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Growers Promote Locally Grown Through Cross Country Dinners By Mary Westbrook
Beginning with a kickoff dinner at Westland Orchids in Carpinteria, California, on March 5 and ending Oct. 16 with an event at The Flower House in Detroit, Michigan, the 2015 American Grown “Field to Vase” Dinner Tour is “emphasizing what’s at the center of the table — and educating people on what’s fresh, local and sustainable” through locally sourced flowers and foliage in different parts of the country, said Kasey Cronquist, PFCI, CEO and ambassador of the California Cut Flower Commission, a member of the coalition that founded the American Grown movement. “It’s an ambitious project and one that hasn’t really been done when it comes to flowers,” Cronquist said. “We’re giving people a chance to come together and learn more about flowers” in a series of beautiful settings. While many Americans are increasingly well versed on where their produce, veggies and beverages originate, Cronquist said a surprising number are still in the dark on where flowers are grown. Based on the top 15 states, the wholesale value of domestically grown cut flowers was $342.2 million in 2012, according to a report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service in 2013. California, the top producer of cut flowers, reported sales of $261.3 million, which accounted for 76 percent of all sales among the 15 states. The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service estimates that cut flower imports in 2012 were valued at $615.7 million. Colombia was the largest supplier of cut flowers, providing flowers valued at $480.1 million. Ecuador was another main supplier of cut flowers, followed by Mexico and Thailand. (Find out more about floral industry sourcing and production.)
“Ideally, we’d like to see about one-third floral designers, one-third other industry members and one-third consumers at each event,” which includes a short talk on American Grown flowers and a dinner prepared by a local chef, said Cronquist. Each of the 10 dinners will take place on a local farm, with the exception of the Aug. 20 dinner in Brooklyn, which is scheduled for The Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Garden. (Some cities are still coordinating final details; ticket prices vary by location.) The support of local partners — flower growers, floral designers and chefs — has so far kept dinners from having a “traveling road show” feel, Cronquist said. “This is about us bringing a topic of discussion to a very interested audience,” he explained. “We talk about local food, local flowers and what it does for the economy when you source flowers locally.” The “capstone” of the evening’s short presentation involves the floral designer behind the night’s centerpieces and floral décor, who shares his or her inspiration with attendees. (Floral designers are being selected by the American Grown coalition, in an effort spearheaded by author and advocate Debra Prinzing.) The Carpinteria event drew a crowd of just over 100, about 60 percent consumers and 40 percent industry members. The second dinner, held April 15 at the popular agrotourism destination The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California, brought out 119 attendees (most of them industry members) — a strong turnout that required the planning team, which had originally planned for about 100 people, to hustle and expand efforts about a week before the dinner. Cronquist said future attendance goals will be dictated by space, but he said the group wanted to keep the dinners “fairly intimate” to preserve the overall experience. “People are walking away feeling engaged,” said Cronquist, adding that the group already has received requests for dinner dates in 2016. “They appreciate the focus.” Check out the schedule and get information on individual dinners, including the next stop on the tour on June 19, at California Pajarosa in Watsonville, California. Share
National Companies Look to Social Media to Promote Mother's Day By Mary Westbrook
Last week, FTD unveiled a 20-foot wall of 12,000-plus carnations, roses and greenery in Chicago as part of a two-day celebration and Instagram contest that encouraged “visitors to take photos against the stunning fresh floral wall backdrop holding a sign representing what the moms in their life mean to them,” according to FTD’s marketing director, Emily Bucholz. Designers from City Scents Floral & Home in Chicago and FTD's vice president of design, Michael Skaff, and floral design and gifting expert Kate Law also were on hand to talk Mother’s Day flowers and gifting tips with passersby. FTD gave away hundreds of hand-tied bouquets in conjunction with the flower wall event.
Bucholz said the company also has been promoting early ordering among consumers, pushing a shareable Facebook graphic starting last week for FTD florists to share with their customers. “When we create these types of memes, we get a significant amount of shares by our florists,” she said. 1-800-Flowers.com is running its own social media contest, hosting a #MyMom sweepstakes on Twitter and Instagram. Each day through May 8, the company will ask consumers to answer a question on either platform for the chance to win one of three designs. (On Instagram, yesterday’s question — “What is something your mom always told you growing up?” generated the heartfelt —“Always be your self and never let anyone tell you different #mymom” — to the cheeky — “#mymom always told me that if you want an answer, ask your father... If you want the CORRECT answer, ask your mother.”)
