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Suggest an Article: Car Wrapping

HollyHock2Not too long ago, we asked our member florists to submit any ideas they had to use in future blog posts. We intentionally didn’t specify what kind of ideas we were looking for, and as a result, we received suggestions encompassing all aspects of the business. This will be the first in a series of articles wherein I take those tips and present them to you!

Car Wrapping Tastefully

As a business owner, effective and affordable advertising can be difficult to find. For Heather Aleksonis, the owner of HollyHock Flowers in Weare, New Hampshire, one solution came in the form of car wrapping. The process involved taking her vehicle to a local professional and having it covered in stickers advertising her business. This effectively turned her car into a moving billboard.

Heather says that it’s the best thing she’s done as far as advertising:HollyHock Stickers

“Forget the newspapers. You can do your car for the price of 2 ads in the newspaper. When your customers see your car all the time, they think you are busy. And then they want to do business with you also.”

Looking at her beautifully decorated ride, I can see why it works! That looks awesome Heather!

Come back soon for even more Suggest an Article tips! And if you missed the first opportunity to suggest an article, leave some ideas in the comments below. You never know, you might find your idea in the next Suggest an Article!

Posey Peddler – A Florist Improving Customer Service!

Posey Peddler FlowersAs part of Customer Service Week, (October 7th-11th) we wanted to share with you one of our members who is working hard to boost customer service and sales in their flower shop.

A Local Florist Taking Action

Bridgette Mills Arnold, a 30 year veteran of the floral industry, is the owner of Posey Peddler in Joneboro, Arkansas. The shop has been a fixture in the Jonesboro area since 1998 and serves the local community with custom gifts, flowers, plants and home decor.

Recently Bridgette brought in customer service and sales guru Tim Huckabee of Floral Strategies to conduct a workshop with her employees.

Why Floral Strategies?

Floral Strategies is the only on-site training program in the entire floral industry that teaches critically important customer care skills. This specific training empowers flower shop workers to give extraordinary customer service. As you can guess, this makes for happy clients that keep coming back.

Celebrate The Learning Experience!

FSN visited this bustling flower shop during their training seminar. Check out this video of Posey Peddler’s day with Tim Huckabee.

FSN Members: CLICK HERE to login & learn more ways to improve customer service and sales with specific tips from Tim Huckabee.

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Quick Tips: Sanitizing Those Old Vases

If there’s one thing with which every florist is more than familiar, it’s a dirty vase that seems impossible to get clean. Most of the time, they come to you as part of a vase recycling or re-purposing program, and we all know how important it is to get those vases completely disinfected and sanitized. The bacteria and mildew growing in an old vase can wreak havoc on anything you might wish to place in it! But regardless of its origins, nothing is more annoying than a disgusting vase that just will not come clean!

A Cleaning “Solution”

Crystal Flower Vase

Well, no need to fret. Amy Bishop of Amy’s Flower Basket in Albion, NE has found a brilliant solution! The next time you find yourself with a vase that resists the ministrations of soap and water, just fill it to the brim with hot water and drop in a couple of denture cleaning tablets. Give it a full 24 hours to soak, and then simply clean as normal. The end result will be a bright and sparkling vase, completely sanitized of any residual mildew or bacteria and ready for use!

Thanks Amy, that’s a fantastic idea!

Amateur Application

Of course, this will also work at home. So for any of you non-professionals out there, go grab that old vase from under the sink or off the top of the refrigerator and give this tip a try! Or, if you’d prefer not to reuse your old vase, you should definitely check with your local florists to see if they have a recycling/re-purposing program available in your area. Some even offer a discount on your next flower purchase, so you can get rid of the old, empty and busted to make way for some new hotness!

Do you have an idea or tip that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you! Just leave your idea in the comments below, and who knows, it might be the subject of our next blog post! Also, if you’d like more information on creative ways to use vases, check out this previous post!

