SAF
members Dwight Larimer, AAF, (left) of Design Master color tool, and Chuck
Johnson, AAF, of Smithers Oasis - North America, take the first of many steps on the
Hill Tuesday morning as part of Congressional Action Days. SAF’s Congressional Action Days attendees got their first
lesson in how Washington can work (or not) before getting a block away
from their hotel Tuesday morning. Bumper-to-bumper cab caravans,
emergency vehicles cordoning off streets for official business, texting
pedestrians, and cyclists careening in and out of traffic greeted the
Capitol Hill-headed crew. The scene offered an almost-too-easy metaphor
for the twists, turns and sudden dead-ends that issues face when trying
to work their way through Congress.
She loves you unconditionally, spoils you rotten, has seen you at your
worst and even though she’s married to another man, you knew you had
to send her flowers on Valentine’s Day.
A year of economic hardships, downsizing and dwindling-to-non-existent
profitability did not stop 91 floral industry members from making the
trip to Washington, D.C. this week for SAF’s 30th annual Congressional
Action Days. In fact, the economy may have underscored the need to sit
down face-to-face and tell Congress how pending legislation is making
it tough to stay in business.
Two hundred women in Washington, D.C., are no doubt still enjoying
— and telling friends about — a surprise gift of flowers they received Monday, March 8, while walking in Georgetown.
Blame it on the name. Perhaps, because the word greenhouse is so often followed by “effect” or “gases,” it suffers from guilt by association. Growers in California are helping clear the air and counter the bad rep.
The March issue of Floral Management has the rocket fuel you need to power up those bridal sales: Proven tactics from three shops that dramatically increased their bridal sales during the recession, click-earning SEO tricks to pull brides to your Web site, insider know-how from a wedding planner-turned-social media marketer -- and bold bridal blooms. Click here
Forget spam filters. Your own vague subject lines and boring content
may be the biggest culprit in keeping your e-mails from getting
through. If your open rates are unsatisfying, it may be time to
rethink your subject lines and content organization, said Patricia
Norins, publisher of Gift Shop magazine. Most e-mail recipients have a
five-step review – and if they don’t like what they see at any stage,
they’ll stop reading.
Is it blue or purple? Pink or blush? If you’ve tried describing a
color to a bride or a wholesaler only to discover that your vocabulary
and your vision don’t always match up with theirs, you’ll be happy to
lay your eyes on two new Web sites.
Time and money are running low for small businesses that want to apply
for an America's Recovery Capital loan, offered by the Small Business
Administration as part of last year's stimulus package. The ARC loans
were designed to help distressed businesses. They’re capped at $35,000
and are interest-free to the borrower, who has a one-year grace period
before starting the repayment process and then another five years to
completely pay the principal.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) released it preliminary
determination Feb. 18 that narrow woven ribbons from China and Taiwan
are likely being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
In this front-page story in the
Sarasota Herald Tribune, the reporter cites a 4 percent increase in florist sales in the last quarter of 2009 in the county as one example that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Read the full story here:
Valentine's Day sales fell for 60 percent of the florists that have responded to SAF's ongoing post-holiday survey. For 21 percent, sales increased. Last year, 74 percent of florists reported a drop in sales compared to 2008.
Ask Deborah De La Flor, AIFD, PFCI, what she did to increase her
Valentine’s Day sales by 20 percent this year and she’ll tell you she
tried just about everything that popped into her head — even if it
meant breaking some long-standing traditions, and spending a few hours
on the phone with a few hundred customers.
Craving that spring in your step? Customers weary from a long winter?
Follow Heather Ann Wentworth-Peterson's lead and put SAF’s mood-lifting
research on your home page.
Guenther Vogt, AAF, and BJ Dyer, AAF, AIFD, are not the first
Marketer of the Year winners to invest
their $5,000 cash prize back into marketing — but they’re the
first to earmark a chunk of it to marketing for the entire floral
industry.
You were hit with snow, sleet, a storm of last-minute orders and a
Sunday Valentine’s Day, but you were not rendered speechless. In
newspapers and in TV news spots across the nation, florists spoke to
the power of professionally arranged flowers, the hardiness of their
staffs and delivery vans and their love of making customers look good.
We gathered a dozen media quotes you gotta love – and borrow!
Two florists in Queens are living out the classic David vs. Goliath scenario, battling a local supermarkets that’s taken to selling flowers on the streets of New York City without the proper license. And they may even come out winners. Read more.
