Outstanding marketing tool for florists ... ***** (five star)

[dbee]

Hi Guys,

My name is Dara, I'm MD of a new online company called Flowerhour.biz. We're an online customer relationship management company for florists. We provide florists with services such as the Text message and Email reminders for their customers at important flower-giving events in their lives such as National Holidays, Anniversaries, Birthdays. We also provide marketing materials and an easy-to-use online newsletter creator.

I thought that you might like to check out our new site. We can provide you with unlimited personalized client email reminders + online newsletter creator + marketing materials for your store for as little as $19.99/month.

It's a proven way to build customer loyalty and turnover, and it also integrates perfectly with any existing web presence that you might have already. Our service is also completely fire-and-forget, meaning that it doesn't require constant monitoring or adjustment on your behalf.

Contact us to ask about our very generous affiliate program    ....

http://www.FlowerHour.biz

Thanks,

[oldnews]

Our industry needs more service oriented companies providing such services...This looks like an intersting service...NO I don't know who they are or have any involvement.

But I hope more companies like this one will pop up soon

[vuzien]

Link not working

[dbee]

Hi Vuzien,

As it happens, there was an issue with our NZ profile that was causing a problem for our New Zealand clients ONLY. Thanks for the tip. It's been rectified ...

[Bigted]

While this sounds like a good idea, why couldn't a shop pick up the phone and call these customers to remind them.  We do--it's not that hard.

[dbee]

While this sounds like a good idea, why couldn't a shop pick up the phone and call these customers to remind them.  We do--it's not that hard

Hi Bigted, thanks for the reply.

Without knowing the exact dynamic of your business Bigted, let me highlight a couple of reasons that you might find our service preferable to ringing clients yourself.

 * Our service is completely fire-and-forget, meaning that you don't have to take the time out of your day to maintain your diary, email and text message your customers. This means that you get more time to work on marketing your business, and leaves your hands free to fulfill orders, restock shelves, run marketing campaigns. If you have staff that are sitting around, doing nothing anyway - then maybe you should start thinking about how you can use those staff members more productively ? (see below).

 * Our service works great as an integrated part of an overall marketing solution. By downloading and printing off our personalized Entry forms, you can stand outside your business and offer people a free service as they pass by (unique selling point). You can also drop the Entry forms into the postbox of nearby residences and businesses (this is probably a better way to be spending your time, as opposed to writing individual emails and making calls to individual clients). The client then has the option of either dropping the form into your business (and saying hello !), or going to your online Entry page and filling their details from the comfort of their own home.

 * Our service never forgets, never gets lost, never turns up late. You and only you, get full access to your customer database which is stored securely on our servers ( we hate spammers and we NEVER share your data with anyone ! ). You can then use your customer data to best benefit your business - such as cross-selling, loyalty programs, seasonal discounts. 

 * Our service comes with the free use of a professional newsletter creator. You can use this as a get-to-know-you facility for your business. Write your own text and have your own pictures included. Talk a little about your business, your staff members and your product line. 

 * Our service will highlight every major flower-giving event for your country, including National Holidays. That means that instead of just reminding a customer about a birthday or wedding, they are encouraged to enter reminders for EVERY event in the calendar year. Both personal events and general holidays.

 * Our service integrates with any online web presence that you may have at the moment. That means that anyone who comes to your website, can follow a simple link and enter their details into the system, so you can get the most out of any online investment that you've already made !

I think I could probably go on and on BigTed, but I don't want to bore you. I'm sure you already realize the fact that business theory says that the cost of retaining an existing customer is only about 10% of the cost of acquiring a new customer and that a 5% improvement in customer retention can cause an increase in profitability of between 25 and 85 percent.

The benefits of outsourcing your customer relationship management are huge. We suggest that our clients join our service, run a concentrated advertising campaign at the start (using our personalized marketing materials) to build up their customer database. Then you can enjoy having a long-term strategic partner for your business that will not only see you steal customers away from your competition, but will also provide a great opportunity for the smaller independent florist to gain a step up on the supermarket/ convenience store/ packaged-flower brigade.
 

