Canadian Florist - September 2017

September/October 2017

canadianfloristmag.com

Why

You

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Vol. 112 No. 5 • September/October 2017

features 12 16 Because of the store, we coach, we teach, we get involved in fundraising. We don’t just attend these things; we want to organize them. It’s way more valuable than these networking groups. What’s a networking group? Just a bunch of people getting together for the sole purpose of sharing business cards.

20 24

22

Community Connection Philanthropic Ideas to Grow Your Business Employees First The Cost of Disengagement —And How to Prevent It Interns: They Do a Business Good Train Prospective Employees From the Ground Up Data-Driven Event Pricing Why You Should Charge More for In-Demand Wedding Dates

online Network with florists online

-Italo Paris

Have Your Say - Visit us online at CanadianFloristMag.com to share your comments on our articles, and be a part of the conversation.

06 departments 6

Bloomin’ Biz/ Coast to Coast

10

Florist Spotlight

22

By Design

26

Rising to the Occasion

27

Life at Work

28

Ask the SEO

30

Jennifer’s Journeys

34

On the Level with Neville

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by Katie Hendrick

FROM THE

EDITOR

Perhaps the most formative experience of my childhood was attending—and, eventually, working at—Camp Kahdalea. For 11 summers, I traveled to the mountains of North Carolina where I dabbled in all kinds of outdoor activities, including horseback riding, rock climbing, and white water rafting; made lifelong friendships; grew my confidence immeasurably; solidified my moral compass; and learned, time and again, the importance of teamwork.

At the helm of this magnificent place: owner and director Anne Trufant. As a child, I looked up to Anne with complete awe. She exuded authority, but also compassion and playfulness. Never one to take herself too seriously, Anne frequently let campers dress her in goofy outfits, fling flour/mud/pies at her, and toss her into the camp lake.

In my latter Kahdalea years, when I worked as a junior counsselor (JC) and then as a counsselor, I came to understand the secrets of her leadership and how she mobilized a group of 50 or so college students (all a bit naïve and immature) to mentor and nurture impressionable girls from second to tenth grade, providing them with a memorable and moving experience that was so much more than a vacation. A mother of seven, Anne no doubt knew how to create order. I also suspect her background as a social worker and a missionary taught her to steer people with a gentle touch.

Every Saturday night, following a fun, but tiring game like “capture the flag,” the JCs would supervise campers during a low-key activity while the counsselors and Anne would have a marathon meeting to review high points and low points of the previous week and map out a plan for the next. Anne always led by example and clearly communicated camp values and her expectations of the staff.

We were to be present with the campers at all times, monitoring for cliques, self-doubt, and troubles leftover from home. There were specific duties, as well, such as writing “mommy letters” to campers’ parents once a week and choosing daily devotional readings before breakfast.

She listened to our frustrations and acknowledged our exhaustion, but encouraged us to persevere.

To reiterate our purpose, she’d read us letters from past campers and parents that spelled out what Kahdalea meant to them. With the big picture in mind, we rallied.

It’s been nearly 15 years since my camp days, but I’ve thought of Anne often while putting together this issue, which we’ve devoted to leadership. Workplace culture has been thrust to the forefront this year, thanks to some high-profile incidents at places like Uber and the White House. Though those examples may have received the most news coverage, the problem appears to be pretty pervasive.

Forbes named attrition as a major issue of the modern day, citing frightening statistics, such as the average tenure of employees of any age (4 years) and the percentage of workers actively looking for new opportunities (76 percent). This is a scourge on any company, but especially so for small businesses. Losing employees can be emotional, finding their replacements can be stressful, and training them can be expensive.

To prevent you from landing in this maddening cycle, we asked successful florists and business experts to share their best practices for engaging and empowering workers. From vetting candidates to training new hires to voicing appreciation for loyal workhorses, the advice that poured in reminded me so much of what happened (and, presumably, still goes on) at Camp Kahdalea. I’m confident you’ll find it enlightening and learn some new ideas to make your business even stronger.

Vol. 112 No. 5 Editor Katie Hendrick khendrick@CanadianFloristMag.com 800-314-8895 ext 106 Advertising Manager advertising@CanadianFloristMag.com Publisher Ryan Freeman ryan@CanadianFloristMag.com Media Designer Ruby Coles Publication Mail Agreement #42919543 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO Strider Media, 6-6150 Highway 7, Suite 400, Woodbridge, ON L4H 0R6 distribution@CanadianFloristMag.com Printed in Canada ISSN 1700-5043

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e-mail: distribution@CanadianFloristMag.com Tel: 800-314-8895 ext 2 Fax: 800-755-7032 Mail: 6-6150 Highway 7, Suite 400

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Dedicated to the memory of Bill Martin, and all those who gave of their time and resources to build up our industry.

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@CanadianFlorist September/October 2017 | CANADIAN Florist 4

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©2017 Smithers-Oasis Company. All rights reserved. OASIS® and VERTICAL BAR DESIGN® are registered trademarks of Smithers-Oasis Company.

Lessons in Leadership

©2017 Smithers-Oasis Company. All rights reserved. OASIS® and VERTICAL BAR DESIGN® are registered trademarks of Smithers-Oasis Company.

a collaboration of traditions

As a member of the Pueblo people in NM and a floral designer, I believe it is important for the couple to have aspects of both cultural heritages represented in the bouquet. This arrangement harmoniously brings natural elements, using foliage and wire accents, from two Native American tribes — the Gila River and Pueblo people.

Let our featured designers inspire you at oasisfloralproducts.com/inspire

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SHAYAI LUCERO EARTH & SKY FLORAL DESIGNS Old Laguna, New Mexico MOST INSPIRATIONAL FLORAL DESIGN: Wedding Bouquet

You too can be featured in the Inspire Design Showcase!

Follow us on Facebook for the upcoming themes.

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bloomin’

biz

Twice as Nice: Farm to Canada Upsizes Facility to Meet Growth

By Kathryn Deen

This flower company had a problem to be envied. For the past several years, Farm to Canada’s business boomed with double-digit sales growth year-over-year, and its building was bursting at the seams. So, the 15-yearold wholesale floral importer and distributor decided to make the leap and move to a larger facility this summer. After signing a seven-year lease, the company opened its new doors on June 19 at 1070 Mid Way Blvd., Unit #9 in Mississauga, Ontario.

“We are now well positioned to continue expanding and growing our business,” Business Development Manager Darren Russell told Canadian Florist.

As a result, Farm to Canada already hired its 11th employee with room for another five or six staff members. And the company kissed its less-than-ideal temporary refrigerator units goodbye.

It all started about a year and a half ago, when the owners and managers began talks of relocating to a more spacious facility.

leadership team started planning eight months before the move.

The company created a detailed timeline that accounted for logistics, such as designing and building new offices and transporting two coolers.

Russell advises any business considering a move to plan at least six months in advance and to consider the costs, as well as city regulations and bylaws that may require architectural drawings and building permits.

“The biggest challenge was the final push,” Russell said.

Within a three-day weekend, Farm to Canada moved its coolers, phone and computer systems and office furniture and reopened Monday with everything up and running. With all hands on deck, a tractortrailer and some coffee for fuel, they had a relatively seamless transition. And already the rewards have been aplenty.

Their priority? To stay within the 2-kilometer “Our staff love the improved work radius of the Mississauga Flower Circle near Toronto Pearson environment and extra space, while our customers International Airport. are loving all the extra room,” Russell said. “It’s a “In the (Greater Toronto Area) flower market, location is the much better, more positive work environment.” most important thing,” Russell said. “We needed to be in the The added square footage allows for improved Flower Circle for the many customers who pick up their flowers efficiency during Farm to Canada’s weekly flower and to also be centrally located for distribution and delivery to shipments from farms in Ecuador, Colombia, our customer base.”

Costa Rica and Guatemala, as well as its frequent With this focus, the team visited several potential buildings during a six-month span. The one that won out is in the same complex as its former facility, right across the parking lot, “making an easy transition for our customers,” Russell said.

distributions to everything from small flower shops to large, mass-market stores.

company can do all its processing in a controlled environment.

The new look “signifies a fresh start,” Russell said.

“It’s positive, bright and professional.”

Farm to Canada sells fresh flowers and flower food, specializing in premium hydrangea and roses. Four Easy indeed. The sign on the old door reads, “We’ve moved. farms supply the company with a total of about 15 Look behind you.” colours of hydrangea, and 13 rose farms provide At 10,000 square feet, the new warehouse is triple the size about 350 rose varieties. of the old one, allowing Farm to Canada’s current business Farm to Canada’s leadership decided that the move volume to operate more comfortably while providing for future was the right time to tack on a few other changes, expansion, Russell said. like launching a new company logo and an updated Plus, the cooler space doubled to 2,000 square feet, so now the colour scheme.

