FloristWare News

FloristWare News http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/ News about the FloristWare POS system and the associated company, people and programs. en Copyright 2011 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:03:58 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss See Rick Rivers at VFPA in Lake Charlottesville VA Virginia Professional Florist Association show in Lake Charlottesville, VA this weekend. Rick and his wife have owned a flower shop for 26 years. Their store is on the cutting edge of social media and they have been using unique marketing strategies for many years. Rick has also has published 3 books about succeeding in the flower business: “Blooming At The Top”, 12 Strategies To Double Your Sales” and “No Fishing in My Pond”. If can make it to this event be sure to catch Rick's presentation for some great marketing ideas. PS Thank you to all the hard-working volunteers of the VFPA.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/see_rick_rivers_at_vfpa_in_lake_charlottesville_va.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/see_rick_rivers_at_vfpa_in_lake_charlottesville_va.html Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:03:58 -0500 Louisiana State Annual Convention Follow-Up We've had great feedback from the LSFA 2011 convention this past weekend. We sponsored Rick Rivers' session and were very happy to hear that he had excellent attendance for his main stage presentation. It is always great to see florists taking advantage of business content at shows. Thanks to all the hardworking people at LSFA for making it all possible. http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/louisiana_state_annual_convention_followup.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/louisiana_state_annual_convention_followup.html Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:40:04 -0500 See Rick Rivers at Louisiana State Annual Convention Louisiana State Florists' Association Annual Convention and Trade Show this weekend in Lake Charles, LA. If you are at this event be sure to check out Rick's presentation for some terrific marketing ideas.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/see_rick_rivers_at_louisiana_state_annual_convention.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/see_rick_rivers_at_louisiana_state_annual_convention.html Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:46:06 -0500 New Materials Available Online new material to our website. This material is in pdf form and is of interest to potential FloristWare users. We hope that florists considering FloristWare will take a look.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/new_materials_available_online_1.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/new_materials_available_online_1.html Sun, 22 May 2011 10:42:36 -0500 Great Lakes Floral Expo 2011 Great Lakes Floral Expo in Grand Rapids Michigan this weekend. Details appear below: Marketing Secrets for Today’s Florist Friday, March 4, 2011 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM Presented by: Rick Rivers and Ryan Freeman Location: River Overlook AB This high-energy, information-packed seminar will explore the tough choices ﬂoral shops must make in order to stay in business and be proﬁtable in the future. Rick has experienced all the ups and downs in the ﬂoral industry, just like every other ﬂorist. Ryan will join Rick and show you how to navigate through all those hidden sales on the social media sites. If Facebook were a nation, it would be in the top three. Millions of people are on various social networking sites; and “today’s” customers want a relationship or a “peer referral” before they make a purchase. So, have your pen ready for all those hidden secrets. Rick and Ryan will show you their “peer referral” program and how to implement it within your sales. They will share the secrets of his tried and true money-making systems and programs that really work, including: The 3 S's Program: How to pull ahead of your competitors and put them in the rear-view mirror for good. Top 5 Marketing Segments List: Identiﬁes those who have the money to spend, how to build the lists and how to go after them. 29.6 Percent Return Direct Mail Campaign: How to write effective copy that will get you results in the 15 percent to 20 percent range. Buy Local Campaign: How to get your customers to buy local. Holiday Planning (Not Gone Mad) System: How to dramatically increase your sales and proﬁts during the holidays. Bad Boxed Flowers Campaign: How to educate customers and successfully direct them back to the ﬂower shop. Marketing in Today’s Climate Presented by: Rick Rivers Saturday, March 5, 2011 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM Location: River Overlook AB In this business session, Rick shares the secrets of staying ahead of the trends and how to get ready to shift the “marketing plan” to adjust to economic conditions. Learn where ﬂower sales have gone and where they are headed. Rick, who has experienced all the ups and downs in the ﬂoral industry just like every other ﬂorist, is owner of an FTD Top 500 ﬂoral shop. Exploring the Afﬂuent Market Presented by: Rick Rivers Sunday March 6, 2011 10:00 AM. – 12:00 Noon Location: River Overlook AB The afﬂuent in America are unique, and it takes innovative marketing skills to succeed in selling them. Due to their low-proﬁle living, America’s afﬂuent are not all that easy to target with conventional marketing tactics and strategies. Discover where ﬂorists can look to ﬁnd the people who can afford to buy their products and services. He will also share how to “pull up” those customers who are on the brink of being an afﬂuent “buyer.” The afﬂuent buyers are “right under our noses.”]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/great_lakes_floral_expo_2011.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/great_lakes_floral_expo_2011.html Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:05:19 -0500 Special Webinar with Tim Huckabee of FloralStrategies Floral Strategies - will present a special free webinar for our users. The session will focus on increasing your average order value - great information as we head into the busy Valentines period. This webinar is being sponsored by FloristWare and presented to our users free of charge to thank you for your loyalty and to help get you off to a great start in 2011.