68 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



June 12, 1902 



and giving credit to people they do not 

 know. I cannot tell the reason for this 

 but it seems to be a failing that the 

 majority of them have. If our business 

 could be run on a cash basis what a fine 

 business it would be; but this is not pos- 

 sible, especially in the business that is 

 conducted on a comparatively large scale, 

 for in many cases you take an order 

 and run the risk of getting your money. 

 For instance if there has been a death 

 in a family and one or more of the nlem- 

 bers come to order a design or several 

 designs amounting to $10.U0 or $25.00 

 or perhaps more, as the ease may be, it 

 happens very often that they do not have 

 the money with them and will ask you 

 to charge it, or perhaps they will walk 

 out without saying anything about the 

 pay, taking it for granted that .vou will 

 charge it anywaj'. That is the time you 

 are running the risk ; if you refuse the 

 order you may be so much out, for your 

 customer may be good for the amount 

 and pay the next day after the funeral, 

 and on the other hand if you do take the 

 order you may be so much out anywaj, 

 but as a rule there is a smaller percent- 

 age lost on funeral work than on any 

 other part of the business. If you will 

 try to get your money for funeral work 



right kind can be had (though it is hard 

 to find that kind) for the reason that 

 many lady customers would rather trade 

 with them than they would with a man. 

 There are also many customers who 

 think that a lady has more taste in ar- 

 ranging flowers, which I think in many 

 cases is so. They are handy in tying 

 ribbons and have a tendency to keep the 

 store neat and clean, but they cannot 

 demand the salary the man clerk can, 

 for they cannot do the heavy work or 

 woi-k the long hours the men have to, 

 nor is it expected of them. I under- 

 stand in the western cities there are a 

 number of women florists in business for 

 themselves and conduct it very success- 

 fully. 



I might say a few words Iicre in re- 

 gard to advertising. Does advertising 

 pay the retail florist? I should say that 

 a little of it did if it is done in the 

 right way, but how are you going to tell? 

 People are not coming in to tell you 

 that they saw your ad. in such and such 

 a paper. The only way I know of tell- 

 ing is when you advertise some special 

 flower and if you have an unusual de- 

 mand for the flower advertised it is a 

 pretty good proof your ad. has been read, 

 and I think the onlv way to advertise 



Church Wedding DecoratioD, Butte, Mont. 



[Sei' News Letter from Butte in this issue.] 



immediately after the funeral, when the 

 people are feeling bad, you are more apt 

 to get it than to let the account run. 



My experience is the most difficult per- 

 son to collect a bill for flowers from 

 is the young man who has been in the 

 habit of sending his lady friend flowers 

 and for some reason they have had a 

 falling out. In a case like this the flor- 

 ist ought to have the credit of sending 

 the flowers, but he does not, as his card 

 is not in the box. This sort of a cus- 

 tomer will pay for his flowers at first 

 and then commence to have them charged, 

 and before you know it, or perhaps be- 

 fore he will realize it himself, he has run 

 up a good-sized account and then does 

 not want to pay for the flowers because 

 his girl has gone back on him. 



The question has been asked, is it ad- 

 \'isable to have lady clerks in a flower 

 store? I should say that it was, if the 



if you are going to at all in a city the 

 size of ours, is by the line in the reading 

 notices in the daily papers. General ad- 

 vertising in fair souvenir programmes, 

 dance programmes, church, lodge or col- 

 lege papers are not worth the time it 

 takes to write them, but in many in- 

 stances the storekeeper feels obliged to 

 take a space because the person who is 

 canvassing for the ad. is one who has 

 left you an order for some flowers some- 

 time previous for the lodge, society or 

 whatever it may be that is going to give 

 the entertainment and is sure to tell you 

 that yours is the only florist's ad. they 

 are going to have in it, and they always 

 give you their work, etc. Of course there 

 are exceptions, for I know of a few in- 

 stances where an advertisement of this 

 kind has 'really paid, but I think it is 

 very rare. 



I believe that the storekeeper who has 



the neat store, a good display in his win- 

 dow and an attractive delivery team is 

 the one who is doing the business (and I 

 know that the florists in our city are 

 lack in some of these respects). But 

 this is not all he must necessarily have, 

 for above all he must have a good sup- 

 ply and assortment of fresh flowers in 

 his icebox. If a person is attracted by 

 a fine display in a florist 's window they 

 naturally think they can get a good vari- 

 ety of flowers inside, and a storekeeper, 

 in order to hold his trade, should have, 

 if possible, a good assortment of flow- 

 ers always on hand; and I also think 

 it is more profitable in the end to have . 

 a little stock left over at night once in 

 a while than to be sold out early in 

 the day, for if customers go into a store 

 two or three times in succession and tind 

 they cannot get what they want, they are 

 liable to go somewhere else for their 

 flowers the next time. I believe that the 

 florists in our ciTy should go in for nov- 

 elties more than they do, for if some- 

 thing in a flower out of the ordinary is 

 displayed in a window it will attract at- 

 tention, and serve to a certain extent 

 as an advertisement, and, too, there are 

 people who are looking for something 

 dift'erent in flowers as well as in other 

 things and are willing to pay for them. 



Probably the hardest part of our busi- 

 ness is the long hours, for when you go 

 to work in the morning you do not know 

 what time you will get your dinner, 

 whether you will get any supper or not, 

 or what time you will get through at 

 night or whether you wilt have to work 

 all night. Our business is not the kind 

 that you can get your orders ready very 

 much ahead of the time they are wanted, 

 especially a funeral order, for the peo- 

 ple are not usually dying to accommo- 

 date the florists, and when an order of 

 this kind comes in it has to be done in 

 a hurry and the working force has to 

 stay until it is finished. 



i will close my paper by telling of a 

 few of the different types of customers 

 we have to deal with. Perhaps the most 

 difficult customer to handle is the one 

 who comes in to order flowers for a 

 funeral and who never purchased any 

 flowers before and who does not know 

 what he or she wants, and who has not 

 the least idea of the cost of flowers. Usu- 

 ally the clerk can tell at once, if he is 

 any way bright, whether his customer 

 is in the habit of purchasing flowers or 

 not, and has to use his own judgment 

 accordingly. The customer who is not 

 in the habit of so doing will approach 

 the clerk something like tnis : ' ' I want 

 to get something for a funeral." Then 

 you have to find out the best way you 

 can what that something is. Perhaps it 

 may be a design of some kind or a bunch 

 of roses, or a bunch of carnations, or 

 a bunch of something else, or a sheaf of 

 wheat, palm leaves, something made of 

 ivy leaves, or loose flowers, or something 

 that no one ever saw or heard of. Let 

 us suppose, for instance, that you have 

 found out that a design of some kind i^ 

 what is wanted, then you will begin to 

 show the dift'erent sized frames of the 

 uuterent designs, and when the price is 

 asked and you will say that you can 

 make a wreath this size for $3.00 or that 

 size for $5.00, or that cross for $5.00, 

 or this one for $10.00, or that pillow for 

 $5.00 or this one for $8.00. then after 

 you have spent your valuable time in 

 trying to find something to suit your cus- 

 tomer, you will very often hear them say. 

 "Have you no design you can make for 