Before, workers processed boxes outside on the warehouse dock. But now, all the receiving, labeling, and processing happens in the new cooler space, protecting the flowers from the elements.

Also, the reception area quintupled.

Have a look for yourself. Stop in during business hours, or check out the open house in September, when you can tour the new facility and attend an on-site design show. Visit the company’s Facebook page for event details.

As sweet as the deal was, moving always comes with a few Then, keep an eye out for Farm to Canada’s thorns. expanded offerings. Within the next year or so, the To make the process as smooth as possible, Farm to Canada’s company plans to start selling hard goods.

Secrets to Success

Are you wondering how Farm to Canada’s business continues to grow? Business Development Manager Darren Russell isn’t surprised the wholesale flower importer and distributor has seen double-digit sales growth yearover-year for the past several years.

Here, he shares the company’s recipe for success: Business Model: Farm to Canada has a smart system. It waits for customers to place orders instead of stocking up from its suppliers first. That way, the flower boxes that are shipped to Farm to Canada go directly to its customers unopened.

It saves Farm to Canada the hassle of breaking open and separating boxes, transferring flowers to buckets, and then repackaging what gets sold. “It’s the fastest way,” Russell said. Local florists get their flowers five or six days after placing their order. Plus, nothing gets thrown out. Recently, Farm to Canada has added smaller pack size options to accommodate smaller florists, too.

Location: In the Greater Toronto Area flower market, it’s critical to be within the 2-kilometer radius of the Mississauga Flower Circle near Toronto Pearson International Airport. It’s central to local customers and convenient for foreign suppliers.

Quality: The 15-year-old company hasn’t become complacent.

Workers continually evaluate suppliers and seek out the best.

During the last few years, Farm to Canada upgraded the quality of the farms that it buys from.

Savings: Farm to Canada offers competitive prices by keeping overhead costs as low as possible.

For instance, the owners waited until they absolutely needed a bigger facility to move, working within their means and resisting extravagance.

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coast to

Don’t Miss: CAFA’s Anniversary Celebration to Feature Renowned Designer He’s kind of a big deal, and he’s coming to an event near you.

World-renowned Russian floral designer Roman Steinhauer will headline Canadian Academy of Floral Art’s 25th anniversary celebration this fall.

Save the dates for an onstage demonstration show from 3-7 p.m., Oct. 22, and a hands-on workshop from 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 23, in the Floral Hall at Toronto Botanical Garden, 777 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1P2.

“Floral designers all over should come to network, to connect, and to watch firsthand as designers create these pieces of art and put them on display,” said CAFA President Julie Drago, AIFD, CAFA. The event, sponsored by CAFA’s founders and local wholesalers, is open to the public. Ticket prices will be announced in August.

You’ll have opportunities to meet the artist, connect with other talented fresh flower designers, learn new tips, and leave inspired.

You also can support a noble cause. A 50/50 raffle and silent auction of Steinhauer’s work will benefit the Norman Disch Foundation, which funds budding floral designers’ education through Seneca College.

In case you’re wondering what sets Steinhauer apart, the list is lengthy. Last year, he took second place in the Europa Cup, one of the world’s most prestigious floral design competitions; he’s been a featured designer in “International Floral Art” and “Fusion” magazines; he won the Russian Cup of Professional Floristry in 2010 and 2011; and he’s given several presentations at worldwide floral shows and exhibitions of distinction.

“He’s very creative,” Drago said. “He’s current and he hasn’t really been seen by the North American public.”

On Oct. 22, Steinhauer will spend about two hours demonstrating his style of design and art onstage.

A translator will be on hand.

“You can see him create a masterpiece from what seems to be a box of odds and ends,” Drago said.

He’ll make roughly 15 to 20 pieces, including handtied bouquets, wood or metal armatures, and European-style pieces.

Throughout the demonstration, CAFA board member Inta Taurins, AIFD, CAFA, WFC, will provide commentary. “She’s knowledgeable and entertaining,” Drago said. “She’ll keep people on edge and she’s very good at describing what’s

COAST

Roman Steinhauer

going on.”

Also, attendees vying for some accolades may enter a design competition with monetary prizes and awards. Anyone who buys an event ticket can compete, but contestants must pre-register. Entries will be judged by a group of professionals and winners will be announced at the event.

But that’s not all for day one. “We’ll have some surprises and entertainment as well as other floral designers,” Drago said.

Later that day, CAFA’s student and professional leadership for the coming year will be inducted onstage.

Then, on Oct. 23, Steinhauer will lead a hands-on workshop, where materials, breakfast, and lunch will be provided.

Participants may take home what they make. There are limited spots available for this portion of the event.

“Learn different techniques and see a different view from another person’s eye,” Drago said. “It’s very exciting.”

To sign up for the design competition and workshop, email juliedrago@rogers. com.

Details will be released soon on discounted hotel rates and more on CAFA’s Facebook page.

25 Years of CAFA Happy birthday to the Canadian Academy of Floral Art. In honour of the organization, here’s a peek at its recent accomplishments: •

Involved with the annual Canada Blooms show

•

Participated in the American Institute of Floral Designers symposium

•

Involved with The JUNO Awards in Vancouver, Calgary, St. John's and Toronto

•

Presented floral designs for the Queen and for Ontario Tourism

•

Presented design shows in Montreal, Niagara Falls and on the east coast

•

Participated in various charity events

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COMING

EVENTS coast to

COAST

Major Hype:

SEPTEMBER

6: Floral Strategies Webinar: Advanced Customer Service Skills Floralstrategies.com 6-9: Society of American Florists annual convention Palm Beach, Florida Safnow.org

Canada’s Largest Wholesaler to Unveil New Showroom

By Kathryn Deen

17-18: Florists Supply Design Show and Workshop with Neville MacKay, CAFA, PFCI Edmonton, Alberta Floristssupply.com

“This is the big one!”

So says Susan Clarke, marketing manager of Hofland, Canada’s largest flower wholesaler, in reference for the company’s new, yearround showroom designated for its Accent Decor line, AD@Hofland.

The grand opening was August 12, in Hofland’s building, 6695 Pacific Circle, Mississauga, Ontario L5T 1V6.

This is the big one! “We are in an industry that is very visual and tactile,” Clarke said.

“Customers want to see if the product is that specific colour they are looking for, or feel the texture. Our customers will be able to shop at their convenience in an atmosphere created to inspire!”

The 5,500-square-foot showroom has been a topic of discussion since Hofland launched AD@ Hofland three years ago. Integrating the line into Hofland’s product offering has gone through a number of evolutions, and now it’s time to unveil it in all its glory.

It’s been a whirlwind. The biggest challenge was the tight timeline. Hofland decided on the new showroom in April and started demolition and construction by the end of May. Another hurdle was finding space to display the line’s 3,500-plus items in Hofland’s building.

17-18: Florists Supply Design Show and Workshop with Donald Yim, AIFD Winnipeg, Manitoba Floristssupply.com 17-18: Florists Supply Design Show and Workshop with Loann Burke, AAF, AIFD, PFCI Vancouver, British Columbia Floristssupply.com 23: Society of American Florists 1-Day Profit Blast Boston, Massachusetts Safnow.org 27-28: CanWest Hort Show Abbotsford, British Columbia Canwesthortshow.com

OCTOBER

4-5: Canadian Greenhouse Conference Niagara Falls, Ontario Canadiangreenhouseconference.com 4-6: ProFlora Bogota, Colombia Proflora.org

Hofland President Glenn Hofland and Operations Manager Ben Jardine tackled the puzzle of what to move where and devised a plan for the showroom in the southeast corner of the building, adjacent to Hofland’s Cash & Carry store.

10: Floral Strategies Webinar: Easily Cut Costs and Boost Profits with Derek Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI Floralstrategies.com

The Marketing Department had used the majority of the space as storage for product samples and showroom/trade show props.

18-20: Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association Floral Distribution Conference Miami, Florida Wffsa.org

Currently, staff is busy categorizing and labeling product samples and Hofland’s merchandising specialist is sourcing props to tell four themed stories.

“Accent Decor spends an incredible amount of time researching trends and product development,” Clarke said. “They tell amazing stories with their products! We want to bring those stories to our customers.”

A Closer Look

AD@Hofland’s new showroom will tell four inspiring stories: Calexico: Whitewashed and weathered surfaces show the slow, sure hand of the sea and sky, a landscape dotted with woven textiles, earthy pottery, and sangria hues. There is a constant, calming sense of flow. All is easy, unhurried, and coolly imperfect.

Elusive Dynasty: Marvel at an estate filled with wonder. Rich, bold colours drip down the walls and set your mind adrift. Carved from luxury and legacy, gilded by fortune and age, draped in reams of velvet and silk, La Grande Maison unfolds before you.

Leaf and Line: High-gloss greenery thrives in the limelight. A pink glow beckons your curiosity as you wander through the gallery-meets-greenhouse. Sleek and inspiring, minimal design have maximum impact.

