Teleflora to require DCON's in August

[Doug Munro]

But what about Merc X users who are also TF? They'll have to manually enter, too.

The WSs keep making shops pick a team - and it's by POS software.

This raises another issue that continuously baffles me (hey can I help it if I am a simple man).

Why if there is no money or very little in filling orders via a wire service (as I constantly read in posts on this board) do so many shops belong to multiple services? After all that means multiple fee's, possibly multiple technology systems, and multiple hassles.

In theory you only need one to send. If your WS doesn't cover an area you can call a florist direct and pay on CC. Again, based on what I read on this board many believe that is the "end all be all" solution and would gladly accept an order at full value to fill. As well if you are a smaller volume sender not splitting your outgoing orders between WS's tends to increase your chances of hitting minimum levels for order sending bonuses.

So I can only assume that by joining multiple services a shop is in fact "trolling" for incoming orders. So if it that is a safe assumption, why join a service (knowing the rules and payment percentages going in)then continuously whine that you are losing money by taking these orders.

At the end of the day isn't it just simpler not to belong than to spend all the personal time and energy required to verbally pound them into the ground?

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

I get very few call is a months time from a customer wanting confimation. 99% of the time that call comes with several hours of the day yet to deliver.

This added time, will add expense no matter what solution we all come up with to resolve this issue, just pass it on, just pass it on.....I guess, huh?

It keeps getting less about the flowers!

Joan

Joan...NO ONE is denying that this is extra work......it IS!!
IF your customers DON'T require a DCON...good for you...you're a good shop..I know it, and YOU know it!!
My customers trust me equally, but, they DON'T KNOW YOU from a lampost, so How do I "reconcile" THAT??
As I see it....two options....mandatory DCON'S for ALL orders, or drop the wire service that's demanding it...it's STILL your "choice"....
Customers WANT answers......and when I'M a customer...I WANT answers as well...BETCHA YOU want to know where YOUR flower order is as well...from time to time!!
That's my nickel's worth...for WTFDIK??

 

[Doug Munro]

Doug:
Yes, I get the customer service standards & issues. I fully support customer service in our shop to the highest level. that's why I'm often the only flower shop in Pittsburgh delivering a special order to someone at 8 pm in the evening. (that was just tonight).

However, we, as local flower merchants, are NOT a mail-order house, or a PF or someone else who has built a system that is completely and totally integrated from day one.

We are trying to fit a round peg in a square whole here.

Every time you try to force, from top down, this type of work and integration on to your "filling florists", you lose more and more.

While it is completely great to say that it must be done, it has to be done, by God just do it, please understand the complexity of the action you are proposing.

1. NOT EVERYONE WHO IS A DELIVERING FLORIST DELIVERS EACH AND EVERY PACKAGE OF THEIR OWN THEMSELVES. Delivery pools exist. they work well, and at a great price. That is part of what has allowed many locally owned and operated flower shops to compete with the "big boys".

2. TF AND FTD TECHNOLOGIES DO NOT PLAY NICE....and they have not integrated, or allowed integration between and among for a long, time. So, if you are an FTD POS shop, TF Dcons will require double entry....and the same in reverse with TF systems. MAS systems are not permitted to talk to any TF shop over the Dove network.

......Push to get these guys to allow our systems to talk to each other, and things could become much more world class faster.

3. NONE OF US CAN AFFORD TO LOSE ANY CUSTOMERS TODAY. We all want to make things work ...and for the betterment of our consumer.

Again, will notifying you that your order has SHIPPED" today be sufficient confirmation for you? Because this is what any on-line merchant is doing today. Not confirming DELIVERY COMPLETED -- JUST CONFIRMING ORDER WAS SHIPPED. There is a difference -- a huge difference!
Cheryl

Cheryl,

Confirming that an order has actually been placed on a delivery truck is certainly a great start. But I have to correct you in that I have made many purchases on line from retailers who confirm "Shipping" and "Delivery". This is being done everyday on line.

The reality is that I can't argue with most of the point you raise. However do you truly believe that the gift giving consumers cares about the reasons behind our inability to provide them with a service many of our competitors provide without being asked?

