|
|
 |
CFBF West Inspires New Ideas
Conference brings florists together |
|
Written by Amanda Ryder
|
When Canadian Florist brought our one-day business-building forum to Edmonton in August, florists came together to
exchange ideas, share opinions on industry issues and connect with their local suppliers.
The western edition of the Canadian Florist Business Forum took place at the Sutton Place Hotel on Aug. 17, marking the second CFBF show this year. We held our first forum in Toronto this past January and the positive reception paved the way for the western event. Sponsored by Bernard’s Wholesale, FTD, Oasis and Teleflora, CFBF West consisted of four hour-long seminars, a networking breakfast and lunch, and wholesale and supplier exhibits.
 |
|
CFBF West took place at Edmonton’s Sutton Place Hotel on Aug. 17. The day featured four industry experts who shared great business-building tips and advice with attendees.
|
|
Managing your customer
The day’s first session, Managing Your Number 1 Asset – Your Customers, was presented by Lenny Faustino, the Canadian Technology Consultant for FTD. In this seminar, Faustino focused on ways florists can better serve their customers using technology and expanded customer service. He emphasized that we are now living in an economy of expectation where people have come to rely on customized service that’s all about meeting their specific needs. “Customers don’t expect basic standards anymore – they really do want the best of the best,” he says. He encouraged florists to ask themselves: “Am I meeting these standards? How do I fit in, not just in the floral business, but period, in the retail business?” He said examining other businesses outside the industry can help give florists insight into these expectations.
Faustino said another key to delivering great service is to make it easy for customers to buy from you. “They want to communicate with you by e-mail or by phone. It’s a BlackBerry and iPhone world and they want their answer when they want their answer.” Clients expect that after ordering once, you’ll keep their information on file and they won’t have to give it again next time they call. Faustino said keeping a clean database will not only make your shop more efficient but will also make things simple for the shopper.
Faustino also stressed the importance of attracting repeat customers. “If a customer costs me $10 to get in the first place and I only profit $5 on that customer then I’m $5 in the hole. I have to get that customer to order from me once more to take me to that $10 to at least break even. Once they buy more, that’s great, the customer is actually earning me money and then they’ve got a lifetime.” The key to getting them to come back is to stay in front of the customer through your marketing efforts and to make sure they know who you are and what you can offer them. “If you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind,” said Faustino.
Make more money now
Heather de Kok, aaf, aifd, pfci, the owner of a Grower Direct Fresh Cut
Flowers location in Edmonton, was CFBF West’s second speaker and talked
about Ways You Can Make More Now. At her store, one of the methods she
swears by – and something the Grower Direct franchise has become known
for – is using a roadside clown to round up shoppers. “I’m not
exaggerating, the clown works,” de Kok told the audience. “We had a
clown out yesterday on the street and she was out there for three hours.
Within three hours, we had seven people come in. Prior to that, the day
before she was out three hours again during rush hour and we had four.”
Even de Kok takes a turn as the clown from time to time, proving she
and her staff work as a collaborative team. She says not only does the
clown idea grab the eye of passing drivers but it also shows customers
that you’re a business with a sense of humour.
 |
|
Heather de Kok, aaf, aifd, pfci, talked about ways florists can make more money right now using examples from her flower shop, Grower Direct in Edmonton.
|
|
The florist also applies this principle to her signage. De Kok often uses a changeable readerboard in front of the shop and customers have come to expect clever puns and sayings along with the daily special. “If you’re a place that likes to have fun, you know they’re going to come back to your shop,” she said.
De Kok shared with the audience another key to her store’s success: “the five-minute check, the most important thing I do in my business,” she said. She and staff have made a vow to check and clean one area of the shop for five minutes, every hour. “I’m not saying go through your shop with a fine-tooth comb every hour but take five minutes for one hour a day, pick an area and check it and clean it... It takes five minutes but guess what? You’ll have a spotless shop 100 per cent of the time.” She said they’ll spend the first hour looking at the cooler, the second the bathroom and go through the entire store as the day progresses. “If you do that every day, it becomes easier and easier and your shop will always be spectacular.”
