FloristWare Features: Customer Service

FloristWare includes a built-in "Reminders" tool that automates the process of collecting information about birthdays, anniversaries and more from your customers. It then prompts you to contact therse customers in advance of these events by phone, e-mail or postcard.

This is a valuable and proven way to increase sales. It ensures that you catch (for example) a husband in advance of his anniversary when he is almost certainly searching for a gift. He is thrilled - he can take care of his gift-giving dilemma in a matter of minutes (you already have all his information on file) . You get the sale and, best of all, keep your customer loyal by providing a level of customer service that they won't get anywhere else.

FloristWare includes an optional a points-based incentive program. Have you ever wondered why these programs are so popular with credit card companies, some of the best marketers in the world? Because they are so effective! This is a very powerful tool that we encourage all users to take advantage of.

If you decide to use this feature you will have the option of defining every aspect of your points program. You decide the rate at which you give away points, the type of sales that qualify and more.

Once the program has been set up each time a customer buys flowers, they earn points that can be redeemed for free or discounted product in the future. This is a great way to build customer loyalty (it really does work!) and encourages customers to spend more - as crazy as it seems people like to spend money if they think at some point down the road they might get something for free in return.

There are other benefits to this feature as well. You will notice that customers are sometimes reluctant to divulge valuable marketing information like their e-mail address. You can use the points program to convince them to share it - you just explain that unless they give you their e-mail address they can't take part in the program. Following the excellent example of the credit card companies FloristWare even allows you to offer "New Customer Bonus Points". This allows you to award bonus points (in whatever amount you choose) to customers who provide all of the marketing information that you ask for.

You can also use the points to drive sales. For example, we strongly encourage all users to send out an e-mail and/or postcard to all customers in early January encouraging them to place their Valentines Day orders as soon as possible, and offering double points if they place their order before a certain date. This encourages the customer to pre-order well in advance, making it easier for you to get organized for the big day.

You can also use points to drive business during slow periods. Some users promote double or triple points during the slow summer months. Other users promote things like "Double Points Wednesdays" to help clean out their coolers before new products arrives.

The Points Program is a very powerful feature that not only increases your sales - it builds loyalty and helps you build a valuable marketing database.

Another important aspect of the Floral Strategies program involves following up with customers and/or recipients. FloristWare automates this very powerful approach to building sales and relationships.

Here is how it works. If you choose to use this feature (it’s simply a setting that you can change at any time) you can - with just a few clicks - be presented with a list of all your recent deliveries that includes the names and phone numbers of customers and recipients.

The idea is that you call them and make sure that they were happy with the flowers and/or experience. From there you can jump off into their notes and make comments that will allow you to serve them better in the future. When talking to the customer you can urge them to order again soon. When talking to the recipient you are trying to win them over as a customer.

Most importantly you are building the relationship by showing that you care. No supermarket or big-box retailer and very, very few florists provide this level of customer service.

At the end of each sale FloristWare gives you the option of not only printing the invoice or receipt (pre-formatted to go into a standard window envelope) but of faxing or e-mailing it to the customer in pdf format with just a few mouse clicks.

This is a very powerful feature, especially for shops that have a lot of house accounts. Typically these shops take an order and then have to enter it into their accounting package (such as Quickbooks) and generate the invoice at a later time. This means duplicated (wasted) effort.

Generating and printing and/or e-mailing and/or faxing the invoice/receipt at the time of sale has a lot of advantages. First, it allows the customer to review all of the order details - giving them a chance to spot any mistakes. You'd be surprised how often our users have had a customer notice a potentially embarrassing error - the wrong name in a card message, bad delivery date, etc.

It also saves you time and money - if you are used to generating an invoice by hand, (or taking a receipt from your cash register) and stuffing it into an envelope, writing the address, etc., you'll love the fact that FloristWare prints receipts and invoices already formatted to go straight into a window envelope. However - it's even faster and easier to e-mail or fax the invoice by just clicking a few buttons! It's also cheaper - you save the cost of the envelope and the stamp.

And - when it comes to Accounts Receivable - there is still one more advantage. The faster you bill, the faster you get paid.

Too many florists regard invoicing as a chore. They put it off as long as they can and, when they finally get around to it, weeks have often passed. And, since old invoices are more likely to be put to the side, these shops are almost always waiting a month or more for payment.

E-mailing or faxing the invoice at the time of sale dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes you to collect your receivables.

Have you ever had a customer call and ask you for a duplicate receipt?

For too many florists this means a lot of work - often involving digging around in dusty old records boxes. It takes too long, your inclined to put it off and you're not any closer to getting paid until you actually find the original. Once you have you have to make a copy, prepare an envelope, etc.

FloristWare makes this task easier than ever before. You can find the receipt and print a copy (formatted to go into a window envelope) or e-mail or fax it directly to the customer in a matter of seconds - usually while you are still on the phone with them!

This makes your life easier and keep even the most demanding customer happy.

FloristWare allows you to print statements quickly and easily. With just a few clicks you can prints statements for a single account, all accounts with balances or all accounts.

