We are new flower shop in Ontario,Canada considering to subscribe to a wire service.Unfortunately we do not have any previous experience with any. Please help us with any ideas
Thank you all
Thank you all
Please help to choose Wire Service
- Thread starter CLASSYFLOWERS
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12BucksFor2Dozon
New Member
Wow...what a can of worms THIS questions poses here at FC. My advice? Skip the wires altogether and work super hard building YOUR brand and YOUR customer base. Small, new shops have a 0.0001% chance of ever seeing a dime of REAL profit from any of the wire services/scams.
Don't buy into the BS that the WS salesmen are telling you, we did and to this day it still leaves a incredibly sour taste in my mouth with the outright lies and oversold promises that were thrown at us, then dismissed after the blood-sucking contract was signed. Read all the wire threads here on FC, and become educated about the current state of the floral industry.
Good luck to you, and thanks for finding FlowerChat!
Don't buy into the BS that the WS salesmen are telling you, we did and to this day it still leaves a incredibly sour taste in my mouth with the outright lies and oversold promises that were thrown at us, then dismissed after the blood-sucking contract was signed. Read all the wire threads here on FC, and become educated about the current state of the floral industry.
Good luck to you, and thanks for finding FlowerChat!
Welcome to Flowerchat. It's a great resource for almost all questions you can think of.
I'm with Mark on this one. If I were starting out, and had the knowledge about WS's at my fingertips, I would not spend a dime on any of them. There are many ways to meet the needs of your customers for out of town deliveries.
Use your money to build your business... not a wire service.
Again, welcome aboard.
V
I'm with Mark on this one. If I were starting out, and had the knowledge about WS's at my fingertips, I would not spend a dime on any of them. There are many ways to meet the needs of your customers for out of town deliveries.
Use your money to build your business... not a wire service.
Again, welcome aboard.
V
Floracom
Classyflowers,
Welcome to FC! Like Victoria says. it's a fantastic resource for our industry with many of the best and most knowledgeable florists - and not only from Canada and the US either!
After 21 years in this industry and having dumped TF and FTD over the past couple of years in favour of not receiving under valued and over sold orders etc to say nothing of saving wads of cash to spend on local marketing, we joined Floracom. It's owned by Guy Laurin who was a FTD rep for Eastern Canada until the FTD sell out. We send some orders through them but haven't received an order since we joined them! (Since we are in rural part of Newfoundland we wouldn't expect to see many anyway.) We find Floracom fits our needs and you may too. Guy's phone number is 1-877-735-3877. They're located in Quebec. Easy to work with and eager to please.
Rock on...............
Classyflowers,
Welcome to FC! Like Victoria says. it's a fantastic resource for our industry with many of the best and most knowledgeable florists - and not only from Canada and the US either!
After 21 years in this industry and having dumped TF and FTD over the past couple of years in favour of not receiving under valued and over sold orders etc to say nothing of saving wads of cash
to spend on local marketing, we joined Floracom. It's owned by Guy Laurin who was a FTD rep for Eastern Canada until the FTD sell out. We send some orders through them but haven't received an order since we joined them! (Since we are in rural part of Newfoundland we wouldn't expect to see many anyway.) We find Floracom fits our needs and you may too. Guy's phone number is 1-877-735-3877. They're located in Quebec. Easy to work with and eager to please.Rock on...............
Sher
New Member
I would suggest getting a website up so that folks who want to send to your town or area can find you. There are plenty of folks here on this board who can help you with that. I would not join a WS at this time. If you can possibly avoid it...of course their images do help but if you have a digital and order the John Henry disc, even that can be eliminated.
Looking back over the years at the cost of up to 5 services...it was the "right" thing to do at the time...If I had that money now and used it to promote and promote, and buy well, sending out weekly dynamic promotionals to business like realtors, insurance companies and so forth, and networking in my area..well I would be more than the Empress of the South! I'd be rolling in it!!!! lol
Looking back over the years at the cost of up to 5 services...it was the "right" thing to do at the time...If I had that money now and used it to promote and promote, and buy well, sending out weekly dynamic promotionals to business like realtors, insurance companies and so forth, and networking in my area..well I would be more than the Empress of the South! I'd be rolling in it!!!! lol
Your website would be a great resource for customers near and far! Use the money saved from the endless pit of wire services to market you, and your website.
As for outgoing orders, the same advice applies. Use the internet and have a credit card at the ready.
V
As for outgoing orders, the same advice applies. Use the internet and have a credit card at the ready.
