Are You Using Surveys to Listen to Your Customers?

What do these companies all have in common?

They all listen to their customer through surveys!

I often have retailers ask what my secret formula was for turning a small Sarasota flower shop into a top-50 florist in the nation. The truth is, there was no secret formula. In fact, the formula I followed for success is as simple as this:

Passion + Perseverance + Quality…and SURVEYS!

That’s right, hearing the voice of my customer was one of the greatest tools I ever had, and I can’t believe that so many businesses neglect to do this, even with all the resources available to help them.

Let's face it, most owners think they know what their customer likes, but do they really know? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to sit down and visit with each customer face-to-face to discuss their thoughts, feelings, and concerns about their shopping experience as well as their overall impression of our business?

Of course, that isn’t possible, so in many circumstances our only real feedback comes from one of two of two places – upset customers who are extremely dissatisfied, or the opposite end of the spectrum where longtime loyal customers think we can do no wrong.

Both groups provide valuable input and deserve our attention. However, if we only listen to them we’re missing out on a vast majority of our customers. It’s easy to sit back and think we have all our bases covered by making our most vocal customers happy, but our perception isn’t always as accurate as we imagine.

You Just Have to Ask

Business owners should not only value customer feedback but depend on it as an essential part of their day-to-day operations. However, trends change fast, and today’s hot seller may be an outdated fad in a month or two. Your impeccable sense of style and design doesn’t help your business if customers don’t share your vision.

Differences in styles and attitudes are also evident in different parts of the country, and even in different areas of town. A concept or design that works well in Arizona may not be popular in Florida. Ultimately, there are no universally correct answers – all situations and circumstances are unique.

The only way to get the most accurate pulse of your business is by listening to your customers. Surveys are a perfect way to find out how they’re feeling, and an outstanding way to identify areas for improvement. Many people won’t offer feedback unless you ask, and those are often the customers with the most beneficial feedback.

Next time you stay at a Marriott, rent a car from Hertz, or dine in any reasonable establishment, rest assured if they have your email address, they run surveys. It's the ONLY way to keep up with their clients in a changing industry.

Surveying customers is a substantial undertaking. Busy business owners don’t have the time, nor the resources needed to manage it properly. Fortunately, we’re here to help! Customer Survey Management from Bloomerang is the easiest and most efficient way to monitor customer feedback. Let us create a custom survey for your shop today and leave the guesswork out of your business strategy.

Everyone Wins When Your Staff Spins

As a business owner, I am constantly looking for new ways to boost numbers, increase sales, and motivate employees. One of the most effective solutions I found was also the most fun - I call it “Spin to Win.”

Spin to Win is such a popular promotion because of the excitement and camaraderie it creates with the sales staff. As a retailer, you know that your sales staff is the heart of your business and the difference between a great sales staff and a poor one will affect your entire shop.

Customers have long memories when it comes to how they were treated at establishments where they spend their money. Oftentimes, it doesn’t take more than one bad customer interaction with a rude or unfriendly employee to drive that customer away permanently.

On the other hand, people like to shop with friendly people and people they trust, so having helpful and friendly employees representing your brand is a critical key when it comes to customer retention.

Keeping employees happy

Happy employees are productive employees so it’s important that everyone in the company feels motivated and respected. One great way to keep employees motivated and engaged is by running a sales contest – but the key is to keep it fun.

One option to consider is a 'Wheel of Rewards' to recognize those who have reached sales goals created by management. It’s one thing to create expectations but it's another to create a way to reach them with a rewards system to recognize those who do.

The wheel itself can be found for a reasonable price online or you can simply make your own with some basic materials. The wheel itself isn't the important part, but great prizes certainly add extra motivation for your sales staff. I always liked the model that we used (pictured below) because it allowed us to change up the prizes easily and limit the size so that some prizes were harder to win than others.

You don't always need to offer expensive prizes, in fact prizes with a 'mystery value' like scratch-off lottery tickets are always highly sought-after due to the fun factor that goes along with the anticipation. Other ideas such as gift cards, a half day of paid vacation, movie tickets, car washes, dinner for two, sports ticket,s and free flowers, are always popular choices but you are only limited by your imagination.

The rewards can be as big or small as needed – what’s truly exciting is the action of staffers spinning the wheel. It's important to realize that recognition is half the fun.

