20 



The Florists^ Review 



July 21. 1921 



particular notice of this condition and 

 we should bear this in mind. How many 

 times has a customer walked out of your 

 store without making a purchase, and 

 you could not understand the reason! 

 In many cases, this is the cause. Some- 

 thing, either in the show case or in the 

 store, did not appeal to him. 



Salesroom and Workroom. 



Now, the next important thing, and I 

 find a difference of opinion on the sub- 

 ject, is that of the workroom and the 

 salesroom being entirely open, so that 

 the customers may see the workroom. 

 The old method that our workroom re- 

 main in full view of our customers, 

 which leaves the impression that busi- 

 ness is good and that we are all busy, 

 is rapidly passing. I stepped into one 

 of the most prominent flower concerns 

 in Chicago and there were two or three 

 salesmen in front waiting on the trade. 

 I saw no one making up. I wondered 

 where they did their work. After look- 

 ing through the store, I was taken to 

 the basement, and there twelve or 

 fifteen men were hard at work. I then 

 went down the street and another 

 equally large concern had its workroom 

 in full view of the front; they all ap- 

 peared to be mighty busy, and indica- 

 tions were that they were doing an 

 enormous business. 



Now, if I had been a customer and 

 had not had the privilege of going down 

 into the workroom of the first store, I 

 believe that I would have been im- 

 pressed with the second store as doing 

 more business than the first. In the first 

 one things were neat and trim and cus- 

 tomers were waited on without confu- 

 sion, and I believe that they would 

 come nearer satisfying their customers 

 in the first store than in the second, 

 because the salesmen were trained along 

 the particular lines of waiting on trade. 

 The workmen in the first establishment, 

 whose duty it was to make up designs, 

 were specializing along that particular 

 line. I believe that, if the salesmen 

 and workmen are drilled for their par- 

 ticular work, there will be a greater 

 eflSciency. In the second store there 

 was more or less confusion, and I no- 

 ticed, particularly, that no certain one 

 waited upon the trade. It is true that 

 business looked better in the second 

 store, but this is the day of specializing, 

 and our force should be drilled along 

 these lines. The day of the combined 

 store man and designer of the retail 

 flower shop is rapidly passing. 



Delivery Service. 



Now, as to the delivery service. The 

 concern that adopts the slogan and 

 actually puts it into practice of "Serv- 

 ice on the minute," is, to my mind, the 

 concern which is getting ahead. The 

 old system of running into the rear of 

 the hearse in making a funeral must 

 cease in the future. The same applies in 

 making other deliveries. We all should 

 adopt the slogan of "Service on the 

 minute" and put it into practice. If a 

 delivery should happen to cost possibly 

 a little more than the sale, and delivery 

 should be made immediately, call a 

 messenger. I think this is good busi- 

 ness. Just for illustration: This case 

 happened several years ago. We had 

 an order for 50 cents ' worth of bedding 

 plants for delivery in the suburbs, sev- 

 eral miles out. We delayed the delivery 

 of this order, awaiting other orders 

 which would go in that same direction. 

 Consequently, the order was canceled. 



Several months later it so happened 

 that there was a wedding in that same 

 family, and we approached them to 

 place the wedding work with us, and 

 were advised that, if we could not fill 

 a 50-cent order on time, we could not 

 fill a $500 order on time, Prompt de- 

 liveries, and a driver who is polite and 

 courteous and attends to business, are 

 essential to our business. 



Now, in summing up these few points 

 of salesmanship— methods, old and new, 

 attitude, pricing, personality, stock ar- 

 rangement, division of workroom and 

 salesroom and deliveries — what we need 

 today is an atmosphere in our stores 

 that we are conducting our business 

 along progressive lines; ready and 

 anxious, at all times, to serve; extremely 

 desirous of pleasing our customers; with 

 a desire to make a friend out of every 

 man and woman who enters our store, 

 always carrying out the rule, "He 

 profits most who serves best," and al- 

 ways bearing in mind that a customer 

 who passes through our doors or gives 

 us a call over the telephone pays us a 

 compliment. 



BRITAIN BESTRICTS IMPORTS. 