 

[Doug Munro]

I would find out either way from the person I sent the gift to. Because if they didn't call me first (to thank me) I would call him/her with probing questions, and at that point, if it was apparent they did not recieve the gift, I would call the company I purchased the gift from. See, I like to keep the element of surprise alive. Even if it means covering the company's butt for a moment or two. If it was a big hassle to me, then I probably would not use that company again. But, no, a confirmation of delivery doesn't mean anything to me until I know the gift is in the hands of the receiver.

Dorothy,

I congratulate you on your ambition. Most consumers would prefer to know that a product they ordered was actually delivered and not have to play Sherlock Holmes themselves to determine this.

I feel very strongly that when it comes to providing customer service your always better to err on the side of too much, rather than to little.

 

[Dorothy]

Doug:
Yes, I get the customer service standards & issues. I fully support customer service in our shop to the highest level. that's why I'm often the only flower shop in Pittsburgh delivering a special order to someone at 8 pm in the evening. (that was just tonight).

However, we, as local flower merchants, are NOT a mail-order house, or a PF or someone else who has built a system that is completely and totally integrated from day one.

We are trying to fit a round peg in a square whole here.

Every time you try to force, from top down, this type of work and integration on to your "filling florists", you lose more and more.

While it is completely great to say that it must be done, it has to be done, by God just do it, please understand the complexity of the action you are proposing.

1. NOT EVERYONE WHO IS A DELIVERING FLORIST DELIVERS EACH AND EVERY PACKAGE OF THEIR OWN THEMSELVES. Delivery pools exist. they work well, and at a great price. That is part of what has allowed many locally owned and operated flower shops to compete with the "big boys".

2. TF AND FTD TECHNOLOGIES DO NOT PLAY NICE....and they have not integrated, or allowed integration between and among for a long, time. So, if you are an FTD POS shop, TF Dcons will require double entry....and the same in reverse with TF systems. MAS systems are not permitted to talk to any TF shop over the Dove network.

......Push to get these guys to allow our systems to talk to each other, and things could become much more world class faster.

3. NONE OF US CAN AFFORD TO LOSE ANY CUSTOMERS TODAY. We all want to make things work ...and for the betterment of our consumer.

Again, will notifying you that your order has SHIPPED" today be sufficient confirmation for you? Because this is what any on-line merchant is doing today. Not confirming DELIVERY COMPLETED -- JUST CONFIRMING ORDER WAS SHIPPED. There is a difference -- a huge difference!
Cheryl

Thank you Cheryl. This is precisely why I didn't "lock in" to either one or the other for POS - I had already decided on FloristWare before either of them (TF or FTD) called me back in '05. I wanted the option of opting out if I so chose to with MINIMAL if not NO penalty.

Yes, it would be absolutely wonderful if florist POS integrated with each other and made it much easier and more cost effective to implement these add-on "customer service orientated" features (that we will all somehow 'pay for' on our monthly statements). But the fact is that it won't happen any time soon, so any shops that have not "bought into" the major players' systems or even if they have with only one of them, will suffer some interim discomfort. In the long run, I think those that choose to distance themselves in the first place or make the tough decision to disconnect themselves eventually all together, will come out ahead. JMO.

The Eagles: The Long Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rtIBTuPlRQ

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

sorry you are not the customer to the receiving shop, you are the broker. You do not take ownership of the product, therefore you are nothing more than a broker.

If you want your customer served well, give the receiving shop your customer's address and let them contact your customer directly.




most of the issues you bring up are WS or OG created problems, i.e. orders not being filled to the picture the customer viewed. I get more and more TF.com orders that come off their website, not my TF website. They assume we can fulfill these orders. for the most part I can but in some instances I can't. One solution is give me the name of the customer and let me tell them what I can send.....

I am not holding my breathe that TF or any OG will ever give me that information.



You know, this is just a recent problem. Why is that?

I have a couple ideas. Maybe it is because the WS's and OG's are specifying that their staff arrange custom "WS" or custom "OG" specific bouquets rather than let the tradtional flower shop serve their customers' outgoing wire order needs or have the customer directed to the recipients hometown florist's website.

The problem is a Middle Man Created Problem.

