"If we don't take off in the next 20 minutes, we'll be staying in West Palm Beach for the night." Not exactly the message I hoped to hear mere hours before I was scheduled to leave on my first business trip for SAF. Fortunately, though, the weather cooperated and I was on my way for a brief, but revealing tour through the Midwest.
Over the year and a half I have worked for SAF, I've heard so many great stories about our members including innovative sales techniques, clever shop designs, and expansive fields of fresh flowers. I finally got my chance to get into the field for a firsthand view of the industry, and I'm happy to share it with you.
Monday - June 7, Chicago
After leaving the 90-degree heat of Florida, I craved some cooler temperatures, which Chicago gladly provided. I started off my day with a trip to Kennicott Brothers Co., a wholesale florist that was founded in 1881. Red Kennicott, AAF, a former SAF president, welcomed me into his headquarters for a quick tour, where they do a large walk in business for your typical wholesale florist, before we headed out to visit a few of his retailer customers.
Our first stop was Ashland Addison Florist, where I got to see the Chicago delivery pool in action. In order to reach customers out of their immediate area, Ashland Addison offers three delivery pools in Chicago.
From there we moved onto A New Leaf Florist, where owner Marion Perry fills her downtown shop with youthful energy from the local arts institute. She employs some students as designers in the shop. Later that day, I stopped in City Scents Flowers & Gifts and marveled as owners Pat and Theresa Montana kept up with the steady walk-in business generated by foot traffic on and around Michigan Avenue-the Windy City's main drag.
Tuesday - June 8
Tuesday morning began with a trip to Phillip's Flowers corporate offices in Westmont, Ill. With 10 shops and deliveries to 150 suburbs, Phillip's is one of the larger retailers in the Chicago area. Phillip's, like many other SAF members, is family-run and has been for nearly 90 years.
Then, I was off to the growing side of our industry. I made a stop by Leider Greenhouses in Buffalo Grove, Ill. to visit their greenhouses that specializes in potted and bedding plants. Mark Leider showed me around the production area and explained the high amount of technology they use in the process.
On the way up to Milwaukee I stopped by a peony farm that is owned by Kennicott Brothers Co., in southern Wisconsin. They had recently finished harvesting the peonies but Red's granddaughter, Page, who is working at the farm for the summer, gave me a private tour of the location.
Wednesday - June 9
Before heading back to DC on Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of spending the day with former SAF board member Tina Rojahn, of Rojahn and Malaney Wholesale Florist in Milwaukee. She introduced me to four retail florists: Phil and Monique Krainz of Roses Flower Shop, Nikki Lemler of Welkes Flowers, Linda and Mindy of Jess Fleur Fun, and Marty and Jane Loppnow of Waukesha Floral and Greenhouses. These four shops revealed a range of business tactics-from catering to a small community to operating in a large nursery setting.
All of our members were great hosts and let me see the real, personal side of their businesses. There is nothing that can replace seeing our members in action firsthand and this trip surely let me do that. Thanks to all I visited for taking time from your work day for me.
The possibility of saving money and making a bigger profit brought more than 75 florists in the St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., areas out of their businesses for the day – some even traveling five hours to get there.
That’s what happened a few weeks ago, when SAF co-hosted “profitability clinics” with Hortica Insurance and Baisch & Skinner, Inc. in two St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, locations.
Our featured speaker, floral industry financial consultant Paul Goodman, CPA, presented two sessions during each of the two day-long programs. I hear he is called the Profitability Czar; I know why now! I was surprised that attendees were willing to spend a full day away from their business — no one bailed! That speaks volumes about our industry’s need for business programming (and Paul Goodman’s rock star status). He tackled topics near and (sometimes not so) dear to a business owner’s balance sheet: controlling costs of goods sold and payroll costs. His approach was very easy to listen to and to understand.
Hortica Insurance’s John Hodapp and Traci Dooley also had a presentation on how to be a good insurance customer. John and Traci joked about how riveting insurance is as a topic (not!), but really, when they explained the different types of coverage and which would be most beneficial in certain situations, it attracted quite a lot of attention from the florists there.
