Frankly Speaking Florally

What do you expect? It's a phrase we often hear but in business it's so important. Your customer expects to get what you promise them. Your employees expect you to pay them but what you expect from them? Have you made it clear what each employee must do for you in order to maintain their employment? If you are like me, I'll bet you have a hard time with that part of the management equation. Last year Kevin and I hired a Consulting company to come in and analyze our business and remember, you don't do something like that unless you are hurting. Yes, the economy was making for challenging days at the shops but mostly we reached out to this consultant because we were having "employee" issues. We love our employees and they appear to love us but that does not mean that everything goes smoothly.  We had employee procedures in place but we knew that they were not always following them. We had expectations but that they were not always being met. We had problems but

The foundation of our Industry and our businesses should be obvious - the people! Machines don't design and deliver our products, people do. Recently my wife and I attended the Northeast Floral Conference allowing us the opportunity to meet so many wonderful and amazing people in the floral industry. The outstanding service that people provide truly separates the full service florist from the other Market Channels that sell flowers. That's easy to understand, the tough part is finding the right person for the position. One of my previous careers, prior to joining the floral business full time, was Executive Recruiting. I spent 5 years recruiting and though each industry has it's own unique requirements and needs there are hiring commonalities that all share. Most business owners understand the importance of hiring people who are trustworthy, come to work on time, and have the ability to do the job. When you need to hire someone to "hit the ground running" there&#

Everyone knows that making a purchase, no matter how big or small is partly about the experience. Yes, sometimes you shop because you have to but isn't it true that you shop where you have the best experience? Ok, I'm going to get on my Florist soap box and shout my usual mantra of floralisms. Hm, is that a word? It is unclear to me at the time but on with my rant....Flower Purchases are About the Floral Experience!! As a Florist I understand that people may be coming into my shop for fresher flowers than they might find at the Supermarket. They may be coming to us for flowers for their wedding. They may be coming in to have flowers delivered to a friend but chances are, if they are coming into my flower shop to buy flowers they are here for the Floral Experience. What, pray tell, is that? It's the wonderful experience that they should have of coming into a clean, organized, well stocked place of beauty. They are coming in for the selection, the freshness, the customer