25 Ways Flower Shops Can Recycle For Earth Day

Earth Day is a unique holiday where we take the time to celebrate the earth and it’s resources that we tend to look over in our busy lives. Everything we have has come from the earth: the wood in our houses, the water in our coffee, the food we’re eating for lunch, and so much more. Isn’t it our time to give back?

This Earth Day, find a new way to use the 3 R’s in your daily life: Reduce Reuse Recycle!

Recycle for Earth DayHere are some great methods florists already use in their flower shops. (If you’re a florist, perhaps you can find a way to start using some of these great, earth-friendly actions.)

  • 1. Recycle and reuse cardboard.
  • 2. Encourage customers to bring in glass vases for reuse or recycling.
  • 3. Give bubblewrap to the local packaging store (UPS).
  • 4. Use terry towels instead of paper towels at your design table.
  • 5. Reuse packing material whenever possible.
  • 6. Use recycled office paper to make notepads for shop use.
  • 7. Use a hybrid or other earth-friendly vehicle to do deliveries.
  • 8. Empty cooler bucket water onto outdoor plants.
  • 9. Recycle stems and other organic waste in a compost, or find a local composter to give it to.
  • 10. Give flower boxes back to wholesalers.
  • 11. Keep mug boxes and other pretty containers to use as ‘economy’ containers by using a plastic liner for small arrangements.
  • 12. Save extra pieces of ribbon, fabric, cardboard tubes and foil to give to local pre-schools for art projects. [Read more…]

Feng Shui: Colors & Flowers

Just what is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui is an ancient art and science developed over 3,000 years ago in China. It is a complex ancient art that reveals how to balance the energies of any given space to assure the health and good fortune for people inhabiting it.

Feng Shui CompassFeng means “wind” and Shui means “water.” Followers of Feng Shui believe the land is alive and filled with Chi, or energy. By focusing that Chi in the right ways, you can live a fuller, healthier, more balanced life. Harmony and balance with life are the major principles of Feng Shui teaching.

Feng Shui can affect every aspect of our lives. By simply adjusting the objects in our homes and lives, we can adjust the energies associated with them. We’ve all heard how color affects moods, well Feng Shui takes that idea to a whole new level. In this post, you will see how by simply ordering an arrangement of fresh flowers in a certain color or shape, you can enhance, balance or reduce specific moods in a space.

Feng Shui and You

Different people have different energy needs. Feng Shui offers a way to narrow down your specific needs. This can get very complicated and it can take a lifetime to master the art of Feng Shui, but with a bit of research, you can start opening up these energies in your life.

First of all, what is your Feng Shui birth element? This is where the research comes in, but it’s very simple! Simply go to this page and locate your birth year on the chart to identify your birth element. I was born in 1986, that makes my element Fire. Now that we know our elements, let’s take a look at how to put them to use!

Feng Shui and Color

Color is one of the easiest ways to shift the energy in your space with Feng Shui. Each color is an expression of one of the Five Feng Shui Elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood.

Remember, scientifically color is light, and light is our number one nutrient. Although you might not believe whole-heartedly in Feng Shui, there is definite logic behind the use of color and moods, aka Chromotheropy.

Let’s take a look at what Feng Shui has to say about colors and moods:

Fire Element

Wedding Inspiration on Pinterest from FSN

Flower Shop Network Wedding Boards on Pinterest

Are you planning a wedding or other big event that needs flower inspiration? Don’t miss out on the resources from FSN! Flower Shop Network has been pinning away some of the best, most-inspirational wedding flower pieces in all the industry!

Whether you need ideas for bouquets or boutonnieres, we’ve got you covered and more. Flower Shop Network on Pinterest!

What is your favorite wedding board on Pinterest? Do you have a wedding board (or several??)? Share a link with us in the comments below!

New to Pinterest? Check out this post all about Pinterest: how it works and how to set up your own account.

