Need help getting the nerve to get rid of WS forever!

[ctherose]

I've read some really interesting things on here about WS pros and cons. Ever since TF tacked on the quality assurance charge I said I was done with them. Well.....I'm still shelling out the $$ every month and I'm still ticked off. (Has anyone out there ever gotten evaluated anyway? I'm still waiting for mine!)

Anyway, a little background: Small-town shop (pop. 2000); two florists in town (they're FTD); shop is 20-years-old, I've had it for four; my ratio of out-going to incoming in $'s is just over 2:1; I don't have a computer in my shop--only one phone line, no internet etc. (not sure I can afford another line--nor do I really need one except for maybe 4 days out of the year!); I also have Bloomnet (don't really use except for the occasional 1800 incoming order--not too many people send to my rural area); I am my only employee; I would like to be profitable, just once, maybe.

Why is there a question in my mind that I shouldn't drop them? Am I crazy? The only things that are positive are that they provide me with inspiration (publications, marketing materials, etc.) & it's easy to pick up the book and find a florist when I'm in a hurry. Oh, and they do process my credit card transactions.

Should I drop TF and use Bloomnet a bit more? Bloomnet is annoying because there are so many areas I call that aren't serviced by them yet. I'm leary of them anyway, it's just a gut feeling.

Should I drop them both? Then what? Keep a directory on hand so I have phone #'s to call to place direct orders? Send postcards to the florists who I know regularly have sent me orders telling them I'm now accepting direct orders? They have electronic systems so why wouldn't they just send it FTD instead (to the other shop)?

Should I even care that I no longer would get incoming orders and just focus on building my business as so many of you have suggested?

Should I get a computer for the shop and add shopping to my website? I'm planning on canning my yellow page ad next year, I could put that money toward DSL...

I'm so sorry for all the stupid questions, but WS is all I've known and it makes me nervous to get rid of it. Any suggestions would be appreciated--you all are so wise!

 

[Joe Mioux]

If your sending to receiving is 2:1, then you are probably making more money with a TF than losing. Although this depends on the volume of your orders.

Before dropping WS altogether try eliminating the extra costs surrounding WS membership. Since you don't use Bloomnet, drop that WS and then minimize TF's costs.

TF's publications are good, but if you don't read a particular one you are wasting money. Osmosis is not an option here.

Review your "also served" by listings and see which towns receive little or no orders. Drop the towns you serve that do not generate sales for you. Also, I forget how much this costs, but you can also have TF publish "See Milford" for other towns you don't want to publish under "also served by" listing.

Joe

 

[AKIKO'S]

Call Us If You'd Like To Talk About It.....

our situations are roughly similar. Town population +/-2400; county pop about 20,000. Annual deer harvest about 19 or 20k, probably doubled by road kill! We remain FTD, shot the Dove and later fired TF when they signed up every wannabe florist in the county to compete with us and diluted the product sales so badly we still have product 6 or 7 years old. We're a Mom & Pop shop with kids that tell their Mom "You work too hard for what you make!" but the shop got them all through college, and because we love what we do we get up every morning ready to enjoy the day. We have used TECHNOLOGY to make our lives easier, more than we have to make money, and that is the driving force to most of our upgrades. Our basic accounting strategy, "If we go into December, and with harder work, November with all our bills paid, WE WILL MAKE MONEY FOR THE YEAR!"

 

[Connie]

In assessing our situation with WS, we first stopped buying their containers. Second we moved our CC to another processor. With these "baby steps" we found that the more we moved away from the WS, thereby taking more control of our COGS and other things, the more profitable we became. We dropped the ASB, Dove (later Mercury), and anything else extra we had with the WS. Somewhere near the beginning of taking control of the situation, we dropped all wire services except one. We kept them for a while because they gave us 6 months free membership and some other free stuff. We are very, very happy being WS free. We do use IFA (Independent Florist Association) which some folks think of as a WS, but they only sent out our orders and send us orders. It gives us a paper trail. They have nothing (containers, etc.) to sell, so that is not an issue. We use the internet (www.locateaflowershop.com and www.ilocalflorist.com) to locate florists also. We call those orders out. IFA has our CC# on file, and we use that same CC for call-out orders. We use that CC only for wire-outs which gives us a statement of sorts, and we pay it off every month.