 

[Rosita]

ahhh, but your service doesn't have the owner calling personally, big difference. we find this is a great way to stay in contact with our customers... spend a little time on the phone each day with them...

[dbee]

ahhh, but your service doesn't have the owner calling personally, big difference. we find this is a great way to stay in contact with our customers... spend a little time on the phone each day with them...

Hi Rosita, thanks ...

Just briefly,

We find that between personal dates (anniversaries, birthdays, weddings) and national holidays - many people end up entering up to 12 reminders at a time. I'm wondering whether you have the manpower and time to make personal calls to these customers on 12 seperate occassions throughout the year ? Even if you have only 20 customers that you call, that makes 20X12 = 240 personal calls. Do you ever have to ring a customer 2 or 3 times before you get through ? What if they're unavailable ? Have you ever forgotten to make a call ? Could one of your customers be upset if they expect to get a personal call and then don't ?

Since you have full access to all your customer reminder data (including entry date, reminder date, email, telephone number) with our service, then it's simple for you to check for upcoming dates on your account and ring a customer personally as well. Why not do both ? Ring your customers on special occasions every now and again as a complementary get-to-know-you alongside online newsletter campaigns, and let our system take care of the other dates !

Also remember Rosita, that 3 personal calls to a customer is not going to be as advantageous to your business as 12 text reminders. And that the messages sent from our service are your personalized messages sent to the customer by name, and are sent from your email address and/or shop telephone. Once we have the customer information (name, email, phone, date), our service is completely transparent to the customer - they'll never know that you're not contacting them directly ! And by simply pressing reply on their phones, they'll be connected to your shop phone during your shop hours ...

I'm sure you're aware Rosita, that 7 out of 10 cut flower purchasers are women, and you may know that men generally spend up to 16% more on a flower purchase than women do. Your average male customer does NOT want to talk to you on the phone 12 times a year. Since men are the largest untapped market for florist retail industry, why not start running campaigns that are more suited to the way men buy flowers ? Discreet personalized text and email reminders, sent out at important events in their lives eg. wives birthdays, wedding anniversary, valentine's day...

Like I told Bigted, Rosita - you should outsource your customer relationship management and concentrate on your core activities - advertising and sales. This is a concept that works for major corporations and industries. Let it work for your business, and let your client database grow as your business does ...

[Rosita]

nice response... only 11% of people in sales are natural salespeople... you must fall in that 11%

[tiger]

...but do i want to be spammed by my florist?

[Rosita]

exactly

[dbee]

nice response... only 11% of people in sales are natural salespeople... you must fall in that 11%

Thanks for the complement Rosita. The reality of it is that a great product will sell itself though ...
 

...but do i want to be spammed by my florist?

Like I said previously tiger, we HATE spammers. A spammer will buy a mail list on the black market and send a million messages asking people to buy a standard commodity like viagra.

We run personalized, timely, opt-in campaigns on a permission-marketing basis. Don't mistake the fact that just because we use email as part of our overall customer relationship management solution, that we are somehow spammers. There's a big difference. If a customer doesn't want to sign up, then all they have to do is NOT put their name and details into the system ... that's why it's called 'permission-based' marketing. I think Rosita can confirm to you, that there are customers out there who like to be contacted about important dates in their lives. With our system you can remove a customer's name from the database at the touch of a button if they ask you to. Anyone attempting to use our servers for any kind of spamming, will be strongly asked to desist immediately ..

It's very possible that you use permission-based marketing as a consumer already. Have you ever asked your local car dealer to contact  you when a new model comes out ? Have you ever asked a bookstore to let you know when an author you like brings out a new book ? Have you ever asked a video store to call you when a movie goes on general release ?

The reality of it is that permission-based marketing solutions are going to roll out in some form in almost every big industry out there. I'll bet you that if you go to a business directory, you won't be able to find a single industry where you can get a bespoke, custom, piece of relationship management software like this for less than $1000's of dollars.

