What gift to get Baba for her 90th Birthday?

It's Baba's 90th Birthday today in Yorkton!

But what gift to get her? How to celebrate, without going overboard?

Our sender in Regina had so many choices for delivery...

...flowers, a fruit basket, mixed gourmet foods, chocolates...

But she lives in a seniors complex, in a small room with little shelf space, and the temperature is kept overly warm.


We went back & forth with various options & combinations until the sender made the best choice under the circumstances.

 Simon Says Roses SSR2-3610

A single blooming plant in a basket works perfectly!

Low maintenance, bright, colourful, little shelf space, withstand a warm environment...YES!

Love it when the gift matches the sender.

From all of us at Simon Says...Happy Birthday Baba!

#FTD Buys #Proflowers...the Big Just Got BIGGER!

The news is just in.

FTD is buying Proflowers by the end of the year.

For $430 million.

So the big just got bigger.

This will not have much of an impact for flower delivery in Canada, as the Proflowers model of shipping flowers overnight has never worked up here.

In the summer it's too hot...in the winter, way too cold for flowers to be sitting on a tarmac or in the cargo area of our country's airports.

But in the U.S....this will be huge.

Previously, Proflowers would ship their overnight boxes by FedEx for arrival the next day across America. FTD has now purchased this system and the customer base as well.

If the customer wanted same day delivery, they would funnel the orders to local florists by Teleflora.

Now these orders will be funneled to FTD florists, with Teleflora flower shops being cut out of the loop.

And that is going to have a huge impact on whether florists become members of FTD and maybe even drop their Teleflora memberships.

Either way, it's going to be an interesting year in the floral industry!

Online #Flower Orders Made REALLY Easy

In this high tech world, we can sometimes over-complicate things.

Like ordering flowers.

Yes you can order flower arrangements online, and yes you can still order by phone.

But why not a simple email?

But here's what happened to a returning customer that simply wanted to send another floral gift to her friend:

> Hi Dale and Simon(?)
> And a Merry Christmas to you too.
> Yesterday I submitted an order for Santa's Rosy Cheeks SSR1-2932 $53.99, promotion code SSR-CY13 for Patricia D on Salt Spring Island to be delivered December 21st.
> You have delivered flowers to her for me before.
> I did not receive a confirmation email from you so attempted to resubmit this morning. My cart came up as a double order so I did not submit it. My mistake??
> Do you want me to start over again or do you have my original order from yesterday and just not had time to confirm? I know it's a busy time.
> Awaiting your instructions, Iris F

Our response was simple. This was a returning customer. We had all the sender's information already on file. We had all the info for the recipient too.

So instead of asking our customer to go through the entire online ordering process one more time, we sent a simple email reply.

"Thanks, Iris. We have almost everything we need for your flower order in Salt Spring. Can we use the same credit card as your last order, with the number ending in 7654? And if yes, please email reply with the greeting card message. Once received, we'll send you an Order Confirmation Invoice."

Two minutes later, our customer replied authorizing the credit card and supplying the card message.

It can be SO easy sometimes, that we sometimes forget to K.I.S.S.

Do YOU Answer Your Own Phones 24/7?

No, not a secretary or an answering service.

I'm talking about YOU the business owner...actually answering the phone.

Because THAT was our niche.

We answered our own phones...24/7...365. Just call 1-800-705-ROSE(7673) and not only did you get a live body, you got the owner.

When we started with their website back in 1998, we were going to be different.


When you wanted us...you got us...at any time of day or night.

Which was fine during regular business hours.

But how about in the middle of the night? Yup, had to answer within 3 rings and try to sound intelligent when the customer in Singapore wanted to place a flower order for delivery in Kenora.

Washroom break? Not going to happen...the mobile phone & order pad went with me.

Watching my daughter's softball game? Mobile phone & clipboard with order forms attached. Sometimes I even brought my laptop & tethered to my cell phone to get wifi...so I could process the order and our customers didn't have to wait for an Order Confirmation.

Holidays? Nope...the phone went with me.

But did it work? Sure did! We built our internet business from 0 customers to a database of over 37,000 customers today.