The more exciting the environment, the better your chances will be of getting engagement from staff. The result will be more sales for your company and recognition and rewards for those who get you there - it's a 'win-win' for everyone.

Let's face it, those who try harder usually achieve more. Those who produce results can now have a chance to be recognized for it.

A photo once a week featuring the person who got to spin makes for a great social media post. When it comes to social, people want to learn more about you and your company. Sharing programs that reward your employees show that you care about your staff and that is worth sharing!

If you would like to run a sales contest for your employees but don't know where to start, Bloomerang Solutions is here to help. We are always looking for new ways to improve your business and we know from experience that employee-only contests are an excellent way to build morale - and improve your bottom line. Let's get started today! Drop us a line here or give us a call if you would like some help getting started, we're always here to help you!

Understanding N.A.P. Consistency and Why It Affects S.E.O.

Today, there are acronyms for almost everything, especially when it comes to technology. Some of the acronyms we hear every day are instantly recognizable and we know what they mean without any further explanation, but we often hear of new acronyms and don’t fully understand whey them mean, or what purpose they serve.

One very important acronym that you have likely heard - but may not know much about - is N.A.P. Simply put, N.A.P stands for:

N=Name

A= Address

P= Phone

Those three things are all critical elements that should be very visible on your website because search engines look for that data in order for your business to show up on geo-targeted searches and maps.

This may sound like common sense, but in reality, most businesses have some discrepancies when it comes to the accuracy of the information on their website. These things often happen when there are several people managing profiles and directories for your business.

Consistency is the key when it comes to N.A.P.

In addition to making sure that your name, address and phone number are accurate, the other critical element of N.A.P. is ensuring that everything is listed consistently - this includes using the same spelling and formatting every time.

The first thing we do when researching a new client is run a scan to check for N.A.P. consistency and most of business owners who turn to us to assist with their marketing have varied address information or conflicting phone numbers and even multiple names that show up with their listings.

In order for proper NAP consistency, you should be using your company’s full name and full address. It’s up to you whether you choose to use full words or just abbreviations, but it is extremely important to stick with one and use it consistently whenever it is listed.

For example, You can choose either 123 Main Street, or 123 Main St. - either is fine - as long as they’re always the same. Likewise, your phone number listing should also be consistent; some companies prefer (555) 234-5678 while others use 555-234-5678 or even 555.234.5678. The choice is yours, just stick with whatever format you choose.

Why is N.A.P. so important for SEO?

N.A.P. is critical for a local business if they want to rank high in organic search results because the process of influencing the ranking of your business is consistent of N.A.P. The quality of a website where the N.A.P. is consistent influences the validity and quality of the website.

If you have consistency, Google views that as the ultimate "match" and rewards you with a higher ranking. The most important information is a match aligning the data. So if your website had one phone number and a directory online has the same phone number address and a DIFFERENT phone number, you not have the ULTIMATE result.

The best and most important leads will come from sites that pay attention to this. You want to be as consistent as possible with all your online listings.There are so many online directories used for more than just a search by the general public. If your name is there, it should be consistent. The base is what you have on Google my Business listing. This will be your base.

What makes this process more challenging, if you make manual changes, your information may easily revert to another listing form elsewhere on the web. You need to stay on top of this and we can do this for you at Bloomerang. We not only insure your listing is correct, we GUARANTEE it will remain correct going forward. This is the very first step of maximizing your online presence, understanding and paying attention to your N.A.P. Give us a call, or leave a comment below to get started, or you can run a free scan yourself here to check your own NAP consistency.

This Used to be a $40 "Make it Nice" Bouquet - Now it's SKU# 234FG36N! What Happened?

It seems like only yesterday you could take an order and just “Make it nice.” The entire retail floral industry was built on that common request, and that’s all you had to do – fill to the value requested by the customer and “make it nice.”

Then the Internet came along and completely changed the expectations of our customers by showing images of what can be expected.

Now you can’t just “make it nice” anymore, you have to “make it look like the picture.” You need the flowers, containers, balloons and even a ribbon…that HAS to match!

Meanwhile, prices continue to drop lower and lower to the point where it’s impossible to make a profit anymore. Consequentially, local florists have been dropping like flies. Some smartened up and others sold or closed shop. The rest will soon have to make some important decisions – and big changes.

So now what?

You have two options to survive, but inevitably you’ll have to choose one.

