•^5?r:<^"».-^^ ■!■'•■ *^,'\Mt 



♦ '•'^> ^.-■. M*v.-v-,*T»*"v-;jTj%^ ■ 



May 11, 1922 



The Florists^ Review 



33 



M.KKK*.*.».*.»J^*.Kn.»^f>J». t. » .». n .»j^ » . n .» .».n.M.n.K*.n.KKK»,nji^^ 



ss 



PENNOCK POINTS RIGHT ROAD 



'■■■■■■■■■-■li^li^^iiHiMilHliKi'Si'lHSi'VSHSt^'S'S'ii'ii'i^^ 



PBINCIPLES THAT ABE BASIC. 



For Florists' Success. 



In asking me to talk before this body 

 on the "Basic Principles Governing the 

 Successful Florist" you have given me 

 rather a hard subject and one that can 

 be looked at from a great many dif- 

 ferent angles. Everyone has his way of 

 running his own business. Some reach 

 success through one method, some 

 through another. The few things I am 

 going to set forth are mostly along the 

 lines that we have followed in our busi- 

 ness in Philadelphia and our branch 

 stores in New York, Baltimore and 

 Washington. 



The flower business in the past has 

 b»en conducted more or less along lines 

 of the least resistance, a great many 

 florists simply knowing how their busi- 

 ness stood by the amount of money they 

 had left in bank after the bills were 

 paid. Today this is practiced to a much 

 smaller extent, as almost every florist 

 who wishes to make a success of his 

 business realizes that to do so he must 

 practice up-to-date methods, and conduct 

 his business in a systematic way — a 

 way that will give only the best results. 



' Accounting Points tbe Way. 



It is often a good plan for a florist to 

 bring in a certified public accountant 

 and start his, the florist's, books out in 

 the latest and most up-to-date methods 

 of bookkeeping. By this I do not mean 

 an elaborate, complicated system, but a 

 simplified way of keeping books, in or- 

 der to know definitely how the business 

 stands each month. It should be ar- 

 ranged so it will be known what branch 

 or department of the business is making 

 money and what part is Bot. The sooner 

 the part not making money is cut out 

 the better. Of course, at times there 

 are certain things that one would have 

 to handle in order to cater to a general 

 trade, even if the immediate returns are 

 not discernible. In other words, a thing 

 may be a deficit that would be charge- 

 able to advertising. 



Another thought is that a great manv 

 times a person running a business is 

 overimbued with some pet scheme that 

 he has and he does not realize that 

 that particular end of the business is 

 losing money. If he had the figures each 

 month showing a loss, then it would 

 probably be cut out much sooner than if 

 he went on without knowing just how lie 

 stood. In fact, it may be carrying the 

 whole business down and, eventually, 

 the business goes bankrupt, whereas, if 

 this part had been stopped in the be- 

 ginning, the rest would have gone on 

 successfully. This brings us back to 

 the old saying, ' ' If you take care of the 

 pennies, the dollars will take care of 

 themselves," and this is only too true in 

 many instances. 



Charges and Collections. 



Collections and charges are also im- 

 portant features of a business. In grant- 

 ing credit, be careful to grant credit 



The address of Samuel S. Pennork. president 

 of the S. A. F., delivered before the convention 

 of the Florida State Florists' Association, at 

 liOlieland, Fta., May 5. 



only to those who you feel reasonably 

 sure will pay. Often a moral risk is far 

 better than a risk where there seems to 

 be plenty of money, but little principle. 

 This kind of credit is more dangerous 

 than giving credit to one starting out 

 with a small capital and a good moral 

 reputation. It is not always safe to 

 give credit simply on "moral." At the 

 same time, it is a splendid guide, and 

 many a successful business has got 

 a good start by the fact of getting cred- 

 it on its moral reputation and the effort 

 always to do business along straight 

 lines. The unprincipled dealer is almost 

 always sure, sooner or later, to get into 

 trouble, and sometimes into such seri- 

 ous trouble that it will carry him under, 

 as unprincipled methods cannot succeed 

 in the long run. The man who builds 

 up a first-class reputation is building 

 along with it stability, which in the end 

 will count for more than any other one 

 thing that he can do. It may take years 

 to build up a reputation, which can be 



Every Florist 



has hit upon i«l«a« 



that hay* mad* monay 



for him. Th* sproad 



of auch ideas through 



the trad* makos procros*. 



is the medium for spreading those 

 money-makiDg ideas. Tell the trade 

 about yours. Contributions on any 

 subject relating to the trade are 

 always welcomed by the Ekiitor. 