E and E: Eric and Eloise are the heart of the holiday collection, conveying the spirit, companionship, and wonder of the season. This storybook collection provides a sense of home found right in the center of a wintry, wooded clearing that speaks of magic and mystery.

22-23: Canadian Academy of Floral Art Fall Show and Workshop Toronto, Ontario Cafachat.com

NOVEMBER

15-17: Expo-FIHOQ: Fédération interdisciplinaire de l’horticulture ornementale du Québec Drummondville, Quebec Expofihoq.com

APRIL 2018

21: Canadian Florist Business Forum St. Catharines, Ontario Canadianfloristmag.com 22: Niagara International Association of Florists Design Show St. Catharines, Ontario niaflorists.org

Organizing an upcoming event readers should know about?

EMAIL khendrick@canadianfloristmag.com

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FLORIST The Healing Power of SPOTLIGHT

Flowers Flows From — and to — Their Designer

By Christy O’Farrell

This past Mother’s Day weekend, Vahini Franklin wasn’t served breakfast in bed, or treated to brunch at her favourite restaurant. She was busy launching her business, Blue Blossoms, at a pop-up shop at Union Station during the Blossom and Bloom show in Toronto, an open market showcasing local creative businesses.

While she missed sharing her special day with her sons, 19-month-old Noah, and 4-month-old Zion, and her husband, Pradhan, it was at the pop-up that she discovered how popular her boxed bouquets were because they sold out. After that, she decided to specialize in arrangements in decorative boxes, which include foam to keep the flowers hydrated.

“A lot of people are liking that,” Franklin said. “They liked my style. It wasn’t just the regular roses in the boxes. I had done bouquet style in a box.”

Franklin said customers fancy the boxes because they are unique. While watching proposal and wedding highlight videos, she noticed that grooms often present engagement rings and gifts with floral bouquets, so she thought, “Why not do both in one box?” On her Instagram account, she posted a photo of an all-in-one package, and a woman told her fiancé a few weeks before their wedding how much she liked it, so he bought one to give her a necklace.

The concept really resonates with the Hindu community, she said, explaining that it is customary for the groom to give his bride a gift just before she walks down the aisle.

The Mother’s Day pop-up “showed me this is something I would be successful at,” Franklin said. “It might not work for everybody, but it definitely worked for me.”

For now, Franklin enjoys the freedom and flexibility of working from home to fill orders because she can take care of her sons at the same time. “It’s easy for me,” she said. “If they need anything I can just pause.” She didn’t rule out the possibility of opening a physical shop in the future.

A CALMING VOCATION Franklin found her way to floristry after the birth of her second son. She says her new career is part of her recovery process from the post-partum depression she experienced after the birth of her first son. She had been studying community and criminal justice, but continuing at university with two babies seemed like too much to take on. “I really didn’t know if I could manage all that,” she said.

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Franklin said she’s not 100 percent recovered from depression, but is “definitely in a better place right now.”

She said she kept her problems and feelings to herself for too long. “I put on a smile and walk around keeping this disease a secret, afraid of what society will say because I do not want to be judged,” she wrote in late June in a blog post on TamilCulture.com, a forum for Tamil men and women.

She described having to hide her unexpected pregnancy and being unable to feel joy when her son arrived.

“I felt hopeless and worthless,” Franklin wrote in her blog post. “I would ask myself constantly; what has my life come to? Changing diapers and cleaning vomit? I never wanted to be a housewife and I have never been without a job since I was 16 years old.”

She eventually opened up to her husband, who supported her, leading her to professional help.

“I still go to therapy every six weeks,” she said.

Pradhan also reminded her she liked working with flowers, and suggested she enroll at Toronto Flower School in Mississauga. When the Franklins married in 2015, a friend who used to work at a flower shop helped her do their wedding flowers.

Franklin enjoyed it then, but didn’t think of it as a career at that time.

She warmed to her husband’s suggestion and welcomed floral design as another form of therapy. “I can see myself doing that, so I’m not at home and getting depressed again,” she told Pradhan. She took classes in February 2017 while pregnant with Zion, and continues to attend master courses.

“I really loved it,” she said. “I learned a ton.”

Franklin said the school’s creative director, Mary Currie, continues to help her. “If I have any questions, she’s always there,” Franklin said. Currie and her sister also own Monarch Florists in Mississauga.

Franklin said she would like to partner someday with a mental health charity, starting a program where women with post-partum depression or depression could get out of the house, mingle and make floral arrangements.

She advises others who might find themselves in a similar situation: “Talk to somebody about it. The worst thing you

can do is keep it to yourself. No one’s going to judge you. Just get the help you need because it could get worse if you don’t.”

Franklin said she might do a Valentine’s Day pop-up, but she thinks that preorders could be a better option. Though her website, www. blueblossoms.ca, does not allow for online ordering, customers and brides email her their requests. She has gone from receiving maybe one order per week when she first started, to six to nine per week now, including some from Vancouver.

If her business grows to a certain size, she might need a helper, she said. But for now, “I really enjoy doing it myself. I like the peace and quiet when I work. I like to make sure each bouquet has a little bit of me in it.”

Blue Blossoms also has started booking weddings. Franklin’s first wedding was in July; and she has several lined up the rest of this year and into 2018, providing bouquets, centrepieces, floral arches, and, for Hindu brides and grooms, garlands. It’s fun designing creations that brides have always wished for, she said.

Franklin chose the name Blue Blossoms because she’s surrounded by boys at home. Even their dog, Aldo, is male. “I wanted to incorporate all my boys into it,” she said.

“Blue Blossoms is my outlet and escape from the daily routine of raising my beautiful boys and caring for my loving husband,” Franklin said in her blog.

Christy O’Farrell is a freelance writer in Alexandria, Va.

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Community Connection

By Jamie Birdwell-Branson

As a small business owner, you typically wear several hats, ranging from a customer service representative to a CEO to an accountant to a cashier.

Maybe, in a pinch, you even serve as a delivery driver. At the end of an exhausting day, the last thing on your mind is locking up the store and volunteering your time with a community organization.

CARING FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE

At age 14, Heather De Kok, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, fell in love with flowers. Her parents were both in the floral industry and her dad started the Grower Direct franchise, where she worked part time when she was a teenager. At just 21 years old, De Kok However, as some florists can attest, participating in a civic club, coaching bought her mother’s Edmonton, Alberta shop when she was a youth sports team, or sponsoring a charity race is not only good for looking to retire—and she hasn’t looked back since. the soul—it’s also great for business. Here are three unique stories from successful business owners in the floral industry detailing how they get out Initially, De Kok kept to herself, as she was still finding her feet as a young business owner and didn’t have a lot of time to give. in their respective communities and why it pays to do so.

Ride to Conquer Cancer

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“If I’m going to give, I’m one of those people who gives 100 per cent,” she said.

At age 26, she joined Rotary International, of which she’s been a member for 16 years. “I joined Rotary at that time because I knew I wanted to give back, but wasn’t really sure where or how,” she said. Founded in 1905, Rotary International has more than 1.2 million members and clubs on six continents.

After a few years learning the ropes of volunteerism through the large and established humanitarian organization, De Kok branched out to others, as well.

Now she primarily works with The Lurana Shelter in Edmonton, a safe place for women who have been victims of domestic violence.

“When you live and work in your city, you want that place to be as amazing as it can be,” De Kok said.

Hearing that others in her community struggle through difficult times pulls at her heartstrings.

“I live a really lovely life. I don’t make a gazillion dollars, but I’m fortunate enough to have a wonderful home, a wonderful family,” she said. She sees it as her duty to help others have a future of hope and to ensure Edmonton has strong safety nets for people in times of trouble. “You just never know when you may need one of these programs,” she said.

Although De Kok has never tracked the business benefits of her community involvement, she knows it makes a difference. She doesn’t advertise what she does, but said people take notice nonetheless.

“I think likeminded people who donate their time and money like to support those businesses that also give back,” she said, adding that all the Rotarians in her club buy her flowers. “You develop relationships.

Over a period of time, you grow those relationships and those people won’t go anywhere else for flowers when the need arises.”

STEPPING UP AS A ROLE MODEL Italo Paris’s family has been working in the floral industry since he was just a kid. His father, Eligio emigrated from Italy in the mid-1950s and, in 1976, started Ital Florist in Toronto, where Paris and his

two sisters worked during summer breaks from school.

Paris officially joined the family business in 1989, after he graduated from the University of Toronto.

He and his sister, Ester, have been actively running the business for more than 20 years, adhering to their father’s vision of becoming one of the largest floral shops in Toronto’s Italian community. Throughout their tenure, they have seen their small shop grow into a large company that acquired one of Canada’s oldest floral businesses, Tidy’s Flowers.

But as busy and successful as Ital Florist has been, the Paris family always makes time to be a part of the local community, namely with other Italians.

