FUBRUART 17, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



23 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



BOOSTING BIRTHDAY FLOWEBS. 



The national advertising campaign is 

 good in itself. It is educating millions 

 of people to "Say It with Flowers" on 

 many occasions when these same people 

 would not think of flowers, were it not 

 suggested to them in an attractive, 

 sales-compelling manner. The jjublic- 

 ity is showing the public how and when 

 to use flowers in a practical way. It 

 is making them think flowers are a ne- 

 cessity and not a luxury. This, in itself, 

 is a great accomplishment. 



Notwithstanding all these intrinsic 

 merits, the benefits derived from this 

 national advertising depend also upon 

 the intelligence and persistence with 

 which the individual florist backs it up 

 and links up with it. Otherjvise, the 

 florist cannot expect any more results 

 than a manufacturer who spends thou- 

 sands of dollars to tell the people about 

 his product, but does not tell them 

 where to get it. 



Ever since the national publicity has 

 appeared in leading magazines, it has 

 included a practical, constructive, sales- 

 creating idea, carried by the question, 

 "Whose birthday comes in February! 

 Sa^r It with Flowers." The business 

 derived from the sending of flowers and 

 plants for birthdays can be increased 

 to great proportions if florists but 

 realize their opportunity. 



Schramm Bros., Toledo, 0., have found 

 it profitable to link up with this creative 

 idea. Each month they run an adver- 

 tisement in the newspapers, similar to 

 the one reproduced on this page, besides 

 using the same idea in all other litera- 

 ture that goes out from their store. 

 The results can be noted in ever-increas- 

 ing sales of flowers for birthdays. They 

 know from experience that it pays to co- 

 operate with the national campaign. 



RESULTS OF PERSONAL TOUCH. 



How One Man Profited. 



In a certain middle-western city is a 

 florist who never appears to be so busy 

 that he cannot spare a few moments, or 

 hours, or even days if necessary, toward 

 helping any public-spiritetl movement. 

 It seems that when anything for the 

 public good is to be done, this man is 

 picked with unfailing promptness for a 

 leading role in the project; and the 

 results of his efforts never have been 

 disappointing. Once his interest is 

 aroused and he feels that the movement 

 will benefit the public as a whole, he 

 goes into the thing with a wholehearted- 

 ncss that is irresistible. 



During the last few years he has re- 

 ceived more publicity of the desirable 

 kind than any other single individual in 

 the city. Rogirdless of the fact that he 

 never appears to be a slave to his busi- 

 ness, it has prospered, nevertheless, and 

 has grown from small beginnings to one 

 of the largest of its kind in the city. 

 When he is at the store he has time to 

 see everybody from the most humble 



employee to a curious person, such as the 

 writer, who desires to find out how it is 

 possible. 



Out on Community Drives. 



Three attempts were necessary before 

 this man could be caught in his office 

 and subjected to a few questions. On 

 the first visit it was found that he was 

 out at the head of a team of willing 

 workers trying to beat another team of 

 equally willing workers in securing a 

 larger number of members for the cham- 

 ber of commerce. The second attempt to 

 locate him discovered that he was out at 

 the head of another team trying to raise 

 more money than any other team for a 

 community chest fund to take care of all 

 the regularly organized charities for a 

 year. Having profited by two ineffec- 

 tual attempts, a telephone appointment 

 was made the third time and he finally 

 was "bearded in his den." 



His method of conducting his business 

 brings a surprise to those individuals 

 who believe that the business in which 

 they are engaged should be uppermost in 



the mind night and day; to those in the 

 trade who feel they have to be tied to the 

 store from early morning until late at 

 night, and for this reason are not even, 

 well acquainted with their families. 



A Radical Change. 



He told his story thus: 



"I came here about seven years ago. 

 I was in business in another state and 

 just about broke even. Before disposing 

 of the business there I took an inventory 

 of myself and discovered that I was im- 

 mersed in business to such an extent that 

 my perspective was all warped. I dis- 

 covered that I was selfish and knew I 

 had few personal friends. I knew if I 

 ever was to change, I should have to 

 change cities also; so I sold out and came 

 here. 



"My first act after getting the busi- 

 ness started in the new location was to 

 join the chamber of commerce, something 

 I had not thought necessary before. 

 Then I could not see what good I could 

 get out of such an aflSliation and hated 

 to spend the money. I began taking 



Vkose ^irt-kday is in 



February ♦1921 • 



Sr VALENTIME'S DAY-" 



.Schramm Bros. 



1307-15 CHERRY 5T 



BOTH PHOMES 



r^AIM 1A79 



Toledo Firm Campaigns in Newspapers for Birthday Flowers. 



