Pres. of FTD Calling next week
- Thread starter tylertownflorist
- Start date
- Status
TOTO
New Member
YUP! That's the only SOLUTION Rock!
DITTO ROCK! No point in continuing on in a ONE SIDED RELATIONSHIP, in which, you have NO CONTROL.
After our 31 years of membership, the last 17 as an FTD ONLY! shop, we made a business decision at the end of December 2001, to begin to divest ourselves of the liability the new FORE THEIR PROFIT INC ENTITY had become on our spreadsheet.
Looking back on all the time we wasted in our efforts to try and fix all of the inherent problems their DOT.CON and MIDDLEMAN SKIMMER orders came through with, especially at peak holiday periods, we resolved ourselves to the reality that, THEY WOULD NEVER CHANGE THEIR MO.
As the LOVELY LINDA, always reminded mee: You can't always change what may happen to you! You can only change how you are going to react to what happens to you, and so, WEE DID!
Accordingly, individual florists will never have enough JUICE to make the WSs change their ongoing relationships with DA SKIMMERS.
The only decision a florist is able to make, and in their BEST INTERESTS, is to PULL THE PLUG on the entity who insists on enabling these MIDDLEMAN OG SKIMMERS, thus SOLVING THE PROBLEM at the filling florist's end, as well as the recipient's point of delivery, or lack thereof.
When enough of those shops CUT EM OFF AT THEIR PASS, the continued loss of the passive streams of membership revenues, once gleaned from those members, along with the inability of the WS's SKIMMERS to have their JUNK ORDERS FILLED, will force the WSs into reevaluating the bigger question of; ON WHICH SIDE, THEIR OWN BREAD, NEEDS TO BE BUTTERED ON, and if they are going to share the bread and butter with their own members rather than the GREEDY MIDDLEMAN OG SKIMMERS.
I distinctly remember the frustration Jim Jordan was faced with, as he visited various areas of the country, in his attempt to launch the new Extra Touch Florist's Association back in 2003.
The mission statement of Extra Touch, was to EMPOWER their member florists with their own ability TO CAPTURE THE CONSUMER'S 100% SALE FIRST, and before the MIDDLEMAN OGs stole it out from under them, and ran it through their SKIMMER and WS WRINGERS.
However, and at every ETFA Town Hall meeting Jim hosted, to introduce Florists to the new Extra Touch Florist's Association, the very first question most of those attendees asked from Jim was:
HOW MANY (highly discounted) INCOMING ORDERS CAN EXTRA TOUCH GUARANTEE MY SHOP?
Since the majority of shops still have that mindset out here, they are STUCK in the muck and mire of the WS's SWAMP, and so, they agree to EMPOWER the very entities that will then, CONTINUE TO HOLD ALL THE POWER over them.
Someone suggested, it's the path of least resistance for many, as it's just easier to sit back and wait for the highly discounted orders to spit out from their printers, rather than, for them to go after the REAL 100% CONSUMER FLORAL SALE'S BEEF!
And that's, despite the fact, those orders only net them from fifty-four to fifty cents on their net net dollar when all the WS's SMOKE and WAMPUM GROSS BOGUS DOLLARS CLEAR through their WRINGERS.
TTF,
The very best advise that I could offer you when Mike calls is not to let him waste your time; make it a memorable call for him. There's nothing like the President calling you and you firing him!
Fire FDS and get on with your life, you'll make more money, have less aggravation and be happier too!
Rock.......on................................
PS You could always tell Mike that HE (FDS) can join YOUR service for only 99.95 a month and he'll receive the clearing house fee ONLY on every order BUT if he sends you more than double the usual weekly orders on any holiday week the 99.95 becomes a weekly "membership fee" :>
Have a bit of fun with it, life's too short
DITTO ROCK! No point in continuing on in a ONE SIDED RELATIONSHIP, in which, you have NO CONTROL.
After our 31 years of membership, the last 17 as an FTD ONLY! shop, we made a business decision at the end of December 2001, to begin to divest ourselves of the liability the new FORE THEIR PROFIT INC ENTITY had become on our spreadsheet.
Looking back on all the time we wasted in our efforts to try and fix all of the inherent problems their DOT.CON and MIDDLEMAN SKIMMER orders came through with, especially at peak holiday periods, we resolved ourselves to the reality that, THEY WOULD NEVER CHANGE THEIR MO.
As the LOVELY LINDA, always reminded mee: You can't always change what may happen to you! You can only change how you are going to react to what happens to you, and so, WEE DID!
Accordingly, individual florists will never have enough JUICE to make the WSs change their ongoing relationships with DA SKIMMERS.
The only decision a florist is able to make, and in their BEST INTERESTS, is to PULL THE PLUG on the entity who insists on enabling these MIDDLEMAN OG SKIMMERS, thus SOLVING THE PROBLEM at the filling florist's end, as well as the recipient's point of delivery, or lack thereof.
