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Customer Service Week at FSN

Last week we celebrated our Customer Service team at FSN. They work hard to make our members happy, so we put together a week of fun games and prizes for our team. Here are some pictures of our great week!

Starting off the day with something goofy!

These heroes wear headsets and make members smile every day!

The super girls ready to take on Customer Service Week!

Making some art with cans from our canned food drive!

The week was a lot of fun and we look forward to more great times at next year’s Customer Service Week!

FSN Summer Shell-ebration 2015

At Flower Shop Network Headquarters, we had our annual summer company picnic on August 11, 2015. This year we went with an “Under the Sea” theme and decked out the Paragould Community Center with nautical decor. With delicious food, great music, and fun activities, we all had a wonderful time with our coworkers, families, and friends. Here are some pictures of our great night!

Our picnic team did a great job of decorating and setting up the event!

All our coworkers had fun competing in the Baggo Tournament.

Both kids and adults had fun at the water park–especially on this hot day!

A local student band showed off their talent with live music.

Our tech guy wows us with his amazing musical talent.

Flower Shop Network’s owner, Brock Atwill, takes a plunge in the dunk tank.

We had a fantastic time getting to celebrate a great year! It was great to meet family and friends and share one love–We love local florists!

FSN Christmas Party ’14

There are so many things to enjoy in December. There are beautiful lights, caroling, family and the ever-present delicious food. Here at FSN, even the workplace gets into the spirit. We have decorations hung around the office and those calls we make to florists often end in a hearty Merry Christmas!

But we know the holidays have truly arrived when the halls are full of employees decked out for the Ugly Sweater Contest, and we sit down for our annual Flower Shop Network Christmas Party!

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Starting us off with two very ugly sweaters, it’s Brock and Loranne!

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Here we have a few early birds sitting down to the magnificent meal we were provided. We went all-out holiday theme for Thanksgiving, so for Christmas we chose a little different menu.

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Line it up!

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Those are perfectly grilled pork steaks and chicken. And I do mean perfect.

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Next we had cheesy potatoes and a green bean/mixed vegetable grilled medley seasoned wonderfully.

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Can’t forget the rolls!

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A salad with three different kinds of dressing. Just choose your favorite or forego decision making entirely and pile on all three.

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The desserts. Some were bought. Most were homemade. All were delicious.

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Hey, someone already started on the pecan pie!

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Nothing like a few drinks to wash down the yummy meal.

Ugly Sweater Contest

And there’s all our ugly sweater contestants.

Merry Christmas!

A Tamale Thanksgiving

Tired of the traditional Thanksgiving Turkey? Want to change up your holiday? At FSN Headquarters, we are celebrating the fall holiday with Tamales!

From Left: Irving Casiano, sister Miroslava Casiano, and Mrs. Casiano.

Made by the mother of our very own Irving and Miroslava Casiano, these deliciously homemade tamales come with different fillings like chicken, pork and beef, and different levelsĀ  of spicy sauce.

Dating back many years of Hispanic tradition, tamales are a great option if you are wanting to spice up your Thanksgiving meal!

Mrs. Casiano with her homemade Tamales.

Wearing her Flower Shop Network apron, Mrs. Casiano unloads bags upon bags of tamales for a mouthwatering FSN feast.

Consider this little change of holiday tradition for your Thanksgiving dinner. We certainly will be counting down the hours until lunch time and taking home leftovers too!

FSN Thanksgiving Feast 2014

Thanksgiving is all about family, and all of us here at the FSN offices took a few minutes today to enjoy a meal with our Flower Shop Network family. It was an afternoon of fun, food and friends, just as it should be. Scroll through for a peek into our glorious feast!

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Gathered for food and laughter. Everybody’s having a great time!

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The spread. Oh man, that was so good.

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Turkey breast, ham and gravy. Can you say, YUM?

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Rolls, dressing and a delicious looking tray of dark meat.

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Some fantastic looking sides to balance out all that delicious turkey and ham!

