tag:www.floristware.com,2008:/content/users_current/tips//12 2008-06-09T01:07:19Z This section is updated on a regular basis with valuable information that will help our users get the greatest possible benefit from the FloristWare POS system. Movable Type 3.35 tag:www.floristware.com,2008:/content/users_current/tips//12.572 2008-06-09T01:05:58Z 2008-06-09T01:07:19Z

A discussion of the elements of planning and implementing a successful points-based incentive/loyalty program can be found in the public articles section of our website....

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com successful points-based incentive/loyalty program can be found in the public articles section of our website.]]> tag:www.floristware.com,2008:/content/users_current/tips//12.555 2008-05-09T01:05:39Z 2008-05-14T15:32:57Z

FloristWare now gives you the opportunity to set up different printers for Worksheets, Receipts, Statements, and more. To change your printer settings, go to Settings -> Features -> Printer Settings Select a report, choose your printer, paper size, and paper...

Deborah Woodcock http://www.floristware.com FloristWare now gives you the opportunity to set up different printers for Worksheets, Receipts, Statements, and more. To change your printer settings, go to Settings -> Features -> Printer Settings Select a report, choose your printer, paper size, and paper source. You can also change printers 'on the fly', simply hold down your SHIFT key while clicking the PRINT button in FloristWare. You'll see the Printers windows and can select your printer, and make any other printer output settings. Need help? Call our support line at 1.888.531.3012 tag:www.floristware.com,2008:/content/users_current/tips//12.554 2008-05-09T00:48:37Z 2008-05-14T15:16:48Z

The PROGRESS TRACKER is a great tool for reviewing the upcoming days orders and activities. Make sure you and your staff take full advantage of this very useful feature by clicking the DATE - select tomorrow, the day after tomorrow,...

Deborah Woodcock http://www.floristware.com The PROGRESS TRACKER is a great tool for reviewing the upcoming days orders and activities. Make sure you and your staff take full advantage of this very useful feature by clicking the DATE - select tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and even more. Don't forget to check all your options in bottom menu bar, and you have even more choice. Use Progress Tracker as a quick view of what's going on in your Flower Business. Can't find Progress Tracker? Make sure it is enabled under Settigns -> Features (Manager Level) tag:www.floristware.com,2008:/content/users_current/tips//12.485 2008-02-08T20:29:56Z 2008-02-08T20:36:15Z

When faced with a customer that wants to pay later FloristWare gives you two main options - you can charge the sale to a house account or you can "defer" payment. Both options are similar in that they involve making...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com When faced with a customer that wants to pay later FloristWare gives you two main options - you can charge the sale to a house account or you can "defer" payment. Both options are similar in that they involve making a sale now and arranging for payment later. The real question is which method is better. We believe that you should only ever give an account (and charge privileges) to people or companies (usually companies) that purchase from you on a regular basis. If they purchase often then an account and the things that come with it - like the ability to generate statements, etc. - really make sense. If it is a person who just orders a few times a year "deferring" is probably the better option. There is one exception. If you have someone who is making a very large one-time purchase (a bride would be a good example) and they want to be able to make deposits prior to receiving the goods and/or make payments on an ongoing basis afterwards it is probably better to set up an account. It can then be closed out when the wedding (for example) is over. tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.474 2007-11-01T00:59:22Z 2007-11-01T01:50:33Z

One of our favorite users recently completed her new website. It is a great example of what a florist can accomplish when they choose to go their own way and create their own unique site instead of just plugging their...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com European Flower Company is a real florist in Massachusetts offering fresh flower delivery to the following towns on a daily basis: Braintree, Cohasset, Hingham, Hanover, Holbrook, Quincy, Rockland, Norwell, Weymouth, East Weymouth, South Weymouth, North Weymouth. It is a great shop and they now have a great website!]]> tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.453 2007-10-28T19:49:03Z 2008-02-27T19:21:37Z

Some very astute users have noticed a change to the order process in FloristWare v2.5 and have asked why that change was made. The change involves the enclosure card information. We used to collect it after completing the product selection....