Just remember, once you’ve picked out your wedding flowers, always always always order flowers from a real local florist. If you don’t know your local florist, use Flower Shop Network’s handy local florist finder to find a flower shop near you today!

How To Order Flowers And Get Exactly What You Want

Robbin Yelverton on How To Order Flowers

Today we’re going to talk about how to place an order for flowers and actually get what you’re ordering. This article is the transcript from the helpful video by our friend and pro florist, Robbin Yelverton.

Too much to read? Robbin explains it all in the video at the bottom of this post! Don’t miss the video!

Good Clear Communication

A lot of times things seem to get lost in translation. For example, there are 3 words that people use all the time when placing an order, which are: Flowers, Bouquet, & Arrangements. It’s funny how they will use those 3 words, and in a lot of cases think those words mean the same thing. These 3 words are not synonyms. They are not the same thing when you are talking to a florist.

Flowers From Local Florist

  • Flowers refers to the actual flower. If you are talking about tulips, that’s a flower.
  • Bouquet, often people will use the word bouquet in exchange for arrangement, but to us as professional floral designers, a bouquet is something you carry, like a wedding bouquet. In some cases, we refer to an arrangement of loose flowers gathered together and presented as a wrapped bouquet that someone then takes out of the wrap and places in a vase for arranging.
  • Arrangement or design. Now that implies that it is flowers arranged in a container and then sold together in the container.

So most of the time when people call in to order flowers, they’re really calling to order an arrangement. So remember to be clear.

The thing about ordering flowers, it’s sorta like playing the game of 20 Questions. You have to provide enough information that the person taking the order understands what you’re saying and then is able to transfer this information to the designer to make sure it gets created the way you wanted, and then gets delivered to the person it’s supposed to go to correctly.

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Help! I Can’t Get Stephanotis Stems To Stay Fresh!

Stephanotis StemAsk The Expert:

Hi, I can’t get stephanotis stay fresh stems in the UK, so wondered if you could tell me either how to make them or how to wire one. Would cotton wool soaked work at the end? And what gauge wire to use! Thanks so much,
Angela

Flower Shop Network Expert Reply:

For the best possible answer, we asked our florists on Facebook. Here is a great reply:

“Upon arrival, open box & make sure cotton/tissue in base is damp. If they’re looking wilty spray them with water or Crowning Glory, recover, close box & into cooler. Upon using, we use the packaged “stephanotis stems” & spray them good with Crowning Glory, been doing this 30+ years & never a problem.” via Janet Frye of The Enchanted Florist in Asheville, NC.

You might also check out this post: How To Keep Stephanotis Fresh In A Bridal Bouquet

What Is Pinterest & How Can It Work For Florists?

Pinterest Explained

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. It lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Other reasons people use Pinterest:

  • Express yourself through pictures and images relevant to your life.
  • Remind yourself what you want to do, buy or revisit
  • Share or recommend things you think others should know about
  • Learn and explore specific or random topics.
  • Search and discover new or specific things to do, buy, look at or read.
  • All Pinterest members are active parts of the online word-of-mouth marketing team.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Pinterest Example

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Help! Where Can A UK Florist Find Floral Easels?

Sympathy Wreath On EaselAsk The Expert:

Does anyone know were I can get the green wire easels shipped to the UK? None of the florist suppliers in the UK stock them and I’ve been asked a few times for tribute flowers on them lately. I can get them shipped from China, but minimum order is 4000 I don’t think I will need that many.

Regards
Daiseychains

Flower Shop Network Reply:

One of the best places to turn when looking for any type of floral supply is our sister site, FGmarket. It is an invaluable resource to find trusted vendors for florists all over the US. (Some ship internationally, for our UK and other far-away friends.) Each company provides great resources just for florists and gift shops.

I have called the wholesalers who ship easels and Johnsen Wholesale Florist was willing to ship to the UK. They have a large selection on easels and hopefully you won’t have to buy 4,000 of them! Good luck!
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