The way they are written is not so 

 important as the ideas they convey. 

 Write as you would talk. 



lost by a single act of dishonesty or un- 

 scrupulous dealing. 



I think that I have noticed a more 

 general change for the better in methods 

 of doing business in the last ten years 

 than any time during the time I have 

 been in the business, and more florists 

 have realized that it is necessary for 

 them to pursue up-to-date methods. The 

 younger generation, as they come along, 

 with their modern methods of training, 

 realize this more than the older genera- 

 tion. 



Characteristics That Build. 



Courtesy is another thing that it is 

 not possible to have too much of in 

 one's business. Unfailing courtesy to 

 customers, under all circumstances, no 

 matter whether the customer is wrong 

 or right, builds for better business and 

 leaves a feeling that will bring back a 

 customer, where discourtesy is sure to 

 drive that same customer away. 



Coming to the growing end, I am not 

 quite so familiar with that as a grower 

 would be, but I believe anyone starting 



»ut in the business is pretty nearly as 

 well off to start with a new place, even 

 if it is in a small way, and plan his 

 building for the future. If the business 

 prospers, and it is far more liable to 

 with a well laid plan, then each succeed- 

 ing house is built according to this plan. 

 In looking at some of the larger places 

 that we have in our business today ©ne 

 finds they are more or less haphazardly 

 built. Of course, they were built un- 

 der strenuous circumstances, lack of 

 capital oftentimes, and at other times 

 lack of knowledge, but, altogether, they 

 were not built as they would be if 

 a well laid- plan had been made in the 

 beginning, with the idea of making a 

 large place of it. All these large estab- 

 lishments started in a small way and, 

 had they realized they were going to be 

 large concerns, then, of course, they 

 would have made plans better .suited for 

 large places. 



I can recall one or two places that 

 were prosperous and became large estab- 

 lishments and big factors in the busi- 

 ness, but when the original owner gave 

 up the management it was a hard matter 

 for his successors to continue and make 

 it a successful business. Had these 

 places been thought out more carefully 

 as to their planning and not been built 

 in such a haphazard way, they could 

 have gone on almost indefinitely. These 

 cases are, of course, more or less iso- 

 lated. No one starts in business but 

 that he feels eventually he will have 

 one of the big businesses of the country. 

 Even the smallest grower, starting out 

 with only one small house, feels that 

 he is going to grow and, if he starts 

 out with always the idea in mind of a 

 plan for a bigger business, he will be 

 pretty sure to make a success as he goes 

 along. 



When Publicity Pulls. 



In comparing our business with other 

 lines of business, it is quite evident that 

 we are not suffering the way many other 

 lines are suffering and liave suffered. 

 The farmer, for instance, the last year, 

 has marketed most of his crops either 

 at a big loss or at so near a loss that 

 there has been no profit at all. But, 

 looking at the \arious lines of our own 

 l)usi!H'ss, we find the unsuccessful firms 

 are few and far between. I think this 

 bettor l)usiness condition, which the 

 flower business, in general, is and has 

 been facing, is due primarily to pub- 

 licity, which has been carried on in its 

 various branches. 



We have before the public a slogan 

 which is conceded by advertising au- 

 thorities to be the best slogan that has 

 ever been introduced in any business in 

 this country. "Say It with Flowers" 

 is known from one end of the country 

 to the other, and the continual bringing 

 of this slogan before the public has, 

 without a doubt, helped every grower, 

 wholesaler and retailer in every line of 

 the business, whether he deals in plants, 

 cut flowers, or what not, and it is cer- 

 tainly u\> to every florist to back this 

 national publicity campaign. 



While it may seem like getting back 

 little immediate return where a contri- 

 bution of $.")0, $100 or $ijOO is given to- 

 wards the national publicity «ampaign, 



