What did the Wire Services do to You this Valentine's Day?

[Gilliland]

What did the Wire Services do to Your business this Valentine's Day?

 

[specialoccasion]

I didn't vote because none of the options listed really applied. I did allow my wire service to remain on but was very vigilante in watching the money and details of the orders. Sent ask's for all undervalued orders and rejected time specific orders, orders with incomplete information or addresses, missing telephone numbers and so on completely. What I did notice is that after awhile there were less undervalued and problematic orders coming through. We stayed away from codified's this year and that really seem to help. Overall, I was pretty satisfied that the orders we did fill we made our money and avoided unnecessary headaches unlike last year where we lost money big time filing any and everything.

 

[bluebonnet]

Overall, I was pretty satisfied that the orders we did fill we made our money and avoided unnecessary headaches unlike last year where we lost money big time filing any and everything.

Congratulations!!!

I think a lot of florist make that same mistake when first getting into a wire service.
I'm glad you found out and learned quickly how to make the WS work for you and not the other way around. I love being at a level to pick and choose orders for my benefit and not theirs, some (florist)do not have that opportunity so should not be in a WS at all unless they know how to work it!

I do hope you market those orders you filled continually throughout the year to get even more benefits!
Cyndi

 

[Buzz]

I didn't vote because I dropped FTD, Teleflora, & FloralSource before the holiday. The only wire service I have is FSN becasue they give you a real 20/80 split with low fees, and they send very few incomings. I only made a few hundred bucks on them (due to my outgoings) and only filled 3 or 4 discounted orders! I had lots of shops call and want to wire to me. I informed them I didn't belong to any of the big 3 but would be willing to take a credit card order or receive a relay order from FSN. My cash register sales almost doubled from last year! Some of this was because I rang up some of the sales my self instead of waiting another month to be paid (at a discounted rate) by a wire service. Also I'm sure the publicity that I had from our local Aurora newspaper and 7News in Denver helped out. If I would have voted for last year I would have picked the last option. "lost me lots of $$$" In January I did a very detailed analysis on my Teleflora service taking into consideration every single fee and expense they charge and what they actualy paid me, I filled over $7k in orders but they paid me less than $3k. I was getting paid the equivalent of approximately $10 per order on average. but I my average order recieved was almost $50. If I only mark up my flowers 3X's, I lose money on the average wire-in. It was a no brainer. I filled about same # of orders as last year but almost double my cash register sales.

 

[Rhonda]

1 merc order in from a Real Florist - refused two OG who tried to get it called in by headquarters - 2 phone orders from Real Florists...other than that absolutely Zip/Zero on WS in for the holiday.

 

[PhillyPhlorist]

I voted "made me good $ on good orders"...
...because of the orders I chose to fill! I either sent price changes, or FOR orders I did not want to fill nor could make $ on. REJ many OG orders.
Also, we sent price changes on many orders for correct delivery charge amounts. Mostly around the $5-bucks range, but 5 bucks is 5 bucks!

V-day is not a big Wire holiday for us...we sent WAY more than we received.

- H

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

1 merc order in from a Real Florist - refused two OG who tried to get it called in by headquarters - 2 phone orders from Real Florists...other than that absolutely Zip/Zero on WS in for the holiday.

Almost a complete ditto here - couple of phone ins ("and what florist are you calling from" has become the first thing I ask when someone says "I have a TF for you"), couple of TF HQ phone ins that we said we do not fill.

tracy

 

[BOSS]

Need a "no affect/effect" answer on the post...

For me, it was not an issue!

 

[Luc]

but 5 bucks is 5 bucks!

DId you buy an extra pizzza with that 5 bucks!!!!!!!

 

[Eric S]

I didn't vote because none of the options listed really applied. I did allow my wire service to remain on but was very vigilante in watching the money and details of the orders. Sent ask's for all undervalued orders and rejected time specific orders, orders with incomplete information or addresses, missing telephone numbers and so on completely. What I did notice is that after awhile there were less undervalued and problematic orders coming through. We stayed away from codified's this year and that really seem to help. Overall, I was pretty satisfied that the orders we did fill we made our money and avoided unnecessary headaches unlike last year where we lost money big time filing any and everything.