In addition, WS sales continue to fall for F2F florists only reinforces the notion that this whole Dcon scheme is nothing more than a WS/OG CYA tactic.

joe

gotta love a man that thinks dynamics AND "linear" at the same time!!
I am going to go out on a limb...I AM POSITIVE, that IF WE, as a group of "forward thinking" FlowerChat members DON'T pull up our socks, wage war, AND beat the "other" competitors at THEIR OWN GAME, by whatever means necessary, to "appease" the "new" buying public, we're ALL gonna be working in a bakery.....like Victoria....
Or serving toast and tea.....either WE BE BETTER or BEST, or WEE BEE "the toast"......

 

[CHERYL BAKIN]

Doug:

Round Peg -- Square Hole.......Just because Mikey is jumping off a bridge, I should follow and jump off the bridge?

I place orders online for stuff all the time.
Just ordered my Dad's fathers day gift...from a company that I have used before for some things. It is a large & reputable company.

I received an order confirmation, and I will receive a SHIPPING CONFIRMATION. I will not receive a DELIVERY CONFIRMATION.

Maybe its semantics...maybe not.

From my perspective, as a 60 year old woman, the Generation Y people (ages 18 to 30) are the ones who generally want Delivery confirmations. They are also the ones who shop the internet constantly, instant message about everything, and often are purchasing things very late.....so they NEED TO KNOW IF IT GOT THERE. This group of consumers are Needy and we often buy into their demands.

Remove this group from the equation, and I, like RC, have very, very few requests for Dcons over the course of a year. In fact, in the last 5 months, we have had exactly 2 requests for Dcons -- one of them yesterday -- & that was an order that was messed up with incorrect information given to us from the beginning. We had no problem providing a Dcon on either of these 2 requests.

Just because technology can do it, does that mean that it needs to be done??

My point is that we are professional florists. We operate in an above board, straight-forward honest and reliable manner. We do not rip people off. We do no charge outrageous fees. AND WE GENERALLY DELIVER WHAT WE PROMISED, ON THE DAY THAT WE PROMISED.
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU as quickly as possible. And that, my friend, is called CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Call me old fashioned. But sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves whether or not this will really enhance our position as flower merchants....or will it just create another added expense.


Cheryl

 

[LJVF]

Screw the wire services! It's about evolving.

I can't speak for the rest of you, but my shop gets at least two calls a day and at least one email per day for delivery confirmation requests from our customers. Forget about the wire services, there seems to be a shift in what customer expectations are when it comes to delivery services. The MTV generation have money to spend but are short of patience and want answers instantly. But it isn't limited to the younger generations, it's common place to everyone who uses the internet for shopping. If it hasn't hit your town yet, I predict it will soon.

My experience with online shopping, be it for a gift to be delivered or for something shipped to myself, the company usually provides me with an order confirmation, a tracking number and a delivery confirmation. With the tracking number the customer can actually follow the travels of the package from one city to the next.

IMO, this is no longer innovative, this is the norm. We florists are no longer competing against each other, we are competing with all the online stores that can just as easily have a gift shipped to a loved one. By not at least exploring the idea of dcons we are failing to evolve and keep up with the times.

Confirming deliveries may be an added nuisance, but this nuisance may just keep us in touch with our finicky customer base.

Screw the wire services, I'm looking at this with an open mind in implementing a system as standard for my business for ALL my customers.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

Doug:
Yes, I get the customer service standards & issues. I fully support customer service in our shop to the highest level. that's why I'm often the only flower shop in Pittsburgh delivering a special order to someone at 8 pm in the evening. (that was just tonight).
Cheryl

That is EXACTLY what the "target".....IS.
It "means" BETTER than EVERYONE ELSE!!

 

[Dorothy]

This raises another issue that continuously baffles me (hey can I help it if I am a simple man).

Why if there is no money or very little in filling orders via a wire service (as I constantly read in posts on this board) do so many shops belong to multiple services? After all that means multiple fee's, possibly multiple technology systems, and multiple hassles.

In theory you only need one to send. If your WS doesn't cover an area you can call a florist direct and pay on CC. Again, based on what I read on this board many believe that is the "end all be all" solution and would gladly accept an order at full value to fill. As well if you are a smaller volume sender not splitting your outgoing orders between WS's tends to increase your chances of hitting minimum levels for order sending bonuses.

