Teleflora down in orders?

[coppercountryflowers]

We have been using three wire services and are going to drop to just one or two. We had 20 1-800flower orders this past month. 17 FTD and only 5 Teleflora. Is everyone else seeing their numbers drop with Teleflora? We're making the drop this weekend in certified mail...

 

[Tom Carlson]

This has been asked before

Why do you need 3 wire services?
When you only need one or even none to send orders?

You make your money on sending orders, not receiving orders.

When you drop a wire service, make sure you owe them money instead of the wire service owing you money. I never got my last $900 that FTD owed me back about 5 or 6 years ago.

You signed your post "designer" so maybe these questions should to the owner/boss.

 

[Rhonda]

just an FYI.
Over 30+ years, I have been FTD, TEL, & Redbook - all three at once, then down to FTD & TEL.......then down to just FTD. For the past three years the FTD was the only WS we had. You could count on one hand the "holiday orders" that came to us in the past year. Picked up TEL on a free trial, dropped FTD. Have seen much better coverage with TEL especially to smaller places (such as I am located in)........NO competition against me on the web site (FTD.COM VS Teleflora.com).......NO dropshipping from TEL.......
can't say I will like the monthly charges when they're not in free trial (and yes, they do sign up shops that have NO trained designers or any experience period) but it's the worse of two evils at the present time.
I never accept any 800 flowers orders unless I can make MONEY on it..........
accept NO just flowers or flowers sent today (unless 800 Flowers cloaks them which they are now doing *caught them last week) and I market the heck out of the recipient of any 800 flowers order to have their sender call me direct.
A credit card works just fine for anyone who is computer/internet savvy......don't saddle your self and your checkbook to any wire service before lots of information.

 

[Joe Mioux]

All wire business is going down.

choose one, Tf would be my choice because they seem to be the most flower shop services provider oriented.


My drop in incoming ws business is being somewhat offset by more and more direct orders.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

All wire business is going down.
My drop in incoming ws business is being somewhat offset by more and more direct orders.

not to mention the fact that, more and more consumers are wising up, and bypassing the so-called order gatherer's, and calling direct.
I'm with you on this Joe, though, whichever WS you belong to, be prepared to do without soon....as they become more and more redundant.
For those shops that PURPOSELY join a wire service to "receive" more incoming orders, you are hanging a hat on the wrong peg.

 

[stormy]

Answer the Question

face

Why do you need 3 wire services?
When you only need one or even none to send orders?

You make your money on sending orders, not receiving orders.

When you drop a wire service, make sure you owe them money instead of the wire service owing you money. I never got my last $900 that FTD owed me back about 5 or 6 years ago.

You signed your post "designer" so maybe these questions should to the owner/boss.

the lady asked a question, not a slap for using wire services. everyone has an opinion of wire services. this is not fair to her, can someone just answer her question politely. we are al friends here. right?

 

[Luc]

WHen you drop a wire service or two, you must look at more than what you receive or send. You need to look at their cost, product and services.
I went from two to one wiere service a few years back.I do find now that my business has grown in direct customer sales than wire service.
I find that customers were screwed by OG, and wire service and that they try now to find a florist in that specific town.
So my suggestion is to look at the whole picture . I am sure you can get rid of 2 wire service and really wont feel anything.
Luc

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

face
the lady asked a question, not a slap for using wire services. everyone has an opinion of wire services. this is not fair to her, can someone just answer her question politely. we are all friends here. right?

I'd be looking for the services that offer you the most for the least investment!! Cost per order weighs heavily with determining the service(s) you should retain, and the one(s) that you eliminate.
Are you a heavy sending shop??....does your business "model" rely on incoming orders for your shop operations??
IF TF is the least "productive" as far as incoming is concerned, then drop TF!!
However, choose the service that looks after your "needs" with the least amount of hassle, and IF you choose to drop ANY particular service, MAKE SURE YOU owe THEM money, and NOT the other way around.

 

[David L.]

We have been using three wire services and are going to drop to just one or two. ...

My shop has been around since 1968. When I bought it in 2002 we had FTD & TF. At some point (do not know what year) prior owners were members of:

FTD
TF
Redbook
AFS
Florafax (or whatever it was called)
Gold Medallion

and probably others.