“For us, it’s all about engaging the consumer,” she said. Last week, we reported on Teleflora’s “Generations of Love” social media campaign and the real-life reunion between an adult son, Ryan, and his mom the company had orchestrated and shared through its social media platforms. Since then, Teleflora has posted three additional videos to its YouTube channel under the “Generations” tab. (The first video still appears to be the campaign standout: At press time, “Ryan’s unforgettable Mother’s Day delivery to mom” had been viewed more than 7.6 million times on YouTube; the other videos, posted two days later, have generated about 61,000 views combined.) Look for post-holiday coverage — including “gut check” reports from individual florists —in upcoming issues of EBrief. Share
 Advice Columnist to Readers: Order Mother's Day Flowers Now By Mary Westbrook When an “exhausted daughter” asked a popular advice columnist for help navigating her parents’ expectations about holiday hours logged at the family’s retail florist, the columnist quickly issued a broader appeal to her many readers: “Mother’s Day is May 10, so get your floral order in now so that Mom will be happy and these hard-working florists stay in business.” Writing as “Prudie” for Slate’s long-running “Dear Prudence” advice series, Emily Yoffe painted a sympathetic picture for readers of how hard florists work around Mother’s Day — and gently suggested the daughter (currently on the job hunt while finishing her master’s degree) remember the sacrifices her family likely made on her behalf. “Yes, your family ultimately needs to prepare for when you’re busy with your career,” wrote Yoffe, who also revealed that Slate’s managing editor, Lowen Liu, is the son of a florist. “Think of this as tossing them a last bouquet of thanks.” In addition to running on Slate, the column is currently syndicated to 200 newspapers nationwide. Read Yoffe’s full answer and then let us know what you think of her advice. Email mwestbrook@safnow.org. Share
Raise the Bar on Sales and Profits at Retail Growth Solutions by Shelley Estersohn
If that sounds like a lesson from “Floral Shop Selling 101,” why do so many experienced salespeople flunk the quiz? More importantly, how can you make sure your team doesn’t? “I’d love to see more florists invest in educating their people,” said Tim Huckabee of FloralStrategies, LLC. “The most fun moment for me is helping a flower shop realize they’re sitting on a gold mine.” Floral shop owners report substantial increases in customer spending after putting Huckabee’s advice to work. Florists can get a taste of Huckabee’s approach when he presents “CSI: Flower Shop — LIVE!” at SAF Retail Growth Solutions, June 7-8 in Hartford, Conn. Attendees will listen in as Huckabee calls shops posing as a customer ordering flowers. After each call, he’ll lead the audience in a conversation about the highs and lows of the sales interaction and identify best practices to apply when they get home. “It’s amazing how much you pick up … like a phrase or two that increases how much a customer spends,” said Memphis florist Debbie Crawford of Pugh 's Flowers. “We use a lot of the language and sales tactics I learned at RGS, and it really has increased the size of orders.” Huckabee’s sales boosting tips are just one of several practical takeaways florists can expect from SAF’s 36-hour mini-conference this year. They’ll also:
Special thanks to SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast underwriting partner:
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 Is Generosity Killing Your Bottom Line? By Katie Hendrick
That’s the hard truth Keith and Sheri Hill, and their son, Andy, now realize. Reviewing five years of numbers from October 2008 to September 2013, the owners of Beaverton Florists in Beaverton, Ore., couldn’t ignore the more than $150,000 in net losses, and they started looking for hidden costs. The culprit, they discovered, was wages. Since taking over the 70-year-old florist in 1997 from Keith’s parents, the Hills had committed themselves to creating an enviable workplace, offering competitive wages, paid time off and 401(k)s, among other incentives. That generosity resulted in a team with high morale and low turnover — not a bad thing in itself — but the Hills found themselves overstaffed and paying people for their likeability while they ran ragged trying to keep the business afloat. “As a business owner, it’s easy to think that because your employees have these good qualities — they’re on time, thoughtful, talented, etc., or you like them or they’re related to you — everything is going to be OK,” Keith Hill said. “But those qualities, on their own, aren’t enough for a small business to be profitable.” To turn things around, the Hills started by studying how Manny and Clara Gonzales, owners of Tiger Lily Florist, improved profitability at their Charleston, South Carolina, shop with a drastic shift in their compensation structure. (The Gonzales gave a presentation at SAF’s 2012 annual convention in Palm Beach, Fla., and also shared their success story with Floral Management.) Over the past year and a half, the Hills have diligently implemented a system to incentivize employees to make more sales at higher price points and to improve productivity. Their efforts have not been in vain: The shop ended 2014 $142,000 in the black. Want to read exactly how they did it? Floral Management contributing editor Mary Westbrook shares their story in this month’s cover story, “Cracking the Code on Incentives.” Check it out here. Share
US Consumer Spending Cautiously Increases The Wall Street Journal U.S. consumer spending rose moderately in March, rebounding after a sluggish winter but suggesting Americans remain somewhat cautious despite cheaper gasoline and rising confidence. Personal spending, which measures purchases of everything from power tools to pedicures, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Spending had ticked up 0.2 percent in February, slightly more than previously reported, after falling in January and December. Read more. Share