You’ve just handled hundreds, if not
thousands, of Valentine’s Day flowers and are gearing up to announce
the next season’s arrival with spring plants. Ever wonder where they’re
coming from —especially those that come from the U.S.? Well, in honor of the Olympics, we’re showing you how states rank in
terms of production, with some help from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
So let's be real for a minute. Last week was a love fest — everyone
working together toward a common goal, pitching in, slogging through
the snow, making romance happen. But (you know it was coming), not
every day at work can be model of teamwork and tenacity. Sometimes, we
just get annoyed at moody coworkers and moodier computers. Or maybe you
feel like throwing a vase the next time you hear someone say it’s time
to “think outside the box.”
After a brief stint at VIP Florists Network (VFN), wholesale veteran
Alan Tanouye has joined Floralife as general manager of the company’s
North American operations in January. In his new post, Tanouye will
handle market development and customer relationships at grocery stores
and mass marketers in the North American market.
Make sure your listing on the Florist Directory, on www.aboutflowers.com,
SAF’s consumer Web site, includes a live link directing consumers to
your shop. If it doesn’t, be sure to let SAF know, and we’ll make it
happen. Simply e-mail your Web site address and shop name to
, and your link will be live within the next 24 hours.
The New York Times and ABCNews.com were just two of several media
outlets that picked up, “How to Make the Most of Valentine's Day
Flowers,” an AP wire story that relied heavily on SAF’s advice for
consumers.
Just as the producers of the movie “Valentine’s Day,” didn’t hold back
on packing their romance comedy with a jaw-dropping number of
celebrities, producers of Colombian flowers aren’t holding back on
celebrating the movie’s premier this Friday with thousands of roses.
After relying on Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe florist for 26 years,
NBC knew exactly which florist to call when scouting potential gifts
for one of its more colorful hosts on “The Today Show.”
Congressman
Steve LaTourette (R-14-Ohio) — a strong backer of small business issues and supporter of the floriculture and nursery research initiative — will speak at the SAFPAC Gold Club
Luncheon during SAF's 30th Annual Congressional Action Days March 8-9 in Wash. D.C.
Couples this year plan to spend less on each other but more on their
family, friends, co-workers — even their pets, according to NRF’s 2010
Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by
BIGresearch.
Three small business issues and two overriding floral industry
concerns are on the list SAF members will bring to meetings across
Capitol Hill March 8-9. “It’s a lot, but with so many competing interests in
Washington and economic concerns in the forefront, it is extremely
important that we stay visible and keep our concerns on the table,”
said Drew Gruenburg, SAF chief operating officer.
When Dana Cook read about the potential for tie-ins with the movie
“Valentine’s Day,” in SAF’s E-Brief, the owner of Julia’s
Florist in Wilmington, N.C., knew it was time for action. She bought 50
movie tickets from Regal Cinemas and created the “Film and Flowers”
bouquet for guys
Nothing like the prospect of a free dozen roses to create new Facebook
fans: Joyce Chowanec of The Lavender Goose wants customers to honk if
you have a Funny Valentine’s Day story – or rather squawk about it in
the shop’s Valentine’s Week contest, hosted on its Facebook page. The Peckville, Pa., florist will give a dozen roses to the winner.
A
Milwaukee-based florist with less than a year under its belt is going
head to head with supermarkets for Valentine’s Day, by offering the
ultimate in convenience: drive-through flowers. Read more
Need
a color intervention that isn’t in Cupid’s palette (pink and red) or Mother Nature’s
(gray, white and snow-slush)? Pantone’s pick for the color of the year is sure to
deliver such a jolt: turquoise.
How many ways can you convince customers to order – and enjoy – their flowers prior to Valentine’s Day? We’re still counting ‘em up, since you keep sending in tried and true order-early tactics. Here are a few:
The supermarket won’t close for Cupid. Proflowers.com is aiming for Sunday deliveries, and you can bet those heart-shaped boxes of chocolates will be just waiting for that last-minute mad dash into the convenience store.
One take-away message from State Senator Scott Brown’s (R) major upset
this week in Massachusetts? Grassroots initiatives really can take hold
-- and make a difference on a large scale.
Will Carlson, PhD., almost never failed to get a reaction or a result.
And while the variety of those reactions were as diverse as his
convictions were strong, the response to his death Jan. 20 has been
uniform: The floriculture industry has lost a passionate, influential,
progressive and yes, sometimes aggressive, champion and leader.