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com Some very astute users have noticed a change to the order process in FloristWare v2.5 and have asked why that change was made. The change involves the enclosure card information. We used to collect it after completing the product selection. In v2.5 we are trying to get the card type and message before we begin product selection. Why? In preparing this update spent a lot of time and money working with a consultant who does nothing but train retail florists to sell better - better service AND higher average order values. He gets more than $1,000 a day and has columns in Florists Review and another magazine in the UK. He felt really strongly about getting the card message first because it allows you to get a sense of the occasion and tailor your sale to the situation. If for example you find out right away it is sympathy work you might be a little more formal and/or reserved in the way you handle the customer. If it is something really big (like a 25th wedding anniversary) then you know that you should really try and push the order value. We like to think the old way was already very good but this suggestion made a lot sense. We really want the software to help you increase average order value and improve service and this seemed like a good way to do it. tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.452 2007-10-22T12:09:11Z 2007-10-22T12:18:50Z

As you have probably noticed the receipts & invoices that FloristWare generates when dealing with an order contain a lot of information. There are several reasons for this. The first is that customers who want receipts tend to find this...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com As you have probably noticed the receipts & invoices that FloristWare generates when dealing with an order contain a lot of information. There are several reasons for this. The first is that customers who want receipts tend to find this information very useful. The second is that invoices containing detailed information tend to get paid faster and with less headaches. When the customer opens a FloristWare invoice they can see exactly what the invoice is for, remember making the purchase(s) and get you paid. Invoices that are vague tend to get put to the side until the customer has time to call you and ask you for the kind of information that already appears on the FloristWare invoice. There is one other really important benefit to our detailed receipts and invoices - they can help you reduce errors. Every time you take an order you should encourage the customer to review it carefully. If the customer is shopping in person you can hand a hard copy right to them. If they are on the phone you can send it by e-mail. You want to stress that they go through it immediately and let you know if there are any mistakes. This can really help! Many users have had customers catch an incorrect delivery date, mispelled name, etc. By enlisting the customers help they were able to catch these mistakes. These means better service and happier customers! tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.451 2007-10-20T10:47:22Z 2008-02-27T19:22:21Z

As we continue the process of getting all FloristWare users switched over to Version 2.5 we are going to begin the process of explaining how to take advantage of some of the new features. One of the most popular involves...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com As we continue the process of getting all FloristWare users switched over to Version 2.5 we are going to begin the process of explaining how to take advantage of some of the new features. One of the most popular involves navigation. You can now activate onscreen buttons from the keyboard - you no longer have to use the mouse and/or touchscreen. It is very easy to use. The next time you see a screen with several buttons on it start hitting the tab key. You will notice that one by one the buttons are highlighted. If you shift-tab the buttons are highlighted in reverse order. Once you are on the button you want to activate you simply click the "Enter" key (Windows) or "Return" key (Mac) and it's the same as if you clicked the button with your mouse. This allows you to activate the buttons without taking your hands off of the keyboard. This is the best of both worlds - the speed of a keyed interface without having to remember any codes, commands or keystroke combinations. This, combined with a newly streamlined order process, makes FloristWare faster and easier to use than ever. It can take a little while to get used to, but most users quickly report that they can't imagine doing it any other way. More information on how to get the full benefit of FloristWare 2.5 will soon follow. tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.144 2007-06-18T20:24:10Z 2007-06-18T20:32:08Z

Too many FloristWare users are not shutting their computers off each night! You may have been told that you do not have to but trust us - it is is very important that you shut down and restart each machine...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com Too many FloristWare users are not shutting their computers off each night! You may have been told that you do not have to but trust us - it is is very important that you shut down and restart each machine that runs FloristWare each day. Please note that we are not just talking about shutting down FloristWare. That is of course very important (this is when FloristWare creates a back-up copy) but you also need to restart the computer. Why? The longer your computer runs the more likely it is to run into problems. The best way to avoid such problems is by "starting fresh" and restarting each machine at least once each day. You may never have a problem, but if your computer is left running for weeks or months at a time you almost certainly will, and you don't want to run in to a problem while you are in the process of taking an order. Please be sure to restart each machine at least once each day! tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.120 2007-06-11T16:17:00Z 2007-06-14T04:08:55Z

This week you should try using the Marketing features in the FloristWare POS system to send some e-mails promoting a summer special. Don't get crazy. Sending thousands of e-mails can be dangerous if you don't have enough products to fill...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com This week you should try using the Marketing features in the FloristWare POS system to send some e-mails promoting a summer special. Don't get crazy. Sending thousands of e-mails can be dangerous if you don't have enough products to fill the orders that you get. For this experiment we'd suggest maybe 100 e-mails. Just enter FloristWare at the Manager level and choose "Marketing". From there you should build a list "name-by-name" and select only the people that you think will be interested in the special you have in mind. Make sure you put some thought into your e-mail. Remember, you don't want them to think you are sending them junk mail so try and offer them something of value. That's it! If you have any questions please give us a call. tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.108 2007-06-01T19:04:25Z 2007-06-14T04:08:55Z