“The immigrants, when they come over, they form their little communities because they have a social need. I think that’s exactly what happened when Dad came over,” Paris said. “Their first social group was everyone from the same hometown in Italy. I don’t think any immigrant group is different in that respect.”

Ital Florist is involved with several community organizations and events, but most notably, the shop hosts a dance for Festa Della Donna (observed on March 8, International Women’s Day), which raises money for “Because I am a Girl,” a global initiative aimed at ending gender inequality. The Paris family also participates in the “Ride to Conquer Cancer” with a team of 15 to 20 riders, coaches several community sports teams, and belong to the Italo-Canadian social club.

“Because of the store, we coach, we teach, we get involved in fundraising,” Paris said. “We don’t just attend these things; we want to organize them. It’s always been in our nature.”

Being a leader in the community draws in customers, Paris said.

“It’s way more valuable than these networking groups. What’s a networking group?

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cards,” he said. “People don’t want a business card. People want to get to know you.”

Organizing an event or coaching a team— heck, even just playing on a team—helps you know people on a more personal level.

“If we like each other, and clearly we do — otherwise we wouldn’t be involved in the same group—we tend to do business with people we know, people we like,” he said.

Though community involvement naturally leads to more business, Paris stresses that you shouldn’t participate solely for the financial benefits. It should be about giving back.

PROMOTING YOUR PASSION Poppy Parsons, AIFD, CAFA, has always had a passion for arts and crafts.

In the ‘90s, she was doing a circuit of craft shows when a job opportunity became available at Smart Flowers in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

“If you’re part of the fabric of the community, it’s a relationship—a give and take. I don’t believe that a business can always take.

That’s not community,” he said. “The essence of the word is common. You have to have a common interest and a common goal. You can’t just always be taking. The more you give the world, the better.”

-Poppy Parsons She worked there for a little less than two years and then left for a job outside of the floral industry.

However, when the owner wanted to sell the business a few years later, he called her at home and asked if she might consider buying it. She said yes and has now been the proud owner for a decade.

Off the clock, Parsons is heavily involved in the local arts scene by both sponsoring and donating money and floral art to several organizations. One of her biggest endeavours is sponsoring a onenight concert at the Long Day’s Night Music Festival, a four-day event that brings artists from all over North America to the stage in Swift Current. In addition to writing a cheque, she donates a floral art piece to be auctioned

off. This gives her a chance to showcase beautiful flowers, artfully designed, to her community. She also lends a hand to the Lyric Theatre, which is housed in a historic building that the city is refurbishing, and volunteers with the local Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“Currently I like to give back through things I’m passionate about,” she said. “It drives you more to be involved.”

Though it’s hard to describe what her charitable work means for her business in concrete sales numbers, she has no doubt that it makes a difference. “People will write thank you letters or pop by after winning a raffle,” she said.

“People see me if I’m attending these events. It builds long-term relationships and this leads to business.”

The most important thing is putting your passion into the place where you live, she said. “If you show what’s meaningful to you, the community remembers that,” she said. “When your community thrives, your business thrives.”

Jamie Birdwell-Branson is a freelance writer in Santa Barbara, California. She enjoys antiquing, biking, and binge watching HGTV.

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Employees

FIRST

By Michelle Brisebois

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, achieved success by prioritizing his staff. “Clients do not come first,” he said. “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

It’s common sense, isn’t it? An engaged workforce will go the extra mile and stay with you for the long haul—two things that should show on the balance sheet. However, statistics suggest that most companies don’t follow Branson’s sage advice.

HOW MANY WORKERS ARE TUNED OUT OR TICKED OFF? According to Aaron Allen and Associates, a restaurant consulting company based in Orlando, Florida, employee engagement worldwide is dismal. Their research found that only 30 percent of employees feel actively engaged in the success of their employer.

An engaged employee is someone who goes above and beyond for your customers.

A disengaged employee does the job with little excitement for the products and services you offer. Actively disengaged employees are more hostile. Think of them as terrorists intent on harming your organization.

They provide poor customer service and often poison other employees with their negative influence. Actively disengaged employees cost companies $550 billion each year.

WHY THE DISREGARD FOR DISENGAGEMENT? Jim Harter, Ph.D., is the chief scientist of workplace management and well being at Gallup, a world-renowned research company in Omaha, Nebraska. When Gallup began measuring employee engagement in the ‘90s, pundits were skeptical. They doubted there were real financial consequences for businesses if engagement faltered. The cynics were quickly silenced as the findings made it abundantly clear that disengagement costs businesses big time. Negative behaviour, which includes no absenteeism,employee retention rates, service levels and productivity, “ultimately adds up to about a 22 percent difference in profitability when you compare top quartile business units to the bottom quartile,” Harter said.

With strong evidence to support the hypothesis that strong employee engagement helps you attract good people, keep good people, and make more money, why are so few employers concerned with their workers’ happiness?

Many companies simply don’t know they have a problem. They don’t accurately assess their workers. Engagement is not only based on employees’ behaviour, but also their perceptions.

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For instance, if someone is working extra hours, the company might interpret that action as a sign of engagement. But, if the employee is working overtime because he’s swamped or afraid of losing his job, that “superstar” may actually be a martyr who is suffering in silence, said Sean Graber, CEO of Virtuali, a leadership consulting company, in a 2015 article for Harvard Business Review.

Other times, company leaders simply choose to stick their heads in the sand. “Sometimes companies focus on the PR benefits of high engagement results and therefore end up asking the question in a way that secures a score designed to please shareholders, not to get to the root of engagement,” said Ellie Maggio, CEO of EMEND Management Consulting, Inc. in Toronto.

Surveys aren’t necessarily the best measurement, nor are they a realistic option for small businesses, Maggio said. “There are ways to measure engagement that are much more cost effective and accurate. At a macro level, things like turnover, absenteeism, tardiness and an increase in short-term and long-term disability claims indicate engagement is slipping,” she said. On a micro level, she suggests looking for changes in communication, such as less feedback, more excuses, finger pointing, refusing work, and issues debated with no real resolution.

HOW TO NURTURE EMPLOYEES Employees are sometimes born disengaged—but they can also be made that way.

Your job as a business owner is to avoid hiring the first kind and avoid creating the second kind. It’s heartbreaking to see people once excited to be part of a team begin to lose their spark.

To ensure you attract employees naturally inclined to be engaging, Maggio recommends businesses do some navel-gazing first to get clear about their own values. “I work with businesses to help them understand their goals, mission and vision so they can then be linked back to things like job descriptions, competencies and employment postings,” she said.

Design interview questions to suss out the candidates with proclivity for engagement. Look for people who are passionate about their current or past work, Maggio said. Does their work have purpose and meaning to them? Are they optimistic about the future? Ask candidates to share stories where they let down their guard, so you can see what really drives them. Maggio also recommends initially bringing in candidates for contracted jobs so you can observe their engagement levels before making them permanent.

If you have a team of naturally engaged personalities, the onus is to create (and maintain) an environment that supports them. “Communication that flows both ways between management and employees is key to engagement,” Maggio said. The gold standard, she said, is a diverse and inclusive work culture in which employees feel a sense of control. Many small businesses don’t have HR departments, so things like job descriptions and performance reviews slip through the cracks. But these are important tools that help employees succeed. Employees cannot be engaged unless they clearly understand your expectations and the impact their contributions have on the business. This knowledge leads to career planning and advancement. “Fair and equitable pay and benefits certainly contribute to engagement,” Maggio said. “But they are not at the top of the list.”

ENGAGEMENT ADVICE FOR RETAILERS The retail segment is different than other types of businesses, Maggio said. “The margins are not as great, so retail employers can’t always compete with the engagement initiatives of large companies,” she said. Allowing flexible schedules and showing empathy for things like childcare and eldercare go a long way, she said, adding that, “the retail workforce is often comprised of people with dependents.”

Maggio also named training, performance incentives, wellness programs, and recognition as ways to boost engagement. These initiatives don’t have to cost a lot. Consider organizing a walking group or negotiating an employee discount at a local gym or yoga studio. Social activities count for a lot too.

Ordering in pizza during a busy week or serving a cake to celebrate a solid month are some low cost gestures that have a big impact.

Commit to heart these words by Max DePree, former CEO of Herman Miller: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”

Michelle Brisebois is a freelance writer who specializes in retail strategies, with experience in luxury goods, restaurants, financial services, and ecommerce.

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the

SOCIAL

FLORIST

Facebook Ads 101: Why They Work and How To Set Them Up Rachel Levy Sarfin

Like other small business owners, florists are faced with a dizzying array of choices to market their shops. All of these competing marketing options are vying for limited budgets.

So, what’s the best way to spend your fixed marketing dollars?

Experts point to Facebook.

Facebook ads allow you to reach your audience at the right time for an affordable price.