“Hello Dummies, what kind of hockey puck sends you flowers in a box?”
may not be exactly what Teleflora’s Talking Flowers say in this year’s
Super Bowl Ad, but given the reputation of the new spokesperson — and
those of the uncensored sarcastic blooms — no one would be that
surprised.
Encouraging customers to order and send flowers before the Sunday
holiday is top of mind with many florists. Here are a few of the
tactics we’ve heard about from florists around the country:
Need another reason to bump up marketing efforts for the Sunday holiday? Proflowers.com, which overnights flowers via FedEx, is offering deliveries on Feb. 14.
The
Gap and the Cotton Council are among the seven new members of the
committee that will help determine the criteria for a standard for
sustainable agriculture.
Less
than a month after greenhouse innovator and Haitian missionary Tom Van
Wingerden died, his family members are making sure they’re exactly where he’d be
right now: in Haiti.
A Florida greenhouse grower specializing in indoor tropical plants, a leading bedding plant nursery and a major center for horticultural research are the stopping points for growers touring local operations before the Pest and Production Management Conference next month.
Remember the good old days – or at least hearing about the good old
days — when roses smelled like, well, roses? Dave Clark, PhD., and a
team of researchers at University of Florida are bound and determined
to shift that “thing of the past” into the present. Read about their
genetic research and what it could mean for the future of roses, in the
Up the Supply Chain column in this month’s Floral Management.
There are now more reasons to love The 3/50 Project, the local-business
movement that sent florists' hearts a flutter when it first starting
making headlines last year.
In 2003, Bice’s Florist had six locations. Now it has just one in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area. That significant change and drastic reduction
in real estate may sound like the makings of a story about how the
recession, the Internet and chain stores have taken their toll on
small, local businesses.
Help the 20-somethings in your market make an affordable expression of love, with under-$50 floral offerings. Floral Management challenged PFCI florists to come up with designs to fit the bill. See their designs in the January issue of Floral Management, in the Business of Design column in Floral Management. Read the whole issue online.
Thinking about attending Congressional Action Days March 8-9? Surf over to SAF’s You Tube channel. Members with a mission are on camera talking about the long-term personal and industry payback of a fast visit to Washington.
Help the 20-somethings in your market make an affordable expression of love, with under $50 floral offerings. Floral Management challenged PFCI florists to come up with designs to fit the bill. See their designs in the January issue of Floral Management, in the Business of Design column in Floral Management. Read the whole issue online.
Do you flop? Do you drop? Do you swish? Your flowers may be suffering as a result. Read “Banish Bloom Bloopers,” in the Jan. issue of Floral Management, or, better yet, read the entire issue online, www.safnow.org/floralmanagement
“Do not send her flowers on Valentine’s Day.” What sounds like a
slogan from a (not particularly inventive) gift competitor is the
chosen tactic by one of the industry’s own.
They may promise to keep your hands clean, but M&Ms is taking a
swipe at flowers this Valentine’s Day. A TV commercial for the
chocolate candies asks, “Can I send [M&Ms] instead of flowers?” And
the site’s custom-print Web site shows pink and red roses alongside
pink and red M&Ms with the headline, "Forget Roses."
Eric Benjamin, 51, died after a brief illness Jan. 2, 2010. Benjamin
was vice president and group publisher of Cenflo, Inc., a family-run
publisher of floral and nursery trade journals for 62 years.
Even though the playoffs have yet to start, Sher Tannozzini already
knows which team she’s rooting for in this year’s Super Bowl — and she’s certain they’ve been
practicing hard to score and win fans in Miami.
While everyone else may be talking about the holidays being over,
florists know that now is the time to shift from red and green to
red-hot lovers and fire up those Valentine’s Day promotions.
It’s that time of year. Time to get rid of bad habits and get serious
about stuff you’ve been dabbling with --- like social media. An article in Floral
Management’s January issue has a full helping of resolutions for those
still wading into social media, but here are a few to get you started:
In 1999, if somebody said “iPod” you might have thought
they were talking about a seed product. Along with the Blackberry, Wikipedia
and the Wii, the now popular music player had yet to make its debut. You were
probably more worried about having a Y2K-compliant computer than a WiFi-ready
one. Plenty has changed since the beginning of the 21st century. and you’ll
likely be reminded of the decade’s dos and don’ts countless times as the
media starts counting down the top five, 50 or 100 of the last 10 years. Not to be outdone by the consumer media, we did a little
list-making of our own.
