What Should Florists Do About Soaring Delivery Costs?

Delivery costs are soaring out of control, but it is important to look at the big picture before making rash decisions

For retail florists, delivery is a necessary service we provide to help achieve the delivery of a bouquet and ultimately, the card message. When we put too much focus on the service, we could deter clients who may look for other ways to achieve what they need.

Let's face it, although we create such beautiful designs with a gift from nature, in most cases the flowers are simply the vehicle for the message delivery. Our delivery service is the vehicle for the flowers. That being said, it's more important now to focus on working SMARTER, not harder!

Here are a few examples of simple changes you can implement to make your deliveries more efficient (thus saving money);

• Divide your delivery area into grids and zones. Plan the times of the day you will go there. Stick to this and only vary is a priority service has been selected. What's that? When a customer is asking for you to get somewhere within a 2 hour window or maybe 3, instead of saying, "it's be an extra, as if you are punishing them" Try, " I can offer you a priority service and that would guarantee to deliver within the time you expected since our drivers have already delivered to that area. If you wish, we could deliver tomorrow to where we would not need to priority service". Always show the client you have their best interest in mind. Be sure your staff is informed what the RUSH (or Priority) service cost is.

• Remember that we can only charge so much for delivery. Please be cognizant of that. Make t as affordable as possible, when a priority service is requested, charge a good amount for that.

• Please consider adding vehicle tracking devices like Network Car. I am not sure what they have now. BUT we paid between 20-25.00 a month and were able to see our vans at any given moment, track all the stops and the idle time. That is when the van could be waiting outside to be loaded. We were running 48 minutes a day and we got it down to around 15. The fuel costs are WAY to high now to do this. Be sure you get the devices that are INSTALLED in the vehicle so there is no way for mistakes to occur, battery dies or whatever. I think you all know what I mean...

Just because the cost of fuel and completing a delivery has increased, you don't have to lose money trying to perform your service. Let's get ready and make the next few holidays the best yet!

Click here to join our Facebook group where we discuss the industry with florists from across the country and around the world.

Relationship Building: Pioneers in the Process of Buying Flowers Online

The first Beneva Flowers website - built by Rick Swier of Sarasota Online in 1996.

Way back in 1996 I had my first website created by Rich Swier of Sarasota Online. Rich was a true innovator and regular customer at Beneva Flowers. Rich would always tell me about his web development and built a website for Beneva Flowers before most people even knew what a website was – it was a very exciting time!

His company was soon bought out by Comcast, so I moved on to Coastal Web. The owner, Vince, was quickly overwhelmed in a few years as I was learning of all the ways I could retail. Soon it was too overwhelming, and it was time to move on. As I was searching, I also came across a contact in Japan who was looking for a way to sell flowers in the USA. Beneva was soon international as we were brokering orders daily into the USA form Japan!

As my needs were growing, I was getting frustrated by the lack of available options. I heard about a new local company that was just starting up in 1998 called Gravity Free. Owner Scott Heaps and Ray Villares were very innovative and looking to learn more about my needs. Considering I was all retail, Scott seemed eager to learn all he could. I was happy to teach him as Scott was eager to grow.

We quickly found a synergy together as we bounced ideas constantly for many hours and days on end together. I had ideas like reward points we turned into Petal Points and many groundbreaking ideas that Scott assisted. I partnered with Ken Young who helped with the reward points systems and Walter Knoll with operations of the website. It was an exciting time as we integrated with 3rd party sites and Scott and his team at Gravity Free were very helpful in building what we created.

I realized what we had was very special. I had committed to sign up and pay for the development of the floral retailing site called Flower Manager. It was my idea to build a group of the very best of the best florists across the country and so I offered an exclusivity. Scott wasn't thrilled because he was hoping to build his tech company and I was looking to build a user group.

Well, every shop ended up flying myself and my daughter Tina to every location where I personally met with the owners and understood their business in great detail so we could continue growing the application to compliment all sizes of use. We had shops like Griffins that was doing just two orders a day to shops doing 100 orders a day. They all quadrupled their sales and they grew on and on.

I wanted to continue creating new development and moved on to Floralapp. This was a mobile application that was not where Gravity Free excelled. They focused on traditional development as I was needing app development.

We created Floralapp and sold it to Teleflora who now owns it and will hopefully integrated it with the Teleflora retail florists.

In 2015 my company was bought out and I decided to shift gears and pursue web development by invitation. I was looking to align myself with retail florists with an eye for growth. There is so much opportunity to grow that I thought was a good time to pursue that. Leading technology that is still leading the way 21 years later!

