18 



The Florists* Review 



July 7, 1921. 



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BETTER BUSINESS 



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service thrown in, his customers will 

 f^ladly pay him a price that will cover 

 the cost of production plus a reasonable 

 profit. E. J. Steele. 



GROWER'S MAIL ORDER SYSTEM. 



Start When Small. 



I note with much interest the fre- 

 quent comments in The Review on busi- 

 ness methods of growers, especially of 

 those who have a mail order trade. While 

 I do not wish to offer excuses for in- 

 efticiont business systems, or no system 

 at all, yet I am surt; I can explain how 

 confusion and disorder originate. 



A mail order trade, even under favor- 

 able conditions, is of slow growth. The 

 returns for a year or two may be quite 

 discouraging; in our case, they were 

 scarcely perceptible. 



Therefore, one does not see the neces- 

 sity of card indexes and filing cases for 

 future orders, filled orders, deferred or- 

 ders, correspondence, etc. 



Besides, all this equipment costs 

 money, and, with only an occasional or- 

 der coming in, the grower thinks he can 

 easily keep the details of his embry- 

 onic enterprise at his fingers' ends with- 

 out an office, and even without oflBce 

 equipment of any kind. We used to 

 have a small account book, and every 

 month we would enter our orders — date, 

 amount, time of mailing, etc. "We did 

 not even have an alphabetical index, 

 and yet the plan was a success because 

 we had only a handful of customers. 



Adequate Records Necessary. 



By and by we found we had fifteen 

 or twenty pages filled, and the next year 

 someone would wire us to duplicate last 

 year 's order, or would write to know 

 when he ordered his seedlings of the 

 year before. It would then be neces- 

 sary to search page after page. Thus 

 were we forced to purchase a loose-leaf 

 indexed ledger. We always used dupli- 

 cate invoice books. The original copy, 

 receipted or otherwise, is always mailed 

 one day after shipment as a receipt and 

 notice that order is forwarded. De- 

 ferred orders at request of shipper are 

 posted on a large calendar in the office. 



Booked orders are acknowledged the 

 day they are received, are placed alpha- 

 betically in a filing case used for that 

 purpose and are also recorded on a sepa- 

 rate page in the ledger under ' ' Seed 

 Orders" or "Plant Orders," with date 

 of future shipment, etc. 



Orders for ' ' at once ' ' shipment are 

 always shipped the day they are re- 

 ceived. In fact, all orders are filled at 

 once, unless, in rare cases, we are short 

 of stock. At such a time we promptly 

 notify the customer and offer future 

 delivery or prompt return of his money. 



The Indispensable Card Index. 



The card index is an equipment almost 

 indispensable to a grower and. fortu- 

 nately, can be installed at a trifling ex- 

 pense. Our first card index was started 

 in a small cigar box. We purchased an 

 alj)habetical index and a few cards cost- 

 ing about $1. Each card contained name 

 and address of a customer, date of pur- 

 chase, etc. The method of indexing 

 varies with the scope and character of 

 the business. 



We first adopted the plan of indexing 



the towns, which is perhaps the best 

 general practice. Owing to the fact that 

 our territory expanded greatly, we were 

 obliged to change and index states, 

 l^rovinces and countries. 



Letter files are valuable and are pur- 

 chasable at a small cost. We have had 

 customers ask us to furnish copies of 

 their own letters needed to make up an 

 order and written a year or more before. 



Value of Letterheads. 



Nothing pleases your prospective cus- 

 tomer so much as a letter from you on 

 a nifty letterhead and enclosed in a 

 neat envelope. If your letterhead has a 

 nice half-tone picture of your specialty, 

 you are sure to interest him. We have 

 found high-class stationery the best 

 investment we ever made. A good 

 letter is the best business getter on 

 earth. Pictures of your flowers repro- 

 duced in half-tones or colored plates are 

 sure winners. 



