Less skewed wire service participation poll
- Thread starter inferno63
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The bully tactics of a few should not deter the good and informational discussions of the masses. Do not leave the playground or the bullies win. We can continue civil and educational dialogue while choosing to not respond to those bullies or you can respond if you wish. So to be clear, I only am pointing at Bloomz. He should either participate in a respectful manner or leave the conversation. I just don't want the good stuff lost because of the way this thread turned ugly.
Thank you all for the support. I did not initiate the fire and I am glad that you all can see that.
Thank you all for the support. I did not initiate the fire and I am glad that you all can see that.
I like this new survey. I don't love the wire services, but we are a Teleflora shop.
We send so many wire orders that we really need a large network with instant transmission abilities. Our customers like the ability to choose selections from the book, or from our web site, and have reasonable expectation of the delivered piece looking like the pictured item.
No one likes the fees and ".com" aspects of the larger wire services, but we could not efficiently process our outgoing orders, especially at holidays, without using their network.
My question - Are there other shops with loyal customer bases who rely on them to transmit orders nationwide? We get very few incoming wire orders, and even less from real shops. (I know that's a good thing. I just wonder where all the wire orders go that are sent by other shops like mine.)
Wishing you all a good holiday weekend!
We send so many wire orders that we really need a large network with instant transmission abilities. Our customers like the ability to choose selections from the book, or from our web site, and have reasonable expectation of the delivered piece looking like the pictured item.
No one likes the fees and ".com" aspects of the larger wire services, but we could not efficiently process our outgoing orders, especially at holidays, without using their network.
My question - Are there other shops with loyal customer bases who rely on them to transmit orders nationwide? We get very few incoming wire orders, and even less from real shops. (I know that's a good thing. I just wonder where all the wire orders go that are sent by other shops like mine.)
Wishing you all a good holiday weekend!
master J
Well-Known Member
It is convenient to have a ws to send out orders, especially at holiday, but, the problem is, most florists are not filling the orders to value!
Yes there are some good ones, but too many bad fillers!
We have had an overwhelming amount of complaints on wire outs due to florists that just decide not to fill at all, or skim on the filled orders and our customers have not been satisfied!
They always say, I wish you guys were filling it, they don't trust other florists, and quite frankly neither can I when it comes to WS wireouts.
I believe I will get better value using a business CC to call out orders instead. Not as convienent as sending over the dove, but I feel better knowing we are giving better value to our customers who want us to take care of their wireouts for them
I also have found better service, quality, and delivery using my cc than with ws. I have yet to have a customer complain about what was sent when I did it this way. Before, with ws, we had complaints often about quality and delivery. I think that when you actually talk on the phone to a shop they are more attentive to your order. They hear your voice, you exchange friendly conversation....you become personal. It works for me.
Its rare that we have a complaint on wire out orders. In fact, we get frequent complements on orders we've wired for our customers, which is why they keep coming back, occasion after occasion. We do have favorite shops to use for most of our regular senders, which helps. We also are very specific with our descriptions, so filling shops have less to question when filling our orders.
I do understand, though, why you prefer to call-direct. I guess that may be where all the incomings have gone. Thanks for the survey, and the input.
We rarely would wire out to the same shop twice. In my area of Ohio, wires out are not the norm. I have a few customers that have me handle their out of state orders with whom I would use the same florist again and again without complaints through a WS. I continue to use them now that I am WS liberated. The complaints that I got seemed to be for a shop I never used before or since to an area I never sent before. The issues were always quality, size, or delivery and I had to jump through hoops of fire to resolve the issue with the filling florist and WS. Now I have no more problems dealing direct with the other florist. I still encourage the customer to call a florist direct and only send out direct orders if needed.
There are florists within 20 or 30 miles of me that I have on a 30 day account and they call me for funerals in my town often. The relationship has worked out well without any failures. I give them a 20% discount as a courtesy and even email the pictures of what I send for them. They appreciate that service.
