OK My Bluff was Called about FFK

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Twila

Twila

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Sep 24, 2007
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Corvallis, OR
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OR
:bouquet2: Monday (late) morning I started calling the Elementary Schools in Corvallis to tell them about Flowers For Kids Classes. A couple people asked if I could email them information to pass on to the teachers. Before I could get that email together, I had a 4th grade teacher call and schedule a class. "How about tomorrow?" he asked. I had to think a minute about whether or not I had enough flowers or would have to order them. "You bet...tomorrow will be fine!" Then decided that I better REALLY study the lesson plan or script.

Tuesday afternoon I had my first Flowers For Kids Class. I told the teacher that I was and would welcome critiques since it was my first Flowers For Kids presentation. There were 28 students and I had a BLAST and so did the kids! Mr. Ulrich (the teacher) also thanked me, complimented me and said that he was surprised at how much he also learned. He also said that no critique was necessary....he was impressed. :grovel:

At the end they are given an invitation to come to my store and take a small quiz then they will recieve a "Flower Kid Diploma". They thanked me and thanked me and thanked me. One boy (who evidently was the "rambunctious" kid in the class) came up to me with notebook open and pencil in hand and said "Twila that was sooo cool, thanks for teaching us. Could you tell me the address of your shop so I can be sure to find it?" Another girl who had been very excited to answer as many questions as possible; thanked me again and said "I feel just like Miss America with these flowers". :flower:

I was practically tackled on the way out of the school by 3 Moms inquiring (or rather insisting) if I was going to teach "their kids classes" too. They took business cards to make sure!

Ramiro (FFK) is great to talk to and learn from. :yourock: He called me soon after I returned from the class. We had a wonderful chat....about tons of things besides FFK. We also have a few FFK trainers amongst us! So let's all see what we can do to get this ball really rolling!

I already have 9 classes scheduled. I have 5 emails of teachers requesting dates today (my day off). Good news travels fast. If you haven't thought about doing this....then start. This is a great way to start the Youngins thinking about and appreciating flowers. They ARE tomorrows flower buyers!
:bow_flowe:bouquet: :flower: :bouquet2: :hippy2: :flowerfac:bow_flowe:flowers: :flower: :bouquet2: :hippy2: :flowerfac

(can you tell I am excited?!)
 
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Congratulations!! Sounds like you did a wonderful job.

Can I make a suggestion? When I tell the kids about the certificate they will get when they come to my shop I also tell them that they will get a private tour of the whole shop, even the back workroom and that they can choose ANY flower they would like from the whole shop (as long as it's not sold)

It gets them a little more excited about coming into your shop. Especially they older ones that are not as impressed with the certificate.
 
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Great job, Twila! Way to step up to the plate and make it happen for your shop. You are right, these truly are tomorrow's customer. You rock my friend!!

:yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:
 
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He, Hey Miss Twila!
Good, no great Job. You're a good mom anyway it comes natural to educate those little guys.
Continued fun adn success....Eddie
 
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That is such a great thing!! I am so excited for you and this awesome opportunity to not only get future customers but help build up the industry as well!
 
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Twila, this is exactly what I would have done. I think it is the best kind of advertising you can get. Interact with people.

When I opened my own shop, I did not have the money to advertise, so, I used my ability to go to every club, organization, childrens group, etc to get my message across. The proof is in the pudding....it paid off for me.

Those children will never forget that day in class and will talk about it the rest of their lives. I had so many customers that came to me years later and said how much they had enjoyed my classes to the school. They became lifelong customers from this experience. Good job.

Carol Bice
 
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Twila, congratulations on your success with FFK. Are you totally hooked now??? Once you teach your first class you want to teach more classes and it's great to hear that you are ready for more!!
 
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Twila,

I'm so proud of you I could cry!:iwuvyou:

I have been wanting to do this for YEARS! Was just waiting for the training class to come to Portland like they kept saying it was. Did you go to a training or do it some other way?

I am SO doing this! You rock!
 
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Michelle McMichael said:
Twila,

I'm so proud of you I could cry!:iwuvyou:

I have been wanting to do this for YEARS! Was just waiting for the training class to come to Portland like they kept saying it was. Did you go to a training or do it some other way?

I am SO doing this! You rock!
Click to expand...