Read on for advice to maximize the ROI of your Facebook ads as well as best practices and things to avoid.

WHY ARE FACEBOOK ADS SUCH A GREAT MARKETING TOOL? There are a number of reasons that Facebook ads are so powerful.

Crystal Vilkaitis, CEO of the social media training firm Crystal Media, noted that these ads enable florists to get in front of a “warm” audience—in other words, people who are already familiar with your brand and/or have visited your website. Facebook ads make your business stand out, so you can communicate with this audience and share news of special offers, which in turn boosts sales.

To illustrate the effectiveness of Facebook ads, Vilkaitis shared one of her client’s experiences. The client, the owner of a high-end women’s boutique, employed a social media manager who decided to stop using Facebook ads in spite of the amazing results the boutique had seen. For several months after this decision, the boutique’s sales dropped.

The boutique’s owner realized her social media manager’s mistake. She began running Facebook ads again.

A week after the new ad campaign started, she held a storewide sale. A customer came into the store and explained that even though she didn’t “like” the boutique’s page, the ad came up in her newsfeed. That customer spent $4,800 because of one $50 ad.

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HOW DO I OPTIMIZE FACEBOOK ADS? Vilkaitis recommends several best practices to achieve the best outcomes for your Facebook ads.

While the idea of running Facebook ads might sound daunting, it’s not. Vilkaitis advised florists to “start with a small budget and test a few different ad types such as engagement, page likes, and reach.” Ads are available for as little as $1 per day. “You don’t have much to lose,” she said.

When it comes to writing the content for your ad, Vilkaitis believes authenticity is the best strategy. “Use copy that sounds like you and your business,” she said. Vilkaitis also suggests including emojis, pointing out that there are many flower and plant emojis from which to choose.

Before you commit to a particular message, image, or video, test it, Vilkaitis said. This helps you determine what works and what doesn’t. Experiment with different images, videos, and messages, as well as various audiences and budgets. Don’t be quick to make changes; give the ad somewhere between 48 and 72 hours before altering it, Vilkaitis said.

Want to ensure that your ad reaches the right audience? “Target, target, target,” Vilkaitis urged. Her advice is to focus on warm audience groups first, such as current fans, your email list, and web visitors. Florists can take advantage of the “Life Event” function on Facebook by reaching out to someone who has a friend’s birthday or an anniversary coming up or someone who recently got engaged. By targeting your ads, your message shows up in front of the right person at the right time.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO RUN A FACEBOOK AD? Right now. Facebook ads represent an affordable, lowrisk advertising option for florists. By choosing not to post ads on this highly popular platform, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to reach a wider audience.

As with any other type of marketing, Facebook ads are an investment in time and money.

However, when used properly, they have high ROI. You won’t regret using them.

Rachel Levy Sarfin is a Torontobased freelancer who has written about technology for a variety of publications and blogs.

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Interns: They Do a Business Good

By Tina D. Miller

Picture a budding professional, one with unlimited ideas, a fervour for positivity and development, and an insatiable desire to work on anything, but with little to no experience with the floral industry.

Apprenticeship programs have been around since the 11th century and still persist today. It’s a tried and true concept, and one that benefits more than the wide-eyed young professional yearning to get a foot in the door.

An internship program has far-reaching and multifaceted benefits for the intern, your store, and the community. The intern not only acquires new skills, but he or she increases his or her chance of attaining full-time employment by 9%, according to a study by Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Simple laws of economics show that a strong workforce parallels with a strong economy. So, by giving an intern experience, you may be improving the economy. Also, consider how many times you’ve heard of a new technology that you’d like to try out. Maybe you’ve researched webinars or tutorials for such innovation. Why take time to attend a class or muddle through instructions with lots of technical jargon when you could instead hire an intern to walk you through it?

People are our best resources.

Here are a few more reasons to give interns a try:

INTERNS ARE CHEAP Many interns are willing to work for free or for minimal pay. Interns expect experience more than they expect money. According to a survey

by Social Hire, a social media marketing agency servicing small businesses and recruitment teams, 73% of recent interns deemed the opportunity itself as their primary motivation, while fewer than half of the respondents (43%) described pay as “quite important.” Additionally, by running an internship program, you get an early look at the hiring pool.

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sales, design, and delivery departments work together more efficiently; creative tips to increase a design’s perceived value without stuffing; and invaluable people skills, whether it’s dealing with a colleague or a customer. Successful businesses embrace this idea of “comprehensivism,” HR directors said in a recent article for Fast Company. It refers to using an employee’s full skillset. Why relegate an individual to one department when they can help out others in a pinch?

Internships are great opportunities to train people in various positions.

INTERNS PROVIDE ANOTHER VOICE. Innovation is everything for a business. Think of businesses in your community that were late to the social media game.

Social media has transformed business outreach. Interns may have great insights into hot technology or trends, which could be the next big thing.

if you come across someone you can train as an intern and later hire once they’ve proved themselves.

INTERNS BOOST PRODUCTIVITY What’s better than a shop full of hustling workers? A shop full of hustling workers and interns. Consider the various duties and tasks your staff takes on: processing flowers, design, sales, customer service, delivery, cleaning, social media, and so forth.

Having an extra set of hands goes a long way.

Two years ago, Sayantha Baskaran approached Margaret Woroszylo, of Florida Flowers, about interning at the Toronto shop to gain floristry skills.

Baskaran shadowed Woroszylo and her employees to learn their techniques, which she practiced on old flowers. Soon, she was helping with corsages and boutonnieres and making daily specials, Woroszylo said. After training with Florida Flowers, she entered a design competition and placed third. Since her internship ended, Baskaran has come back to help the shop during Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Woroszylo plans to offer her part-time employment while she’s in college.

An internship, a hands-on experience, gives aspiring florists insight into how a flower shop functions.

They learn time management; systems to make the

In an article for Forbes, Heather Huhman, a career and workplace expert, said interns challenge traditional mentalities by forging new ideas into the mix. Interns can bring fresh perspectives and provide salient solutions to problems or issues that arise. For instance, Baskaran advised the Florida Flowers team how to act during wedding consultations with ethnic brides.

Hiring an intern is simple. Prospective candidates are everywhere. You can find them by using the same avenues you would to advertise an event, a sale, or a promotion. Reach out via social media, post an application on your website, talk to your customers, or contact your local high school or college campus. Word of mouth advertising goes a long way. When you read through applications, recognize that many young professionals may lack in the specific skills you would seek from full-time employees. Be open-minded.

You never know what an intern could possess to really bolster your business. Lastly, be prepared for your mentee with clear guidelines and goals. Once you have a plan in place, go ahead and take the leap.

Tina D. Miller is a writer, teacher, evaluator, puppy mother, fabric manipulator, and football enthusiast living in Philadelphia.

In 2008, she earned her MFA in creative writing and has since written and published several flash fiction stories, blog posts, and novels.

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Beguiling Boxes

design

In May, Vahini Franklin opened Blue Blossoms in Toronto, where she specializes in boxed bouquets. “I participated in the Blossom and Bloom show and had taken a couple boxes with me,” she said. “When they sold out immediately, I knew this would be my niche.”

Franklin described the box style as simple, but chic. “Just soak some foam in water for 10 minutes, then line the bottom,” she said. It’s also very versatile. “You can do this with literally any box you find,” she said. “In the future, I plan to customize boxes with my logo.” For now, she’s conveying a sense of luxury with a robin’s egg blue box that calls to mind a very famous jewellery store.

Here are a few of her favourite flower boxes.

“This is an example of my ‘proposal box.’

I noticed a lot of people ask the question with a ring, then give a bouquet,” Franklin said. “This combines the two gifts. We usually create an arrangement with the person’s favourite flowers (in this case, pink roses and peonies). It comes with a lid, so it can sit on a table as a surprise until the right moment arrives.”

“This was for a makeup artist. She had a photo shoot to launch her business.

It featured a really bright shade of lipstick. I chose pale colours because I wanted to make her product stand out,” Franklin said.

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“I call this my tropical box. It’s very popular,” Franklin said. “One customer bought it for his wife, whom he was taking to the Dominican Republic for a surprise anniversary trip. He hid a plane ticket in the box with the flowers.”

“There’s this woman I follow on Instagram who loves peonies and I wanted to get her attention,” Franklin said.

“It turned out to be a big hit. A lot of people saw this on social media and called to order it.”

“Here I accented red roses with three stems of lilies,” Franklin said. “When the lilies open, it creates a layered effect. You see a scarlet base beneath the petals.”

“I incorporated a succulent so there’s something customers can enjoy after the flowers die,” Franklin said. “It’s a two-in-one kind of gift.”

Read more about Franklin in Florist Spotlight, p. 10.

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Data-Driven Event Pricing

By Mark Anderson

Storefront psychics rely on the “cold read”—their ability to discern information about someone just by looking at them. Successful car dealers use a version of this as well. They fine-tune their pitch based on your shoes, your watch, and your current car.