So I can only assume that by joining multiple services a shop is in fact "trolling" for incoming orders. So if it that is a safe assumption, why join a service (knowing the rules and payment percentages going in)then continuously whine that you are losing money by taking these orders.

At the end of the day isn't it just simpler not to belong than to spend all the personal time and energy required to verbally pound them into the ground?

Sounds logical but when every other florist (who is your competition) belongs to both (TF & FTD), it's pretty hard to opt out. After all, all those recipients and their families are potential customers. So, we little shops try to make the best of what we're dealt with.

 

[Doug Munro]

sorry you are not the customer to the receiving shop, you are the broker. You do not take ownership of the product, therefore you are nothing more than a broker.

If you want your customer served well, give the receiving shop your customer's address and let them contact your customer directly.

You can refer to the sending shop as a customer or a broker, whatever suits you best and makes you feel better as the order fulfiller. However keep in mind it is the sending shop that spent the marketing funds to generate the original sale, it is the sending shop (via the WS) that's pays you as the fulfilling shop, and finally it is the sending shop that the original customer has placed their trust in. So I believe this entitles me as the sending shop to some say in how the order is filled.

As to giving the receiving shop the customer's contact information. How about this, maybe I can email you their name, address and phone number. You can then as a third party (that's right, third party as you were not involved in the original transaction) contact them and proceed to ask for their credit card information so that you can bill them. Hell, maybe you can even email them offers at holidays. Great concept, unfortunately in today's world we have a little issue you are apparently not aware of , lets call it privacy concerns for lack of a better term. In the world I live in protection of personal information is a serious matter and not something a responsible business treats lightly.

As well, privacy issues aside for a moment all retail businesses are bending over backwards to impress their customers with the level of service they provide and to make every transaction easy and stress free. So now you suggest that when I have a customer phone me to place an order to your city I take their information and then begin the process of explaining how a "third party" (there's that term again) will contact them by email or phone (if this is even convenient for them) and take their order and request personal credit card information. Now heaven forbid that somehow or other there is a credit card issue (fraud) that occurs with this "third party" do I take responsibility for this.

most of the issues you bring up are WS or OG created problems, i.e. orders not being filled to the picture the customer viewed. I get more and more TF.com orders that come off their website, not my TF website. They assume we can fulfill these orders. for the most part I can but in some instances I can't. One solution is give me the name of the customer and let me tell them what I can send.....

I am not holding my breathe that TF or any OG will ever give me that information.

Refer to my previous comment.

You know, this is just a recent problem. Why is that?

I have a couple ideas. Maybe it is because the WS's and OG's are specifying that their staff arrange custom "WS" or custom "OG" specific bouquets rather than let the tradtional flower shop serve their customers' outgoing wire order needs or have the customer directed to the recipients hometown florist's website.

The problem is a Middle Man Created Problem.

In addition, WS sales continue to fall for F2F florists only reinforces the notion that this whole Dcon scheme is nothing more than a WS/OG CYA tactic.

joe

I suspect that the drive behind creating "custom WS or OG arrangements " is not by any stretch of the imagination an attempt to undermine the fulfiller. After what is the point of taking an order no one can fill, would be kind of self defeating don't you think. It is probably more in line with why automobile manufacturers all offer different designs and change them frequently. Each is trying to offer a design that will entice the consumer to purchase their brand over another. As for it being a recent problem that one is easy to figure out, the internet! Lets face it in the old days the standard purchase of flowers for out of town delivery was "something nice for about $30.00". That simply will not fly in today's age, the consumer expects to see what they are purchasing. Don't believe that statement, try and launch a floral website with no pictures just price points and see how far you get.

Last but not least, the WS's & OG's have never prevented the traditional florist from servicing their customers outgoing wire order needs. The customer always makes the choice as to who they place the order with or maybe you are suggesting the big guys have some kind of consumer mind control device that I am unaware of. If so I got to get me one of those!

 

[Doug Munro]

Doug:

Round Peg -- Square Hole.......Just because Mikey is jumping off a bridge, I should follow and jump off the bridge?

I place orders online for stuff all the time.
Just ordered my Dad's fathers day gift...from a company that I have used before for some things. It is a large & reputable company.

I received an order confirmation, and I will receive a SHIPPING CONFIRMATION. I will not receive a DELIVERY CONFIRMATION.