Option #1 is to redesign your operations to maximize the opportunity to be a fulfillment florist. With this option, 1-800 Flowers gets you the orders and you fill them. You build the facility, you pay for all the containers and they send you the orders with 1-800 Flowers labels and branding all over them. You’ll stay busy because 1-800-Flowers will continue to get orders and take business and send them back to you with significant cuts. Are you laughing? It’s happening now.

Option #2 is to start marketing and realize that no one is going to hand you success. Marketing takes work on your part, but you still have allies that can help you out. One that comes to mind is Teleflora.

Teleflora is the only company out there competing for orders and NOT direct shipping flowers. I can honestly say, I have seen them at work and their focus is on florist to florist business, containers and technology for florists to use to compete. They’ve even gone so far as to fight against order gatherers by kicking Wesley Berry out of their ranks for deceptive business practices. They truly are the only company I see helping local florists, but they can only do so much – the rest is up to you.

How can I compete with the “big guys” for orders?

Google Pay-Per-Click marketing is the single most important thing you can do to compete for orders. Organic listings on Google will no longer net you a top listing – no matter how well your SEO efforts may be.

Below is a Google search for florists in Dallas, Texas – the fifth largest media market in the United States. Who is at the top? Four well known order gatherers that don’t even have brick-and-mortar shops anywhere in the country, let alone in Texas. Why are they there? Because they use Pay-Per-Click to be at the top – leapfrogging ahead of every local florist in the entire Metroplex.

In the second graphic, you can see that Beneva Flowers is the highest listed shop in Sarasota, Florida (ahead of Ava’s and other order gatherers) due to Pay-Per-Click marketing efforts. This is why it is so important to understand how PPC works. We are happy to help you with this as I grew my company using it since 1998.

The game has changed and our beloved industry is a completely different animal than it was even a few years ago. Local florists are being squeezed out of the industry at an alarming rate, but there will always be a place for flower shops as long as customers are able to find them; effective marketing is the key to survival.

What about the wire orders?

If you’ve made the decision to stay in the game and have no desire to become a fulfillment florist, you still face the issue of what to do with filling orders from other florists. There is nothing wrong with filling orders – it’s what makes our industry special and unique. It worked well in the past and can work very well again in the future if we can all agree on some guidelines and adjust expectations nationwide by all florists.

Today we are seeking more and more florists speaking from both sides of their mouths. On one hand, they say they don’t want to keep filling orders, yet when the next phone line rings and it’s for a $100 order, they’ll take it. In fact, many of the same florists who won’t spend 7-10 percent of their annual sales on advertising (because they think it’s too expensive) will turn around and give up 30% to fill orders.

There is only one way to fix this, but we all need to agree on the following:



That is how we can keep the wire order alive and well. We need the industry to come together. Will this happen? It’s up to you.

Do you agree? Are you already on our INSIDER list of shops we contact for advice? Are you just a spectator that is waiting for everyone else to do it?

Regardless, we need you. Our industry needs a movement to standardize and create an expectation for the industry to meet and/or exceed. The consequences are, we do it, or 1-800 Flowers will do it for us. They already are, Look around, it’s coming.

If you want an industry that works, share this and be sure to add your name to the list. I’m here to help you – please let me know what I can do.

-Art

FTD Files for Bankruptcy: What Does This Mean for the Floral Industry?

As many of you are aware, FTD Companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. While this news isn’t necessarily surprising considering some of FTD’s recent struggles, it has certainly created some concern in the floral industry since so many of us have relied on their wire service and products to help us run our businesses.

While this announcement isn’t good news for investors and likely signifies the end of FTD as a publicly traded company, it isn’t time for florists to panic just yet. FTD has stated that all customer deliveries will continue and said they have reached a tentative deal to sell their flower delivery business in North and South America to Nexus Capital. They also have offers on two of their subsidiaries: Personal Creations and Shari’s Berries; and are selling their International business to the Wonderful Co.  – the private company that also owns Teleflora.

This is a situation that I am keeping a close eye on and I will update you whenever new information is available. In the meantime, you can check out some of my thoughts on the FTD bankruptcy in the video below. Please feel free to call me or send me an email if you have questions or concerns that you’d like to discuss.

FTD filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week leading stock shares to drop about 75% of their value. While this may likely be the end of FTD Companies as a publicly traded company and bad news for investors, florists who rely on FTD for wire orders and service need not worry just yet.