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Candied yams, deviled eggs and a potato casserole? It just keeps getting better!

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It’s a flavor explosion!

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Desserts!? Oy. I’ve already eaten so much …

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You had me at pie.

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Oh my. So many choices, so little time.

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I’m not sure what you call them, but they were fantastic!

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And that’s the end, folks. Brock says, “Cheers!”

But don’t worry, there’s still plenty more to come before the end of the year. Keep it locked here for Christmas and New Years!

FSN Baby Shower: It’s A Boy!

We had yet another baby shower at the Flower Shop Network offices this week. (Man, there must be something in the water down here.) This time we pulled out the punch for Kylie who works in our administration department. The refreshments were delicious and the gifts were plentiful, so let’s take a look at all the goodies!

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Blue punch, blue cake … It’s a BOY!

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Beautiful afghan handcrafted by our very own Loranne. Great job!

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Knit caps and some comfy-looking onesies. Gotta keep that winter baby warm.

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It’s bath time! A baby bather and wonderfully soft towels.

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You can never have too many bibs, that’s for sure. Babies go through those like water through a sieve. Or is that juice?

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An entire outfit, and looks like it will be big enough to start next winter off the right way.

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Will this be grandma’s favorite outfit? Nana, nana, nana, nana … Batman!

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It’s hard to tell, but that is a combo crib, playpen and changing table all in one. Wow!

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Congratulations Kylie!

We’re not done yet, folks. We’ve got plenty more events scheduled between now and the end of the year. Check back tomorrow for our Thanksgiving feast!

FSN Halloween Costume Fun!

Walking through the Flower Shop Network offices on October 31st can get a little … well, weird. The witches, vampires and skeletons are expected, but who anticipates running into Alan from the Hangover? Or that crazy alien guy from the History Channel? Napoleon Dynamite had a five minute conversation with a headless turkey this morning. Seriously.

But that’s what happens on Halloween!

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These are just a few of the faces behind the voices you hear when you call into FSN’s relay department. Wait a second. The woman in black with all the name tags is an identity thief. In the relay department. That IS scary!

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You didn’t know you were talking to Axl Rose or the Mario Bros. when calling your service rep, did you? I think Erin makes a perfect Flo!

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The web services department! An eclectic collection of writers, graphic designers and SEO specialists posing in costume for your viewing pleasure.

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Here’s our IT and Admin departments. You just knew Darth Vader had to be one of the people in charge, right?

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Here’s a better look at our rockers. I love the theme costumes!

As always, the costumes were fantastic. And whether they dressed up as the cast from Hey Arnold! or Despicable Me’s minions,Ā everyone had a great time!

Tips for Training Contest – Let’s Vote!

If you want to skip right to the poll, just scroll to the bottom!

Wow. That’s all we can say, florists. Just … wow.

From the moment this contest began, we received a constant flood of entries. Every time we thought the well was dry or that we had exhausted the pool of ideas out there, you proved us wrong. Fantastic tip followed fantastic tip serving to make this entire selection processĀ extremelyĀ difficult. So difficult in fact, that we found no way to narrow the options to a mere three finalists.

How could we? They were too good!

Instead, we have selected ten finalists. TEN! And because there are so many excellent entries to choose from, we didn’t think it possible for anybody to pick just one. We certainly couldn’t. So now you will be able to vote for up to three different submissions. And because we had so many excellent entries, we had to give out more prizes!

The Prizes

1st Place - 4 Training CD's from Tim Huckabee and Floral Strategies, FSN Mousepad and FSN Money Bag

1st Place – 4 Training CD’s from Tim Huckabee and Floral Strategies, FSN Mousepad and FSN Money Bag

2nd Place - FSN Apron, FSN Money Bag and Tim Huckabee and Floral Strategies SuperCharge Your Designs

2nd Place – FSN Apron, FSN Money Bag and Tim Huckabee and Floral Strategies SuperCharge Your Designs

3rd Place - FSN T-shirt and an FSN Mousepad

3rd Place – FSN T-shirt and an FSN Mousepad

Voting will end on October 29th and the winners will be announced October 31st.