Maybe its semantics...maybe not.

From my perspective, as a 60 year old woman, the Generation Y people (ages 18 to 30) are the ones who generally want Delivery confirmations. They are also the ones who shop the internet constantly, instant message about everything, and often are purchasing things very late.....so they NEED TO KNOW IF IT GOT THERE. This group of consumers are Needy and we often buy into their demands.

Remove this group from the equation, and I, like RC, have very, very few requests for Dcons over the course of a year. In fact, in the last 5 months, we have had exactly 2 requests for Dcons -- one of them yesterday -- & that was an order that was messed up with incorrect information given to us from the beginning. We had no problem providing a Dcon on either of these 2 requests.

Just because technology can do it, does that mean that it needs to be done??

My point is that we are professional florists. We operate in an above board, straight-forward honest and reliable manner. We do not rip people off. We do no charge outrageous fees. AND WE GENERALLY DELIVER WHAT WE PROMISED, ON THE DAY THAT WE PROMISED.
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU as quickly as possible. And that, my friend, is called CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Call me old fashioned. But sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves whether or not this will really enhance our position as flower merchants....or will it just create another added expense.


Cheryl

Cheryl,

Forgive me if I misunderstand you, but your solution to this issue is for traditional florists to simply ignore the consumer wants and demands of a fairly large sector of society (Generation-Y 18-30 years)?

A sector that from what most studies show lives for today and delights in instant gratification meaning that they tend to be a bit more liberal about spending. In doing so I suspect by default those "needy" individuals (as you classify them) will simply go somewhere else to get the products and customer service they expect.

Are you sure your not on the Proflowers marketing team?

The good news that if we follow this train of thought we will be left with the over 30 age bracket, most of whom are raising families, paying mortgages, saving for retirement, and generally have little if any disposable income.

I hope everyone can excuse me for not jumping for joy and buying into this plan.

 

[goldfish]

My question is how do I get my pool members to comply to a dcon, and transmitt that information in a timely manner back to the florist??????

How about use Twitter?

For example, send a code in this format - order#:time (or "f" or fail)

"1:1200, 2:1215, 3:f, 4:1305, ......."

 

[goldfish]

??? How come is this such a big deal requiring 12 pages of "debate"?

Dcon must be done. The only question is how to do it.

I think Twitter is ideal for this purpose. Delivery guy just sends a tweet, that's it. Takes 2 seconds. Problem solved.

 

[bloomz]

Don't forget who we are really competing with - 4 Gorillas.

And a few 400 pound chimps. They're gonna do this - shouldn't we?

(not to mention every other gifting option out there)

DCon expenses

There's a lot of talk here about what's good for the industry. This stuff has been bad for most of us us for a long, long time and yet the DCON is the holy grail and last, vital mandate needed by every dOG.

Not saying consumers don't want it (our customers love it)

Case in point - but they didn't love it before you provided it.

Holy grail? Not quite, just one more thing we have to do to compete. It won't be the last either.

And it's not just needed by dogs - given that the gorillas are gonna do it - it's now needed by every florist whether they know it or like it or not.

I like RC, find that the vast majority of our order placers (locally, online and thru WS) do not require a dcon....or want one. They entrust with their order. they know that we are professionals, and if there is a problem, we will contact them with the issue.

cheryl

Cheryl - first RC is a 1 in 10,000 florist who I know *fairly* well, and I bet money he could care less if he never gets another incoming order. But I bet also his customers love decons and I'm sure he uses that as a hook to get their email addresses so he can market to them, jsut like we do.

But, before we could provide them no one asked either - they didn't know what they are missing.

Get this - what's obvious in all this, tho I don't think has been mentioned up to this point - is Teleflora will be providing them to all their customers (why hasn't anyone mentioned that?) Bloomnet already does, FTD will be following suit.

TF saw how few people left FTD from the DRP program (my RVP told me "a handful") and knows if you don't like it - fine - they're a gorilla and remember where a gorilla sleeps?

They just upped the service ante again - we either match it or lose more consumers to them - it's the way it is.

But now we have been able to provide them for 7 years, people love them - if you haven't done it please trust me that it makes for a much memorable shopping experience for your customers - (hence the reason we took it to the next level and have our drivers now call all the senders as they return from each delivery run. That takes 5 minutes at best.)

