FloristWare at Conventions and Events in February And March
The period between Valentine's Day and Easter is one of the busiest for people on our side of the industry. This is the time when so many floral industry associations have their annual conventions and expos and we get to as many as we can.
There are a couple of reasons for this but the biggest is that we love meeting our clients face-to-face. It's important that we be available and accountable to them, and shows like this are a great chance to talk and get their feedback.
It's also a great opportunity to discuss ways to make the software better, as they leave educational sessions excited by what they have learned. Together we can look at how what the best educators and presenters in the flower business are teaching can be adapted to our software.
We also believe that we need to support the industry, and remain the only independent POS provider to do so. We love florists and this business and supporting the events they care about is something we take very seriously.
The events are...
Floral Association of the Rockies 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Cup
Denver CO | February 25-26 2017
Grand Rapids MI | March 3-5 2017
Philadelphia PA | March 25 2017
Wisconsin Dells WI | March 24-26 2017
And, as part of our ongoing commitment to support florists and the floral industry we're sponsoring sessions at three of these events.
Sponsorships & Sessions: Tim Huckabee of FloralStrategies
Tim Huckabee AIFSE, founder of FloralStrategies and the best sales trainer in the flower business will present three sessions, including an all-day session on Friday.
How to Deal with the Ten Deadly Sins
Date: Friday, March 3, 2017 Time: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Location: Atrium in lower level of hotel Lunch included.
Please Note: Additional Fees Apply
Join Tim for an all-new, full-day program designed just for retail florists. Tim has spent the last twenty years visiting over 5,000 retail florists on multiple continents. For the first time ever he will share the most common mistakes he has seen and the best practices to correct them. This material will cover everything from sales and service to marketing and motivating your staff.
Learn how to deal with these ten Deadly Sins:
- Profiling customers (She’s so old she’ll never spend that much)
- Under utilizing the POS system
- Worrying about the competition (the grocery store, the shop down the street)
- Not valuing education / spending time and money on staff development
- Not leveraging your expertise to help customers
- Being terrified of hearing ‘no’ from customers
- Not selling at 2017 prices (too many $39.99 baskets out there!)
- Not raising prices along with costs (for fear of ‘upsetting customers)
- Not innovating on the design end of the business
- Relying too much on incoming orders instead of local business
To keep all participants on their toes Tim will be making LIVE test calls to real, local flower shops.
Improving Your Phone Skills
Date: Saturday, March 4, 2017
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Location: Steelcase Ballroom B
Tim Huckabee AIFSE, takes the stage to make LIVE test calls to shops as well as wire services. He’ll also call some order gatherers so florists can see how those guys are beating them. This is a very powerful form of edutainment as he points out both the strengths and weaknesses of every call so audience members can improve their phone skills.
Wholesale Only Training Session
Date: Sunday, March 5,2017
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Location: Atrium (lower level of hotel)
Tim Huckabee AIFSE, has taken his success in helping retail florists raise their average sales and crafted a custom program for the wholesale segment of the industry. Starting in 2012, he conducted training on-site at dozens of wholesale houses across the U.S., Canada and England. And they all saw the same result – bigger sales and more business from their accounts. Come learn the highlights of his successful process to raise wholesale sales in this first-ever WHOLESALE ONLY program. Be sure to be there.
Sponsorships & Sessions: Robbin Yelverton of Blumz in Detroit
Meanwhile Robbin Yelverton AIFD, AAF, CF, MCF, PFCI will present his incredibly popular session on increasing sympathy sales by working with funeral directors at both the FAR and WUMFA Annual Conventions.
Building/Maintaining/Monitoring Relationships With Funeral Directors
In this interactive session, Robbin will show florists his tricks on how to get through the door and connect with funeral home directors. Establishing and maintaining this connection is the essential first step to communication and a profitable relationship. He’ll also cover the importance of monitoring the florist/funeral director relationship – you always need to know where you stand and Robbin has proven ways of doing just that.
This session was presented for the very first time at the 2016 GLFE, drawing on Robbin's own experience and sympathy success at Blumz in Detroit. Florists who attended left excited about tackling an aspect of the business many of them had simply given up on, and we've been enjoyed hearing back from them about their newfound success.