As a pioneer in online marketing for the floral industry, Art Conforti has spent his entire career looking for opportunities that others miss. Now Google will translate entire web pages to dozens of different languages, but back in 2001 that was not the case. Undeterred by the barriers of time, language, and distance, Conforti partnered with florists from Japan to create a Japanese version of his website that produced orders for his flower shop in Florida. These types of partnerships, or affiliate programs, are more common today as florists continue to discover new and innovative ways to market their shops.

Sunday Before Valentine’s Day - Are You Open All Day?

Before I share this article, I ask that we first address the transaction - name and value.

#1 Order - This is what my competitors referred to a transaction as I slowly took theirs a little at a time.

#2 Relationship - The customer calling you trusts you. You earned this. You have the relationship-until you lose it.

When my competition was closed and I saw new customers calling and ordering JUST BECAUSE I WAS OPEN, I knew that was MY OPPORTUNITY! You see, I already had a catch-all system in place. When someone ordered for the first time, I target marketed them for the 2nd order with an aggressive account card mailing. If I got the 2nd order, I had the future relationship! If it’s easy to work with me and I am always available, why would they go anywhere else?

Art Conforti, owner of Beneva Flowers in Sarasota Florida with a bouquet of his signature long-stem rogue roses for Valentine’s Day. Beneva Flowers was open - and provided customers with unmatched service - 7 days a week - 365 days a year.

What is the value of a customer?

People order generally three more times after a first order. So if they are flower buyers and they order during a Valentine’s Day, the chances are pretty good there will be a second holiday order through the year. Add in an unexpected event or a birthday and you have four orders.

Average order with delivery is $85
$85 x 4 = $340.00

Customers looking to order flowers will call around until they find an open shop and that is where you have a 50-50 chance of ever seeing them again. I share this from a fact growing my business in Sarasota, FL. There were 30 florists in town when I started and when I sold after 30 years there were only six. Was it all me? Probably not. BUT, they came from somewhere!

• It’s one day, protect your future by securing the present.

• It’s competitive out there - showing up is half of it!

- Just sharing to help you possibly rethink what is best for your business. Only you know best – but I’m always here to help with tips and advice whenever you need it! Until then, be sure to visit out our YouTube channel for dozens of informative videos and guides -Art

Just Add Water

Building your brand is like planting seeds to start a garden.

As a florist, the goal is for all your local consumers to see your business name synonymous with buying and/or sending flowers. When I owned Beneva Flowers, we were recognized as having 70% of market share in Sarasota based on flower buying credit card purchase data. But how did that happen? 

One of the most important things we did was  partner with area schools and charitable organizations. We considered many items the schools needed and even started an initiative to have a classroom named after our business.

Every year we would be asked to participate in fundraisers and to run ads in yearbooks. Not only did I participate, I took it one step further…

Understanding we both need each other to survive, I came up with a program called Helping Hands. The way it worked was the school became responsible for getting the word out that Beneva Flowers would donate 5% of every transaction that the sender mentions the school or organization. It worked well for  baseball teams trying to raise money for trips, marching bands, you name it. If the community was making an effort, we wanted to be a part of it. 

These were the seeds we were planting and before too long, sending flowers and Beneva went hand-in-hand because local shoppers thought of Beneva every time they thought about flowers. Around town, the brand became synonymous with flowers.

Here is another example…

Most grocery stores still offer paper or plastic bags at the checkout, but an increasing number of climate-concious customers are opting for environmentally-friendly reusable bags instead. Publix is one of many supermarket chains that sells reusable shopping bags to consumers for 99¢. Because they are able to buy them in bulk, they probably pay about 5¢ for each bag. 

Many people will look at those bags as insignificant little 99¢ products to sell, but a better way to look at it as an opportunity.

Using Publix as a hypothetical example, encouraging the use of reusable shopping bags not only helps the environment by cutting down on waste, but it is also an excellent opportunity to build their brand image as a respectful neighbor.

Just by having the Publix logo on the bag along with Earth-friendly reminders of working together to make a difference, you create positive brand awareness at an amazing value for just 5¢ per bag. 

The simple fact that the bags are reusable give them marketing value even beyond the doors of Publix because people use the bags everywhere they go. What a great deal for a 5¢ investment. 

This is how it should be looked at. Do you think that Publix sells enough 99¢ bags to offset the value of giving them away to customers as a 5¢ advertisement? It depends on the value you place on branding. Giving away these bags is unique and outside the commonly used channels.