 

[designingdime]

We use the internet (www.locateaflowershop.com and www.ilocalflorist.com) to locate florists also. We call those orders out. IFA has our CC# on file, and we use that same CC for call-out orders. We use that CC only for wire-outs which gives us a statement of sorts, and we pay it off every month.

We use the internet method as well. I found I owed more $$ than made with W/S. We are in a small city as well, pop. about 27000, and most of our customers are stuck in the 35-45$ price range. That doesn't buy much of an arrangement once you add the W/S fees in! I didnt want my customers feeling like we were gouging on price, and even had a customer complain that they could call 411 for only $1.25 and do the same thing I was doing on their behalf.

Now we charge a $10 "fee", (not the 15-20 fee that is the norm here) , and find a florist via internet to fill the order. Most are more than happy to extend a small discount, and we ask them to keep us on file if they need to send to our location. It's basically a crap shoot anyway when calling through W/S, so I think the risk factor is about the same using internet.

 

[Kristine]

Baby steps first.
We too small shop, small town. If your outgoing order volume is below 400 orders/year, you don't need a wire service. [That is the magic number my cpa gave me when we jumped ship.]

firstly MOVE THE CREDIT CARD PROCESSING. PAY Pros is a good company 800-774-6462 (referred by several other flowerchat folks)
We made it easier for bookkeeping purposes by having the deposits sent to an interest bearing bank account and then transfering to the general check book.

By moving the CC processing FIRST you take a revenue stream away from the wire service so they can't hold your $$ hostage when you do decide to leave.
do a search here on leaving the wire service and read up. It can be painless and it can be a pain.

Get a credit card with rewards. Use it only for wire out orders.
start creating a data base of prefered florists. We find quite a few of our outgoing orders are sent to the same locations for the same customers during the year. You can use your old directories, flowers chat florist listings and the on line ilocal etc.

Buy a computer - You can get something for under $500 to begin with. If all you will use it for is internet connection, perhaps some bookkeeping and some desktop publishing you don't need a lot of machine [some will differ with me i'm sure] If you don't feel you can afford DSL. then get dial up. You can do that for as cheap as $10/month. So it's a little slow - baby steps.

I was amazed at how much $ went strait to the bottom line when we dropped the service. It freed up $ to do more advertising etc.
There are lots of wise generous folks here that will be happy to help you.

Welcome and good luck

 

[CHR]

It's basically a crap shoot anyway when calling through W/S, so I think the risk factor is about the same using internet.

I'm gonna steal a line from Boss and make that my quote of the day. :>

Actually, for experienced shops that have been around, we have lists of good shops in most markets but with all the changes in the industry, even some once-solid operations are looking a bit shabby.

Wonder how much my bookmarks of good stores are worth?

 

[ctherose]

Thank you all so much for the advice. I think I know what I need to do now. My goal is to become WS free for the new year (I figure it will actually take me that long to make the transition). It's kind of funny because I just got home from a design seminar tonight organized by who else? You guessed it....TF! At least I got a free pen and design knife. I feel special now!
:smurf

 

[Connie]

Somone told me just this weekend that TF makes a good, inexpensive design knife! I like your business card, BTW.

 

[ctherose]

I like your business card, BTW.

Thanks, Connie. It's funny you say that because my good friend/graphic designer is coming up with a new logo for me one of these days. I love these graphics too, but it's hard to reproduce in b&w and impossible to hot stamp on bags, etc. I wish there was a way to keep it. But alas, I think that's a topic for another thread!

 

[Connie]

That "O" thing going on is pretty good. Look at what Oberer's has done.
www.oberers.com