﻿26 



The Florists^ Review 



Apbil 8, 1020 



p9t^ 



SQkZCT^ 



Established. 1897. by Q. L. aRAITT. 



Pablished every Thursday by 

 Thb Florists' Publishing Co^ 



630-S60 Oaxton BalldlnK. 



608 South Dearborn St., Ohlcagro. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



BefTistered cable address, 



Florrlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec 3. 1897, at the post-onice at Ohl- 

 Cbgo, III., under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, ll.SO a rear. 

 To Canada, $2.60; to Europe. fS.OO. 



Advertlstnfr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlslnff accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Mothers ' day is next. 



Superior quality is always better sell- 

 ing talk than lower price. 



The coming three months will form the 

 biggest spring business florists have ever 

 had. 



The clock has been set ahead in New 

 York city and about thirty other, mostly 

 eastern, communities. 



The volume of telegraph delivery 

 orders broke all previous Easter records. 

 But wait till Mothers' dayl 



The florist who buys plant stock that 

 is not up to speciflcations will not spend 

 his money in the same place next year. 



The florist who has rid himself of the 

 idea that he can only make money at cer- 

 tain seaaons is putting a good deal more 

 of it in the bank. 



No florist will spend his money for a 

 fertilizer or an insecticide which will not 

 give results. Only a few spend it for 

 advertising of that kind. 



The farther the florist gets from the 

 mere merchandiser of flowers and the 

 nearer he comes to the decorative artist, 

 the better will ho be paid for the serv- 

 ice which he gives. 



As regards the paper situation. The 

 Review is assured the necessary quan- 

 tity, five to six tons per week, but is 

 unable to know what the price will be 

 more than thirty days ahead. 



What did you leam from this Easter 's 

 business that will enable you to improve 

 your system for the big day next year? 

 Do you make a note of it, or leave it to 

 memory to help you in March, 1921? 



The average florist goes in for quan- 

 tity production and depends on price to 

 sell the stock. It leaves a splendid oppor- 

 tunity for the grower who keeps it con- 

 stantly in mind that quality is remem- 

 bered long after the price is forgotten. 



The day has passed when the florist 

 felt obliged to respond to every plea to 

 spend his money for space in mediums 

 from which he could get little or no re- 

 turn. The advertising appropriation to- 

 day is considered an investment, not a 

 donation. 



Poor packing is a perennial cause of 

 dissatisfaction. Whether lack of knowl- 

 edge or lack of care is most to blame, is 

 not so important as how general improve- 

 ment can be effected. 



The florist who has turned his profits 

 into cash and does not merely carry them 

 on the books faces tomorrow in better 

 mind than the one who wonders what 

 part of them he can collect. 



The job of bringing buyer and seller 

 together, for which a real estate dealer 

 would charge a commission of $200 or 

 $300, is often done by a For Sale ad in 

 The Review which costs $1.75. 



' * Keep 'em coming backj ' ' is the sage 

 advice of an old store proprietor. Hold- 

 ing the old trade requires much less effort 

 than developing new. It's merely a 

 matter of making them satisfied. 



One of the pronounced characteristics 

 of the Easter supply, like that for Christ- 

 mas, was the lack of novelty. The trade 

 has had all it could do of late to keep 

 up with the demand for staples; there has 

 been neither time, facilities nor incentive 

 to develop new ideas and materials. 



Of the 2,000 members of the S. A. F., 

 how many actually read the journal of 

 the society? How many toss it aside 

 after a glance? But the pages of the 

 pamphlet reflect the activities of the offi- 

 cers and committees ; they are full of food 

 for thought. 



SouvENm convention programs for the 

 S. A. F. are a thing of the past, the execu- 

 tive board having voted at the January 

 meeting to omit their publication here- 

 after. The present-day florist spends his 

 dollars for advertising just as he spends 

 them for other things — where he can get 

 something for his money. 



Among the makers of most manufac- 

 tured articles there are gradations rang- 

 ing from the artisan to the artist, the 

 services of the latter commanding many 

 times as much as those of the former. 

 There are the same gradations among 

 flower growers, though the proportion is 

 larger in the artist class than in other 

 lines. 