I wouldn't lie to you on that - your customers will love it, whether they ak for it or expect it - they will love it. (I'm not talking about calling them, just providing them via email is enough)

Are the REAL customers REALLY asking for this? Or is it really the OGs that want to cover their backs?

They're gonna get it from the Gorilla order gatherers - do you not want to match the quality of their service? It's as important as our future.

I see a lot of talk on here about the cost of the DCon, but I have yet to see an actual dollar figure assigned. So please enlighten me, tell me in dollars and cents what it will cost to do a delivery confirmation. On a per unit basis.

Let me guess, its because you only receive 73% of the order value so you have already given a 27% discount. So if your margin is so tight on these orders that you can not finish the sale by completing the paper work, stop taking the orders.

That seems to be the answer.

Like I've asked for from the FTD bigwigs - no decon - order is not complete - looks like it is gonna go that way whether we like it or not. I just happen to because I already know the value to the customer.

Would you be satisified if we, as filling members, notified you, the sending member, that the order HAS BEEN SHIPPED? (In other words, it is out for delivery today??

Cheryl

You also get a confirmation of delivery (from drop ship) and also if you need to you can look up the signature online - I did one today on a web gift order that wasn't received.

Sorry, this sounds to me like the OGs are more worried about competing with "other" gifting vendors than REAL florists are.

Sorry, but any florist in their right mind (who is not blinded by anti wire passion) should be worried about competing - see above about the gorillas.

Are you not? Are you carrying a loan on the sale of your shop? Does its survival matter to you?

Our POS is set up to automatically email senders when the deliveries are completed. TF will not allow an interface with the software (and our software isn't the only one), so any DCONs would require manual entry.

This one I will make light of - so what? Many shops are using stand alone Doves too, without POS systems.

In a huge percentage of cases - the cost is so negotiable to almost be laughable it is being used as an argument against this - I mean someone earlier talked about the waste of paper!

I think it was Rhonda called it something like "sitting at the computer all day". I'm sure you don't type that slow Rhonda.

You have no idea how many we get confirmed - even at busy holidays - even ON Valentine's Day - well over 80% of orders.

What's more laughable is people are arguing against providing better service! (not you Cathy - you're already providing it and you don't have to worry about incoming that much anyway)

Doug:

Round Peg -- Square Hole.......Just because Mikey is jumping off a bridge, I should follow and jump off the bridge?

I place orders online for stuff all the time.
Just ordered my Dad's fathers day gift...from a company that I have used before for some things. It is a large & reputable company.

I received an order confirmation, and I will receive a SHIPPING CONFIRMATION. I will not receive a DELIVERY CONFIRMATION.

Remove this group from the equation, and I, like RC, have very, very few requests for Dcons over the course of a year. In fact, in the last 5 months, we have had exactly 2 requests for Dcons -- one of them yesterday -- & that was an order that was messed up with incorrect information given to us from the beginning. We had no problem providing a Dcon on either of these 2 requests.

Just because technology can do it, does that mean that it needs to be done??

My point is that we are professional florists. We operate in an above board, straight-forward honest and reliable manner. We do not rip people off. We do no charge outrageous fees. AND WE GENERALLY DELIVER WHAT WE PROMISED, ON THE DAY THAT WE PROMISED.
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU as quickly as possible. And that, my friend, is called CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Call me old fashioned. But sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves whether or not this will really enhance our position as flower merchants....or will it just create another added expense.


Cheryl

I buy online stuff all the time too and I'm pretty sure I get them all - order conf, shipping conf, delivery conf.

Again - if you haven't done it you haven't seen how much customers love it. (and on a non-snarky side note - compare this a bit to shops without 24 hour answering - they have no idea how many customers they have lost to those that do)

When we get ANS messages without an email, for a while I deleted them - even asked Abner once if it wouldn't behoove us to not ask for Decons on orders without emails - (it wouldn't). But Twila, in her brilliance, started calling them - now they never asked for it - they never provided an email, they never expected it.

Since I started doing this - I can't begin to count the number of times I've been told "Wow - thank you" Or even "She already called me but thank you for the great service."