Here are your FSN and Floral Strategies Tips for Training finalists in no particular order. Go to the poll at the bottom of the post to place your votes.

Come on, let’s vote!

Tips for Training

  1. I find during the holidays it’s easier for me to develop a price point that I can easily change by adding one or two more flowers. I develop a recipe that has a good starting price point and make up to 30 vases. I have found if my vases are greened up I can make up to 6 to 8 completed vases in an hour.

    Mary – Blossom Shop

  2. We use corsage bags to keep all of the little hardgoods (ie: ribbon, bling, bracelets) for corsages with the order and for the boutonniere, a boutonniere bag. We put the order ticket right in the bag with the supplies, creating a “kit”. This way the designer has everything they need to quickly assemble the items. It saves time by eliminating questions about the descriptions if the salesperson is not present when the order is filled.

    Lori – Abloom, Ltd.

  3. Every day, usually on my lunch hour, I get social. I check Facebook, post on Pinterest or learn a new app, and this has made my shop much more successful. Not only do I keep up to date with social media, it also forces me to eat lunch. Lunch is a meal that I know a lot of florists skip, but my social media hour everyday keeps our shop happier, healthier, and busier!

    Adele – A New Leaf Flowers and Gifts

  4. Coming up with a lump sum to pay sales tax each month can be a challenge. To make sure I have enough to pay the bill, I set aside the sales tax collected each day. With a web-based bank account, this is a simple daily transfer from your checking account to your savings account. Then when the sales tax is due, I transfer the money back to my checking account and write the check.

    Daniel – Blumen Garten Florists

  5. We like to call it “Dialing for Dollars”!

    We track customers Birthdays and Anniversaries and then we call them a week before to see if they would like to send flowers again. It assures that your shop is top of mind and that you care enough to make the extra effort.
    We have been doing this for some time and 99.99% of the time we get appreciation and the majority of the time we are filling the orders!It adds a personal touch and increases your revenue. A Win Win for your shop!

    Lance – Playa del Rey Florist

  6. One of the greatest things about America’s favorite flower, the rose, is the fragrance. And sadly, most of the fragrance has been lost to genetic engineering in order to give the blossoms a longer vase life. If you really think about it the most fragrant flowers have the shortest vase life.

    At The Flower Merchant, we add just a drop of rose scented oil by rubbing it on the underside of the foliage that is added to the rose design. It restores the element of the scent of flowers to the equation. I have notice that if I hand a rose to a client, the first thing they do is raise it to their nose for a good sniff. With the scent added, they smile and tell us how beautiful they are. The secret is to use a good, fragrant oil, and it just takes a drop! You don’t want to over do it!

    Pat – The Flower Merchant Ltd.

  7. Once a quarter (the beginning of each new season) I do a ā€œPay it Forwardā€ bouquet. I give it to one local business with the instructions to enjoy for a short period of time and then pass it on to someone else to enjoy for a short period of time. The only rule is you must post a picture of the bouquet on Facebook after you receive it. My shop gets a lot of ā€œlikesā€ that day and a lot of free advertisement. I am also able to reach new people, as the arrangement gets passed to people not in my own circle of friends.

    Pamela – Lee’s Floral & Gift Shop

  8. Of course Holiday Time is always hectic. What I did since the first Christmas after opening my store 14 years ago, was to keep a Holiday Diary in Excel. I created a spreadsheet that captured the following information: Flowers ordered, quantity, from which wholesaler, Special containers, Holiday themed accessories. Then I would add in other information: Day of the week the Holiday fell on, weather, what sold well, what didn’t, traffic flow, problems, best ideas.

    This proved to be one of my best ideas, because every year I and then my manager would pull out the diary for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day etc. Ready was the information on what to order (we would only augment the order to the percentage amount that regular business had increased over the previous year) and what to prepare for the Holiday. Over 14 years this worked perfectly and I believe we only had one Valentine’s Day when we were left with product (due to a snowstorm and no walk in traffic!)

