Question on how you would handle this...

[lori042499]

I was asked to donate flowers to a kitchen tour...Actually lst year I offered to donate and set a precedence...now they ask other florists to donate...these are high end kitchens in and around melrose, granite counters, custom cabinetry etc..

Last year I was able to actually see the kitchen and talk with the kitchen owner to collaborate with their tastes and talk with them as to where they would like the flowers..this year I was given pictures of the two kitchens and had to decide myself what I thought would go in them...I chose designs that would represent the style of the kitchen and style of my shop well, it is my donation...

The two kitchens this year weremiles apart on the style scale, one was darker woods, bronze fixtures and a blue grey motif...topiaries in off white porcelain urns, granite counters, I did a lovely porcelain urn with blue gray seeded, blue hydrangea base and a spire of blue delphinium...very prety...

The second kitchen was maple cabinets with an orangy hue, white countertops, stainless steel appliances, very sleek modern minimal almost loft style....I did a clear cylinder with leaf wrap and 50 orange parrot tulips very simple and sleek and let the tulips do their thing....again my donation, my decidion based on a picture alone...

I get a call 12:30 yesterday, tour starts at one...The home owner doesn't like the arrangement, she doesn't like the way the tulips look...she wants something different, although realizes that 1/2 hour before the tour on a sunday that probably isn't going to happen...and she doesn't think she will be putting the arrangement out...WTF!!!

My immediate reaction is to be pissed...she didn't pay for this and had no input to it...but in the past I have been pissed at things and made matters worse when reacting in such a way...This is how I feel...it was my donation, my decision, my name on it and my cards being taken, mt representation...The client had no say in it as far as I was concerned...I feel that she had no right to have a decision on whether it went out or not, she was perfectly fine to throw it in the garbage after the tour if she so chose, but my money went into making that arrangement for people to see and take my card if they wanted to...Do I have every right to be pissed and what do I say to her and the organizer to make sure in the future this type of situation doesn't happen again...

On a side note, my husband says I should play it more safe and not sue funky flowers for these types of things, but I think he is wrong, I use these types of things to show conceptual arrangements, newer ideas, that step out of the deep seated tradition, items that show a bit of skill in design, things that no one else shows...I can't do that with fugis and carns or poms...safe flowers...

 

[Palms]

I would be fuming actually and insist that it is shown. You can do this without getting mad, just assert yourself. You did donate, you have paid for it. I cant stand when they ask you for something but then tell YOU how it should look, if they are that good, let them do it themselves.

No, I think on this occasion you have every right to be mad. Also, I agree with the choice of flowers, got to go a bit wild to show your creativity.

 

[KABERS]

I totally agree with you Lori. The donation is to show potential customers your work! We had the same problem here with historic homes candlelight walks. We were to totally decorate a home for christmas - set it up and tear it down the first weekend in December. After meeting with the homeowner and her wants for the weekend, I gracefully backed out. I don't think a single florist in this town does it anymore.

 

[Kristine]

I hope you went to get the arrangement back if she didn't show it. NO WAY would I leave something that is so distasteful to the homeowner.

Do you have a contact person with the home tour? Perhaps a call to her to find out what the policy is (and a little, here is what happed to me this weekend and how totally out of line the HO was) I would be interested in finding out if this has happened before or just a one time thing.

Then my next thought would be - how much business do you think you get from doing this tour, if I did it again, I may offer some incentive with your card to track whether it is worth it.

 

[CHR]

This is a 'no win.' Why did they wait until 30 minutes before the event to contact you? When were the flowers delivered? Could something have happened to the tulips over night?

We had something similar happen years ago. Several designs were donated for home tour fund-raiser. We'd participated in the event successfully for at least 10 years - gaining new customers both from attendees and from the homeowners themselves - but that year the home was large but poorly appointed - and the homeowner had purchased lots of Kmart quality silks to decorate her house. The house was pitched to us a 'contemporary' but the on-site visit proved otherwise (yet it was too late to back out at that point.)

I was aghast to attend the tour and see she'd removed several of our fresh arrangements and replaced them with her ratty silks - but still displayed our business cards. She never gave us negative feed-back during set-up the day prior - and even complemented the work. Perhaps her decorator came in after we left? Not sure what happened, but the results were upsetting.