You can also choose between two different formats. Both are very detailed and include things like order date, delivery date, purchaser name, etc., but one in particular gives the account holder an incredible amount of detail on the account activity. It even includes the card message and detailed product description.

Our users have found that these detailed invoices help reduce the number of questions from A/P departments and ensure faster payment.

FloristWare allows you to keep track of two different sales taxes. It can also remember whether certain customers are exempt from one or both of these taxes. You can always override these settings, but it will start you off on the right foot and warn you if you accidentally make any changes.

This feature automates the powerful (but all too often forgotten or ignored) process of trying to upsell the customer.

Here is how it works. You specify one or more of the product categories that you have created as containing high margin "upsell" products - typically things like cards, chocolates, balloons, etc. Then, each time you take and order and have selected the "core" product (usually flowers) FloristWare takes the employee to a screen where they are prompted to encourage the customer to add one or more of these high-margin items.

This is a powerful tool that can really help increase the size of your average sale.

FloristWare maintains a "recipient list" for each customer - a list of people that they have sent to along with their addresses. This makes repeat orders to these people quicker and easier than ever - all you have to do is click their name and FloristWare fills in all of their information - even special delivery instructions and intersection!

FloristWare keeps detailed information on each recipient. For example, it shows you the customer's spending patterns (average value, max value and total value) as they relate to each individual recipient. This allow you to maximize the value of each and every order.

It also allows you to keep detailed notes on each recipient about what they like, what they don't and more. This feature becomes even more powerful when you combine it with the Floral Strategies Follow-Up System.

All of this allows you to increase your sales while making the order-taking process more efficient and providing your customer with a higher level of customer service.

FloristWare also allows you to see the complete order history for each recipient. If a customer tells you that they want to send their wife the same thing they sent her last year you can find and duplicate that order in a manner of seconds - once again enhancing the order-taking experience for the customer.

FloristWare is somewhat unique in that it allows you to store multiple addresses for each customer and recipient. This is a very powerful feature that most systems don't offer. It means that you can store (for example) a home address, a work address and more for each person in your database.

Most systems make you create a new customer or recipient record for each address - a cumbersome and inefficient way of doing things.

FloristWare automates the process of providing delivery confirmations by phone or e-mail. This is a very powerful feature that very few systems offer.

It is also a feature that your customers will love and another example of how FloristWare can help set you apart from your competitors by providing a level of customer service that they just can't match.

Whether you use FloristWare to print your enclosure cards or not it will automatically check the spelling of all card messages. This is a very valuable feature than can help you minimize stress and avoid embarrassing situations!

FloristWare can securely store multiple credit card for each customer and process them automatically when it comes time to pay for a sale. You can even assign each card a nickname like "personal", "work", etc.

The numbers are encrypted using a special key that is unique to each copy of FloristWare that ships giving you (and your customers) a good deal of security.

This makes order-taking even faster and more convenient for you and your customer.

FloristWare now allows you to store a photograph of each of your products. There are several advantages to this feature. If you are dealing with a customer over the phone you can instantly e-mail them a photograph of the item being discussed. If you have someone at the counter you can show them a photograph (even an enlarged version) of something that you might not have made up at that moment - a large sympathy piece for example. The photographs also help to remind the designers of what a finished piece should look like.

When sending delivery confirmations by e-mail FloristWare now allows you to include photographs. If a particular product already has a photograph on file it will be carried over, but you can replace it and/or include up to four more photographs (a total of five) in the delivery confirmation. This allows you to include (for example) photographs of the actual product as it went out the door, the product being prepared, the recipient receiving the flowers, etc. The possibilities are almost endless!

You can now designate certain customers as being exempt from one or more sales taxes in their customer profile. You can of course add taxes back in if you wish.

You can designate certain charge accounts as being exempt from one or more sales taxes in their account profile. You can of course add taxes back in if you wish.

You can now designate certain customers as being exempt from service and/or delivery charges in their customer profile. Typically this is done to reward certain customers by making them feel special, increasing customer loyalty. Version 2.6 helps in this regard - the description of the charge will automatically be changed to read “Default delivery/service fee of $X.XX waived”. Florists who are making an effort to reinforce their relationships with their best customers will find this feature very useful. You can of course add the service/delivery charge back in on a per-order basis.

You can now designate certain customers as being entitled to a default discount in their customer profile. Typically this is done to reward certain customers by making them feel special. Florists who are making an effort to reinforce their relationships with their best customers will find this feature very useful. You can of course choose to skip or modify any discount on a per-order basis.

FloristWare now allows you to save a specific recipe for each product that you send out. If the item is a standard product FloristWare starts by copying the standard recipe for that product. If it is a custom product FloristWare starts with an empty recipe field. In either event, the designer then has the option to either edit the recipe as needed or enter it from scratch as they prepare the order so that it reflects what actually goes out the door. There are two main benefits to this. First it allows the owner/manager to have a better chance at controlling costs as they can review what actually goes out on each order. Secondly,if a customer ever complains that they did not get good value on an order you can check back and see exactly what they received.