V
BOSS
FlowerChat Administrator
How bout a new one folks...CLASSYFLOWERS said:
A little program running on a PC connected to my network, allowing "Classey" to send her orders thru my shop....I'll split the commish and rebate 50/50!
Classey...don;t take my comment seriously..just Moanday morning fun'n...and making a point to a few other folks....but it could be done....
Like others have said, unless you want incoming orders you have little need for a wire service.....more after Mothers Week....go make money folks!
Joe Mioux
Well-Known Member
BOSS said:
You capitalist swine ! lol.:>
Just somemore Moanday fun......
Classey to answer your question a bit differently. If you choose to belong to a wireservice, do it at the least cost possible. Such as if you were to choose TF, skip Dove, the publications, extra listings, after hours answering service, website, etc. YOu can always add that stuff later if you choose.
ONe word of caution, it is a slippery slope once you start buying these added services. Buyer (florist) beware. Once you start adding up all the extra services much if not all the profitablility of being in a wireservice cease.
Joe
To BOSS and others
We are new flower shop and really need incoming orders to survive so I was thinking that wire services would help but at the same moment we have competitors down the street who do provide FTD wire service.
I do not feel it is a good idea to even try FTD but TF ?
Thank you for your help !!!
Sorry I absolutely have no previous experience with wire services
We are new flower shop and really need incoming orders to survive so I was thinking that wire services would help but at the same moment we have competitors down the street who do provide FTD wire service.
I do not feel it is a good idea to even try FTD but TF ?
Thank you for your help !!!
Sorry I absolutely have no previous experience with wire services
I'm curious... where did you get the idea that you needed "incoming" orders to survive? Have you read all the threads on this subject?
Like I said earlier... if I were starting out now, and knowing what I know now... in no way would I entertain having FTD, TF, 1-800... any of them.
Build your website, build your brand, build your business! Read MLou's blog below.
V
Mother's Day is Sunday May 14 2006
mlou
We would like to Remind you that Mother's Day is Sunday, May 14 2006. Flowers are a wonderful way to express love to our mothers and other special ladies in our lives. Find a REAL flower shop that actually designs your order and delivers it. Avoid the internet order gatherers who simply grab your order for the commission, then send the order to a real florist to be made and delivered. Examples of order gatherers include flowermarkets.ca, ftd.com and 800flowers. These are not real flower shops! They do not add value to your order! Please place your orders with a real florist.
Like I said earlier... if I were starting out now, and knowing what I know now... in no way would I entertain having FTD, TF, 1-800... any of them.
Build your website, build your brand, build your business! Read MLou's blog below.
V
Mother's Day is Sunday May 14 2006
mlou
We would like to Remind you that Mother's Day is Sunday, May 14 2006. Flowers are a wonderful way to express love to our mothers and other special ladies in our lives. Find a REAL flower shop that actually designs your order and delivers it. Avoid the internet order gatherers who simply grab your order for the commission, then send the order to a real florist to be made and delivered. Examples of order gatherers include flowermarkets.ca, ftd.com and 800flowers. These are not real flower shops! They do not add value to your order! Please place your orders with a real florist.
I don't want to say it's *impossible* to slowly grow your business by filling incoming orders and spreading your name around the community, but wire service membership is no magic bullet to financial success. Especially not now when the majority of orders are cookie cutter recipes with little room for product rotation.CLASSYFLOWERS said:
Over the years, we've employed many designers that ran their own stores at one time or another. Without fail, each attributed the belief that 'getting into a wire service' would be the key to success. (FTD used to have a fairly rigorous set of requirements for membership and new shops had to wait and prove themselves before being admitted.) They found plenty of work - but little to no profits from it.
The wire service profits are in the sending side. For that, you need your own happy customers.
If you're joining to fill, the smaller, low-priced services generally don't have the order flower to make the dues worth it. Do the math on the larger services (dues, transmission systems, selection guides, directory ads) and you'll find they rarely do either.
There are lots of threads here discussing WSs as well as tips to market your local services and your own website. They may give you some food for thought.
Best wishes for a successful first Mother's Day.
Mikey the Flower Guy
It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
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CLASSYFLOWERS said:
Classy....give me a call tomorrow 1.877.628.2411
Personally, with what has become available information on sites such as this, I really don't think you are seeing the true "picture".
You mentioned that you are a new startup, with NO ws 'experience", but, you "think" you "need" one to survive??
Mike
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