Score 1 for the little guy..

[WinkDesign]

Hey all

Had something happen this weekend that I thought you may like to know about.

I've been sponsoring an annual local festival for the past several months, all product-labor, no actual cash sponsorship. It's been a TON of work, but I think it's been a wise business decision, met a lot of cool people, had fun, etc. The big event was this weekend.

Anyway, the festival chair let me know yesterday that they were approached by 800 Flowers, who were interested in becoming the floral sponsor. No product, just money. According to her, they offered $1000, and wanted their stuff plastered all over the festival.

She turned them down, told them that they have a floral sponsor, that it would be a price that was 4 TIMES the value of my sponsorship (!!!) for them to get what they wanted anyway.. and thanks anyway. 800 Flowers apparently told her that they didn't have that kind of money! LOL.

So, when she told me about that, I told her I was glad, and that although it doesn't impact me directly (just doing event florals), companies like this were ruining the industry and hurting a lot of florists. She told me she'd always hated FTD, etc, but didn't go into a ton of details. I told her a bit about the call centers, order skimming, etc.. she was shocked, and confirmed how glad SHE was that she didn't let them get involved.

Whew!

Anyway, I'm sunburned and totally exhausted, so I'm taking it verrrry easy today. Then I'm gonna brainstorm for next year, LOL. Gotta make em glad they kept me!!

 

[Carrington]

Consumers LIKE real florists

Personally I think there are a ton of consumers all over the world who know the big name operators are less than perfect and would far prefer to deal with real florists but don't know how to connect to them - especially long distance.

Since we've gone live to the press with our Master Florist concept, we have been stunned at the reaction from the media who are delighted to find - and write about - a credible way of identifying quality florists but without the middleman cost etc. Now we're looking at ways to hook the idea up internationally so that it can connect with partners country to country.

You see, there is a groundswell of change amongst consumers who are just as fed up of getting second rate service. It's not going to happen overnight but the more florists promote themselves, either individually or collectively, the more likely the change will happen faster.

I know it's been said a zillion times before but florists can take control of their own destiny ... and in my opinion have to if they are going to survive. It's a scary move after the comfort zone of how the industry used to be but we have florists in the UK making radical decisions on how they do business and realising, once they've done it, they should have done it years ago!

 

[goodie]

i agree.... the internet has changed things, customers realise that they can cut out the middle man and go direct. I have noticed that many of my regular relay customers are older folk who dont have access to the internet. Im not saying all customers use the net, just that now there are other options, unlike a few years ago.