But growth has its price.

Something had to give...and it did.

In 2004 at the ripe old age of 43, I had the heart attack. A stent and two angioplasties.

And two days after surgery I was back at my desk taking calls.

But the writing was seriously on the wall. Enough was enough.

We actually incorporated an online shopping cart AND started with an answering service soon after.

Today, I still answer the phones. From 6:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon Monday to Friday, and from 8:00 to 2:00 on Saturday and Sunday.

That's only 62 hours a week, but still better than 168, don't you think?

Are You the Closest #Florist to...???

Do you want the closest florist...or the best flower shop to deliver your gift?

Since when did proximity mean quality?

With over 18,000 florists in Canada & the U.S....

How do YOU know whether a shop is good?

The answer is...you probably won't have a clue.

 
There are three ways to find a florist in Canada on the 'net for nationwide deliveries:

1. Search for florist or flowers, plus the city you're looking for. This will give you a whole pile of results whether you're using Google, Bing, or Yahoo. There is no certainty as to what flower shop is good or not. Roll the dice & take your chances.
2. Go to a "monster" brand like FTD or Teleflora that have a number of members. They will chose the shop that will fill your order. Again, it won't necessarily be the best shop...it might even be the shop that owes them the most money that fills your order!
3. Use a trusted internet florist like Simon Says Roses. We know the best shops in all cities and major towns in Canada. We've developed a relationship with shop owners & staff all over the country, as we've been in the business for over 20 years. Many shops get hundreds of orders a year from us, worth thousands of dollars. You get a professional, quality gift...or it gets replaced. And the shop may lose our business if they mess up your order, so chances are small that it won't be done properly.

Our motto is "our job is to make you look good".

We take our job very seriously!

The Internet's Broken...I Can't Find a Florist!

So we take an order for birthday flowers in Princeton, B.C.

Shouldn't be a problem as we've sent orders to the only shop in town a number of times before.

The town is too small for the florist to be a member of FTD, Teleflora, or 1-800 flowers as there simply isn't the volume of orders to make it worthwhile.

But as a service to our customers, we end up putting these orders on our business credit card. We don't get any commission on these orders...it's simply a service we're providing.

So we start calling at noon yesterday. Once an hour until closing. Hmmm...no answer...so we start again at 9:00 this morning with the same result.

No answer...no voice mail....is the shop out of business?

So now I put on my detective's cap.

The order was going to a nursing home, so I tried phoning there.

"Yes, the shop that you've always used in the past is now closed. There's a new place that opened two weeks ago. Sweet Somethingorother. Nope...sorry...don't know the phone number."

Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but it was a start.

So we tried a Google search...no luck. Probably too new for a website.

Sat back & thought for a minute as to where else in Princeton might receive a lot of flowers. The hospital!!!

Did a Google search & called, but the operator had no answer...BUT...the hairdresser might know!

So she gives me the number for the hair salon and I call over there.

"YES...there is a shop that just opened a few doors down. Hold on a second, and I'll walk over there with the phone...Hi, it's Ron speaking...sure we'll take your order".

Long story short, we placed the order over the phone.

Gotta' love small towns.

Easiest Way to Order ANYTHING on the Internet

We all want an easy way to order things on the 'net. We want to do it fast...and keep it simple.

Is it online through a shopping cart with a bunch of information that you have to fill out?

How about picking up the phone? But you still need to recite all the information.

Or maybe the single easiest way to order anything on the internet might be...

EMAIL!!!

Just received this email from a customer...

"Hi, Frank. I'd like to order flowers again for my Mom (Julie Smith) on her birthday for November 12th. Her information hasn't changed, and mine hasn't either.
Please send the same thing as last year (she loved what you sent), with the same card message. Use the credit card we used for Mother's Day, ending in "4398". Please send me an Invoice by email once it's done. Any problems, let me know.

Thanks much. Jim Smith."


We pulled up Jim's file by searching on his name, together with his Mom's name, and we copied last year's order changing only the delivery date to this year.

Short...sweet...and all the information we need is there.

When you have a relationship with your customers, ordering can be REALLY easy!