We all work so hard and we love what we do, so why not document our wonderful business by taking some photos. I love taking pictures at the shop, especially when we are having fun. Take photos, post to your website, on flickr, on your Facebook Fan page, show the world what a great place you have. Show them the fantastic work you do. Let them know you are an independent business, family owned and operated. Make copies for your staff so they too. You'd be shocked at the response you'll get. I've had staff send them home to their parents. Why? Because it makes them proud. It's a way of showing their family what they do and they will always remember the good times they had working at your shop.
Dear Customer -
ReplyDeleteI wanted to let you know about the company where your order came from. They are what we call an “order gatherer shop”. They are not a real florist but just a computer phone bank that takes orders and then sends them to a local florist at a substantial discount. At which we fill to the full value given minus our delivery fee. Many of these order gathers add a service fee of $14.99—$19.99 which they have the sender believe is a delivery fee. It is not. That is an additional fee that they charge to take your order.
I encourage your family to order from a real florist such as myself. I am an Independent florist, with roots in this community. When an order is placed at my shop you are speaking with real people that have knowledge and understanding of flowers.
I want you to know that we received your order on May 10, 2010. The order they gave us was under our minimum for delivery. We messaged “For you flowers” twice, indicating that we would be holding the order until they resolved this issue. We never heard from them until 3:00 yesterday.
We are concerned for our reputation and are no longer accepting orders from any order gatherer company, such as “For you flowers” “Just flowers and any other name they go under”, and “1-800 flowers”. We at Fantasy Flowers feel that they hurt the flower industry by providing poor service and follow-up.
Just wanted you to know the whole story and encourage you to place orders with local florists that are valuable businesses in your community. Support your local retailer.
Sincerely yours
(This is a copy of what I sent to a recipient of an order that was delayed because of the order gatherer not getting back to us)
You are so right! We get tremendous responses to pictures we post on Facebook. Humans are visual creatures - it's best to show rather than tell whenever you can. It's a beautiful way to interest & involve people.
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