Any business that deals with cash is susceptible to internal theft by employees. A flower shop certainly qualifies! The FloristWare Point-Of-Sale system for flower shops has a lot of tools that can help reduce internal theft, but there are a...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com Research All New Employees Ask prospective employees for permission to do a background check. If they don’t give their consent you should probably avoid them. If they do give their consent you can take it to the next level - check with previous employers and maybe even consider hiring a service to look into their background more thoroughly. Use The Security Tools In FloristWare FloristWare gives you excellent tools for monitoring suspicious activity. Not only should you use these tools, you should make it known to the staff that you use them. It is always better to deter employees before theft occurs than to try and catch them afterwards. Treat Your Employees Well Theft can be as much an act of anger towards an employer as anything else. If an employee doesn’t feel appreciated or respected it is easier for them to do something they know is wrong. Conversely, it is harder to steal if you do make them feel good about themselves. Ask for their opinions. Treat them well. Make them feel like the are a part of something. Pay Good Wages By paying better than average wages you accomplish three other things. First it allows you to attract better quality employees. Second, the employee will be more inclined to appreciate their job, and they will be aware that is will be hard to get another job that pays as well if they get fired for doing something stupid. Finally, decent pay helps your employees to feel appreciated and respected - which we have already discussed as being important. Maintain A Tight Refund Policy There is less internal theft in business with strict and tightly enforced refund policies. Fortunately FloristWare makes this very easy because it forces the employee to actually find the original sale and customer information before they can issue a refund. If you believe that a certain refund doesn’t look right than you should definitely call the customer. FloristWare makes this kind of theft very easy to stop. Offer Employee Discounts Your employees are surrounded by beautiful flowers and they’ll want to be able to enjoy them at home from time to time. Give them a good deal. Any time you make a sale to an employee you can be almost certain that you would not be making the sale at all if they were not an employee. That means that there is no real opportunity cost involved - you can offer the flowers to your employee at or slightly above your actual cost. This will help the employee fell valued and appreciated, making them less likely to steal. It will also increase their appreciation for their job. Never Take Cash From The Drawer Even if you are the owner and technically all the money is yours you should never, ever take cash from the register. There are several reasons. It gives the impression that controls are loose - that cash can be taken and not be missed. It also leads to hard feelings that can lead to theft. Your employees work hard to put that cash in the drawer - if they see you casually scoop it out it undermines their efforts. And while $50 might not seem like a lot to you, your employees are acutely aware that they might have to work a whole shift on their feet to make that much money. Whenever they sense the disparity in your respective incomes it becomes easier for them to rationalize theft by convincing themselves that they need the money and you don’t. Be Very Careful About Scheduling Keep a close eye on your scheduling and employees match-ups. Changing employee match-ups can be a great tool for diagnosing problems and narrowing down the list of suspects. Only allow your most trusted employees to ever work alone. On a similar note it’s a good idea to avoid having close friends working together on their own unless there is a lot of trust - they may very well like each other more than they like you! Balance The Cash Mid-Day You should periodically “cash out” one or more times during the day by printing a temporary Daily Sale Report during the day, removing the drawer and making sure that it balances. There are a couple of reasons for this. First it 'turns up the heat' on any employees who might be stealing. They will quickly realize that you know something is wrong, so this makes for a strong deterrent. More importantly it helps you figure out when things are going bad. If you are balancing the previous days cash the following morning it can be very hard to figure out what went missing and who is responsible. If you try and balance the cash two hours after opening it's much easier. Spend Time Behind The Cash Employees will feel more confident about stealing if you’re never around. Make sure to spend time around the cash register and safe. Make sure they know that you are keeping an eye on things. We mean that literally! You want them to see you looking at the cash register and the transactions that take place on a regular basis. Install A Security Camera A working security camera installed over the cash area will of course be very helpful if you are ever held up, but more importantly it will help deter employees from stealing from you. Other Quick Rules: Employees cannot leave bags, purses, packs, etc., near the register. Employees cannot enter their own purchases. Employees cannot enter purchases for family or friends. ]]> tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.136 2007-05-18T03:36:09Z 2007-06-14T04:08:55Z