When enough of those shops CUT EM OFF AT THEIR PASS, the continued loss of the passive streams of membership revenues, once gleaned from those members, along with the inability of the WS's SKIMMERS to have their JUNK ORDERS FILLED, will force the WSs into reevaluating the bigger question of; ON WHICH SIDE, THEIR OWN BREAD, NEEDS TO BE BUTTERED ON, and if they are going to share the bread and butter with their own members rather than the GREEDY MIDDLEMAN OG SKIMMERS.
I distinctly remember the frustration Jim Jordan was faced with, as he visited various areas of the country, in his attempt to launch the new Extra Touch Florist's Association back in 2003.
The mission statement of Extra Touch, was to EMPOWER their member florists with their own ability TO CAPTURE THE CONSUMER'S 100% SALE FIRST, and before the MIDDLEMAN OGs stole it out from under them, and ran it through their SKIMMER and WS WRINGERS.
However, and at every ETFA Town Hall meeting Jim hosted, to introduce Florists to the new Extra Touch Florist's Association, the very first question most of those attendees asked from Jim was:
HOW MANY (highly discounted) INCOMING ORDERS CAN EXTRA TOUCH GUARANTEE MY SHOP?
Since the majority of shops still have that mindset out here, they are STUCK in the muck and mire of the WS's SWAMP, and so, they agree to EMPOWER the very entities that will then, CONTINUE TO HOLD ALL THE POWER over them.
Someone suggested, it's the path of least resistance for many, as it's just easier to sit back and wait for the highly discounted orders to spit out from their printers, rather than, for them to go after the REAL 100% CONSUMER FLORAL SALE'S BEEF!
And that's, despite the fact, those orders only net them from fifty-four to fifty cents on their net net dollar when all the WS's SMOKE and WAMPUM GROSS BOGUS DOLLARS CLEAR through their WRINGERS.
I am surprised that any wire service as not promoted a fee to block incoming orders from OG.
Lets say $1.00 per oG x 10 per month x 12 months x 3000 members= $360,000.00 Not bad profit for a year.
Now if they send you an order that was to be blocked, they have to pay a fine of $100.00 to you....
Ho w many would opt to try this program?
Lets say $1.00 per oG x 10 per month x 12 months x 3000 members= $360,000.00 Not bad profit for a year.
Now if they send you an order that was to be blocked, they have to pay a fine of $100.00 to you....
Ho w many would opt to try this program?
Has anyone ever put a complaint - with specifics - in writing to FTD about Flowers of Cambridge's advertising practices?
Honestly, it's to best way to communicate and creates a record of correspondence (and awareness).
If you only ever pick up the phone to complain, don't expect to see much - if anything - change.
Honestly, it's to best way to communicate and creates a record of correspondence (and awareness).
If you only ever pick up the phone to complain, don't expect to see much - if anything - change.
The best way to handle orders that come from FU Flowers is to send a message asking them to "cancel" the order. Put a generic message "unable to fill".
This puts the ball in their court. We too have had a problem with FU but since we started sending a message asking them to "cancel" their order they have stopped. I never cared if the cancelation ever came thru. The present system puts the reciever in the hot seat by making them do all the work. Turn the system around and just let them to all their own work. I got real tired of rejecting a order only to have it come back on the machine in twenty minutes. Now they have their customer to please, so let them do all the work.
PS once we get their cancelation we send the confirmation immediately. I'm not trying to hurt the flower buying consumer, only shifting the work of getting that order made and delivered back in their court.
Several years ago I was having dinner at FTD headquarters. Mike S was at our table and I asked him why they let the OG's be members. Afer several minutes of conversation Mr S said and I quote " you florists need to stop whining. Either fill the orders or don't we really don't care!" That was in the days of Big Bobby Norton. Then Mike S became the Man and you can see where FTD has gone from there.
Jim
Jim
Now you've done it Luc!
Mike is taking his weekend calling every order gatherer out there offering them FREE membership so they can charge you 1.00/OG/Month/eternity (except they will "discover" that it costs so much to administer the program that they'll have to raise the price to 2.49/// and eventually 4.99/// probably because of the price of oil or carbon credits or inflation or deflation...). Some how that 100.00 fine will end up being 1.49 by the time everyone gets their cut lol
Nice to know that Mike doesn't care, I know how he feels...... (about their orders)
Yours, as always....
ROCK.......ON...................................................
PS It really isn't anything personal, I just don't like the way they do business.
Something else that would drive away all the d'OG's away almost overnight. Of course WE KNOW it WILL NEVER happen.........but if the wire services got rid of the SFO option.....where the SENDERS HAD to become FILLERS.
Bye, Bye to operating out of apartments, false addresses, phonebooths, and all those place where the d'OG's operate out of.
Bye, Bye to operating out of apartments, false addresses, phonebooths, and all those place where the d'OG's operate out of.