When you’re selling something, the more you know about your customer, and the sooner you know it, the better off you are.

A new analysis of more than 40,000 weddings listed on TheKnot.com gives florists the ability to infer valuable information about brides (and budgets) from their chosen wedding date, information that can help you book more weddings and generate bigger profits.

KNOW YOUR LOCAL WEDDING MARKET INTIMATELY

about a bride right away. Then you just need to price your services accordingly.

In terms of seasonal preferences, The Knot’s analysis focusses on the US market, but the patterns identified can benefit any florist who understands his or her local market.

When you meet a bride who has booked her wedding for one of the premium dates or venues in your area, you can assume she’s not aggressively trying to save money.

In fact, she may be paying premium prices to other vendors, and she may be the kind of consumer who associates money with quality.

What seasons, weekends, and vendors (venues, caterers, photographers, etc.) are the most desirable in your area? If you aren’t absolutely certain, talk to other vendors whose businesses rely even more heavily on weddings than do florists’, such as photographers, caterers, and banquet halls.

PRICING AT THE HIGH END

Brides like this may actually

What you will find is that certain days (typically Saturdays), weekends, seasons, and vendors are in great demand, while others are not. That knowledge will let you infer a lot

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want to spend more money, because price is the generally the most credible indicator of value.

Give them the chance! Swing for the fences and offer some high-price, high-margin options.

Not every bride will go for it, of course. But you’ll miss out on significant money if you go the other way and give a quote based on razor-thin margins to a bride who will happily pay a premium for the best caterer, the best photographer, and the best venue on the most popular wedding date of the year. The only thing worse than under quoting and leaving money on the table is losing a bride to a “better” competitor who was confident enough to charge more.

This kind of bride also tends to respond better to “round” pricing (think: $800 rather than $799).

If there is any chance you might become fully booked and have to turn away business for an indemand weekend, you need to zealously guard your production capacity. When production capacity is limited, each wedding you book represents an opportunity cost. It means there is another wedding you won’t be able to take.

Imagine you owned the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach. You know booking dates in March won’t be a problem, so booking far in advance isn’t your biggest consideration. Instead, you are more focussed on getting the most money for each night.

This is called revenue management. It was pioneered by the travel industry with the intention of getting maximum revenue for every airline seat and every hotel room.

It works like this. Hotels monitor reservations and adjust prices accordingly. If they are quickly booking a given date far in advance, they raise prices. Turning away business because they’re fully booked months before the desired date likely means they didn’t charge enough.

Florists are often focussed solely on getting booked as far in advance as possible. If you know you are dealing with an in-demand weekend and have lots of time to fill it, you can try charging a little more.

Does that mean straying from your cost-plus formula? Yes, and that is OK. You are under no obligation to charge the same markup on every event, and it’s good business to build in a bigger profit margin for in-demand weekends.

It’s likely that other wedding vendors are doing this already, charging a premium for certain weekends and discounting for others.

IDENTIFYING AND WORKING WITH PRICE-SENSITIVE CUSTOMERS

Almost 25 percent of weddings now take place on Friday or Sunday. This choice is usually made to save money, as many venues, caterers, DJs, and photographers offer discounted rates (or at least lower minimums) for any day that isn’t Saturday.

The time of year is important too, and you need to know what seasons and weekends appeal to bargain hunters.

So just like the psychic knows someone is married by seeing a wedding ring you now know something about a bride who wants to get hitched on a Friday: she’s trying to save money. But how does that help you?

Keep this in mind:

•

• •

People who are interested in saving money respond to “charm pricing”—figures that end in the number nine, like $799. Study after study shows that people see charm prices as representing a better deal. So make sure at least one of your proposed packages uses charm pricing.

A price-sensitive bride is likely shopping around and will be making her decision based largely on price. You may need to sharpen your pencil to find ways to trim costs if you want this client.

If it’s a time of year when events are few and far between and you really want the work, it might be OK to cut margins a little thinner than usual. This is why the other vendors like caterers are cutting their prices. There are fewer events to go around and competition is tighter.

80%

WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR DAYS TO GET MARRIED? 71.2%

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20%

12.6%

10% 0%

1.2%

0.8%

1.0%

Mon

Tues

Weds

10.9%

2.3% Thurs

Fri

Sat

Sun

Source: Priceonomics

Mark Anderson is the owner and developer of FloristWare, the leading independent floral Point of Sale system. Based on over a decade of experience managing flower shops, and another decade-plus of working with hundreds of FloristWare clients, Mark has extensive experience to share with florists everywhere. Mark is an enthusiastic supporter of floral industry associations, and you can often find him attending and contributing to industry events.

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5 EASY STEPS TO MANAGE BETTER

By Tim Huckabee, FSC

M

anagement. Just that word gives many shop owners a mild case of hives! If you’re one of them, it’s not your fault. One of my gripes with our industry is that we are laser-focused on design but tend to sweep the business part of running a flower shop under the rug. When was that last time you saw a florist excitedly posting on Facebook how they expertly resolved an employee conflict or managed to cut payroll to boost profits? You get my drift.

I cannot turn you into a powerful manager with just one article, but I can share a few best practices I have seen in place at the last 6,000 flower shops I have visited. Whether you choose to implement one, a few, or all of them, once you start to integrate these ideas and concepts at your store, you will have a more efficient, less stressful, and more profitable holiday season, 2018, and beyond!

1. DEVELOP AN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Whether you have a staff of three or 30, you need to have this critical document. A handbook lays down the expectation of employee behaviour and the standards to which you operate. This includes owners and managers. Unsure how to guide the staff in certain situations? Reference the manual!

You can find many sources online where you can download pre-formatted templates and simply add your particulars — quick and easy.

2. CREATE A PROTOCOL FOR DISCIPLINE First, you should check in with your local and/or provincial authority for a rundown on the legalities

and then spell out in your handbook your penalties for breaking the rules.

For example: two verbal warnings, then a written warning, then suspension, and then termination. You must have a protocol. Perpetually saying, “I’m not going to ask you again,” with no action to back it up makes you a useless manager. Staff will quickly learn that there is “no bite behind your bark” and continuously take advantage of you or fail to live up your expectations.

3. SET UP A SCHEDULE FOR REGULAR STORE MEETINGS This is the easiest step you can take to increase productivity, profitability, and morale in one move. Whether there are four or 40 of you, you must hold regular meetings (four to six times per year at least) held either before or after hours. Have a printed agenda distributed a day before, making sure to allot time for open discussion, and follow up the following day with printed minutes so all can remember what was discussed and what he or she is responsible for doing. You must steer the group in this meeting, as some may see it as an opportunity to gripe or bring up a personal issue or something not relevant to the setting. Try: “Kathy, let’s talk about that later, after this meeting.”

4. MANAGE, DON’T REACT A flower shop is often an emotionally charged environment.

You’re doing hard physical work, often in

tight surroundings, with customers demanding more and more. This puts pressure on the entire staff. When something goes wrong—a missed delivery time, a sloppy design, or worse—take a breath and handle the situation as a problem solver, not a drama queen (or king!). Trust me, you’ll gain the respect of the staff and you’ll keep your blood pressure down. Plus, employees will mimic your actions. By keeping a cool head, you are, by default, helping them handle every crisis better.

5. LEAD BY EXAMPLE On that note, follow your own rules to set a good example and build team spirit. If you don’t want your staff using their personal phones at work, then don’t stand on the shop floor chatting with your BFF. (Talking to a wholesaler, a wedding vendor, or a customer is fine.) Don’t chastise staff for arriving late if you, yourself, are constantly tardy. Likewise, you cannot chide employees for stuffing arrangements (and costing you $$$) if you’re forever saying, “just add a little extra to make it look nice.”

BOTTOM LINE: It doesn’t take

a lot to manage your shop better and you’ll reap amazing rewards!

For more flower shop management advice from Tim, see his recorded workshop package created just for Canadian Florist readers at www. floralstrategies.com/CFX

Tim Huckabee, AIFSE, was born, raised and educated in Connecticut and moved to New York City in 1993 to start working at a high-end flower shop called Surroundings, where he learned every aspect of the flower business such as handling telephone sales and customer service issues and dealing with walk-in customers. In his frequent conversations with florists, he realized there was a dire lack of sales and service education in the industry. That motivated him, in 1997, to launch, FloralStrategies, a company that trains florists in sales, customer service, and how to get the most out of their POS system. He visits 250 shops annually, hosts a monthly webinar series, speaks at floral conventions, and writes a monthly column for the Society of American Florists.

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LIFE at

WORK

5 Ways to Prevent Email Remorse

By Cavelle Martin

Have you sent an email lately and wondered, “Why did I just send that?” If you have, you’re among the many who have suffered email remorse.