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/special_webinar_with_tim_huckabee_of_floralstrategies.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/special_webinar_with_tim_huckabee_of_floralstrategies.html Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:17:56 -0500 Flower Shop Network http://www.flowershopnetwork.com]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/flower_shop_network.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/flower_shop_network.html Vendor Excellence Award Recipients Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:07:30 -0500 Florist Bootcamp Boston: November 6-7 2010 Florist Bootcamp in Boston on November 6th and 7th. We hope that all florists in the area can participate in this session.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/florist_bootcamp_boston_november_67_2010.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/florist_bootcamp_boston_november_67_2010.html Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:12:31 -0500 BloomNet Orders Please be advised Bloomlink will be under standard maintenance on September 23, 2010, starting at 10PM and ending at 2AM. Bloomlink and FSI will be unavailable during this time. This means that you will not be able to send or receive BloomNet messages through FloristWare or Bloomlink during this period. http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/bloomnet_orders.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/bloomnet_orders.html Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:49:20 -0500 Print/Mail Service Providers print/mail service providers that have proven to provide excellent quality, service and value. In the months ahead we will be making enhancements to FloristWare that will make it easier for our users to send print jobs and mailing lists to these providers but you should check them out now - they are already offering some great solutions. ]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/printmail_service_providers.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/printmail_service_providers.html Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:53:56 -0500 Improved Customer Support With Live Chat Live Chat feature from the Support section of the website. This new addition will help us serve our clients even better.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/improved_customer_support_with_live_chat.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/improved_customer_support_with_live_chat.html Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:14:14 -0500 Reduce Costs By Eliminating Payment Gateway Fees Merchant Warehouse for their credit card processing. They realized that Merchant Warehouse offered them award-winning customer service and significant savings on their credit card sales. Real savings on the type of "card not present" transactions florists see every single day (rather than just promised savings based on the assumption of "swiped" transactions that are less common for florists). In version 4 we have kept our promise and connected directly to the Merchant Warehouse gateway. This means that florists who are already with Merchant Warehouse will be able to discontinue their Authorize.net accounts and start seeing additional savings immediately. If you are not with Merchant Warehouse nothing changes. There are no additional expenses - you can keep processing your credit card sales just as you do now - but it is worth looking into Merchant Warehouse and seeing if the savings make the switch worthwhile.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/__partnername_floristware.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/__partnername_floristware.html Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:46:11 -0500 Constant Contact Integration account with Constant Contact.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/constant_contact_integration.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/constant_contact_integration.html Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:49:02 -0500 Changes to GST/HST - Canadian Florists Only 1. It Has Been A Moving Target! We have been waiting for final word on how the revised taxes should be applied when taking orders and then relaying them to florists in other provinces. This is a surprisingly complicated subject and - according to our research - there is still some debate about the official interpretation. So, for the time being, we are going with the draft rules and will revise instructions/procedures again if/when anything changes. 2. The Changes Could Not Be Made In Advance Even the clear cut changes could not be applied in advance of the actual July 1 date or it would have caused problems with your June calculations. All Canadian users will be getting detailed instructions on changing their settings later this morning. For many of you this will be all that you are required to do. Some of you will require a software update. How will you know? Just answer this question: Do you ever take an order from a customer (enter it into FloristWare and charge them) and then send it to another florist (directly or using a wire service)? If not you are done - you don't have to worry about anything else. You are finished adjusting your settings.
If you do ever take orders and send them to other florists we are going to need to update you. The florists most severely affected are those in Alberta and Manitoba so we will be dealing with them first. We'll then continue on with the rest. So - if you do relay orders to florists outside your province please send an e-mail to support@floristware.com today. ]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/changes_to_gsthst_canadian_florists_only.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/changes_to_gsthst_canadian_florists_only.html Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:59:50 -0500 A Very Talented Addition Kieren is a very talented developer. His skills and experience will make FloristWare a better system for our users and help us get those improvements implemented and deployed faster than ever.]]> http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/a_very_talented_addition.html http://www.floristware.com/content/shared/news/a_very_talented_addition.html Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:33:25 -0500