Can $21 Billion in Mother's Day Sales Lift Retail? 24/7 Wall St. Many larger retailers need a lift, based on data since the start of the year. Perhaps Mother’s Day will help them. The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts Mother’s Day retail spending will reach $21.2 billion, up sharply from last year and the highest level since its research about spending on the holiday began. The forecast has been broken into spending for individual mothers. Read more. Share
Longtime Industry Leader Named San Diego 'Farmer of the Year' By Mary Westbrook
Late last month, the group celebrated Mike Anthony Mellano, Ph.D., of Mellano & Company, with locations in California and Nevada, during its annual meeting. To further commemorate the honor, San Diego County declared April 25 “Mike Anthony Mellano Day.” In addition to building his family’s business, Mellano served as president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau from May 2009 to May 2011; prior to being elected president, he served for six years on the executive committee. During his term as president, the group created the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group, the San Diego County Water Authority’s Special Agriculture Water Rate was extended for two years, and Farm Tour Day was initiated. Mellano is currently chairman of the California Cut Flower Commission, a member of the USDA Floriculture Initiative Task Force and a board director for the Kee Kitayama Research Foundation. Among many other leadership roles, he has served the last six years as the representative to the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension & Teaching for the University of California. “The great thing about Michael is that he wears so many industry-minded hats,” said SAF CEO Peter Moran. “With his academic training, he has always been such a great resource and willing to share his perspective on a broad base of issues.” Read more about Mellano’s career, research and many contributions to the floral industry. Share
Saying 'Happy Mother's Day' with Oregon-grown Flowers
By the time moms are hugging scented bouquets on Sunday, May 10, Meskers, his family and crew with Oregon Flowers Inc. would have put in months of long days laboring in greenhouses and standing on production lines. In all, for this one holiday alone, they will have picked, packed and shipped more than a half million flowers. Read more. Share
4 Email Receipt Marketing Tactics To Score More Sales By Katie Hendrick
“With an open rate of 70.90%, compared to the average 17.19% for regular email marketing campaigns—email receipts are a potential ecommerce gold mine, and it's important that you treat it as such,” said ecommerce expert Tucker Schreiber in a recent article for Shopify. When a customer completes a checkout with your shop, “their trust is at its fullest,” Schreiber said. “They’ve already committed to your product and brand.” So take advantage of that by adding a little pizzazz to your email receipt. Here are a few things you can do: 1. Upsell Related Products Any experienced online shopper is familiar with the phrase, “You might like…” and has probably succumbed to its power of persuasion (editorial confession: over and over again). As far back as 2006, Amazon reported that 35 percent of its revenues were a direct result of upselling through cross sales. There are several ways you can use this idea in email receipts:
2. Incentivize a Future Purchase If you include a discount code in your receipt, you tempt the customer to make another purchase. According to a 2013 study, that 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase the previous year based on a promotional email that included a coupon code. Furthermore, you can use coupon codes to track sales for online and offline marketing campaigns, Schreiber said. 3. Promote Your Social Media Accounts to Keep Customers Informed Including links to your social accounts in either the footer, or in a content card on your email receipt template makes it incredibly easy for customers to connect with you. To nudge them to click “follow,” Schreiber suggests adding a referral incentive, such as:
4. Have Customers Share Their Purchases on Facebook A “shopping high” is real. Research shows shopping activates key areas of the brain that boost moods and trigger the release of dopamine. “Try to encourage customers to share their purchase on Facebook when they're still feeling excited,” Schreiber said. Study after study shows referrals from friends to be the most trusted form of marketing. Adding a shareable link to your receipt lets customers do so in mere seconds. Check out Friend Buy to set this up. Share
Watch Your Language This Mother's Day By Katie Hendrick 
It doesn’t take an Ivy League education to sound more sophisticated (and, in turn, upscale) when you talk to customers. By simply swamping vague, empty words, such as “nice,” with more concrete, professional ones, such as “design” or “create,” “you instantly sound more confident and polished,” said sales expert and Floral Management columnist Tim Huckabee. This makes customers more trusting of you — and more apt to jump for the high end arrangements you pitch them, he explained.
In his recent “Mother’s Day Bootcamp” webinar, Huckabee, who has consulted with hundreds of flower shops during the past 15 years with his company, FloralStrategies, shared examples of the flubs he hears most often and proven fixes. Among them: Bland: “We’ll make something that will look nice." Better: “We’ll design a contemporary centerpiece of blues and yellows that will fit perfectly on an end table.”