The team from Baisch & Skinner in St. Louis included John Baisch, Bob Baisch, Zach Baisch, Steve Frye, Tom Hofeditz, Sandy Petot and Michael Will. In Kansas City, John, Steve were there, joined by Brian Larkin, Sara Tafolla and Bob Oliva. They had an interactive session on how they make sure their customers are getting the most for their money. One idea that had a lot of people very excited was the “Boot Box,” which they fill with a diversity of cut flowers and greens, from different locations, all the best quality and very affordable.
But people were doing more than just listening. The ideas really started flying during my presentation about how retail florists are reaching out to their customers. Several ideas were prompted from attendees, including promoting at community events, such as county fairs, and reaching out to elementary school kids. Many florists are collecting their customers’ e-mail addresses and have launched e-mail newsletters to keep them updated on what’s going on and on the best deals available. There was much discussion on what SAF does to assist florists in dealing with funeral directors and the dreaded “In Lieu of..”, in addition to how SAF tackles negative publicity of florists and the floral industry.
While in St. Louis, I met one of the featured businesses in the cover story of the August issue of Floral Management: Kris Wittenaur of Diehl’s on Wheels in Waterloo, IL. She has done amazing things with her business. Besides her drive-up window and new greenhouses, she participates in a loyalty program to drive repeat visits from customers.
We hope to do more of these programs around the country. Let us know if it’s something you’d be interested in hosting in your market.
p.s. Wholesalers: If you think it takes a design seminar to bring your retail customers out of their business for a day, call me. Let’s talk.
Being a lifelong ‘skins fan, I was thinking it would be an uncomfortable stay deep in the heart of Dallas attending the Texas State Florists Association’s (TSFA) 96th Annual Convention last weekend. Far from it. Texans are some of the nicest, most sincere folks you’d ever come across, despite being Cowboy fans. :p
All kidding aside, TSFA’s Board, members and association crew, headed by Dianna Nordman, put on a great convention with lots of energy, a bustling trade show, fantastic design shows featuring the industry’s top talent and insightful business sessions – including my own on search engine optimization! Accompanying me on the trip was the Society of American Florists’ (SAF) Director of Member Services Lisa Sidletsky who spent quality time greeting Texan florists at SAF’s booth on the trade show floor Sat and Sun.
We set up the booth early Saturday and I had time to attend TSFA’s annual meeting. It was good news all around as TSFA reports a profit for this year despite some tough economic times around the country. As you may expect, board members provided reports of their committee activities but was real surprised to hear Patrick Berry of Vickery Wholesale Greenhouse in Dallas, TX talk about his wonderful experience serving as an SAF volunteer and how that sparked his desire to serve his state association. Patrick, it was a pleasure to meet you and thanks much for your gracious comments!
The show floor officially opened at Noon Saturday. Dianna mentioned the trade show was smaller this year but this didn’t seem to impact the hustle and bustle (check the video). The smaller space did a great job in compressing the action. First to greet me was William Armellini of Greenleaf Wholesale Florists in Miami Springs FL. We’d become geek buddies in the months prior via Facebook and several calls over our shared interest in developing the Joomla content management system, but have never met in person. As you may guess, it didn’t matter as it seemed like we were old friends. And our first order of business? Trouble shooting a Joomla Web site!
I couldn’t slide by the Bloomnet booth without reconnecting with Mark Nance. We’ve known each other since Mark worked in Oklahoma City with former floral wire service AFS, which was acquired by Teleflora several years back. After trading industry insights and secrets, we agreed to pick up the conversation in Phoenix during the SAF Convention as Bloomnet’s booth traffic picked up.
My next stop was to visit with J Schwanke of uBloom but the J was absolutely mobbed (visited with J later) so I returned to SAF’s booth. SAF’s presence was on the far end where traffic was a little lighter next to www.flowershopnetwork.com. Lisa was in the midst of talking to an instructor and a couple of his students on all the great information SAF provides to educators. (check the video).
The afternoon business session was "Product, Planning and Promotion for Your Profit" with Clay Atchison III of McAdams Floral in Victoria, TX, Charles Ingrum of Dr. Delphinium in Dallas, TX, Seleese Thompson and Gayle Johnson. It was a very informative with lots of great local promotion ideas for florists and focusing on in-house floral designs. I was particularly interested in Clay’s portion, which focused on building sympathy business.
