Teleflora unit meeting, August 18 2002 in Medford OR

The no smoking policy in the Rogue River Inn helped some but smoke was still noticeable from the forest fires surrounding the meeting site. The hotel was teeming with tired fire fighters and other forest service personell and though the fires themselves were not within sight, their smoke hung heavy across the Medford valley. I regretfully restrained myself from driving up into the hills to see the flames firsthand when the desk clerk advised that there was enough work for the crews to do without having to rescue tourists who get too close.

The actual meeting indoors was not as exciting perhaps as up close forest fires but certainly more useful in the long run for floral designers and quite interesting in its own right. Tom Bowling AIFD PFCI was brought in from Cincinnati to show everyday work plus "summer sensations to generate sales in slow periods by innovative designs." Attendance was high with 65 designers from shops as far north as Trinetts (Portland), from the east came Prairie Flower (Baker City) [who reported Crater Lake as filled with smoke and no longer visible], from the west Flowers Mary Francis (Lincoln City) and Waldport Florist (Waldport) and even some Californians from Yreka, Ureka and Redding.

Like many presenters, Bowling emphasized the need to offer multiple choices in various price ranges. He set up a scenario in which a customer enters the shop and states she wants to buy a sympathy piece. "How do you respond?" he asked. "If you immediately ask how much they want to spend, it is likely you have substantially cut the sales amount down. It is far better to offer multiple choices and emphasize the qualities of the larger arrangements." Another emphasis was on determining the "purpose" of each flower. "What effect are you achieving? What visual value is added by a particular flower or foliage when placed in a particular location? He illustrated with a mixed piece with roses where a gladiola stem matching the rose color filled out the arrangement and made it appear "filled with roses". "The visual value of roses is increased using less expensive flowers" he explained "and the customer is willing to pay more because of that." Another related message was on the value of massing smaller flowers together rather than using one large showy head as a focal point.

"Why do we wire flowers?" he quarried. "Why, to keep the heads up in case they die." replied almost everyone present."And why", he came back, "would you want a dead flower sticking up in your arrangement? Use high quality material to start with and you won’t have that problem" he insisted. "The only time you need to wire a flower is to gain control of its direction for placement." He demonstrated by placing a 90 degree bend in a gerbera "without any damage to the flower" with 2 thin wires up each side of the stem and wrapping with tape.

At every show the money question always seems to come up. "How do you figure markup?" He advises that hardgoods markup be 2-3 times the laid in cost and fresh material be 3-4 times. "This will vary depending on local factors such as the cost of your particular location with high rent shops needing to make a higher margin." He advised that labor be a 1.65 multiple. If materials after markup are $40 then $40 x 1.65 = $66 is the selling price to cover labor as well.

"What if we get a special price on an item. Should we pass on the savings to our customers?" He advised not. "First, if I have done extra work to hunt down a special price I should be rewarded with extra profits for that work. Secondly, highly fluctuating prices confuse customers and don’t really help. For example, lowering the price on "older flower arrangements" that have been in the cooler for a while will come back to haunt you. A $60 piece sold for $30 "because its old" will teach that customer that the "value" of a piece that size is $30 and they will resist and resent paying full price for it in the future.