Michelle,

We are now offering the training by telephone if you would like to take it that way. The kit gets sent to you, you study the script and materials and then spend time on the phone with a trainer. This was purplegirl's (Stacy) brainchild and it is a fabulous idea. The kit is also available from Flower Buyer but there is no live training.

You can either contact myself or Stacy for training by phone.

Erlene
 
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Palms said:
That sounds great Twila and you obviously did a fab job. I would love the chance to do something like this over here but i have never heard of it happening.

Well done you!!
Click to expand...

Caroline Marashall Foster has been tremendously supportive in trying to get Flowers For Kids over to the UK. We even have a "well proper" bespoke Brit script.
 
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OK - headphones off.....

I don't want to sound over-dramatic, and yes we are new to this, but I am having a feeling.....watch out...

I am really thinking this could be and become one of the "hugest" things we can do, especially in this day and age.

This is truly a "Think Globally, Act Locally" type of deal.

We spend way too much time griping about how this or that is "being done to us" and this is a positive proactive thing that could literally change the industry, and certainly change our little flowershop world.

Imagine if every city in the country had florists teaching this in their schools regularly.

We could raise a new generation of flower lovers.
(And while you're at it, imagine world peace too...)

and, we can get community awareness to the nth degree, way better than any advertising I can think of.

My congrats to Ramiro on coming up with this. Brilliant, and when you take the training you'll see the beauty of it is in the hook, and I'm not going to tell you what the hook is, but it's there and it's a goodie. You don't understand it until you've seen it in action (at least I didn't), but when you do it all makes a lot of sense.

I am also excited about this, spent part of the day today printing the Diplomas on card stock, preparing labels for the kids to use on their bouquets.

If you're not into this already, I'd certainly recommend you get into it, like yesterday.

2yla has about 10 classes scheduled already and it is spreading like crazy. I wish we would have done this a year ago.

It's only as important as your/our future.
Rock on
 
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Bloomz is right. This program is amazing. When I first heard about it, my first thought was, what's the catch? No catch, I promise.

When I brought this up to my mom (the owner) and told her I wanted to do it. She wasn't completely on board, but allowed me to do it. Now as bloomz said, after she saw the impact and heard my stories of the classes she is as excited about the program as I am.

I have only done one school so far, but have done 14 classes at that school. And have other schools lined up. I started at my kids school. I opened it to any and all teachers interested. I just about hit all the classrooms in the school. We have a lot of schools in my area so now my rule is I will do the highest grade at that school. (usually 5th or 6th) However, if a teacher comes forward wanting the program before I contact the school I will do that teachers grade and the highest grade at that school. This way, I can get to as many schools as possible in a given school year. And if I continue to do the classes, which I intend, I will get to all the kids in this area eventually by doing the highest grade level.

I have already come across a problem with one of my schools. They scheduled classes for March/April a while ago. I told them I would need a total of students and teachers when the date got closer. I emailed, and left phone messages several times in the weeks prior to the scheduled date, with no response. Until, it was too late to order the flowers for their class. The principal left me a voice mail saying he was still planning on doing the class. I emailed and left a voice mail for him saying it was now too late to do the class (we had a busy week, and didn't have enough flowers to pull from our regular stock) I told him I could still do the second week we had scheduled if he would just get back to me with a count. Again, no response to my many emails and voice mails, until it was again, too late. His last email to me was asking when I had two more weeks open to re-schedule.

At this point the next time I am available is next school year. I am a little nervous to schedule him again, because, if he does this again, I could be at another school doing the program instead of playing phone tag and having to miss the class. But I will schedule the school again, as it is for the kids.

This program is AMAZING. I recommend it to EVERYONE!!!
 
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Bloozm, you are the bomb!!! You really know how to hit the nail on the head!!! Carrieann & Twila, keep posting and sharing your wonderful experiences with FFK. I've been doing ffk for over a year & half now with over 700 kids in my area that are now "Flower Kids" from A Blossom Shop Florist! This is gorilla marketing at its best. Over the past year my wire service numbers were way down (which isn't a bad thing!) however, my direct credit card business has grown 17%. It's all about taking back your market share and growing it.

I did 2 ffk classes this week for girl scout troops. One of the troop leaders pulled me aside after I was done and told me that this was the best thing their troop has ever done. You could see the excitement in her face! She then indicated that she learned so much and was going to give out my phone number to others who would be interested in FFK.

Anyone interested in becoming a certified FFK teacher, please call or pm me. I love sharing my experiences with others!!!
 
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