Now the only legitimate concerns (InMyNotSoHumbleOpinion) I've heard are from the 2 pool delivery florists - agreed it is a task and a decision to figure out how to do it or whether to accept these orders any more, and I don't make light of that - but I know Cheryl is one of the smartest florists up in here. She will figure it out.

The rest of you, cold as this may sound - get with the program or get left behind - consumers don't want any excuses for not providing them with every dotted "i" and crossed "t" we can think of to make their shopping experience better.

If your technology doesn't provide it - better contact them or give up on incoming, or get different technology - cuz if it's mandatory - it's mandatory if you want incoming (and I'm sure 90% of florists want them.) This now makes it not something you want but something you need.

If you don't have technology how are you getting the orders anyway? Fax? Telephone? (we place very few orders via telephone any more - and one of the very reasons I hate doing this is lack of decons - they're just too good of service to turn away from)

OK I think I've blown enough time on this topic for the day now - thank goodness it was my day off.

Rock on Teleflora and congrats on forcing us into the new millenium. "You will be more professional - whether you like it or not".

Carry on and remember - if we hit 20 pages everybody gets pizza.:rofl:

 

[TOTO]

Looks like a PROFIT CENTER to MEE!

Just checked the USPS rate for next day shipping of a 3 pound package from New York to California.

Their delivery rate is $27.95 and I can track my own package too!

Of course, I have to bring them the package.

So, the way EYE SEIZE IT is this EXTRA $ERVICE FEATURE is a saleable commodity since it goes above and beyond the norm.

Only question I'm left with is: How much should we charge for this new UPSELL FEATURE and how much should any WS or OG be prepared to PAY US to provide our EXTRA $ERVICE to them for THEIR CUSTOMERS and in order to make them look good?

Could it be that, THEY ALL EXPECT IT FORE FREE?

Oh that's right, it's just another VALUE ADDED $ERVICE their members get to partake in as part of their continued BENEFITS to belong.

Didn't someone post a new SAVE A TREE GREEN FEE where they CHARGE YOU for the usual PAPER STATEMENTS?

Funny part winds up to be in the fact that, someone still has to print it out and use the paper anyway, and so, so much for the SAVE A TREE hype and hyperbole. It's JUST ANOTHER ADD ON FEE for something we always GOT FOR FREE!

And we all know that, TREES are a renewable resource and when one is cut down, 10 more are planted because a lot of folks depend upon lumbering to feed their families now, and in their futures too.

 

[Joe Mioux]

You can refer to the sending shop as a customer or a broker, whatever suits you best and makes you feel better as the order fulfiller. However keep in mind it is the sending shop that spent the marketing funds to generate the original sale, it is the sending shop (via the WS) that's pays you as the fulfilling shop, and finally it is the sending shop that the original customer has placed their trust in. So I believe this entitles me as the sending shop to some say in how the order is filled.

As to giving the receiving shop the customer's contact information. How about this, maybe I can email you their name, address and phone number. You can then as a third party (that's right, third party as you were not involved in the original transaction) contact them and proceed to ask for their credit card information so that you can bill them. Hell, maybe you can even email them offers at holidays. Great concept, unfortunately in today's world we have a little issue you are apparently not aware of , lets call it privacy concerns for lack of a better term. In the world I live in protection of personal information is a serious matter and not something a responsible business treats lightly.

As well, privacy issues aside for a moment all retail businesses are bending over backwards to impress their customers with the level of service they provide and to make every transaction easy and stress free. So now you suggest that when I have a customer phone me to place an order to your city I take their information and then begin the process of explaining how a "third party" (there's that term again) will contact them by email or phone (if this is even convenient for them) and take their order and request personal credit card information. Now heaven forbid that somehow or other there is a credit card issue (fraud) that occurs with this "third party" do I take responsibility for this.

You missed my point. If you want the consumer to have the best possible service then it is NOT with OG's and WS's. The best use of the consumer dollar is to have the customer speak directly to the filling shop.

Also remember, the OG is the filling florist's competition and the money you spend capturing the Outgoing wire order business means little to me.