We have an A1 development team behind this system. It's a truly global solution that we can serve to you over the Internet. For that reason, we can afford to offer you such a great deal. If you truly believe that this product has a place in the market, and that you may eventually sign up to this service, let me explain to you why it's a good idea to do so early ...

This is a new technology, the first wave of florists who sign up to our service (let's call them early adopters), will gain extra benefits. Not only will they have more time to build their customer databases, more time to advertise to customers in their area, and more time to attract their competitor's clients away from them. But also, by tying customers to your service, you'll be throwing up what are called 'switch barriers' to discourage customers you have gained, from switching their custom to your competitor's business.

How many of your customers are going to take the time to cancel their reminders with your service, then fill out the reminder sheet again with your competitor ? I'm guessing not many. Especially when you consider the great branding you'll have already achieved by having your company linked with the happiest occasions in their lives (eg. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays). To put it simply, the early adopters get the biggest slice of the cake. Don't be left dragging your feet on this one ! 

Furthermore, what I will do for you is this. I will a give you special 'early adopter' promotional ID, which you can use to sign up for our service. We haven't offered this promotional deal to any of our online customers yet. So this is the first time we've used it.

If you sign up for one year and include this five character promotional ID on sign up NEBZB, you will receive one month extra for free ! That means you'll get 14 months for the price of 12 ... ( that's around $17 per month for the newsletter, marketing materials and unlimited personalized customer reminder emails / around £9.57 per month for the UK) for a limited time only. Also, if you PM me your number and a suitable time to call, I will ring you personally and talk you through the best way to use our product to increase your turnover and loyalty !

Thanks,

Dara

Flowerhour.biz

[tiger]

unfortunately it is just the spam practices that you site that would make me unlikely to participate. it is not that i have any doubts about your ethics or intentions and as you explain it, it seems to be a fine and reasonable tool. it is what might come down the road after merger or aquisision or infiltration or copy that would make me hesitate as a consumer.
keep in mind i am not a retailer and only comment as a consumer and general internet jackass 

[dbee]

Hi tiger,

No problems. We're more than happy to get your opinion - be it a negative or a positive one 

You'd be right to be protective of customer data, even though in reality we won't be storing anything too sensitive (eg. social security numbers, credit card details etc... ) on our servers. With regards to cross-selling and acquisitions, may I point you to section 4 of our client terms and conditions ... ?

PRIVACY POLICY:

    Registration Data and other information about you and your customers is subject to our Privacy Policy. Under no circumstances will your information be shared with any third party or related business nor shall your customer lists or information ( including email addresses, telephones and names ) be shared with any third party company or used in any other type of cross-selling or marketing campaigns without you AND your customers express written permission. Your data is private and will be kept private.

Please note that these terms and conditions are legally binding between the retailer and Flowerhour.biz upon registration. That means that this agreement preempts in law, any company acquisition or merger that may take place between FlowerHour.biz and any other company at any stage in the future. Please note too, that you will not be allowed sign up for our service without clearly indicating that you agree with these terms and conditions.

Please note also that besides this legally binding agreement between the retailer and our company, we are bound under the various privacy laws with regards to electronic communication in certain jurisdictions. For example ...

UK : The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This came into force on the 11 December 2003.
US : The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
EU : European Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003

These laws are broadly encompassing and quite severe, we could face large fines and/or jail time, for allowing any of these lists to be used as spam fodder !

We'll also provide the customer with a url which they can use to automatically remove themselves from our database at the touch of a button, should they wish to do so.

Thanks,

Dara - Flowerhour.biz

[Bigted]

Sorry Dara, the service doesn't work for me.  I can't imagine that people want to be reminded to order flowers for Labor Day.  We use a monthly email to talk about holidays coming up, and we have sales people call directly for Birthday's and Anniversaries.  That way, we can encourage them to order on the spot.  It works for us.  Adding your service to our existing emails would put us in the spam category for most people. 

We have a very large and busy shop.  Maybe it would work for a shop that's a little smaller.