46 



The Florists^ Review 



Apkil 0. 1922 



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/.,/ >4^^. MILLER F L, O R A. I CO 



Display with an Unusual Easter Feature in a Salt Lake City Window Last Year. 



rt']iU'iiisliiiU'iit (inlcrs in jiriiuiirv clian- 

 Jit'ls. Tile cli>iinlin;(t ion of most in 

 tcri'sts freely to ant iiipat e future rv- 

 (|nireinents <lenionst rates that coiiserva- 

 tisin is still i;eiieral, hut (lemaiids to 

 cover current needs are hecoininj; more 

 (ii versified and the nuinbor of iiioder- 

 iite-si/.ed eoinniitnients is increasing. 

 Added evidence of tlic exiiaiision of 

 business operations ajipears in returns 

 of bank clearinjjs and in other statis- 

 tical liaronieters, although the situa- 

 tion leuiains consjiicuously unevi'ii, and 

 unsatisfactory jiliases have by no means 

 licen eliininati (1. ' ' 



.HANDLING HOLIDAY BUSINESS. 



Retailer Needs System. 



When 1 entered tlio florists' tra<ie, 

 fifteen ycirs ago, a holiday rush was 

 a catch as-ean afTair, with everybody 

 for himself and no one resjionsible for 

 anything, and if you did not have to 

 work from fifty to sixty liours before 

 a Christ m,is or Jvister, luisiness was 

 j>oor. Today it is different, because the 

 florist, whether large or small in a bnsi- 

 jiess w;iy, has found tliat he must have 

 some system to his busiiu-ss, tlie same as 

 a merchant in any other line. 



.My retail (■xj)erience has been with 

 firms who cater to big volume, the A. W. 

 8mith Co. and I'eiin tlie Florist. My 

 suggestions arc what I learned from 

 them, with a few of my own. 



First 1 will take np the h.andlini; of 

 plants, which ;it K;ister, with its lilies, 

 is always a worry. First, every plant 

 should bo marked plainly with the sidl- 

 ing price before being jilaced on the 

 floor for sale. Next, when a plant is 

 sold, even early in the week, try to 

 have it delivered th.at d.iy, for your 

 customer might as well have the pleas- 

 ure of lia\ing th.at jilant in the liortie 

 those few extra ilays .as have it knock- 

 ing around the store, taking up valuable 



T:i!k on "IImw to Iliiiirlli' It.tiiil Ilnll.l.iy linsi 

 npss." (Iclivcrod by Eav\ ('. 'I'ijjtdn ill the mcctiiiK 

 of tlie Uetail Florists' Association of Pittsbiirsli 

 April 6. 



spac(i that you need. There are few jier- 

 sons who will not let you dcdiver a plant 

 at once if jiroper explan.it ion is given. 

 If customers insist on future delivery, 

 have numbered checks ready, so that a 

 jilaiit can be checked the minute it is 

 sold. Pin the stub to the sales slip 

 and be sure the day of delivery is writ- 

 ten plainly on the check, ilavo space 

 set aside for your sold pl.-ints, each day's 

 deliveries sejiarato, so th.at when your 

 jiackers are filling orders thc'v will have 

 to h.andle only one day's didiveries. 



Packing Plants. 



.Vg.ain, when jiacking plants, do not 

 let your man select an order and go to 

 the t.ablc and hunt the pl.ant, for each 

 time he does this, likely :is not, the 

 whole t.able of id.ants will li.ave to l>e 

 niove(l before he finds the jiLant wanted. 

 Let him take a [ilant and find the orcl(>r 

 with the niimliered stub corresjiondin;; 

 to the check on i)lant, thus saving time 

 .and wear and tear on your plants. 

 There should be a man in charge of the 

 jibant ]iacking, with as m.any helpers as 

 your business demands, .and they should 

 do nothing else as long as there are 

 [dants to be packed either for today's 

 or tomorrow's delivery. 