Social networking with flowers
Following the networking lunch, Teleflora territory sales manager Randi Upper shared her advice on Selling Flowers in a Social World. She kicked the presentation off by advocating the importance of having a web presence. Upper said a florist’s website should be uncluttered and it should also be a true representation of your shop. She recommended the landing page be your About Us page where people can see it’s a local business and they can look at pictures from around the shop. To build trust with clients, florists should post reviews from customers because many shoppers are hesitant to purchase without seeing these first. Above all, Upper said, don’t neglect your site. “Keep it up to date and fresh. There’s nothing worse than it’s summer and you still have Valentine’s Day flowers up on your website. Customers aren’t going to trust that your flowers are up to date and fresh if your website isn’t.”
Next, Upper tackled the topic of social media. When used properly, sites
like Facebook and Twitter can be a great way to generate business.
These are places that many people check daily. “It’s a way for you to go
to customers instead of them having to go to you,” said Upper. A
Facebook page or Twitter account will also appear in a Google search so
it will make it easier for customers to find you. Best of all – there’s
no cost. “It’s free, free, free,” she said. “You can designate someone
in your shop to do it if you don’t have time or you don’t want to put in
the effort. Just pick someone you trust.”
 |
|
Attendees had the opportunity to network and exchange ideas with fellow florists and suppliers during the lunch break.
|
|
Upper said the key to using these sites is not to hammer people with marketing messages, but to provide them with information in a creative way. Post related articles, pictures of your designs and flower information to your Facebook page or send out a Tweet about these things. She cited one shop she knew that posted weekly how-to videos to their page with care and handling tips and floral design ideas.
Upper advised florists to decide their social networking goal before they jump in and measure the results after a few months. “Before you set out on a social media marketing campaign, figure out what you are hoping to gain from it. Do you want to increase your weddings from last year? Do you want to be known as the tropical expert in your community?” she said. “Once you’ve defined what your success metric is, see if that’s improved. See if people are coming to you because of your Facebook page for weddings because they saw all the beautiful weddings you did over the last few weeks.”
Strategies to succeed
The final presentation of the day came from Canadian Florist writer and floral industry consultant Bernice Klassen who talked about her Seven Strategies for Business Success. Her presentation focused on giving florists the tools to make it easy to do business financial planning on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. She brought with her several spreadsheets to show the audience examples of ways they can document their sales projections and plan for promotions (you can request these documents by e-mailing
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
). She told florists that although it might be scary or intimidating to sit down and calculate their actual sales figures, knowing where your business stands is very important. It’s harder to plan for the future if you’re working from rough or estimated numbers.
 |
|
The trade show floor featured local
suppliers and sponsors who were on hand to show attendees their latest
products, answer questions and pass on industry advice.
|
|
Klassen also spoke of the importance of giving your staff the tools they need to be successful. She praised de Kok’s staff incentive program and encouraged the audience to share their financial information with their staff. Doing so makes your employees feel as if they are part of the business and also provides them with a vested interest to sell and succeed. She said that no shop should have an employee who serves only as an order taker. “We need to have salespeople – not order takers. Every single one of your employees needs to know how to sell.”
Our final speaker ended the day by echoing a sentiment that many of our other speakers had touched on during their presentations. Klassen said that in order to achieve business success, the industry needs to reach out to customers. Retailers cannot stay stagnant in today’s changing retail environment: they need to take a look at new technologies, offer greater service and make buying flowers as easy and as enjoyable as possible.
CFBF West 2011 was a day packed full of great advice and new connections and the business forum was well received by both attendees and exhibitors. Following the event, several florists (and a speaker!) took to Twitter to share their feedback:
annepatsflowers: @CanadianFlorist thanks for putting on a great event! Kudos for investing in helping florists succeed! It was a fun and informative time.
Kels84: Passionate about my job again after a great conference! Love it! Thanks@CanadianFlorist
heatherdekok: @CanadianFlorist great day you guys!! Congrats. I got some great tips. Hope to see you again next year! I’ll be there!!!
Canadian Florist would like to thank our sponsors, Bernard’s Wholesale, FTD, Oasis and Teleflora for their help and support in putting on this event. We also appreciate the speakers and attendees who took the time to come out and make the day a fantastic learning opportunity for everyone involved.
|
|
|