When I took the Dale Carnegie course, I won the Human Relations award. My assignment over the weeks was to successfully change a continuing conflict with someone in my life. After several attempts from without, I decided to change the direction of my assignment. I asked myself two questions... Does this person enhance my life and what I want to achieve? Will my life be better if I put an end to the struggle? After serious introspection the answers were clear. She did not enhance my life, and yes indeed, my life became easier once I cut her loose.
FTD, TF and the rest of their ilk fall into the "cut her loose" category for me. They didn't (and apparently still don't) offer anything positive to my business life, so away they went.
V
FTD, TF and the rest of their ilk fall into the "cut her loose" category for me. They didn't (and apparently still don't) offer anything positive to my business life, so away they went.
V
Have met him now and spoken with him, and asked a few of the tough questions.
We heard his "visions" of where he plans to take the company today.
Will post more about it when I get home tomorrow night. At least one point you should all take as highly positive.....
but probably won't.
Won't work Rick - I was told this by Gregg Coccari - if they enforced that requirement all they (sfo's) would have to do is open a small bucket shop.
We heard his "visions" of where he plans to take the company today.
Will post more about it when I get home tomorrow night. At least one point you should all take as highly positive.....
but probably won't.
Won't work Rick - I was told this by Gregg Coccari - if they enforced that requirement all they (sfo's) would have to do is open a small bucket shop.
yeah JB - and then we can send them all those 29.99 dozen roses arranged......for immediate delivery.....and no delivery fee.
coppercountryflowers
New Member
Just say goodby FTD
We dropped FTD three months ago. We never heard from our rep unless we were behind in a payment... and it was always a payment... they never made us money. We had 4 reps in 4 years and most of those four years there wasn't a rep... they were between reps or one had just quit or one was just starting, so no one could help us ... The I'm sorry story was so often I thought I was in a bad relationship instead of a business transaction.... so it was g'by bad boy!
At one point we were even the second of first largest purchaser of their FTD flowers in our region... now we get them elsewhere.... we don' need FTD!
Since then, the rep has called us at least every other week if not every week offering us reduced membership, (heard that before and it never happened,) red listing free for 2 quarters, (woopee.... I never use the printed directory...only the POS so I don't think I'll notice the red in the black and white listings on my computer...)
Our answer is still... we don't need you... we don't want you... give up already!
We dropped FTD three months ago. We never heard from our rep unless we were behind in a payment... and it was always a payment... they never made us money. We had 4 reps in 4 years and most of those four years there wasn't a rep... they were between reps or one had just quit or one was just starting, so no one could help us ... The I'm sorry story was so often I thought I was in a bad relationship instead of a business transaction.... so it was g'by bad boy!
At one point we were even the second of first largest purchaser of their FTD flowers in our region... now we get them elsewhere.... we don' need FTD!
Since then, the rep has called us at least every other week if not every week offering us reduced membership, (heard that before and it never happened,) red listing free for 2 quarters, (woopee.... I never use the printed directory...only the POS so I don't think I'll notice the red in the black and white listings on my computer...)
Our answer is still... we don't need you... we don't want you... give up already!
"... and it was always a payment... they never made us money."
Huh??
Do you really think getting a check from FTD is a good thing? If you get a check you are LOSING money!
If you are paying FTD you are MAKING money. Its really quite simple, you collect 100% and then send 80%.....you keep 20%.
Confused and amazed in Oregon,
Keith
Huh??
Do you really think getting a check from FTD is a good thing? If you get a check you are LOSING money!
If you are paying FTD you are MAKING money. Its really quite simple, you collect 100% and then send 80%.....you keep 20%.
Confused and amazed in Oregon,
Keith
Not necessarily...
If you are buying a lot of holiday containers or codifids to be prepared for incomings that never arrive, and have a bunch of ASB and directory ads, you can be paying FTD and LOSING money.
coppercountryflowers
New Member
Ditto and - duh - why can't people figure that out?
I guess I'd chalk that up to lack of business acumen. But of course FTD makes a good scapegoat for that.
If you buy those extra "services" I guess you have to pay for them.
If you don't, you don't.
If one can't figure that out - well I guess that must be FTD's fault too.
I love writing them checks, the bigger the better.
It's a bit like writing the IRS checks - the bigger the better.
Keith stated a good "rule of thumb" - one just has to be astute enough to factor out the unnecessary or value added services.
Flowerchatter03
Co-Owner and Floral Composer
Tylertown -
Would you care to elucidate as to why you had to deal with a complaint on an incoming orders from Flowers of Cambridge? What was the outcome?
Would you care to elucidate as to why you had to deal with a complaint on an incoming orders from Flowers of Cambridge? What was the outcome?
I think they will give you the same line of bs that i got,"if it wasn't for the ogs,there would be some days that we would get no orders at all.
- Status