The first time Bill Schodowski of Transflora in Miami went to Congressional Action Days he assumed it would be like other industry meetings where he’d do a little networking and maybe make a few new customer connections. By the end of the first morning session, however, his objectives changed: "I realized that CAD was about a lot more than any sales I was going to realize. It was an opportunity to have a direct influence on what was happening in my country and with matters that were important to my industry,” he said.
Determined to end this wild year on a high note, we asked members to
share their reasons for optimism, signs of recovery and (cliché alert!)
any evidence of the light at the end of the tunnel. And you delivered — on time, with fresh ideas and an outlook rooted in survival and the basics of good business.
Rick Canale loves being the center of gossip – if that gossip lands his
name and that of his Boston shop, Exotic Flowers, in the popular column
of the city’s favorite social chroniclers, the Boston Herald’s Track
Gals.
Dancing life-size poinsettias, purple peacock wreaths, chocolate trees, gilded reindeer antlers and wreaths big enough for a football team to run through – when florists feel festive, they show in ways big, bold and beyond your drugstore décor aisle.
Congrats to one of Floral Management's rock stars. Industry veteran Barry Gottlieb rejoins Equiflor as director of sales. He left the home of Rio Roses in 2005 as vice president of wholesale operations.
After an exhausting day of shopping and fighting the holiday crowds, encourage your customers to soothe their nerves and treat themselves to an arrangement in peaches and creamy whites or soft blues and greens to instill calm amidst the chaos. Highlight the Flower Therapy release to health or lifestyle reporters and feature the information and photography on your Web site.
If you’re fortunate enough to be near local production of poinsettias, Christmas cactus, cyclamen and other holiday plants, don’t let that fact get lost on customers. It’s a great tidbit to include in your customer newsletter and e-mails. Local editors seeking new angles for their holiday shopping coverage this and next week will appreciate the tip-off. Pitch a “how to buy local for the holidays” story and cite yourself as a source (and check out these tips when preparing for an interview with the media).
About twice as many shops (52 percent) said their Thanksgiving sales
were down this year, compared to those who said sales were about the
same as last year or had increased, according to SAF’s post-holiday
survey of 261 florists taken Dec.9 through Dec. 16, sales results for
Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and online sales for Cyber
Monday are shown in the accompanying figure .
This holiday season, one major online flower seller is going for the
cute, while another is going to the dogs. With a fuzzy white ball of a
mascot, I-800-Flowers. com is urging consumers to share the "warm
fuzzy" feeling of giving and getting flowers in its holiday
commercials, while Teleflora's spot shows a Dalmatian peeing on a
unopened flower box that’s been drop-shipped on someone's front step.
Here’s a thought: Instead of using the holidays as excuse to complain
about being super-stressed, frazzled and busy, let’s this year count
our blessings and resolve to be happy at work.
More small businesses are relying on e-mail marketing now, and even
more will be one year from now. That’s just a few of
“what-are-you-waiting-for?” findings of a survey by Small Biz Trends
and Hurwitz.
Magazine editors and federal employees aren’t exactly known for their arts and crafts skills (believe us — we arrange words, not flowers), so when we heard the U.S. State Department has partnered with the magazine industry to deck the halls of the president’s guest house, we hoped they’d get some professional help — from floral designers.
The current health care debate can be confusing at times, but as some
SAF members found out this week, hearing it directly from two key
senators can help sort things out.
There are many ways to the White House. You can fight your way there
through a tireless, grueling campaign. You can charm your way past
Secret Service like the infamous party crashing publicity magnets
recently did. Or you could write the president a letter, tell him you
voted for his opponent, offer your assistance and then wait about 11
months.
The wreaths are hung, the trees are up and you’ve festooned every nook
and cranny of your shop with festive cheer. But despite all that
gussying up, you’re not really ready for holiday shoppers unless your
Web site is decked out with search engine optimization tricks.
When is a drink not a drink? When you’re a plant and your water is gunked up with health-defeating molds, algae, bacteria and other undesirables. H20 quality is one of many topics under discussion at the 2010 Pest & Production Management Conference in Orlando.
More than 300 radio stations and newspapers made room for some good
news on their Web sites about flowers and the folks who deserve them
last week, giving readers a break from the Tiger tale and robotic
hamsters.