I dropped FTD in June of 2005. We now are TF only and I am considering dropping them.

We had 20 1-800flower orders this past month. 17 FTD and only 5 Teleflora.

I am not sure what you mean by last month, but for July from TF I had 9 In and 11 Out. No 1-800 and I usually Reject them on sight.

Is everyone else seeing their numbers drop with Teleflora?

In July of 2006 we had 7 In and 11 Out. About the same as this year.

I am not totally happy with this but we are running more Out than In which is a Good Thing.

Now looking only at In orders, for year to date 2007, we have received 146 orders compared to 92 last year. So in our case we are up nearly 50 %.

BTW - You have 3 now. Give serious consideration to dropping to just 1, unless you really want the incoming orders. We don't.

Hope this helps.

Best regards.

 

[lori042499]

We have been using three wire services and are going to drop to just one or two. We had 20 1-800flower orders this past month. 17 FTD and only 5 Teleflora. Is everyone else seeing their numbers drop with Teleflora? We're making the drop this weekend in certified mail...

The fact that it is August, right there will bring your orders down. The fact that you went from #1 position to # 2 position this past month is another reason. Positioning in directory really makes a big difference. Not sure why your 800 is so low... What do you want out of the WS?? Do you want a way just to send your orders or do you want incoming?? If you want incoming 800 is usually a good bet, but you need to fill a lot to make any money and you need to watch what you spend because you do not get the leeway you get with other services... You also need to play by their rules in order to get the volume of orders.. If you can't keep your costs down when filling for 800, there is no sense in having them and breaking even. I would drop FTD way before TF. I would also drop 800 if they are only giving you 20 orders a month that doesn't pay for itself at all. TF so far is still pretty florist friendly as far as WS go..I hope I have answered your question...

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

Going going going going ....

Our incoming is down compared to last year.

:balsmile::wave::balsmile:

Fine by me



tracy

 

[Joe Mioux]

CCF, once you drop a couple of WS's you may lose some business from the dropped WS's but not all of it.

If a sending shop can't find you in FTD, they will go to their TF book and vice versa.

800 orders will come thru TF if there are no 800 shops in your area.

What you want is a largest Sending Directory of flower shops. If one WS has 30,000 members and the other has 9000 members choose the one with the 30,000 so your outgoing work is as easy as possible.

HTH
Joe

 

[coppercountryflowers]

how to you arrange agreements with far-away florist?

Thank you for the input. In regards to the "owner" asking what to do... he is my long-term boyfriend, and thus, he indirectly is asking through me.

Many have suggested dumping all services or getting down to just one. When you don't have a wire service, how do you set up a relationship with florists in other areas to accept you phone orders with a credit card? Also, is it a 20-80 or 25-75 or 30-70 arrangement? I have had florists call and do this, but there has never been a "standard" percentage arrangement. Thanks again for all your help and support.

 

[rhjuska]

wire orders August

Below are our incoming figures for August: AS you can see 800 is way out there and FTD next, Teleflora lags poorly. To Mikey I hang my hat on filling wire orders, We have developed as I have stated in other posts a strategy to make incoming orders on the same level as local orders. We also have started a aggressive marketing campaign using our POS Data base that had been not used in the past to increase local orders. WE intentionally decreased our in wires this summer by 30% to get our systems in order, we have now increased FTD again and will increase 800 as soon as I get final August financial, Teleflora will follow.

One thing I must say, If I were not playing incoming orders I would belong to one service, and that service by far would be TELEFLORA. Teleflora is the service with the most integrity and with the best interest of the florist at heart. unfortunately the good guy does not always win and I sense thats the case with Teleflora low orders right now. I rather see our industry get back to normal and we are mailing all our customers telling the best bet is a real florist, However I fear that this will take some time to wise the consumer up. I am positioned to win either way, God willing. Just today SAF posted another great wholesaler After 53 years in business, the Sorensen family closed the doors of its well-known Lincoln Wholesale Florist Co., in Lincoln, Neb., on Aug. 1.

The key is COGS and some of our leading CPA's are not exactly giving the correct formula for computing COGS. For shops not filling wire orders, for shops with equal in and out wires they are right, but for florist like us in a traditional incoming state, the formula needs changing and the counting of flowers is critical.