I like the message they would be sending out as well as the intentions they would be supporting. Publix already has a brand that is known for offering a clean environment, excellent services, supporting the community - and yes, they even sell some groceries too. 

Today, we are limited in ways to get a message out. Newspapers are not what they used to be, and television continues to lose market share to the internet. The best option now for most small business owners is online digital marketing targeted at consumers browsing the internet and WAZE advertising for people searching on maps.

Bloomerang Solutions can help you with both! We have solutions for every sized business from websites to Google pay-per-click advertising and SEO that will boost your web ranking. We can help you interact with your customers through surveys and social media. Call us at (941) 806-1911 and let’s get started today!

Google My Business: The Value of Strong Content Has Never Been Higher

When people use Google to search for a business, the top result is typically a Google My Business (MAPS) page. The GMB listing is an expandable list of services, products and information that allows visitors to take in a quick but brief understanding about the company they are looking up - without having to visit their website. In many cases, questions about hours, phone numbers and directions can be obtained directly from the GMB, so it is more important than ever to make sure your listing is robust and accurate.

Google My Business also allows you to add a SHORT NAME of your business to make it easier for customers to find you. This is also a place to find REVIEWS to help you learn more - or you can post reviews of your own as well. More and more companies are focusing on optimizing this result by understanding the strategies you can apply combining images, Q & A's, Videos and even Instant Messaging. The truth is, the more features you use, the better your results will be.

Above the Fold

Above the Fold is an old newspaper term for the upper half of the first page. The most important information in the paper appeared at the top - above the fold - so it would be visible on newsstands and boxes. Just like newspapers, the goal of most businesses is to appear ABOVE THE FOLD because that’s what will be seen on your computer screen on the first view.

The results are ORGANIC meaning the site is ranking high on its own and the position is not paid for, although paid ads can also appear in some searches.

It is proven that ONLY in this case do people avoid ads and look for the actual location whereas in traditional look ups, the paid ads do better because you can aggressively bid for position AND select what you wish to display, they are ads.

Optimizing Your Business Profile

You will need a separate Google My Business account in order to manage and optimize your Google Business Profile. It’s easy to get your Business Profile (your Google business listing) confused with Google My Business so remember that GMB is the tool you use to enhance your Business Profile in order to boost visibility and effectiveness. Optimizing your GMB profile has several benefits.

1. It helps you engage with customers

   Customers are able to interact with your Google Business Profile and you can use your GMB account to engage with them. GMB not only allows you to respond to reviews and answer questions, but you can also use it to publish posts like you would on Facebook or other social media channels.

2. It helps you highlight your business

   Your Google Business Profile contains a limited amount of information about your business but a GMB account gives you the ability to provide hours, link to your website, feature products and pricing along with other details that make your business unique.

3. It helps you gain insights

   GMB has analytics available through the profile dashboard that gives you key insights about your audience as well as your local search performance. You can see which queries customers are using to find you along with how they found you (Google Search or Google Maps) and what they do when they get to your site.

4. It helps enhance your local SEO

   Google uses algorithms for ranking Business Profiles just like it does with websites and ads. Your GMB dashboard allows you to incorporate keywords to your profile and perform other optimizations to help you rank better in local results.

Using GMB for SEO

GMB is not only an outstanding tool for optimizing your profile and expanding your reach, but it is also a great tool to help with your local SEO, here’s how:

1. By targeting your information

   It is extremely important to incorporate relevant keywords in your Business Profile so Google knows what you are trying to rank for. You should use as many as possible in the “from the business” description as well as in answers to questions, responses to reviews and the posts you publish.

2. By maintaining quality of information

   The accuracy and completeness of your Business Profile has a big impact on how it ranks, so it is important to provide as much information as you can in every section of your google profile. It is especially important to make sure your NAP (name, address, phone number) are all correct, as well as your hours, attributes and relevant contact information.

3. By building trust

   Consumers prefer to do business with people they trust and GMB can help enhance your shop’s reputation with reviews AND responses that can be managed through your GMB dashboard. Regularly uploading photos and publishing posts will also help show Google that you are active.

Google My Business is quickly gaining favor as the place to be listed so it’s important to make sure your GMB Business Profile is up-to-date. SEO is important for any business, but it’s especially important for small businesses to utilize targeted marketing to compete against larger competitors with bigger budgets. Now SEO is easier than ever before with the help of GMB.

Are you trying to maximize your visibility in your local market? Bloomerang Solutions can help you show up where customers are searching. Give us a call today at (941) 806-1911 or drop us a line below.

-Art