I suspect that the drive behind creating "custom WS or OG arrangements " is not by any stretch of the imagination an attempt to undermine the fulfiller. After what is the point of taking an order no one can fill, would be kind of self defeating don't you think. It is probably more in line with why automobile manufacturers all offer different designs and change them frequently. Each is trying to offer a design that will entice the consumer to purchase their brand over another. As for it being a recent problem that one is easy to figure out, the internet! Lets face it in the old days the standard purchase of flowers for out of town delivery was "something nice for about $30.00". That simply will not fly in today's age, the consumer expects to see what they are purchasing. Don't believe that statement, try and launch a floral website with no pictures just price points and see how far you get.

Last but not least, the WS's & OG's have never prevented the traditional florist from servicing their customers outgoing wire order needs. The customer always makes the choice as to who they place the order with or maybe you are suggesting the big guys have some kind of consumer mind control device that I am unaware of. If so I got to get me one of those!

Bold type: Have you seen the choices of vases that are shown on OG/WS websites. There is no way a shop can inventory all of them.

We do inventory certain containers that seem to be popular with the consumer, however, we can't inventory all of them. Also, we can't inventory every single flower listed on all the OG"s/WS's websites either.

Which leads me to my point.

Not only are WS/OG's demanding flower shops to fill their orders at 73 pct (actually it is more like 60-63 pct after WS member fees), supply the exact item listed on their website, competing against me for outgoing wire service (read commission revenue), but now are requiring the filling shop to spend more money - in terms of labor - to track and confirm delivey of their orders.

Fine. It will cost the sender money. It is going to cost $5 per order to send a dcon. Now do you want to give me an extra $5 per order out of your WS transfer fee? I suspect you do not.

Will the WS reduce my monthly member fees by $5 per every order that has a Dcon attached to it? I suspect they won't either.

So, who is paying for this added service for your customer? The filling florist? Sorry, I won't pay for your added service to your customer. If it creates a cost it has to be accounted for.

How much are you - the proponents of WS DCON - willing to pay me?

joe

 

[bloomz]

Ummmm, $1

unless you're the only game in town...then - whatever it costs

$1 is about $60 an hour as each one shouldn't take more than 1 minute.

 

[Connie]

Our FAS system automatically sends an email confirmation as soon as the driver (or whoever) enters the delivery time into the system. Of course, you have to get or confirm (from existing customer) the email address from the customer when the order is taken.

Our customers love it! Often they will even ask, "You'll let me know when the flowers have been delivered, won't you?"

Another important aspect of those dcons is that they allow me to have the shop's name in front of the customer again, and I can market to the customer again.

Of course, this thread is more about WS confirmations than about the value of delivery confirmations per se. Or is it?

Delivery confirms for WS take seconds.

 

[lori042499]

And this folks is why our industry is in trouble....

Everyone wants to get all the orders and get paid for them and noone wants to do what the customers want....how do you all feel when a corporate client wants a fax copy of their invoice sent out so they can get reimbursed. This is one of the biggest pitas for me, but I do it...

DCONS are simple, even at holiday times, It is just me and one other temp at MD, I have 2 drivers and over 300 deliveries in 3 days, all my dcons get done simply and without any extra paper....yeah I amy pay someone, but everyone jknows that their mom got their flowers...as a result the only deliveries I have any problems with are the ones I send out to the masses...that I don't get a dcon from...I got only one non-delivery complaint this MD, from a bloomnet florist who had 25 orders supposedly print on Monday, that she missed on Friday and Saturday, because she wasn't paying attention...I didn't get a DCON and assumed she was one of those florists that didn't know how to use her technology or better yet didn't have any technology and started to worry about the order....called the shop the phone was off the hook...didn't find out until Monday that she effed up, but not paying attention to the fact that she wasn't getting anything from her bloomnet program...called on Monday late afternoon and got her lame excuse about how the orders didn't print and that she was scrambling to get all these 20 orders out now....she was overwhelmed by the holiday, over whelmed by the technology, over whelmed without staff so my customer paid for her bad planning..and I paid for her bad planning, is this fair...

As much as I don't like what the internet has done for our industry in making it more difficult, the new technology that is coming down the pike is making us more aware of the screw ups that are out there...I still come across people who don't know how to use their dove and shut it off if they close for the weekend, I think these people should be kicked out of TF for that...if you have the technology learn to use it or drop out if you cannot, it is not fair to the rest of us sending orders and not knowing if they will be handled professionally...