FTD Totals 147 33.6% 7913.89 34.9%
TEL Totals 86 19.7% 4393.40 19.3%
800Totals 192 43.9% 9859.12 43.4%

Good Success

 

[Ken]

FTD vs Teleflora

Our shop dropped FTD last October. We decided that between the two, Teleflora was the lesser of two evils. Our incoming from FTD was very low the last year we were with them. Always had trouble finding a forist in other locations for wire outs with FTD. I really do not know the membership numbers but for us Teleflora seems to have better coverage.

Our incoming from the wires has decreased for the last few years. Hard to believe that at one time we had 5 services and are now down to 1. Our internet orders have increased. Customers are doing a lot more of direct ordering via the website and our toll free number.


Our average for the summer months is 30-40 per month outgoing and 60-70 incoming. We consider the incoming a way to get our product into the local homes. We always make sure the product is filled to value and hopefully impress the receipient and have a new customer.

 

[Joe Mioux]

The key is COGS and some of our leading CPA's are not exactly giving the correct formula for computing COGS. For shops not filling wire orders, for shops with equal in and out wires they are right, but for florist like us in a traditional incoming state, the formula needs changing and the counting of flowers is critical.

FTD Totals 147 33.6% 7913.89 34.9%
TEL Totals 86 19.7% 4393.40 19.3%
800Totals 192 43.9% 9859.12 43.4%

Good Success

HI Bob, I would like to hear more about your COGS formula issues. I am not sure I understand what you mean.

Also, for FTD and 800 Aug In's, does that include FTD.com and 800.com orders. If so can you strip those OG orders out and compare just FTD/800 member florists incoming?

If so, that might give you a better comparison between TF and FTD/800.

Joe

 

[coppercountryflowers]

800 v. Teleflora

We were receiving 80% of our Teleflora orders in 2006 sent as 1-800 flower orders through Teleflora. When we became 1-800 members, our Teleflora orders dropped to a pittance and the 1-800 flowers increased greatly. In fact, triple or more than what Teleflora sent us the previous year.

Our Teleflora rep states that they are the only "true wire service" and 1-800 is not really a wire service. He insisted, as expected, that we should stick with Teleflora. When I asked them if they are so against 1-800, why do they process the orders for them, he replied that it made good business sense for Teleflora and that they were looking at dropping them.

I guess I look at it as if they are looking out for themselves, I need to look out for us. We're dropping Teleflora and concentrating on store-to-store orders and new marketing ideas.

On average, we send out as many wire orders as we get in. We also have an on-line service, e-mail our customers, and do a lot of specialty marketing in our two-university very rural area.

Possibly that explains our situation a little better. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Joe Mioux]

We were receiving 80% of our Teleflora orders in 2006 sent as 1-800 flower orders through Teleflora. When we became 1-800 members, our Teleflora orders dropped to a pittance and the 1-800 flowers increased greatly. In fact, triple or more than what Teleflora sent us the previous year.

Our Teleflora rep states that they are the only "true wire service" and 1-800 is not really a wire service. He insisted, as expected, that we should stick with Teleflora. When I asked them if they are so against 1-800, why do they process the orders for them, he replied that it made good business sense for Teleflora and that they were looking at dropping them.

I guess I look at it as if they are looking out for themselves, I need to look out for us. We're dropping Teleflora and concentrating on store-to-store orders and new marketing ideas.

On average, we send out as many wire orders as we get in. We also have an on-line service, e-mail our customers, and do a lot of specialty marketing in our two-university very rural area.

Possibly that explains our situation a little better. Thanks for all the input.

ccf, seems like you don't need 800 if you were getting those orders thru tf.

Your rep is correct that TF is still more the traditional wireservice than what 800 is or what FTD morphed itself into.

 

[David]

We also have started a aggressive marketing campaign using our POS Data base that had been not used in the past to increase local orders.

How do you market to recipients of Wire orders? With every delivery I include a magnet, do you include any marketing material with your deliveries?

 

[Holly]

Teleflora down in orders?

and yet when I called them Friday afternoon I waited on hold 22 minutes before I hung up and called my rep directly.
By the way....the reason for my call....to make sure they had everything in place for my termination from their service. AFter 26 years it was time to pull the plug.