After the event, I told the sponsoring charity how much the tour actually harmed our business and that participation should be a win-win for both their group and our business. We declined to participate in future events unless the home being displayed belonged to one of our customers.

Lori - the homeowner probably has a regular florist - and a personal style different than what you presented. It's a huge disappointment to donate product and then receive negative recognition.

About the only thing you can do is this point is to request more communication with the homeowner if you decide to participate next year.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Good grief, Lori. How distressful!

Of course there is not a thing to be done now, and even had you been willing to do something else, you were left with no time in which to do so.

Most definitely get in contact with the organizers and give them some "constructive criticism". Sometimes homes just come the way they are, and does not necessarily reflect that homeowners actual taste. Doing a design to only fit the surroundings is not enough, they should have had you in contact with this woman to find out what she likes - probably bird of paradise I would bet.

Although all of us know that parrot tulips are a premium flower in November, the average person does not. This was a disaster waiting to happen and the organizers need to be made aware of it.

 

[Sprout]

One shop I worked at was begged by the local high school to donate prom flowers for their prom fashion show fundraiser. We went all out and created tons of great stuff. Well, we knew a couple kids in the show, so two of us went to the show for kicks.

They didn't use a single thing we made! The adult in charge said the kids wouldn't wear them and gave us a sigh and a "What am I supposed to do?" What are you supposed to do? You tell the prima donnas that they were donated and they have no choice but to wear them.

Another event where I donated the centerpieces, the caterer took all my business cards off them, even though that was part of my agreement in donating them. The only reason I found out about that was because I also got tickets in exchange and went to the event.

I also donated a huge arrangement to another event - got a call from the event coordinator after telling me how fabulous is looks in her living room! Um, how about auctioning it off at your fundraiser doofus? And definitely DON'T tell me you took it home!

I think you're well within reason to be bent out of shape Lori. Florists get hit up all the time for free stuff especially under the guise that it will be good marketing for your shop.

There may be nothing you can do about it at this point, except to let it be known to the event planners what happened, and that for your future participation you need a guarantee that your flowers and biz cards will remain on display and that you need tickets to the event because you will be checking up on it. Even if you don't go, give them to a good customer or friend who will check for you.

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

I agree with what everyone else said.

Now with that said- I don't think I'd use tulips ever again when they "do thier own thing"

Everytime I send out an all tulip arrangement I hold my breath and pray I don't get a complaint just for the mere fact that tulips are so unpredictable.

Just a thought... If she had the arrangement sitting next to a stove over head light The next day the flowers very well could have all been reaching in one direction. The silly woman SHOULD have called you first thing in the morning to give you a chance to either fix it or send something new. I'm thinking the tulips did "move" during the night and that was her problem with removing the arrangement.
Regardless- It totally sucks for you.
I will remember this tulip story and learn from it.

 

[lori042499]

OK, so I am not off in my expectations, this is a good thing...In the last 25 years, I have worked for many people that donated, but never checked up on those donations to be sure they are used the way they are supposed to be...I do when I can. I ask for tickets to the event because I feel it is the least they can do for me when donating, and I have found that many of the event organizers are less than truthful with what will happen with your flowers....They are an after thought on many occasions, so the printing is already done when you are asked to donate so there will be no marketing there, then the item donated is put out but no one realizes that it was donated and by whom unless so inclined to ask, one of the reasons I feel the arrangment really needs to be over the top or very different in the first place...I get very discouraged when I feel that I need to correct people or school them on the business ramifications of their poor planning or distasteful ideas when it comes to my product and my business, but I do feel that it needs to be done in order to get our full value, even if we are not donating 2000.00 like the local bank for a sponsership, I think that my 200.00 dollar centerpiece to showcase a kitchen or 500.00 centerpiece that is to fill a bare lobby at the time of the event deserves ample mention as it does complete the look....and it is given free of charge....what is it about given of free will and charge do people not get, this is our livelyhood and our product that our heart and souls go into, not just a cast off product that has been sitting on our shelves and we use as a writeoff, many times our donations are more important for our business than that of the 2000.00 from the bank is to theirs...