Knife's Wife
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- Apr 16, 2005
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There in lies part of the answer to your questions. A shop who is new or only has a few orders to send out of town should never even consider using a wire service to accomplish that. In that case I am a wire service free cheerleader! But some shops like ours, that spans 4 generations have a lot of customers who send out of town. As more and more people get internet savvy they turn to doing it for themselves, I would love for everyone of those customers to do it themselves, if I thought that, that meant that everyone everywhere would do the same thing and I would receive a ton more orders directly or by website. Unfortunately, the OG take the majority of those orders and I will not fill at a loss or the expense of a four generation reputation that we have built. So, I will continue to stay with the wire services and send my customers orders and fill for other florist at full value, as long as I am profitable do so and until a VIABLE alternative comes along. In this case I am a wire service cheerleader.
Bloomz, Being here from the beginning I can understand your frustration but it is obvious to see that nothing turns away our newbie's quicker than being told they asked a dumb question and they should use the search button. I can't imagine you telling your employees "That is a dumb question, go consult the manual!" You just love to get people all riled up don'tcha!! ?? Behave or I will sic Twila on you!!
Bloomz, Being here from the beginning I can understand your frustration but it is obvious to see that nothing turns away our newbie's quicker than being told they asked a dumb question and they should use the search button. I can't imagine you telling your employees "That is a dumb question, go consult the manual!" You just love to get people all riled up don'tcha!! ?? Behave or I will sic Twila on you!!
Joe Mioux
Well-Known Member
for those keeping score. after 47 replies, it is 72.34pct of the respondents are WS members/FC v 27.66 pct non-WS/FC members.
joe
joe
Maybe so, and that's part of why I have quit doing it.
I guess motorcyclists have thicker skins cuz the bike board I participate on gets a newbie at least once a week that asks if they should use synthetic oil in their bike, or what kind of pipes should I get. And that's where I cut that "do a search" post from.
Poor signal to noise ratio. The noise gets overwhelming.
I actually thought that was a rather helpful nice intro deal, but I don't care any more cuz I don't even see them.
My life sure is easier now I don't have those popping up on the new posts list.
marigold
Well-Known Member
"Bloomz, Being here from the beginning I can understand your frustration but it is obvious to see that nothing turns away our newbie's quicker than being told they asked a dumb question and they should use the search button. I can't imagine you telling your employees "That is a dumb question, go consult the manual!" You just love to get people all riled up don'tcha!! ?? Behave or I will sic Twila on you!!" -knifes wife------------
I agree with you. The "have-been-here-longer chatters" throw out the " check the
search...or "this topic has been beat to death". So, the newbies shouldn't ask or start a new thread, because the discussion has been discussed before. there are only so many topics to cover in our little flower world. If it has been discussed 5 years ago,
maybe an update of opinion is a good idea. And, just because someone is new,
doesn't mean they do not know anything or can be helpful to someone who has
been a florist for generations. There is always something to learn! IMHO.
Otherwise, just what would you guys be chatting about?
I agree with you. The "have-been-here-longer chatters" throw out the " check the
search...or "this topic has been beat to death". So, the newbies shouldn't ask or start a new thread, because the discussion has been discussed before. there are only so many topics to cover in our little flower world. If it has been discussed 5 years ago,
maybe an update of opinion is a good idea. And, just because someone is new,
doesn't mean they do not know anything or can be helpful to someone who has
been a florist for generations. There is always something to learn! IMHO.
Otherwise, just what would you guys be chatting about?
Sure there is and it's meant to be helpful cuz message board etiquette isn't a bad thing
http://uploads.ungrounded.net/188000/188612_Posting.swf
http://uploads.ungrounded.net/188000/188612_Posting.swf
marigold
Well-Known Member
NavyBrat
Well-Known Member
Awesome, bloomz. It's such a common thing on messgeboards someone made this little video. Actually the search button is fun if I've already read the new threads and still want to stay here and learn more stuff.
Thank you to those that participated in this survey. I hope more continue to answer. This information is valuable.
checks and balances
Crud, if it wasn't for us non-ws, religious nuts. You all would be throwing your arms out, patting yourselves on the back.
I'm really here to keep an eye on Bloomzie, so he doesn't get complacent and fall a sleep at the wheel.:faint:
Just had to mess with Joes numbers. Can't wait for the day it's a 50-50%.
Crud, if it wasn't for us non-ws, religious nuts. You all would be throwing your arms out, patting yourselves on the back.
I'm really here to keep an eye on Bloomzie, so he doesn't get complacent and fall a sleep at the wheel.:faint:
Just had to mess with Joes numbers. Can't wait for the day it's a 50-50%.
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