Sunday morning I checked out Jack Cross’s “Step to Maximizing Profit in an Economic Downturn” and “Tasteful Tabletop Techniques” with Minh Nguyen. I didn’t stay long though in order to check logistics for my own program later in the afternoon. Both programs were excellent and again provided insight from industry veterans.
Prior to the Sunday afternoon sessions, TSFA puts on their Annual Awards bash. I sat next to Jack and his wife Denise. We talked mostly tech as both Denise and Jack were looking forward to my program. Lunch was great, lots of folks and sponsors were honored. I had a chance to meet with Teleflora Chairman Tom Butler and his grandson Cole. It was a quick hello since I still had to prep, however, Tom and Cole stopped by the room later to wish me well.
As you may expect, the highlight for my day was presenting the last business session for the conference, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Crash Course: Ensuring Your Shop’s Website is on Google’s Page 1 of Search Results.” I was excited prior to the session since Dianna kept changing the room to accommodate an increasing number of registrations for the session. The room was set for 75 with more than half filled. A little disappointing but a healthy crowd of florists nonetheless. In the end, I received lots of great feedback on the quality of the information and how the program was crafted specifically for floral retail businesses.
I ran back to the trade show floor just in time to help Lisa just pack one box (timing is everything). TSFA Convention co-Chair Peggy Franklin was kind enough to speed us back to the airport in her newest hotrod! Thanks for the ride Peggy and, again, it was certainly a great show. Flight was delayed but I was still glad to be back in my home in Virginia at 2am that evening.
Making laws, it has been said, is like making sausage – it’s horribly unappealing.
Whether that’s true or not is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, but whatever the case, when it comes to health care reform, the process is complex – and messy.
Five congressional committees have had major stakes in the debate, and every tweak or amendment, every suggestion or demand alienates one faction or another and makes agreement on a bill more elusive each day.
Prodded by President Obama’s deadline of passing a House bill by the August congressional recess, lawmakers in both houses have spent months knocking out broad parameters of health care legislation and negotiating the details.
Passing a bill before the August recess is not going to happen. SAF has an full analysis of the current status of House and Senate bills. Here’s an overview:
In the House:
The House has introduced one bill, H.R. 3200, which has been approved by both the Ways and Means and the Education and Labor committees. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is still considering the bill.
Any employer with an annual payroll of $250,000 or more is required to provide health insurance. Employers who do not provide health insurance are subject to a payroll tax of up to 8 percent of wages. Employers with annual payrolls less than $250,000 are exempt from the requirement to offer health insurance.
The minimum employer contribution is 72.5 percent of the cost of the plan for individual coverage, and 65 percent for family coverage.
To pay for reform, this legislation imposes a surtax at the rates of 1, 1.5 and 5.4 percent on individuals with adjusted gross income beginning at $350,000. There is, however, a move to begin assessing the surtax at $1 million instead of $350,000.
All individuals would be required to have health insurance either through their employer or by purchasing it on their own, or pay a penalty.
The bill provides a tax credit for certain small businesses equal to 50 percent of the amount paid by the employer for health insurance.
A public plan, a government-run option, would be implemented to compete against private insurance plans.
In the Senate
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee and the Finance Committee have jurisdiction. The HELP Committee has approved its bill, while the Finance Committee is still negotiating.
All employers with 25 or more employees would be required to provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty of $750 per full-time employee annually.
All individuals would be required to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty of no more than $750 per year.
Beginning in 2010, employers with 50 or fewer full time employees who pay 60 percent or more of their employees’ health insurance can receive tax credits for subsidizing coverage.
The details of both bills are still very much in flux and likely to change. The Senate Finance Committee is engaged in bipartisan negotiations and drafting a bill that may not include an employer mandate nor a public-plan option. And as this issue of E-Brief goes the press, word from the Hill is that lawmakers in the House Energy and Commerce Committee are suggesting that small businesses with payrolls of less than $500,000 – an increase from the $250,000 threshold in H.R. 3200 -- be exempt from an employer mandate that they provide health insurance.
SAF has sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee opposing H.R. 3200 as it is currently written, and at least 120 SAF members have written to their legislators to express concern about how the bill will affect them. Click here to share your thoughts with your elected official.
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