 

[lori042499]

Shannon, in hind sight, tulips are probably a mistake, especially not having any contact with the HO....I love tulips and their nature, I even sent the arrangemnets with a message about tulips and their funky ways....obviously the woman doesn't appreciate flowers with a mind of their own....and I will learn from this, the same as I learned that many people don't like lisianthus because they think it is dead and wilted and to hide alstro for two days until it looks good because people think it is dead when it first comes in....but still, it was my paid for arrangement...I wonder if she didn't like the food that was donated, if she would put out her own peanut butter and crackers...

 

[Tuberose]

We've also had problems with tulips, had complaints because of them and we try to warn people about them. Last minute call from the homeowner was definitely not a good thing, they think we can wiggle our nose and it just happens.

I would definitely be upset about the cheap silks being used, that would be a bummer. We loaned product to a home tour this year and the decorator, not only did a rush job that looked bad, she damaged some of our expensive home decor product and didn't put our name out as well. No recourse for us because of social affiliations. We're working a Red Cross event this weekend, we'll see how that goes, you never know.

 

[lori042499]

Just talked to the organizer, she showed up to give me a program and knew what was coming...turns out she had seen the arrangement and knew it was redesigned and was appalled...She did say that the arrangement was nice looking but it was not my work...

Turns out the HO is also the kitchen designer and interior designer with her own opinions and style...she just didn't like the tulips or the design I chose for what ever reasons designers don't like them, we all know how that is and I can understand..in hind sight I should have been in touch with this woman and all of this could have been avoided...I was going to do a saucer type of bowl with three phales and curley willow and moss and I think that would have gone over much better....had I talked with her I would have been able to decide better with her vision and help on style...

There were 250 tickets sold to this event and 250 people saw an arrangement that was not mine..I do hope that she did an ok job being a designer and all and having an eye for the artistic...I did let the organizer know that in the future there will have to be policies stated that if they accept a donated item that they need to keep it as is regardless, that it is not their produst to fool with...I was firm and matter of fact, but thanked her for her efforts with this and let her know that it is just growing pains and it will all get worked out..She thanked me for planting the seed for florist donations and apologized for the ladies rather rash behavior, she said she didn't see anything wrong with the tulips and actually said it was one of the better arrangements in the tour, some had looked like whatever was in the cooler that fit the bill got sent....typical of the area, my guess is that myself, pepperberries and fino were the only ones that even asked for a picture of the kitchen or looked at it...just my guess..

 

[Sprout]

I am very generous the the organizations who do their part - promote my business in collateral materials, web sites, signage, thanks from the podium, free tickets, tax forms, etc. Everyone else can take a hike.

And don't get me going on all the auction items where I never hear who got them or auction winners who want to change the terms after the fact - flowers once a month for a year means just that. Too bad you spend your summers/winters elsewhere. Why did you bid on something you can't use?

 

[Johan]

I have stopped doing freebies like that because I have ended up being shafted. I did a couple of demo's for a leisure centre ladies lunch. I was always promised I get plenty of work from the leisure centre and the ladies. The manager would order from me a couple of times before they asked me to do the demo FOC. So I would say yes - she would butter me up saying how wonderful my designs were and I was the only shop to get what she wanted. Then I would do the demo FOC and donate the designs for a raffle so the money could go to the charity they supported each year. Then after that I would not hear anything until the manager wanted another 'favors'. I did two for her, then she invited me to have a FOC stand at a Christmas fair she was having. Told me they had do loads of advertising etc. and that there would be a good 500 people at the fair.
The ever came at the Christmas fair, I set a fabulous stand with all manner of loverly Christmas gifts and Christmas silks for the dinner table. At most 50 people came in and the only two people that sold anything were a stand that sold really nasty candle stands with bits of silk ivy wrapped around them and a stand that sold soap. The rest of us hardly sold anything. I sold a whole £10.00 of stock. It was rediculous. Then to add insult to injury the manager came and asked me for the payment for the stand. All I can say is that I wasn't very polite. I then told her not to bother contacting me in future as I didn't like being used and played off against other florists (which is what she was doing).
I never heard from her again and I hassen to add - I never lost any custom.

Unless it is really profitable - I would now give anything like this a wide birth.