In this article I want to offer some tips on how to prevent the dreaded “should not have sent that” feeling.

STEP AWAY FROM YOUR INBOX

Perhaps you just received a message from a colleague or a customer that stung. You’re feeling defensive and want to fire back why their judgment of you is wrong.

Before you even think about clicking the “compose” button, close out your email and open a word document. Consider this your chance to let out all the junk in your head without sending a message that might only worsen the situation and irreparably harm your relationship. It does happen and that is not a risk you want to take.

We have a tendency, even with professional emails, to feel emotions when we write in the heat of the moment. Even if you think you are covering your bases with proper verbiage, without eye contact or some form of body language to put things in context, the person receiving your email may become offended, when that was never your intention.

READ, LISTEN, REPEAT

It may seem odd to suggest we hear ourselves as we type, but we all have a unique writing voice.

We hear the words in our head a certain way, so

always make a point to read your email out loud before sending it. Does it sound the same as you heard it internally? If you’re unsure and your email isn’t too sensitive or confidential in nature, get someone you trust to read it for objective feedback on how someone else interpreted your words.

This will help you fine tune your writing before you hit send.

TWO DRAFTS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

Proper grammar and sentence structure count for something. If you are writing a professional email, avoid slang and emoticons. Your writing should speak for itself. Be concise. Make your point and back

it up. No more, no less. Make sure what you are sending has been edited at least twice. Professional emails should not look like a five-year-old wrote them.

MAKE SURE YOU’RE IN A RELAXED MOOD

This relates back the emotional part of writing. If you are having a bad day, avoid writing back right away, unless the email needs an immediate reply.

If you’re drafting the email from home, make sure you have a quiet, private space to write. I imagine this is easier said than done if you have little ones running around at home, but if you combine loud noises with a bad mood, your brain does not need the added stress of trying to write an email.

If you’re tired, don’t hit send. If you have had a glass of wine or two, definitely don’t hit send, and if you find yourself hungover the next day…well, you get the idea.

In closing, if you stick to these guidelines, you should have no issue with email remorse.

If you do, send yourself an email and cc: me with a note to self to reread this article.

Cheers and happy writing!

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What is Marketing Automation?

Ask The SEO

BY: Ryan Freeman

Marketing automation is a broad term that includes any number of applications designed to identify, organize, and facilitate communication with prospects and customers. In other words, it’s software that allows companies to more efficiently and effectively deliver advertising materials to interested or potentially interested consumers and clients.

When you sign up for a newsletter or request more information on a website, it’s that website’s marketing automation suite that determines how to contact you, what offers you might be interested in, and whether it’s worthwhile to pass your data on to the sales team. Marketing automation can thus be as simple as an automatic chain of sales letters delivered to anyone on a mailing list, or it could be a complex system that identifies market segments and appeal to consumers in a personalized manner.

BASIC TOOLS There are a few key tools offered by any modern marketing automation suite, which allow businesses to improve sales, minimize wasted effort, and scale growth efficiently.

EFFICIENT MESSAGING The simplest application of marketing automation lies in its ability to take one sales pitch and deliver it to hundreds, thousands, even millions of customers. A single florist with no marketing team can carefully plan a series of emails designed to turn prospects into customers, feed that series into their marketing automation, and have their words conveyed to as many prospects as they would like. Of course, this is only the most fundamental and rudimentary application of automation— but it’s perhaps the most valuable in closing the gap between a small company and its large competitors.

ANALYTICS The amount of data you can collect on prospects has never been greater, but turning that raw data into actionable information for your marketing and sales personnel can be challenging and time consuming. To solve this aspect of modern marketing, we have analytics suites to help. While Google Analytics does a great job of examining activity on your website, a marketing automation tool can track different and personalized aspects of customer interactions.

PERSONALIZATION It’s no marketing secret that if you personalize a message for the recipient, you’ll get better response rates. This can be as simple as inserting the customer’s name in the subject line or intro, but you could go a step further to offer tailored messages based on noted interests from a survey or sign up form, or push the limits of marketing automation by identifying market segments based on demographics, location, site usage habits, and other factors to deliver a wholly personalized set of marketing materials.

In some ways, this is counter to the benefit of efficient messaging, as it requires time to set up properly. But the more time and effort you’re willing to put into setting up your marketing automation, the more effectively you’ll be able to turn prospects into high-value leads.

ORGANIZATION Marketing automation also encompasses the oftoverlooked issue of organizing communication with prospects. It can be difficult to keep track of every interaction with a given prospect or customer, to identify the best times to follow up with a bride or make a strong pitch to a qualified corporate account lead. Marketing automation software can put all the relevant data attached to a particular customer at your fingertips; you can even use the same principles of personalization to help your sales team deliver a tailored pitch based on prior communication.

GROWTH AND COMPETITION Of course, marketing automation isn’t just valuable for the way it can improve your current sales rates and way of doing business. The most important aspect of marketing automation may be its potential for growing businesses, for letting small companies compete on a level playing field with the giants of their industries. There are a few key ways to leverage marketing automation to this end.

SCALABILITY When companies grow, they frequently run into challenges unique to their new size. In other words, they find that their old approach to business falls

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apart at larger scales. Marketing automation allows a company to scale their efforts to any size. The gains in efficiency and organization mean that you can handle more business with fewer personnel, and when the time comes to add new people to your team, you won’t struggle with integration.

remembering prior encounters—all of these strongly influence how your customers perceive your company. When they love your company, they tell people (and the internet) about it. When they hate your company, they do the same. Shaping healthy relationships with your customers via marketing automation and good long-term planning provides a natural, highly effective route to growth.

MARKET RESEARCH Growth in well-populated industries like floristry often means having to identify new or underserved markets.

That, in turn, means effective market research—something marketing automation can be immensely helpful with.

SUPERIOR SALES A highly effective and efficient sales team isn’t just useful in extracting value from current customers, it’s critical to your growth. When you successfully close a higher percentage of prospects and leave those prospects more satisfied, you’ll naturally see growth, as positive wordof-mouth spreads.

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING Making contact at the right time, mentioning the right personal details,

Growth in well-populated industries like floristry often means having to identify new or underserved markets

AGILITY It can be difficult to adjust to a shift in markets for many businesses, but with a proper marketing automation suite in place, you will find it easier to pursue new opportunities. This improvement in agility is even more noticeable for smaller companies and can allow those companies to seize on opportunities a larger company never could, even if they were to leverage the same set of tools.

FINAL THOUGHTS Ultimately, marketing automation can be viewed as a tool to make your business more efficient.

More efficient at sending out materials, more efficient at parsing data on customers, markets, and competitors, and more efficient at turning prospects into leads and leads into customers. Add it together with enough effort and insight, and even the smallest business can scale up to compete with the top businesses in their industry.

Ryan Freeman is president of Strider Inc., founder of Florist 2.0, and publisher of Canadian Florist.

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JENNIFER'S JOURNEYS

Rekindle Your Spirit

By Jennifer Harvey, CAFA, CFD

After a long day at the studio, I often catch myself wondering about the flower orders that I created that day. How was my art received for all those birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, and “I screwed up, so here are flowers, Sweetheart” orders?

Did they arrive with the sender’s intention and all the heart I put into them? Sitting at the bench going through the orders, I am so grateful I get to translate that connection and emotion with colour, fragrance, and structure.

But we often take those moments for granted, leading to what’s known as burnout.

I have been in so many shops where designers get the phone call with the request, “do something really nice.” We laugh and say, “Oh okay, I was gonna make something really ugly, but since they said ‘something nice,’ let’s try to do something different.”

We are surrounded by beauty every day, but then a thorn gets us, heavy buckets break our backs, and we are on our feet all day creating for people we may never hear from.

Many of us in the floral industry adopt the adage “no news is good news,” but silence can be a double-edged sword. Yeah, it’s great to have no complaints, but without feedback, we don’t know if we nailed the order or not.

I remember crying as I put together a beautiful arrangement to ease the pain for a mother who lost her baby and dancing excitedly at the bench during an “OMG, you got the job!”

Both were life-changing experiences and I felt humbled to be a part of them.

Of course, there are plenty of those puzzling, frustrating orders like, “something different, modern, and chic in a traditional basket” or “a design with pink flowers that is elegant and big and beautiful for $40.” We shake our heads and try to connect to the order but if you’ve fallen victim to burnout, you just grab

some flowers, shove them in the vase, stick a label on it, and get it out the door as quickly as possible.

If you find yourself in this position or you see your staff displaying signs of burnout, here are a few ways I fight the urge to abandon restraint and snap at ridiculous cheapskates with, “Can I ask if you are gonna super size the fries for your anniversary too?!”

Our job is to create it all—high-end, glamorous pieces and modest arrangements alike—and we can do it. When you step back and see that $40 vase arrangement, you may be surprised to discover it IS elegant, big, and beautiful. Take satisfaction in knowing that your expertise gave that customer exactly what he needed.