SEND IT IN. 



If you have a bit of news, 



Send it in; 

 Or a joke that will amuse, 



Send it in. 

 Something helpful that is new, 

 Something you have learned to do, 

 We should like to hear from you, 



Send it in. 

 If it's only worth the while, 

 Never mind about your style. 



Send it in. 



HOW THEY HAPPEN. 



Now and again a florist says, "I do 

 not get as many telegraph orders from 

 other florists as I should. How can I 

 get more?" 



The answer is simpler than he thinks. 

 The way to receive more is to send more. 

 As a general rule, for every order that 

 goes out at least one comes back. 



One of your customers wants to send 

 a birthday gift or some other remem- 

 brance to a friend in another city. 

 You suggest telegraphing flowers. 

 Sooner or later your customer has a 

 birthday or an occasion similar to the 

 one for which he or she sent flowers, 

 and back comes a telegraph order from 

 the friend in another city. So fre- 



quently does this happen that nowadays 

 a florist, when he receives a telegraph 

 order, is especially careful in filling it, 

 shrewdly anticipating the response that 

 almost invariably follows and aiming by 

 the best of service to draw the reply 

 to his store. 



That is the solution to the florist's 

 problem in a nutshell. Develop out- 

 going telegraph orders and you will 

 develop incoming orders at the same 

 time and by the same process. 



ADVICE IN ABNOBMAI. TIME. 



All substantial indications such as in 

 normal times are considered to be safe 

 indexes of the trend of business are no-R- 

 of a nature highly favorable to busi- 

 ness prosperity. 



But the times are not normal, and the 

 influence of unsettled conditions is so 

 great that the general tone of comment 

 on business conditions is full of caution. 

 For instance, in the United States Bul- 

 letin of March 1, 1920, appeared the 

 statement: 



"Statistics coming to the various gov- 

 ernmental departments at Washington 

 indicate that these must be trying days 

 for the conscientious business executive. 

 Whether in charge of finance, sales, 

 production, purchases or credit, there 

 are a great many serious problems for 

 him to face. 



"The executive in charge of finance 

 is confronted with the question of 

 whether he shall expand or cut down his 

 loans. The best advice is, cut down 

 your loans. The sales manager is con- 

 fronted with the possibility of canceled 

 orders. The best advice is, accept only 

 orders which will not be canceled. The 

 production executive is faced with a 

 bad labor situation. The best advice 

 is, be patient; there will be plenty of 

 labor before long. The credit depart- 

 ment is having requests which have 

 never been made before. The best ad- 

 vice is, go slow in granting additional 

 credits. ' ' 



SAYING IT WITH THE SIiOGAN. 



In a recent issue of the Chicago Trib- 

 une, the slogan made two hits in suc- 

 cession in B. L. T.'s "colyum." Under 

 the heading, "Say It with Artichokes," 

 he quotes as follows from a Kansas 

 paper : 



Timid query to the Thoughtful Order of 

 Florists: If yon feel that your wife ought to 

 be choked for ten or fifteen minutes and then 

 sat upon for an hour or so, how can you say it 

 ■with flowers? 



That is immediately followed by a 

 quotation from an advertising agency 

 to the effect that "you can't put a dol- 

 lar in your eye and fail to see Chicago." 

 B, L. T. suggests, doubtless from pain- 

 ful experience, "Say It with Cinders." 



Here is double proof, from Chicago 

 and from Kansas, that the trade's pub- 

 licity is indeed reaching the people. 

 For newspaper "colyums" are the mir- 

 rors in which the people see themselves. 



THE SAME STOBY. 



It seems to make no difference what 



one offers in The Review, there are 



prompt buyers for everything. Like 



this: 



Kindly discontinue our half page ad on Rose 

 Premier at $350.00 per thousand, also our Clas- 

 sified ad, as we are entirely sold out. — The Jo- 

 seph H. Hill Co., Richmond, Ind., April 3, 1920. 



If you hear a man complain of the 



cost of advertising you can be pretty 



certain he spends a good bit of money 



elsewhere than in The Review. 