 

[Carol Bice]

After donating to hundreds of events over my career, I am not sure it pays to donate. Buddy disagrees with me on this.

But, I have really been watching closely the last few years to prove my point.

A short time ago, we went to a fundraiser at the Horse Races...about 400 people were in the room.
An unfamiliar flower shop donated the flowers. I asked a lady on the event committee who donated the flowers because I didn't see it in the program. She said, she had no idea....and she was on the committee???

So, I kept looking until I found a very small logo of theirs among the pages of the race forms. I promise that no one would have ever seen it.

At the end of the evening they auctioned off the centerpieces and brought the owners up and introduced them. They had been there all night and no one knew who they were or that they made such a large donation.

I watched the crowd and no one was listening to that introduction and no one seemed to care where they came from.

I have witnessed this type of situation over and over again. I did notice that the organization paid for all the food and the band, etc.

So, unless, I am able to go to the event and make sure every single person in the room knows I am there and that I donated the flowers....I am just not sure it helps us.

 

[kynda]

Now I'm craving orange parrot tulips! I bet they were gorgeous.

 

[concord]

It's enough to make you never want to donate anything ever again. I think you were right to be upset and to bring it to their attention. We might all think twice about our donations after hearing the stories in this thread.

 

[RWK]

I've talked about it before and it bears repeating.....in bold.....about donation policies.

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The most effective way to handle this issue and other donation/freebie issues is to have a specific donation policy in place. This policy applies to everyone in store...from owner/manager on down the line. I cannot stress enough the importance of making this policy ironclad for everyone and ironclad for all situations.

I have helped write/re-write several policies for fellow florists and friends.

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The last shop I worked with, we re-wrote and adapted their donation policy to this.


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1) All donation requests must be made in writing at least one month before the event on one of our donation request forms. If the request is not on our form, then it is automatically discarded.

2) An approximate value of the donation must be stated, along with all information on the form filled out completely.

3) If there is a sign/plaque/poster listing the vendors, then our name and shop must appear at the number one postion.

4) If there is a printed program, then we are given a minimum of a half-page ad on the front of the program.

5) If there is a speaker/presenter, then verbal acknowledgement must be made from the podium.

6) We must have a minimum of two tickets to the event.

7) If your organization/charity is not an existing customer of our shop, then your organizers/committees/officers must agree to use our shop exclusively for all floral needs for a minimum of 6 months or a minimum of 12 floral orders.

8) Once approval is given from the organizer that the florals meet their needs and requirements, then no changes, re-do's, may be made unless the florals are brought in to the store and the flowers are not in prime condition, wilted, or other problems with the florals. Likes, dislikes, taste preferences are not accepted reasons for changes made to donated florals.

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By having a clear set, ironclad policy in place, this accomplishes several things. One, it automatically eliminates the majority of 'fly-by-night' and ' do me a favor' types of requests, it gives you and your employees a leg to stand own of a problem erupts.....you and they can claim and show the disgruntled customer/petitioner, the policy.....and truthfully state that you can't do anything other than go by this policy. Lastly, it presents a business-like, professional image of your business.

 

[sandytf]

I feel your pain! We participated in a wedding show last year (that the organizers practically begged us to participate in ) and we were not even mentioned in the program. We were the only fresh florist at the show.


We have also participated in a holiday tour of homes (for a number of years ) where we completely decorated a home for the holidays. Tons of work, time, and inventory and next to no recognition. Not this year!

 

[Palms]

Do you know how many requests i had today for donations?? 5 that is how many. I said no to all of them because of the reasons everyone here has stated. I tell them that if they are a regular customer of ours then we would be happy to support their cause which of course needs to be charitable.

One of them was for the fire brigade. When i told her our policy she said "what, not even for the fire brigade". I said, well if the fire brigade would have been a regular customer of About Flowers then yes but as it isnt then on this occasion I am afraid the answer is NO.

The cheeky fecker put the phone down on me. So, i rang her back and she put the phone down again. I got in contact with the fire brigade and made a complaint. I am now expecting a formal apology and will take this further when given the chance. I am getting sick of the sales calls already, but the begging calls that cannot accept no gracefully, I will not stand for.

Sorry to hijack but thought it was a relevant rant!!