Misleading:“$34.99” Better: “$35” (You’re not kidding anyone with $34.99, Huckabee said. In fact, mentioning the 99 cents makes the price more obvious than a whole number does.)
Ugly: "Filler," "expensive," "inexpensive," "problem." Better: "Accent flowers," "premium," "standard," "question."
Rude: “Hold, please.”, “No problem.” Better: “May I place you on hold?”, “You’re welcome,” or “My pleasure!” or “Of course!”
Insecure: “Would you like?”, “That’s 65?” Better: “I recommend” or “I suggest.”, “That’s $65.”
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Are You Using Website Images Illegally Without Knowing It? Charm House You just finished writing a great post and you throw it into WordPress to get it on your blog. Before you do though, you do a quick Google search, grab some relevant images and pepper them throughout the text to make it a little more interesting. Your content is of the highest quality and it's really accentuated by those pictures. Publish. If you've ever done this, chances are, you're illegally using images on your website, and you're not the only one. Read more. Share
7 Proven Ways to Boost Customer Happiness In Inc. Happy customers are something that no business should ever take for granted, yet few companies make this metric a priority. If you want great business results in 2015, you can't focus on things like revenue and conversion rates alone--you need to be proactive about keeping your customers happy. Here are seven ways to do it. Read more. Share
Move Over, Millennials. 'Gen Z' Enters Workforce By Mary Westbrook
In the next three years, Generation Z (people born starting in the mid-90s to the early ’00s) will graduate from college. According to workplace consultant Alexandra Levit, this new generation is “poised to be somewhat different from the millennials,” (those old fogies). How so? Levit suggests these younger workers will be:
“Those who want to take advantage of Gen Z talent in the future need to develop relationships today with teenagers in grades seven through 12,” she writes. “Get into their schools, provide mentorship and education, and put yourself in a position to help shape their career decisions. They are eager to listen.” Share
Top Wedding Trends: Barns, Bow Ties In. Cupcakes, Mason Jars Out The Globe and Mail As wedding season gets underway, we consulted experts to find out what brides and grooms are favoring this year. Read more. Share
Arizona Family Florist Opens Wholesale to the Public Flower Market
Arizona Flower Market is part of a multi-brand retail concept that includes Arizona Florist, an all occasion retail flower delivery shop, LUX Wedding Florist, an upscale wedding & event floral design studio and Fantastic Fruit. All the brands are housed in four adjoining suites at the corner of 16th St. and the I-17 overpass. The area has been dubbed the Phoenix Flower District. Said owner, Brad Denham, “We wanted to create a floral & gift destination that draws people from all over the state. We’ve had customers from Sedona, Flagstaff & Tucson make the trip for our great selection and savings. We’ve even had people fly in from California! Our volume and relationships with the flower farms allows us to buy direct and we pass those savings on to our customers. Small business owners enjoy even greater savings with our tiered, business-to-business discount program.” Read more. Share
Debrief Delivery Drivers on Service Expectations By Katie Hendrick
How people receive their flowers makes a major impression on customers. (Consider the difference between a curt “sign here” and “Happy Mother’s Day! Here’s a gift from someone who thinks you’re very special!”) For this upcoming weekend, when you likely have more than a few fresh faces helping you out, take a few minutes to spell out delivery expectations. What seems old hat to seasoned workers may never occur to newbies. Here are few points to review: What to wear: If you don’t have a shop uniform, spell out what an appropriate, professional outfit looks like. What to say: Go over the greeting you’d like the driver to use. Reinforce the impact of a smile and a little small talk. Offering care and handling advice, for instance, differentiates a flower shop delivery from a big box store purchase. How to present the flowers: Flowers should face forward, so they look as full and beautiful as possible. What to do if the recipient isn’t home: Nothing irks a customer more than flowers that don’t make it to the recipient. Don’t let the driver wing it. Have a plan in place and make the driver memorize it: call the recipient, look for a neighbor, leave a note, etc. For more tips on training part-time delivery drivers, check out “How to Succeed in (Holiday) Business Without Really Crying.” Share
Wedding Flower Calculator By Katie Hendrick 
Wouldn’t it be great if brides understood how much costs go up when you add premium blooms, such as peonies, garden roses or ranunculus, to the mix?
Good news! You can eliminate sticker shock from your bridal consultations with the Wedding Flower Calculator. Erlene LeBorgne, a florist-turned-technology-consultant in Portland, Maine, developed this tool for SAF members. The Wedding Flower Calculator helps brides make realistic plans for their budget. The calculator includes categories, such as bridesmaids, pew flowers, cake toppers and toss bouquet. Under each category, brides enter the quantity of what they want and a total pops up, showing them what they can get using less expensive flowers, moderately priced flowers or high end products. Just download the calculator, enter your shop's information and flower prices, then put it on your website or email it to prospective customers. Share
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