^'ollr exti.i help slionld not be al- 

 lowed to w.'iit on tr.ade unless tlionuighlv 

 experienced, as many a good sale has 

 been lost by new hands. Divide your 

 extr.'is up among your old htdp, saytwo 

 or three to each one. Let the regular 

 emjiloyees take the order and then turn 

 the customer over to one of the extras 

 to Lake the najne and address, to ])ro 

 \ide the card; in fact, to attend to all 

 details, thus .allowing your salesman to 

 wait on another jierson. 



As soon as the cashier has rung up the 

 sale, the order should be turned over 

 to the employee who is writing shipjiing 

 tags and cards. This is one of the most 

 important things on the list, as I ven- 

 ture to say there have been mor<> mis- 

 takes made tiy poor writing and wrong 

 .adilresses topieil from orders than 

 e\erything else [lut together. From 

 there the orders should go to the man 



in charge of the packing and stock, to 

 be filled or filed away for the proper 

 day. 



Cut rio^r Orders. 



Next -we come toXcut flower orders 

 and made-ui> work, Siu-h as corsages, 

 fancy baskets, etc. "rliero should be 

 enough help set aside for this to be able 

 to handle it at all times and keep up 

 with the orders. They should not bo 

 taken away from this work under any 

 circumstances. Your boxes should be 

 made up ahead of time, your packing 

 tables [irepared, and everything in 

 readiness before the big rush begins. 

 The largest volume of cut flowers is 

 h.andled on Saturday and Saturday 

 night; so I will take Saturday night as 

 an example, .as that is when all the 

 Sunday orders are filled: 



Get every experienced man on the 

 job in the packing room not later than 

 ()::!0. (!et those who are to work on 

 corsages and divide the orders up 

 among them — sweet peas to one, vio- 

 lets to another, roses to another, and so 

 on. Let the sweet pea man work on one 

 color at a time and not change after 

 each order, as too much time is lost in 

 doing so. We will say, let him make all 

 the orders calling for pink i)eas first, 

 then lavender, and so on. Then finish 

 up with the ones that are not specific as 

 to color. Let your rose mjin do the same 

 thing, and you will be surprised how 

 miudi time you will save. 



The man filling the cut flower orders 

 should jiroceed the same way, working 

 on one item at a time. lie should fill 

 his rose orders first, working each va- 

 riety sep.arately and finishing up with 

 tlie assorted rose orders. Then he 

 should t.ake the carnations in the same 

 way, .and so on down the line, last of 

 all filling the assorted box orders. 

 Working this way, one man can keep 

 two packers and two wrappers busy, 

 for a packer should not have to stop to 

 wr.ip the boxes, but should pass them 

 along to others to be wrapped. 



Delivery Most Important. 



The next step is the delivery. This 

 is most important and should be in 



(< iiiicluilivl nil |i:it;i' :>(;.) 



MILLER'S EASTER WINDOW. 



Should a man with a world-wide repu- 

 tation as a salesman walk into your 

 store and offer his services for prac- 

 tically no compensation, you would, no 

 doubt, blink your eyes aiid pinch your 

 ariii to see if you were actually con- 

 scious or only dreaming. As a matter 

 of jiure fact, right now in the front 

 I'.irt of your store there is one of the 

 world's best w.aiting to offer selling 

 services. Are you aware of this busi- 

 ness getter? It is your displav window. 



The Miller Floral Co., of Salt Lake 

 City, Utah, long since discovered the 

 silent salesman. Last year the firm's 

 K.ister display window honored the ac- 

 qu.aintance by getting a considerable 

 amount of business for the company. 

 An illustration of the display used at 

 th.it time is shown on this page. Here 

 we see lilies, roses and other stock 

 prominent at Piaster time grouped about 

 a novel "inn," in the shape of a half- 

 shell. Tiny chicks stand in the door- 

 w.iy of the inn. And a prominent sign 

 calls attention to the appropriateness 

 of flowers at Kaster. The Miller Floral 

 Co. consi.lered this one of the best ad- 

 vertisements and business-getters it 

 ever had. 