To prevent the entrance of pests and 

 diseases on imported plants, the British 



ministry of agriiBlltnre has issued "The 

 Destructive Insects and Pests Order 

 of 1921," which con|p8 into operatioft 

 October 1. The order prescribes that 

 consignments of plants with a per- 

 sistent woody stem above ground; po- 

 tatoes other than new potatoes; tubers, 

 bulbs, etc., for planting, seeds of onions 

 and leeks for sowing, and all goose- 

 berries, in order to be imported into 

 Great Britain, must be accompanied by 

 an official health certificate of the 

 country of origin. The order further 

 provides for inspection at the ports of 

 such consignments as may arrive with- 

 out certificates, from countries not 

 maintaining inspection service. The 

 ministry has supplemented their order 

 by another, "The Sale of Diseased 

 Plants Order," which makes it an of- 

 fense for plants which are substantially 

 attacked with certain specified pests to 

 be sold within the country. 



Sheridan, Wyo. — The Sheridan Green- 

 house Co. is building a new range of 

 houses on a 3-acre tract just outside the 

 city limits. When completed there will 

 be three houses, each 30x160 feet, and 

 two, 30x100 feet. A 7-room residence, 

 an office and a salesroom are also being 

 built. 



WHAT TEXANS CAN GROW. 



Davis Tells Achievements. 



The address of Verner J. Davis, of 

 the Greenwood Floral Co., Fort Worth, 

 Tex., at the convention of the Texas 

 State Florists' Association, was a 

 stirring appeal to the loyalty and con- 

 fidence of Texans in the state's horti- 

 cultural possibilities. Speaking on 

 "The Future of the Florists' Business 

 in Texas," he told of the tremendous 

 field open to his hearers. Telling of 

 what Texas had already done in the 

 way of floricultural progress, he said: 



* ' Two years ago, at the Austin con- 

 vention, I took the position that Texas 

 could grow everything that was neces- 

 sary to carry on the florists' business. 

 After two years of experience I am 

 more convinced than ever that I am 

 right, and I am happy to say that in 

 the short time that I have been in 

 Texas I have seen the idea that Texas 

 could not grow successfully a great 

 many of the flowers used in our busi- 

 ness disappearing. Let us for a min- 

 ute review some of the principal flow- 

 ers of our trade: 



"We have established the fact that 

 we can successfully produce our own 

 roses. We are today growing beautiful 

 carnations eight months in the year. 

 There may be a possibility that we 

 shall have to ship carnations the other 

 four months of the year, but I am not 

 ready to concede that a fact. Has any 

 one of you ever tried a house of young 

 carnations just coming into bloom at 

 the beginning of a hot season? I believe 

 it might be possible, with plenty of 

 ventilation and proper shading and by 

 the selection of some sturdy variety, 

 to produce carnations — probably not so 

 large as the shipped-in ones, but blooms 



which would stand up far better and fill 

 our wants in midsummer. I believe 

 there is a field for experiment along this 

 line. We are producing our own sweet 

 peas, and from some experiments that 

 are being carried on by a gentleman at 

 Marlin, Tex., I think you will find 

 that we are producing some sweet peas 

 that would make our northern florists 

 green with envy. We are producing our 

 own gladioli, with a possibility of ship- 

 ping great quantities out of the state. 



More Still to Be Done. 



"There is no reason why Texas can- 

 not grow her own Easter lilies. They 

 do as well here as anywhere. We can 

 grow lily of the valley. And when it 

 comes to chrysanthemums we can 

 hardly be beaten. 



' ' One of our difficulties is in growing 

 bulbous stock, but I believe this will be 

 overcome when we get large enough 

 wholesale florists who can afford to put 

 in cellars with cold storage, so that the 

 bulbs can be taken out as needed. This 

 will enable us to let the bulbs go 

 through a freezing process to make 

 them more easy to force and prolong 

 the season for this class of flowers. 



"We can grow beautiful primroses. 

 There seems to be a great deal of doubt 

 about our being able to grow cyclamens 

 and also the begonias that are used at 

 Christmas and Easter, but I do not ac- 

 cept this doubt — we are going to grow 

 them successfully. 



"And so on, fellow florists; go clear 

 to the end of the list, and we can grow 

 everything with more or less success. 

 I do not claim that we are growing 

 everything with absolute success, but I 

 do believe that we will gradually im- 

 prove until the flower-growing business 

 is as successful in Texas as it is in 

 Illinois." 



