WS internal social network?

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NicoleAtTF

NicoleAtTF

New Member
Mar 3, 2009
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Los Angeles
www.teleflora.com
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CA
I'd love to ask for feedback on an idea I'm kicking around for Teleflora. We're brainstorming adding more social capabilities in to the MyTeleflora website and I wonder, if we did that, what types of features would members want and find useful? It would be a place for both TF corporate and member florists to connect in a less stilted way and really hope it could become a fun and useful community.

Initial brain-dump of tools might be:
Forums
A wiki for best practices? Or to serve as an FAQ?
Picture/video sharing
Individual and/or shop profile pages
Shared bookmarking tool (like Del.icio.us or Digg so people can share articles/other websites/etc.)
Anything else you'd love?

All ideas/feedback would be so appreciated! Thank you all. :yourock:
 
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What exactly do you want to get out of something like that?

What purpose would it serve?

Would it be sensored by TF if people wanted to rant about the problems within your company and the unfair practices that TF currently denies exists? If you have people networking in public, TF would have to own up to the problems that from you flowers and the likes create..How will that work?

I would believe like anything else TF does they will get from it what they need to work against us, but make it seem like this is something we want and anything that hurts them they will remove like it doesn't exist, so why bother?

You asked, I responded, ball is in your court!!!!

I would love some candid answers to these questions, thanks
 
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Welcome to FC from South Florida!
with that being said, I am not sure this arena will benefit you unless you have armor undewear. TF is not real popular...and it is not the only WS..due to some of the business tactics used
ie: Large OG's as members, advertising on the super bowl but failing to promote the very real florist whos dollars are used for that promotion, allowing some of the OG'S TO COME BACK 6-9 MONTHS LATER ASKING FOR DELIVERY CONFIRMATIONS FULLY AWARE THAT MOST FLORIST, ESPECIALLY SMALLER ONES CANNOT PRODUCE THAT..and then allowing a price change to be awarded to the sending OG...I could go on and on and so could every one here...but welcome aboard...
Sher
 
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I think you asked a good valid question and it deserves consideration.

If you could get TF to start a forum like FC, I think you would be very successful with it. The members would benefit as well as the HQ people.

Retail flower shops need services. TF provides more of those services than the others, however, allowing OG's to capture my local sales and then have the OG send the order to me is wrong.

I don't know how you all end that....but I do know how you can gain members. Cutting your membership fees, eliminate the BS fees (Quality Assurance, Dove order fees, etc) will gain business.

TF needs to stop looking at itself as a WS organization and more like a national floral supplier of services.

sorry, i know that wasn't an answer to question.

start a forum, sit back listen and hear what will be said.

joe
 
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I am not sure some of you know, but Nicole is an intern at Teleflora in the technology department (or at least that is what I remember from her intro thread). Anyway, she came here sincerely asking for our input on this idea, not to hear every grievence we all (or you all) have with Teleflora.

She is the only wire service member (to my memory) that has EVER asked for our input, we owe her that courtesy. Perhaps she can be the one who takes our valuable input back to the bigwigs and shows them what can come from listening to the educated masses?!?! JMHO
 
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Nicole,

I think a Forum would be a great idea, especially if you could stifle all opinions that were deemed inappropriate or in conflict with the social well being of the master cause.

An emperor of a prosperous city who cares more about clothes than military pursuits or entertainment hires two swindlers who promise him the finest suit of clothes from the most beautiful cloth. This cloth, they tell him, is invisible to anyone who was either stupid or unfit for his position. The Emperor cannot see the (non-existent) cloth, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing stupid; his ministers do the same. When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they dress him in mime. The Emperor then goes on a procession through the capital showing off his new "clothes". During the course of the procession, a small child cries out, "But he has nothing on!" The crowd realizes the child is telling the truth. The Emperor, however, holds his head high and continues the procession.​
 
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Nicole:

I think the forum described above could work, IF, as Joe and others have said, TF leaves it alone (No censorship of posts), and actually learns from the likes of its member voice.

