Mmmmmm feels like the ball is in my court now...

[Luc]

Started about 2 years ago...
Was filling orders from Flowers by Sears and Jackmans with no problem. THen one day I was noticing no orders and was wondering if I did something wrong. SO I called and got no response to my question from owner.
THen all of a sudden, one of the other flower shop in town closes shop. I then notice Flowers by Sears and Jackmans orders are coming again. I figured it out they they were sending it to them.
THen I got a call of THe owner and making a deal with me about receiving all the orders from them at a I think it was $39,.95 membership fee to join flowrs by Sears. Ok at the time it looked it was worth my while and I was going to get a discount on my telelfora products. SO I signed up and was receiving all their orders. Then Last Mothers Day I had several orders I received was under value for me and second choice was fill to value. So I did and I started to get complaints from them for not filling as per requested. THe items was for a dz roses arr for $62.00 plus $5.00 for delivery. I told them there was not enough money so I filled to value like second choice said. They told me I had to fill to the 12 roses. I told them I would not let them DICTATE to me what I had to do in my shop so at that moment I decided to quit them. Seem they where also holding back part of the delivery fee they collected from customer since my delivery fee was smaller then they collect. I also realize is why should I pay them a membership fee and also Teleflora membership fee and 27% discount to receive about $4,000.00 of orders from them. Sent my 60 days notice and that was it. In Early fall (Oct.)
I got a call again fromt he owner to see If I was going to join thema gain. I may have been to cocky on this but I told them that I have a 50-50 chance on getting the orders since the other flower shop which is lots smaller then me with no merc or dove would receive the orders. I guess They played my bluff and they were sending all orders to her since then. Well the new Teleflora directory is out and she is not even codified for ANY, NONE< ZILCH, of the teleflora items and since she is not FTD I wonder what could happen. I figure now that the ball is in my court( I hope I am not to cocky about this) and that it will cost Flowers by Sears/Jackmans$49.95 a month for me to fill their orders.
I have instructed my staff to intercept any orders from NorthBay, and any orders from a order gatherer as I will take personal care of these orders. Rejects, sorry out of product, not enough money, not in my delivery zone will be terms I will be using alot next week.
Take a note Teleflora HQ, I better not get a call from you guys neither about I MUST fill their orders or other few choice words may be said. NO MORE HEAD GAMES>>>>I PLAYED FAIR, WITH THEM AND i GOT SCREWED, NOW IF THEY WANT TO PLAY WITH ME, IT IS IN MY BACK YARD.
Do you think I am doing the right thing here????
ANy advice from the experience shop owners?
Luc

 

[Blue Oyster Cult]

One thing I like about TF

Luc, the one thing that I love about TF is I control all in's and out's.

I never had a problem refusing anything even from a real florist due to lack of money or just their request which would cause complaints, like in those orders that say "just fill to value".

Bloomz once told me to use this phrase when refusing orders...
"Out of Pink Flowers".

Be the Captian of Your Ship..Battleship that is..

 

[sunny]

Luc if you don't want to touch this orders do one thing only send their HQ. a registered letter stating that you will not fill any of their orders and if they send them you will ignore them on your system and it will be up to them to deal with non delivery after MD. and also send a copy of this letter to Teleflora HQ. so that they can redirect all dove orders from them elsewhere. This is how I got rid of 1-800 and ftd.com orders , didn't make them happy but I slept better.

 

[bloomz]

Absolutely did the right thing! High Five!

Luc, according to Teleflora's top - you can refuse any order you want for any reason you want. I have used all kinds of reasons from "no pink flowers to- we don't fill your orders" and some have not even been polite when they get impolite with me. I roll up my sleeves and enjoy that when someone tries to tell me I MUST fill their order. Teleflora OKC HQ orders I have may times refused with simply this "we don't fill HQ orders".

Butt, if you're their only choice - this is what I would do - tell them you will fill their orders ONLY on a credit card and ONLY at 100%. What're they gonna do? Heck I'd do that even if I wasn't the only choice and have done on occasion, like when Carik used to call us with orders. Funny how it would catch them off guard like "why would you want 100%?" And they would call somebody else. However, if there ain't nobody else? Guess who's in the driver's seat! GO FOR IT!

The "reverse membership fee" is a killer idea! I think I may try that on someone when it avails me! What a concept!

 

[theRKF]

Brilliant, Luc! Bravo.

I, too, love the "Filling Membership Fee" idea. Good source of revenue for you, if they want the best in the area.

Interesting, too, for customers of Flowers By Sears to learn that their orders are being routed AWAY from the better shop.

 

[Rock]

Luc,
like Bloomz said, the reverse membership idea IS a killer idea whose time has come especially in an area where THEY have no choice.
Hugh
PS Luc, I have NO PROBLEM telling Barry to get stuffed; what's with this "Excuse" needed not to fill their undervalued orders that make them look good to their customers so they won't call you direct?????
PPS BARRY POND, FLOWERS BY SEARS, JACKMAN'S FLOWERS OF NORTH BAY ONTARIO... GET STUFFED (as Jock McBile Says!!!) Rock on.....

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

I'd say you have your answers LUC!!

YOU were ALWAYS in the driver's seat...don't forget...it's YOUR store name and reputation at stake...YOU set YOUR quality rules, and YOU set the "sandbox" rules!!
Isn't it interesting, how some order stealers CONTINUE to act as if nothing has changed??
LOTS has changed...florists are wising up....they HAVE to be compensated properly for filling orders...either Filling Fees, 100% value, or whatever.....YOUR SANDBOX, YOUR sand, YOUR lovin hands, YOUR RULES!!
Mike

 

[deflorist]

A shop I used to work in was the 'Flowers by Sears 'store in that city. The rules were very strange. Sears has a 'lifetime' guarantee. As I shop at Sears I knew that was for their other product. I did not think that covered their fresh flowers! Unfortunatly it did. We replaced this one Sears order 3 times in the month of December! When I (as manager) refused to replace it once again. we got a nasty call from the fellow at Sears who started it up. My boss finally came to his sences when the advertising cost skyrocketed. The little catalouges are printed up down east (at their price) and distributed all over Canada without regards as to the wholesale price diffences across the country. Each florist was sent a reciept sheet for all the arrangements with the exact count of each flower used. The arrangements were supposed to fllow it excatly! Unless their practises have changed I do not understand how one can make a go of it under those guarantees.

 

[BOSS]

Interesting about Sears...

Just shows ya what folks DO NOT understand, and who should not be in OUR BIZ....

According to Credit Card Management magazine www.cardforum.com Sears is eliminating the Sears card...and geting out of the credit bia, selling it off to a third party...as well as Bankrupt Spiegel (Downers Grove, IL) and any number of other retailers...

We are going to see more and more of this, as well as folks getting out of our biz over the next few years...many have realized its too much work, and still others think they have us over a barrell...

Sad to say, that they will not be invited to play in the new game, when the players take the field, not to mention their collective balls and go play someplace else...