Christmas Shopping Nightmares!

I just received the following email from a customer, and it was like a lightbulb went off!

Now here was a way to avoid Christmas shopping nightmares (thanks Maria).

First though, here's the email:

"Frank, as per our conversation and according with the list that I am attaching, please quote for us the gourmet- Christmas baskets for our customers in South America. Thank you once again this year!!!

Maria J."

Attached was a list of corporations, the names of the individuals, addresses, phone numbers, greeting card messages, and the Product Order Codes for the gift baskets that Maria wanted to send.

What was neat was the destinations:

• Chile
• Argentina (2)
• Ecuador (2)
• Peru
• Uruguay
• Venezuela
• Costa Rica, and
• Mexico

Ten different recipients, in 8 different countries.

What was really efficient was in one simple email with an attached spreadsheet, Maria's Christmas shopping nightmares were avoided.

No long phone calls.

No cumbersome online order forms.

No searching for a florist in each and every city, hoping that they do quality work.

Just a simple email to simonsaysroses at shaw.ca

And once the prices are confirmed, all we have to do is phone Maria for her credit card details.

Sweet, simple, and very, very efficient.

And now her shopping was out of the way.

This is something that many of our customers might consider, for multiple destinations around town, Christmas flowers across Canada, or even in Maria's case...around the world!

 Now I just need to promote the service! ;)

I saw Mommy doing THIS to Santa Claus

Mommy could be doing much worse than just kissing Santa Claus.

You see, Santa Claus is Canadian.
He lives at the North Pole.
And the North Pole IS in Canada...I don't care what other countries say.
Yup, good old Santa creates employment when he hires Canadian elves.
He pays federal, territorial, and municipal taxes in Canada.
Mrs. Claus was even born in Regina (I know her personally).

But when Mommy orders her Christmas flowers, gourmet baskets, fruit baskets or centrepieces, Mommy could be doing all sorts of unintentional "evil" to our Canadian-born Santa Claus:

• Mommy could be ordering Christmas flowers & gifts from a BIG company out of the U.S., like FTD.com, Teleflora, 1-800 Flowers, Wesley Berry, From You Flowers or Just Flowers. These companies take the profits right out of the pockets of Canadian florists and "re-patriate" them to the States. These businesses may look like they are based in Canada. They're not. Simon Says Roses however, IS Canadian. We even cheer for the Canucks. Now how Canadian is that?
• Mommy could be shopping locally, but the shop is not Canadian owned. Same as the above, the business looks like it is based in Canada, but true ownership is not Canadian. Walmart Canada, Canada Safeway, Home Depot...all U.S. based. They hire local people, pay local taxes, but the profit...the profit goes south.
• Mommy could be driving to the U.S. to do her Christmas shopping. Hmmm...when Canadian stores start closing down and her taxes increase, Mommy will know why. Santa Claus is not impressed.
• Unlike Mommy, Santa Claus looks for the "Made in Canada" sticker on all his gifts. After all, he feeds the reindeer with Saskatchewan grain, replaces Rudolph's red rose with lights from Rona (not Lowe's), and even gets his replacement parts for his sleigh from Magna. And when he's lost (he really does sometimes) he uses the GPS on his Blackberry, not his I-phone or Android!

This Christmas, please make the choice to shop in Canada....from a Canadian-owned business.

We would all benefit in the long run, don't you think?