Same Here. Nothing but good old hard working business done the right way with money in the bank. I really feel for everyone and hope the decisions you make from here on out benefit.

The wire service has given me only one thing (POS) and it is not keeping up with my growth anymore.

 

[bloomz]

Couldn't vote - they made me good money with an inordinate tho not overwhelming amount of problems, but then again - when it comes to emotional messages - 1 problem is too many.

 

[Audra]

The FTD.com order fiasco had several people calling us to sort out the orders - we resolved their issues and we now have customers who will deal with us directly. So none of the options really suit us. We had a profitable holiday, yes, we had issues but so far it's mostly positives for us.

 

[theRKF]

I voted for #2, but it did not really apply. Incoming was not an issue, but we had major problems with the outgoing. I had to work the checkout box (MAS tech) from home for a few hours, since every order was forwarded 3x by the system before being rejected by someone 100 miles away from the recipient.

FTD cost us money and time with the failure of their primary service. If they cannot get orders from point A to point B reliably, all other services are pointless.

Ryan

 

[TOTO]

YUP! No intrusion on our Routine!

Need a "no affect/effect" answer on the post...For me, it was not an issue!

Like BOSS said, no effect on our routine and only because WEE DON'T LET EM!

Had a few of their STUPID LITTLE MUGS with a BIG HEART BALLOON at $44.95 try to get in on our VD DAY delivery routine, but we forwarded them to one of their also served by shops down in DA BRONX who wants to deliver to HARTSDALE.

After all, if they want to encroach on our territory on a GOOD DAY, they must want to take the good with the bad, ey?

Bottom line now for all of the OGs and WSs winds up to be that, they are all liabilities on our spread sheets and have long since outlived their ability to make our cash registers ring for those 100% customer sales.

It's SO SAD that, in this day and age, all of them have become BOTTOM FEEDERS as they fight amongst themselves to be THE LOWEST MAN ON THE TOTEM POLES.

Due to their constant SRP wars, they've managed to errode price points back to 20 years ago while having increased their dues and fees all along the way.

Valentine's Day and $ERVICE is for our 100% SALE CUSTOMERS ONLY and it will be a cold day in hell before I allow any of them to get in between MEE and the needs of our customers.

Having said that, this VD DAY was, in fact, a COLD DAY IN HELL, but that's a whole other story.

 

[bloomz]

I voted for #2, but it did not really apply. Incoming was not an issue, but we had major problems with the outgoing. I had to work the checkout box (MAS tech) from home for a few hours, since every order was forwarded 3x by the system before being rejected by someone 100 miles away from the recipient.

FTD cost us money and time with the failure of their primary service. If they cannot get orders from point A to point B reliably, all other services are pointless.

Ryan

So that's the reason I got so many "out of delivery range" rejects!

Your second paragraph kinda cuts right to the bottom line.

 

[Connie]

Valentine's Day and $ERVICE is for our 100% SALE CUSTOMERS ONLY and it will be a cold day in hell before I allow any of them to get in between MEE and the needs of our customers.

Yes to what TOTO said!

We wired out, via IFA, a very few orders, and received no wire-ins. Very profitable holiday. No waiting for a WS check either.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

I voted for #2, but it did not really apply. Incoming was not an issue, but we had major problems with the outgoing. I had to work the checkout box (MAS tech) from home for a few hours, since every order was forwarded 3x by the system before being rejected by someone 100 miles away from the recipient.

FTD cost us money and time with the failure of their primary service. If they cannot get orders from point A to point B reliably, all other services are pointless.

Ryan

no appropriate selection on the poll for us either!!
This was a nightmare, and the stupidest problem IS, once the system has "captured" your order, and THEN goes down, you have no way out!!
The "dis-organization" called FTD is in denial mode, and refusing to even acknowledge that there was even a "problem"......

 

[Pam]

Couldn't vote because ....

we did not get any incoming wired orders this Valentine's Day, even tho still Teleflora. All orders that came in were direct with credit cards. Like those 100%er's.