FloristWare Features: Marketing

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.

The Sales Call feature does not appeal to everybody, but it might work for you. If you turn it on, FloristWare will prompt you to call or e-mail customers that have not purchased (or been contacted) within a certain amount of time. You get to specify the minimum interval between contact so as not to annoy customers, and customers can be removed from the list at their request with a single click.

This is a very powerful tool that can really increase your sales. Most North Americans would buy flowers more often - they just don't think of it. A simple phone call is often all it takes to spur them into making a purchase.

FloristWare automates the process and takes the guesswork out of it, making it incredibly effective.

The Fundraising Tool is a powerful feature that allows you to increase sales and enhance your image through fundraising programs. You can specify that a certain percentage of sales generated by fundraising program be donated to those programs - turning the people involved into a passionate and highly motivated sales force.

Here is how it works. You know how you are constantly being asked for donations? Let's pretend that you get such a donation request from the local little league. Instead of simply giving them money you explain that you will be their fundraising partner.

You then set up a special little league fundraising program in FloristWare (this takes less than a minute) that sees a percentage of any sale generated by this program being set aside for donation. You get to decide on the percentage when you set up the program.

So, if a customer comes in and explains that they are taking part in the little league fundraising program you will indicate that in FloristWare (once again very easy to do) and a percentage of their sale will be set aside for donation. After whatever period you decide you can run a report and see how much your owe to the program.

The beauty of this is that it turns all of those people who are asking you for donations into your own personal sales force. If they want the program to work they have to promote it aggressively to everyone involved - in this case the other parents, their friends, etc. Only by getting people to come into your store and spending money do they raise any money.

It is a very powerful strategy that not only increases your sales but your profile and and image in the community as well.

The best part? That FloristWare makes it so easy - it really is almost completely automated! You can even run multiple programs at the same time.

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.

FloristWare keeps track of your notes and the spending patterns of each customer. This increases sales and improves customer service.

Notes are very valuable for increasing sales and improving customer service. If a customer like to chat about their grandchildren or their golf game that should go in their notes. If they are always in a rush and want to get in and out as quickly as possible that should go in as well. This allows you to serve each customer the way they want to be served. A customer that feels comfortable is likely to spend more money, buy more often, be more loyal and refer your store to friends.

There is another big advantage to having notes - it means that even the newest employee can serve your existing customers as well as you can. This can mean less pressure on you in that you no longer have to personally handle all of your long-standing customers - FloristWare allows even your most junior employees to provide the same high level of customer service.

FloristWare also shows you the customers average, max and total purchases. If a customer routinely spends $100 and has spent as much as $200, you don’t want to sell them a $30 arrangement. You want to keep them at $100 or more. FloristWare makes sure that you get the most out of every sale.

You can also see everything that they have ever sent. If (for example) a customer mentions that his wife really loved what you sent for her birthday two years ago you can see exactly what it was and duplicate the order in a matter of seconds.

The AdTracker feature helps to generate sales in a different way. It shows you the efficiency of each of your advertising efforts are so that you can spend your advertising budget more effectively.

For instance it might show you that spending $100 a month for an ad in the local weekly generates more business that a $200 per month yellow pages ad. By spending more on what works and less on what doesn't you can increase your sales and/or decrease your advertising costs.

You get to specify as many different advertising programs as you like and FloristWare will keep track of all of them. This is a very powerful feature and a favorite of users who are smart about their advertising and marketing.

The reciprocity tool is used when sending orders to other florists. It shows you how much business each florist in the delivery area has sent to you compared to what you have sent to them.

There are different things you can do with this information. Some shops feel that by rewarding the florists that are loyal to you, you can increase the number of orders they send you. Other shops - often newer shops - try and spread their business around in an attempt to build as many relationships (and generate as much incoming business) as possible.

Whichever approach you prefer FloristWare makes it possible.

Tim Huckabee is a very respected industry sales trainer and founder of Floral Strategies. Over the past ten years he has proven time and time again that a shop using his unique order-taking process will increase the value of their average sale substantially - often by ten dollars more.

Adherents of the Floral Strategies method can now adjust their settings and FloristWare will take them through the order process in the exact order that Tim suggests - increasing average sale value and improving customer service.

Please note that this setting is not magical - to get the full benefit you will need training from Tim. However, anyone that believes in the Floral Strategies approach will find this new option makes it easier than ever to stay true to a proven formula.

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.

FloristWare makes it quick and easy to generate custom mail/e-mail/telephone campaigns.

You start by using the ListBuilder tool to create a list of people from database of customers and recipients that FloristWare maintains. For example, ListBuilder can find all of the customers who have sent flowers on Thanksgiving, people who normally spend more or less than a certain specified amount, people who have expressed interest in personal or corporate gifts, people who live in a certain area, people who have asked to be contacted in advance of Christian and/or Jewish holidays, people who (or have not) been contacted and/or purchased in a certain period of time, etc. The tools for creating and refining your list very powerful and the possibilities are almost endless.

Once you have created your list you have three main things you can do with it...

E-Mail
FloristWare can automatically send a customized e-mail (based on a template that you create) to each and every person on your list. It can generate and send them entirely on it's own or present each one to you for review prior to sending - some florists like to tweak the messages for customers that they recognize. You can also send fully formatted HTML e-mail (the kind that looks more like a web page than a text message) or export your e-mail list for use with a service like Constant Contact.

Mailing Labels/Postcards
If you want to send your customers something by mail you have two main choices. If you choose "Mailing Labels" FloristWare will print a properly formatted USPS/Canada Post mailing label for each person who has a complete mailing address on file. If they don't have a complete mailing address we won't waste a label on them. You can choose from three of the most popular label formats and FloristWare will tell you how many blank label sheets you need to feed into your printer.

You might prefer to send postcards. In this case you choose from three standard formats (you can buy the card in all three sizes from the John Henry Company) and FloristWare will personalize and print each card. This is often cheaper and less time-consuming than stuffing envelopes.

Telephone List
Some stores like to print out a telephone list - a list of names and their phone numbers. They then give each employee a couple of pages, assign them to a phone and tell them to start dialing. This is usually done in advance of a major holiday like Valentine's or Mother's Day.

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 automatically verifies all US addresses against official records, finding the proper ZIP code and correcting minor formatting issues while alerting you to anything more serious.

This serves two purposes. The first is to reduce the number of failed deliveries that result from trying to deliver to a bad address - everyone loses on those!

It also makes your marketing campaigns more efficient. We are hoping that you will use FloristWare to print postcards and/or mailing labels that you will use when sending marketing materials to your customers. We don't want to waste money on stamps - another reason the system attempts to complete and verify all addresses that you enter.

There has been a lot of work done to the Floral Strategies order process and it now works better than ever before. For more information on how this feature can help your business please contact Tim Huckabee of Floral Strategies at www.floralstrategies.com.

Florists that use the e-mail marketing feature in FloristWare will appreciate the ability of Version 2.6 to send multi-part e-mail. You can now enter both a fully formatted html design and a plain text alternative and FloristWare will combine them in to a multi-part message. This will ensure that your e-mail is viewable by more people on more platforms/systems and help you get it past various spam filters. It makes your e-mail marketing more effective.