The demand for high-grade floral 

 stock, both seed and plants, is almost 

 unlimited, and the man who grows any- 

 thing of high class is doing a great 

 service to the trade, and, with good 



PAYING PARCEL POST. 



In the issue of The Eeview for June 

 23 I noticed an editorial under the head 

 of "Tempting Trouble." It seems a 

 common occurrence to have customers 

 for small lots of bulbs request shipment 

 by parcel post and fail to enclose suffi- 

 cient postage or to send any at all. I 

 have had that same thing happen. 



My theory is that the customer has 

 some good reason for requesting parcel 

 post shipment, but, even so, I cannot 

 afford to pay the postage. My method 

 is to send the package by parcel post 

 C. 0. D. for the amount of postage due. 

 Of course, where the difference is only 

 a few cents, I do not bother. This 

 makes more bookkeeping, but I believe 

 the customer is better satisfied than if I 

 had ignored his request and had shipped 

 by express. Perhaps I am wrong, but as 

 yet I have had no complaint. This may 

 be a suggestion to others who have the 

 same trouble. Ealph Benjamin. 



Jamestown, N. Y.— The Lakeview 

 Rose Gardens is reglazing its entire 

 range of 1,000,000 feet of glass. By 

 using the Kost filling apparatus and 

 rubber putty bulbs, Manager Charles 

 N. Cotter expects to complete the work 

 at least a month sooner than usual. 



Bristow, Okla. — G. M. Leverett is 

 erecting a greenhouse in this town. 



North Milwaukee, Wis. — Ervin 

 Schultz is entering the florists' business 

 in this town. 



Porterdale, Ga.— S. J. Yancey, the 

 florist for the Bibb Mfg. Co., intends 

 to go into business during 1922. 



Russellville, Ark.— W. V. Taylor, a be- 

 ginner in the florists' business, is pre- 

 paring to build a greenhouse 20x4u. 



Nutter Fort, W. Va.— William Bon- 

 nert has recently established a green- 

 house business in this town. He grows 

 potted plants and sells them at retail. 



Jackson, Tenn.— Margretta Lindsay 

 is about ready to market her gladioli, 

 to the growing of which she has devotc(i 

 an acre of land. It is her first year in 

 the growing business. 



Belleville, lU.— C. C. Halstead and I. 

 L. Klamni have formed a partnership 

 under tlic firm name of Halstead & 

 Klamm and will do business at the loca- 

 tion of the former St. Clair Floral Co. 



Maquoketa, la. — Robert Grapengeter, 

 who is a go-getter, is the successor to 

 H. L. Hill in the florists' business here. 

 He conducts his store at 116 West 

 Pleasant street, under the name of Bob 

 the Florist. 



Herkimer, N. Y.— E. R. Spoor will 

 soon be established in business here. 



Russellville, Ark. — A small flower 

 shop was recently opened here by Delia 

 Threlkeld. 



Hubbell, Mich.— W. C. Widenhoefer 

 is having a greenhouse constructed. He 

 is a newcomer in the trade. 



DeWitt, la. — Herbert Boyer is mak- 

 ing arrangements to construct a green- 

 house here. Mr. Boyer is a newcomer 

 in the trade. 



Sharon, Pa. — Clyde W. Brown will 

 start this month on the erection of two 

 greenhouses at Sliarpsville, three miles 

 north of Sharon. 



Clevis, N. M.— The Clovis Floral Co. 

 is completing greenhouses and build- 

 ings for opening a shop at an early 

 date. The greenhouses are 24x60 feet 

 and the office is ten feet square. 



Millfield, O.— Mrs. C. H. Bryson is 

 starting a cut flower growing and gen- 

 eral nursery business in this town. She 

 states that she is within a short distance 

 of a college where the attendance runs 

 into thousands and the cut flower de- 

 mands have never been met. She will 

 complete her plantings this year and 

 will then be all set to take cars of the 

 business. 



