is that I've seen some of the best florists in an area marked 'don't use' and other marginal operations marked 'preferred'. My guess is those were done by users who primarily focus on orders under $40.

No, that "update the MAS direct community" feature doesn't work that way Cathy, sorry.....and it's not even active yet - a part of the MAS direct rollout 2 which hasn't been released. It will be used to update each other about our instore specials, minimums, inventory etc - nothing to do with preferred florist lists. There are other reasons that preferreds change with directory installs.

Let's be clear about this preferred list concept. For most florists it is a list of shops that you sent to and didn't receive any complaints. It goes back to what I said, that most customers just want to get what they ordered. Is that worth going to a good OG? I don't know, but let's think about what the customer pays.

Bloomz says going to him is often times better than going direct, because you might get a crappy florist if you go online. A couple of thoughts. OGs like him have got to be a tiny percentage of the total population. Most will send out anyorder to anybody just to keep the volume up. That means using an OG gives you the same percentage of success (in the big picture) as just going online--except for one thing--the amount of money received by the filling shop compared to the amount paid by the customer.

I found an interesting quote from earlier - Ted does get it I know he does.

Most of the florists at top 100 (especially the older shops) are big fillers as well as big senders. They tend to be the shop that you want to send your orders to because you know they will take care of it.

Further reiteration here

dang there's gold in some of them old posts.

Meeting successful florists at Top Member and SAF meetings is also an excellent way - speaking generally, successful florists don't need to skim incoming and are usually successful because they know their name is on every order. (Not to say top members are the only good florists, by far)

 

[kt4ye]

I decided to see what was happening at HonestFlorist.com. I found several links when I searched, but none worked. Direct entry of the URL didn't work either

Is HonestFlorist.com KAPUT, or is this just a glitch somewhere??

Bill

 

[duanermb]

seems to work...

http://www.honestflorist.com/

 

[Dorothy]

Make A Wish
$24.99?

1 doz roses arranged $49.99?

Carp. I hope they don't send us any orders!