Looking for a fun fact to share with customers this holiday season? Try
this one: The poinsettia is the most widely tested consumer plant on
the market today and it passes each test like Lance Armstrong before a
bike race. Yet, the myth about its toxicity lingers and overreactions
to latex allergies are leading some facilities to ban the festive
holiday plant. SAF is equipped with evidence to get the poinsettia
party-poopers back on point. On behalf of members, SAF recently
responded to three such cases:
Growers, now is the time to stand up and be counted. Every 10 years
the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts the Census of Horticulture
Specialties and growers should getting theirs this month in the mail
— responses are due Feb. 5.
Just more than half of retailers reported a drop in overall Thanksgiving sales compared to 2008, according to a quick “gut check” survey sent to SAF retailer members Tuesday. Sales stayed steady for a quarter of respondents, and they increased for 23 percent.
The customer looks at the picture of the product, reads the
description, is ready to buy it – and then jumps off your Web site.
Also known as “basket abandonment,” surveys show it’s typical online
buyer behavior: 87 percent of consumers abandon their basket before
paying.
You can’t get to the Rose Bowl without lots of roses lining your path —
or at least that’s how fans of the University of Oregon and Oregon
State see it.
Did comments about your endless work hours leave you stomping away from
the Thanksgiving dinner celebration? Are busy days at the shop sending
you out into traffic like a mad animal, honking and jostling your way
though the pack?
Cyber Monday is here and 97 million
Americans are online hunting for deals, up from 85 million in 2008.
Monday sales could exceed $900 million this year, making it the biggest
day for online retail sales ever, according to comScore Inc.,a Web
tracking service.
When the farmers market located right
outside The Ivy Green’s front door closed for the season, owner
Melissa Mega didn’t celebrate the departure of the occasional $5 bouquet, she
instead invited some the market's vendors to set up inside her shop for the winter —
figuring their loyal customers would follow them right through her
doors.
Berwick Offray and the five other U.S. ribbon manufacturers will have
to wait close to an additional two months to see if ribbon importers
will have to pay a special duty on ribbon from China and Taiwan.
If last week’s article about floral businesses marketing
more in the fourth quarter got you thinking, “What more should I be
doing?” you might want to consider going back to the basics.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has revised its
“Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” poster to include the Genetic
Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. The act went into effect
Nov. 21 and outlaws employers from making hiring, firing and promotion
decision based upon an employee’s genetic information. Employers are
prohibited from using any results of a genetic test to be used as
justification to hire, fire or promote an employee.
When the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) held its
33rd annual meeting in Chicago this month, flowers were top of mind —
and at the center of the group’s banquet tables.
Disease diagnosis. Water molds. Alternative insect control. Plant-growth regulators. Substrate Components. Are we speaking your language? You're in good company. Top-notch green industry experts will be discussing these issues and more at the 26th Annual Pest and Production Management Conference, Feb 25-27, 2010 in Orlando.
While businesses in every segment of the industry ramped up their
marketing efforts in the last quarter of 2009, retailers remained the
most cautious group.
Industry News and Info 
Congressman
Steve LaTourette (R-14-Ohio) — a strong backer of small business issues and supporter of the floriculture and nursery research initiative — will speak at the SAFPAC Gold Club
Luncheon during SAF's 30th Annual Congressional Action Days March 8-9 in Wash. D.C. 
The percentage of florists who saw Christmas holiday sales increase or stay the same nearly doubled in 2009, compared to 2008. 
Need
a color intervention that isn’t in Cupid’s palette (pink and red) or Mother Nature’s
(gray, white and snow-slush)? Pantone’s pick for the color of the year is sure to
deliver such a jolt: turquoise.
Will Carlson, PhD., almost never failed to get a reaction or a result.
And while the variety of those reactions were as diverse as his
convictions were strong, the response to his death Jan. 20 has been
uniform: The floriculture industry has lost a passionate, influential,
progressive and yes, sometimes aggressive, champion and leader. 
Thinking about attending Congressional Action Days March 8-9? Surf over to SAF’s You Tube channel. Members with a mission are on camera talking about the long-term personal and industry payback of a fast visit to Washington. 
In 1999, if somebody said “iPod” you might have thought
they were talking about a seed product. Along with the Blackberry, Wikipedia
and the Wii, the now popular music player had yet to make its debut. You were
probably more worried about having a Y2K-compliant computer than a WiFi-ready
one. Plenty has changed since the beginning of the 21st century. 