We have learned today, from another thread, that TF is refusing to support a small (approx $300) ad for the Colorado florists that it has previously supported.........Bad decision. TF has just alienated another group of florists, people who do care about our industry, and are trying to educate and make things happen.

In the Technology area, There are many, many issues that need to be resolved, including holding the florists captive thru the TF credit card processing program; discontinuing fee for service in support for technology that has been purchased thru TF, and not allowing reasonable access to these same POS systems by legitimate & fully qualified web hosting companies. I have heard all the BS before. It is all smoke and mirrors.

Before you can ask for input from our members, we need the answer from you, at TF, as to how such a forum would be set up, how it would operate, and whether or not legitimate florist related problems raised thru such a forum would/could be addressed by TF.

Most of the possiblities you have raised in your post, I personally would not be interested in. Why? I don't want to post my pictures that could be used or stolen by a basement betty or bob that TF just signed up last week. Same way with our ideas, how tos and techniques. Most of us have paid a lot of $$ for our training and education. I don't want to share everything to someone for free.

There will be many complaints, gripes, bashings of fees, membership dues, Order Gathers, Deceptive Order Gatherers, High Priced products (containers as well as technology).

You will have opened up a very large can of worms. Is TF really ready to take the heat ....... or will it just put out the flames?

thanks for asking,

Cheryl
 
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Besides the censorship comment, not responding/answering questions/comments directed at the organization....is just as bad. That is the policy I was told about SAF's forum, which is lack luster at best.

I personally feel that the progressive florists that see the value in discussing matter on a forum have already found FlowerChat....and Teleflora's forum would be just like SAF's.
 
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Goldie:
Not trying to gang up on her...just trying to offer her a legimate starting point.

She is going to try and start a forum. she wants to know what WE want to discuss, and what is important to us.

I (we) want to know: First, what are the ground rules? How will it operate? Will your bosses really read & learn and respond and listen?

I think that she is getting some legitimate feed back here.

Cheryl
 
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FTD tried a forum. It was harsh to say the least.....from that sprang this forum (look at my join date.......I'm old ~ but progressive! )
TF must be open for criticism before even thinking about having a member forum because believe me......flaming will be full ...have an entire fire company on the scene.
 
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I know I was the first responder and did not mean to sound harsh, but I also think that I raised some of the most valid questions...I do believe that if TF really wants to open a forum, they will have to be ready for a whole lot worse than what I asked...I also was dead serious in wanting to know Nicole's honest opinions on what they want to accomplish with a firum and what she thinks they will get out of it...

I remember Steve Capano(TF rep at the time, now technology sales and wonderful human being) inviting me to join Flower Power (another caht board)and at the first questioning of TF practices the heat got too much and poof it kind of died...not sure if that was why, but seemed like a big coincidence, I know I didn't bother to go back because if I am going to be censored for wondering about that hard stuff and asked not to post about those types of things, well it affects my business and I will speak about the elephant in the room.

I stick around here because we toss around the hard stuff and gain insight from people on every front. We debate and we learn from other peoples experience...We may not all agree, but when I see people like inferno and Rhonda go wire service free and still make it it makes me think hey maybe someday that can be me, maybe I will get the courage to make the break someday, maybe I won't, but without hearing their stories and debating these things with people who have done it and been there, I have no hope of changing my ways...
 
Nicole is just an employee trying to do her job. She is not here to answer the kind of questions that are raised.

I just didn't want to lose a precious new member from a WS company. There are at least several here, but no one posts. Nicole did.

Hope she will come back and answer some of the questions.

Finally, sometimes in a forum like this, we forget the fact that there is a real human reading our posts. I think there should be a minimal level of restraint when we just "met" a new person, even if she comes from a company you may not like. But again, that's just my opinion. I'm not going to be judgmental here.
 
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Why don't the folks from TF just come here?

Why does TF not mention FlowerChat in their publications?

The work's already done... no need to reinvent the wheel...
 
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