On Canada Day, I was privileged to go and hand out flowers in Ottawa and film the experience. It was Canada’s 150th birthday and, with the JHProject (a television show I’m working on) in full swing, we had Gatto Flowers and Fair Trade Floral donate tons of flowers, which I handed out to the crowds of people celebrating our country’s independence! I danced, sang our national anthem, and approached them with blooms to celebrate, and the reaction was amazing.

It’s easy to forget when you are on the bench how moving it is to receive flowers. Some of the responses I heard included the following: “I never get flowers!”

“You made my day” “This flower was my mom’s favourite” “I love flowers” People from every culture, race, religion, and background embraced the flowers and opened up to me. I heard their stories and listened to why they loved flowers and what they would do with them. Flowers have a

way of bridging gaps, allowing us to recall memories, and connecting with people.

Suffice it to say, completing the cycle and actually giving away the flowers I made was an incredibly fulfilling experience.

I suggest that, every once in a while, you take the opportunity to deliver an order yourself.

It will fill you up and remind you that our work matters. Hang around at a wedding and see the bride carrying your bouquet. It’s amazing!

Burnout happens when you lose track of your purpose and no longer get inspired.

Get tickets to design shows like the CAFA workshop with Roman Steinhauer (October 22 and 23). Hofland had a wonderful workshop night this past spring and I was excited for weeks after. If you are not able to go to something like this, then at least go online and be inspired by artists on Instagram. Better yet, call up someone who inspires you and get together. Talk about why you do what you do and exchange ideas. Poppy Parsons, AIFD, CAFA, and I did this a few months ago.

I spent this past summer travelling.

Throughout my journeys, I stopped in flower shops all over our great country and talked with people. Everyone has ideas.

Sometimes, when you see what excites others, you’ll catch their fire too.

Burnout is something that happens to all of us from time to time—for a moment, a day, a week, or longer. Fight it by making a concerted effort to inspire your staff and yourself. Connect with your clients, connect with your employees, and connect with your own aspirations. Be the inspiring designer and artist you always wanted to be. I look forward to following you on social media so you can add to my inspiration. Find me on Instagram @jenniferharveycafa.

Jennifer Harvey is the owner of Jennifer Harvey Designs and September/October 2017 | CANADIAN Florist 30

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Surviving Friendly Fire

By Jeff Mowatt

Within virtually every organization, employees from different departments will have to interact with one another without having direct authority over them.

That can easily create conflicts and bruised egos. That's why, when I coach teams on how to enhance internal customer satisfaction, I remind them that it's not just what they communicate to other departments, but how they do so.

To ensure you and your team are seen less as interruptions, and more as value adding assets, keep in mind these five tips...

1. TALK IN PERSON Too often, we initiate communications to other departments in writing when we should opt for face-to-face conversations. When you have a new request or procedure that requires explaining, begin by talking in person to that department's key influencers. Ask for their advice. That word lowers their defenses and helps generate buy-in. Ask who else you should be talking to on their team, including any naysayers. Finally, when you decide upon an accepted course of action, send a short written summary. This is more as a confirmation than as a proposal or directive.

2. BE A STRAIGHT TALKER Write the way you speak. Your communication to coworkers should sound like a conversation, not a press release, essay, or legal document.

Occasionally, sprinkle in some self-effacing humour. That makes you sound more like a real person and less like a bureaucrat.

•

the one person who is responsible for overseeing the project

•

the senior person who will be held accountable for the project

•

people outside the project who may be consulted for input,

•

people who should be informed throughout the project

By clarifying how communications will be handled in advance, you reduce confusion and prevent others from becoming annoyed when you copy them (or don't copy them) on a message.

4. NIX THE SELF-PROMOTING

Any announcement that remotely sounds like patting yourself on the back is going to be met with scorn and derision—the exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve. Instead, take the generous approach when announcing a success, and go to lengths to recognize others who helped make it happen. Ironically, the more you heap praise on others while leaving 3. MAKE YOUR yourself in the background, the more likely you COMMUNICATIONS ‘RACI’ are to be appreciated and respected for your An engineer client of mine explained that on generosity and humility. every construction project, team members from all departments agree upfront how the communications will be handled using the 5. FORGET BECOMING A BFF acronym R.A.C.I. The only people copied It's sad and slightly pathetic how some on emails about the project will include the employees try too hard to fit-in with cofollowing:

workers in other departments. A boomeraged accountant in a suit will have a hard time being seen as "just one of the guys" with young millennials clad in coveralls out in the field. Nor should he try. He'd be better off viewing his role as the field department's “trusted advisor” from accounting. He should be quick to express admiration about the amazing things that operations folks are doing in the proverbial trenches. His colleagues in the field will appreciate that he respects them while he's also comfortable in his own skin. In fact, they may even become protective of him, especially when he arrives on site to talk to them in person.

Bottom line: Providing support and advice to internal employees requires not just competence, but also some street-smart communication skills. The good news is, with just a bit of training, co-workers can avoid preventable battles and instead become valued mentors.

This article is based on the bestselling book, Influence with Ease, by customer service strategist and Hall of Fame motivational speaker, Jeff Mowatt. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about engaging Jeff for your team, visit http://www.jeffmowatt.com/.

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on THE

LEVEL with

NEVILLE

WHO’S GONNA TAKE CARE OF MY BABY?!

by Neville MacKay

David and I have never had children, but we have always had a cat or two, so we know the stress of trusting someone to care for our precious baby while we’re off gallivanting about. Do they know she hates to have her belly rubbed? Did we remember to tell them she can only go outside as far as the bird feeder? Will they recognize the warning murmur she emits mere moments before she destroys whatever you are touching her with when she’s had enough? A purring cat isn’t always a happy cat…

Leaving behind a pet (or a child, obviously) is a lot like leaving your floral shop the first few times. You imagine everything that could go wrong. The first time I went away for more than a night, I made so many arrangements in advance, had every petal ordered and then some, and saw that the store was well-stocked with every possible knick and knack we might have needed. Now, years later, I gleefully chirp, “Text if you need me!” as I skip off to the car as fast as my fat legs can carry me. Times have certainly changed, that’s for sure.

I tend to think of it this way: We all have to be good to go if someone calls in sick unexpectedly, so why not always be ready? I mean, we work in an industry that celebrates occasions from the womb to the tomb, meaning there are a lot of last minute surprises, so we kinda already have to be on our toes, right?

It is, of course, stressful leaving the business you developed, grew and love. We have to have the best people in each position who are trained and ready to step up. This can be a challenge. As managers and owners, we often keep much of the nitty gritty details to ourselves.

This can be a BIG problem if you have to leave the store. I travel a lot and am thankful I have the team in place that I do when I go away. I do, however, make sure as much is done as can be before I leave. That’s not because I don’t think they can handle it, but because it’s the right thing to do. Think of the times you’ve come to work to see everything good to go for the morning rush. You appreciate it, right? Well, by doing all that you can before you go away for an extended time shows your staff respect.

to smartphones, I often SEE what goes on too. I remember getting a call in England from a customer who thought I should know that she was just in the store and saw two of my employees eating lunch in the store. Scandalous! I nearly hired a private jet right then and there.

Boy, people really do like to “fill you in” when you’ve been away. I have been told so much dirt I could have planted an acre by now, but for the most part, I let things slide off me like ice cream off a spoon. You know the saying… “Don’t pet the sweaty...” oh wait, it’s “Don’t sweat the petty stuff!”

If you have well-trained co-workers, you will have no problem, or not nearly as many as you may think you will. If you don’t have good employees, well, I suggest getting one or two core people who start taking a little responsibility for some of your specific “me only” jobs, so they can see how to do what miracles only you can do. Understanding how much product and what flowers to order is a trainable skill and an important part of our business, as are design work, customer service, etc. It’s OK to test folks as you go along. I do it all the time, believe me, and much of the time it is simply for my own peace of mind. The next time employees come to you and ask what to do about some silly thing or another, ask them what they think should be done. If they are right, super! If they are not, this is a good time to explain a better option. This not only gets employees more involved in the shop, but it gets people thinking on their feet.

Look, certain things float, so remember you’ll always be the one getting the credit or the blame, regardless if you’re there or not. If you allow those in your employment to grow and show they care, things will go smoothly, with only the occasional bump or two!

Neville MacKay, CAFA, PFCI, WFC, is owner of My Mother’s Bloomers

in Halifax, Novia Scotia and a design director with Smithers-Oasis North America.

He designed flowers for the 1988 Winter Olympics, as well as a long list of celebrities including Glen Close, Sir Elton John, and members of the British Royal Family. MacKay appears regularly on Canadian TV and travels internationally, giving presentations about the impact of flowers.

Believe me, I hear about everything that goes on in the store while I am away—sometimes I hear several versions of events—and thanks

3

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