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GETTING TOGETHER 

 TO SELL MORE FLOWERS 



"i 



There has been talk without end of the value of cooperation, but the 

 average florist has not thought it meant for him; he has preferred 

 competition, usually the price-cutting variety. But the success of recent co- 

 operative publicity work has served to open the eyes of many trade leaders. 





N what other line of busi- 

 ness is there a better pros- 

 pect for making money?" 

 The question was that of 

 L. K. Bohannon, president 

 of the Chicago Eetail Flo- 

 rists' Association, and he 

 answered it himself : ' ' Tor 

 the man who knows how, 

 considering the opportuni- 

 ty to start on small capital, there is no 

 other occupation that affords better op- 

 portunities than the flower business. 

 When I say to make money, I mean real 

 money, not just a living, and, while I 

 speak as a retailer, I include the green- 

 housemen, the wholesalers, supply peo- 

 ple — everybody. ' ' 



The opportunities for 

 profit in the retail end of 

 the flower business indeed 

 are exceptional, but before 

 one may avail himself of 

 them it is necessary to un- 

 derstand what they are 

 and here, again, it is pos- 

 sible to use the words 

 of President Bohannon: 

 "Where we have the ad- 

 vantage of retail mer- 

 chants in other lines is 

 that we employ art in the 

 arrangement of our mer- 

 chandise; we not only can 

 charge for the goods, but 

 also for the skill with 

 which we make them up." 



Who Leads? 



There is, of course, 

 another class of florists, 

 those who sell just flowers, 

 usually not the best grade 

 of flowers, without pre- 

 tense of arrangement. 

 These must depend on the 

 margin between cost price 

 and selling price for their 

 profit and, although they 

 may be of great value to 

 the trade through their 

 ability to move large 

 quantities of stock during 

 times of heavy cuts, they 

 never become known as 

 leaders of trade thought 

 or trade progress in their 

 communities. The leading 

 florist in any city usually 

 is he who does the best 

 work, rarely he who han- 

 dles the most flowers, al- 

 though sometimes artist 

 and merchant are one, 

 in which case a truly 

 conspicuous business re- 

 sults. 



As a trade we have learned much dur- 

 ing the war — the elimination of waste, 

 that we previously employed more help 

 than was necessary, that we could if 

 we would pay better wages and get bet- 

 ter work, that flowers are worth what 

 they cost and, most important of all, we 

 have learned the value of concerted ef- 

 fort, of cooperation. 



Too Busy with Our Hands. 



It is characteristic of all lines of trade 

 in which the units are small that the 

 men engaged are busy knifing each 

 other; big business long since awakened 

 to the folly of fighting, but the little 

 fellows are so thoroughly occupied with 



The Door breath has Displaced the Old-fashioned Crepe< 



(This one was ior President Smith, of the Momion Church.) 



work for their hands that they have 

 little time to use their heads on the 

 proposition that more money is to be 

 made by talking it over with a competi- 

 tor than by trying to drive him out of 

 business. 



Florists are not different from other 

 classes engaged in the less easily or- 

 ganized industries in that the first im- 

 pulse is to scramble for what business 

 there is going; it is a second thought 

 that a better method is to get together 

 on plans calculated to increase the use 

 of that particular commodity. 



Florists have scrambled; it is only re- 

 cently that they have begun to work 

 together. If we prove as intelligent co- 

 operators as we have been 

 keen competitors, the flow- 

 er business will double in 

 the next five years. 



To the man whose only 

 or chief business idea has 

 been to buy and sell just a 

 little cheaper than the fel- 

 low "down the street," 

 the thought of working 

 with him to increase the 

 sale of flowers or the prof- 

 its of the business is too 

 revolutionary to be readily 

 entertained. Yet it has 

 been done in many other 

 trades where misguided 

 competition had engen- 

 dered jealousies at least as 

 keen as ours. 



Stop Scrambling. 



Kemember that "Rome 

 was not built in a day" 

 and don't try for too 

 great speed, but make a 

 start. It is not necessary 

 to organize, indeed it even 

 may be undesirable; the 

 details and routine of or- 

 ganization frequently ab- 

 sorb attention and cause 

 the real objects to be lost 

 sight of. Even in a large 

 city the get-together idea 

 can be worked among the 

 florists of a locality. 



First of all, get ac- 

 quainted. Start with two.. 

 Drop in on your neighbor 

 some day next week and 

 get him to go along to 

 lunch, Dutch treat if he 

 likes. Don't talk busi- 

 ness; let that come later, 

 after you have come to 

 know each other well 

 enough not to be suspici- 

 ous. Get a third man in, 

 a fourth, fifth; work up 