    Marilyn – Nineteen Melrose Flower Studio

  9. When training a new employee for phone orders we have a paper order pad weā€™ve designed that matches our POS order entry. That way, if needed, the employee can write down any info if they become frustrated entering an order on the computer. Having the paper pad give the employee a back-up system in case they get panicked. Plus, it helps them get used to the POS form.

    Darlene – DLN Floral Creations

  10. Donā€™t take a complaint or concern about your service or floral arrangements personally, take it as a compliment! Why a compliment? My Grandfather always said, ā€œThat person thought so much about you that they are giving you a chance to improve on or fix the problem.ā€ Most people just stop shopping with you. Thank the customer for letting you know, take care of the their problem and even if you think the problem was minor, give them their money back or another arrangement or whatever it takes to make the situation right.

    This person took the time to let you know of an issue that needs to be addressed. Had they not told you of the problem, how would you ever know? Youā€™d just stand around wondering why your customers had all gone somewhere else. We are not selling a unique product anymore, even gas stations sell roses on Valentineā€™s Day. All we have left is our service so be the best at service. Along with that, you present your outstanding arrangements and smiling faces. And even smile when you talk on the phone. You can hear a smile.

    Dale – Baeslerā€™s Floral Market

Voting Poll

Don’t forget to vote!

Which Tip Deserves the Training?

  • 7. Pamela - Lee's Floral & Gift Shop (17%, 26 Votes)
  • 10. Dale - Baesler's Floral Market (15%, 23 Votes)
  • 2. Lori - ABloom, Ltd. (12%, 19 Votes)
  • 6. Pat - The Flower Merchant Ltd. (12%, 18 Votes)
  • 4. Daniel - Blumen Garten Florists (10%, 15 Votes)
  • 8. Marilyn - Nineteen Melrose Flower Studio (9%, 14 Votes)
  • 1. Mary - Blossom Shop (8%, 12 Votes)
  • 3. Adele - New Leaf Flowers and Gifts (8%, 12 Votes)
  • 5. Lance - Playa del Rey Florist (5%, 8 Votes)
  • 9. Darlene - DLN Floral Creations (5%, 8 Votes)

Total Voters: 99

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FSN Customer Service Appreciation Week Employee Cookout

This was customer service appreciation week here at Flower Shop Network. That means our bosses honored all of us for our focus on customer service (and to raise awareness of the importance of customer service). We each received a nice piece of candy every day of the week complete with a small, relevant and pun-tastic saying attached.

And then to top it off, Thursday we had a cookout with all the fixins. Join me on this photo-journey through the delicious options provided and the fun had by all!

Grillin' It Up!

What’s a cookout without burgers and hot dogs on the grill? [Read more…]

Second Summer FSN Baby Shower

If there’s one thing we love here at Flower Shop Network, it’s a party. And what better reason to throw one than the impending birth of a new member of the FSN family? We pulled all the stops for this one, so sit back, relax and enjoy some excellent baby shower photos!

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A table full of presents!

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Ah, c’mon! Open the big one first!

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Diapers, score! It’s one of those things you under no misconceptions about the baby needing.

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And wipes! Those are gonna come in handy later …

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Oooh, bibs for baby. I like the one that says ‘daddy’s girl’. Aren’t they all?

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Cute little onesie. Gotta keep that precious girl warm!

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I’m going out on a limb and saying it’s supposed to be an October arrival.

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Towels and washcloths are always important. The ones mom and dad use are probably too rough for baby’s sensitive skin.

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Some more beautiful towels! You can never have enough.

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More bibs! This is gonna be the cleanest baby ever.

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And of course the cake!

Let me echo the cake and offer my congratulations to Emily and Josh as well. We are always happy to welcome a new addition to the FSN family. It looked like momma was very happy with her gifts, and I know for a fact that the guests were more than happy with the cake. There’s no after photo, after all. Come back to the Bloomin’ Blog soon to find out what else we’ve been up to in this fun-filled summer! Until next time!