Since customer information is so valuable for marketing purposes FloristWare encourages you to collect as much as possible. This information is like money in the bank. It does however take time to collect. And you may find yourself in a...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com Since customer information is so valuable for marketing purposes FloristWare encourages you to collect as much as possible. This information is like money in the bank. It does however take time to collect. And you may find yourself in a situation where you just don't have time to collect it, or dealing with a customer who does not want to share it. In these situations look to the yellow bar at the bottom of the screen. If it might be possible to skip certain sections you will see that option presented to you there. Just click the "Skip" button. You should not make a habit of this. Some people get lazy and skip as much information as possible all the time. Then, when they go to do some marketing, they don't have a decent group to work with. Always try and get as much information as you have time to collect and the customer is willing to share. If you have to, skip steps as needed. tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.110 2007-05-02T21:07:26Z 2007-06-14T04:08:55Z

The FloristWare Floral POS System has a lot of features that are designed to help you with future marketing efforts by collecting customer information during the sale/order process. While using these features will help increase your sales in the long...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com The FloristWare Floral POS System has a lot of features that are designed to help you with future marketing efforts by collecting customer information during the sale/order process. While using these features will help increase your sales in the long run we understand that it does take time to collect this information, and that there may be situations when (for the sake of you or the customer) you want to skip over certain sections. Here is one example. After you have made the sale and arranged for payment FloristWare starts going through several features. Depending on your settings this could include things like the Reminder Service, AdTracker, Goodbye Message, etc. Like we said, all of these features are for your benefit. If however you or the customer is in a rush and you want to skip them you have to options. First, you can skip them section by section by using the "Skip" button. This works very well if you want to skip certain sections but take advantage of certain other. If you are in a real hurry you can skip all of the post-sales steps by clicking the "Express Checkout" button. This will immediately end the sale. tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.133 2007-04-30T03:33:34Z 2007-06-14T04:08:56Z

Many of you use the "Defer Payment" feature quite often. It is a very handy tool and can make life much easier. The only trick is making sure that you get paid for all those sales! That's the problem -...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com Many of you use the "Defer Payment" feature quite often. It is a very handy tool and can make life much easier. The only trick is making sure that you get paid for all those sales! That's the problem - it's easy to "forget" about a Deferred Payment sale and not collect payment. This is why FloristWare allows you to create a "Deferred Payment" report. It shows you all of the payments that were deferred, the date they were deferred, the customer's name and all of their phone numbers. The idea is that you take this list and start calling the customers who still owe you for deferred payment sales. Running this report is easy - simply enter at the Manager level, go to the Reports section and choose "Deferred Payments Report". It is a good idea to print it out and keep it by the phone to work at whenever you have time - just keep calling the people that owe you money. You should run this report at least once a month. Once every two weeks is better and every week is better still - especially if you do a lot of deferred payment sales. It is a fact that the longer you allow an invoice to sit unpaid the less chance you have of getting paid. Stay on top of these deferred payments! tag:www.floristware.com,2007:/content/users_current/tips//12.100 2007-04-15T16:57:05Z 2007-06-14T04:08:56Z

Earlier in the week a user in our home town had a very interesting problem. She was trying to take an order for delivery to another city about 40 minutes away. The name of that city (or so we thought!)...

Mark Anderson http://www.floristware.com Earlier in the week a user in our home town had a very interesting problem. She was trying to take an order for delivery to another city about 40 minutes away. The name of that city (or so we thought!) was St. Catherines. She knew that searching for "St." was trouble so she just searched for "Catherines". Nothing turned up! This was perplexing because she knew the city existed - it's a pretty good size and she had visited there just a few months ago. When this happens it almost certainly means that the name was entered incorrectly, so she checked it and was sure she had it right ("Catherines") but it just didn't work. That's when she called for help. In a case like this the best approach is to assume that there is a spelling mistake - even if you are sure that you have the name right. What you need to do is enter only the first few letters of one of the words in the name. So in this case we entered "Cather". Still no luck! We then entered "Cath", and sure enough the city we were looking for turned up. The problems was that the proper spelling for the town is "Catharines" with two A's. Even though we had both been through this city and seen the name hundreds of times we never noticed the somewhat unique spelling. If you ever find yourself in this situation you should assume that you may have the spelling wrong, and use only a small part of the name to do the search. Have a great weekend!