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8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Fbbbuart 15, 1912. 



customers. The feeling has always 

 existed, and does exist still, even be- 

 tween florists, that certain salesmen are 

 adepts at securing high prices. This 

 feeling is often conveyed to custom- 

 ers, when at some inopportune time 

 they enter the establishment and are 

 quoted flowers at a lower rate than 

 their regular clerk has been in the 

 habit of charging. Hence it is some- 

 times difficult to explain matters, par- 

 ticularly to the purchaser. 



The raise in price is justified, for we 

 are dealing with people who want and 

 can afford the now almost necessary 

 luxury of flowers. 



Our man with modern methods some- 

 what overcomes this difficulty in re- 

 gard to the seeming raising of prices. 

 He realizes that his purchaser is de- 

 sirous of sending the best and so he 

 has, by his ability to gain confidence 

 in his superior knowledge of blooms, so 

 trained or. directed his trade that, in- 

 stead of receiving an order for a dozen 

 of this or that, he receives an order 

 for a box of roses or flowers at the 

 amount the purchaser wishes to in- 

 vest. By this method the price is 

 elastic; the salesman is enabled to 

 pick from a jar the choicest blooms 

 and supply to an exacting customer 

 only that which is perfect, whereas, if 

 he were to sell at dozen rates, he is in 

 duly bound, if fair to his remaining 

 trade, to take the blooms as they come, 

 unless he has raised his price to merit 

 the special selection. 



^ A Delicate Task. 



The modern salesman also has a 

 delicate and exacting task to perform 

 when there is necessity for what is 

 termed "switching." 



A majority of our prospective buy- 



ers enter the store with only a desire 

 to purchase "flowers." It may be 

 flowers for a friend, flowers to wear or 

 flowers for a funeral, but there is no 

 set decision as to the variety. Natu- 

 rally, the first suggestion to their mind 

 is roses; or, if the purse is small, car- 

 nations. 



Roses and carnations, perhaps, are 

 scarce or our stock is short, but spring 

 flowers are in abundance; so also are 

 plants. Our modern man suggests a 

 plant; he suggests spring flowers; he 

 shows roses and carnations, but by 

 suggestion he leads to the articles he 

 desires to move and so he satisfies a 

 customer and disposes of that which 

 might be a loss. This is sometimes 

 called * ' forcing, ' ' but if heavy per- 

 suasion or arbitrary tactics are used 

 he will, though perhaps making the 

 sale, lose a regular customer through 

 thoughtless, overbearing methods. 



The most noticeable changes are to 

 be found in our methods of selling 

 designs and flowers for memorial pur- 

 poses. We are breaking away fast 

 from the cumbersome and freakish set 

 design and are each day greatly add- 

 ing to the demand for the artistic and 

 beautiful wreath and cluster. 



In some sections of the country, and 

 even in different sections of the same 

 city, some of our florists find great 

 trouble in satisfying their trade with 

 anything else than the old set piece, 

 but let me say this word to you: Do 

 not be discouraged; remember that 

 what you were years in educating your 

 public to, you cannot break them of 

 in a day. 



Educating Public Taste. 



Our modern methods are here wait- 

 ing for some big strides in improve- 



Eagle in Flowers by J. B. Nugen'. Jr. 



ment, and we must look carefully 

 around to find, if possible, the best 

 and safest means to prove to the buyer 

 our contention that the gates ajar or 

 broken column, which they have en- 

 tered our store to order, is not as artis- 

 tic, elegant or suitable as the rich 

 basket, bunch or wreath. In this day 

 of competition it is up to us to 

 "show" them. We have at our hand 

 the means to accomplish this, though 

 few seem to have availed themselves 

 of the results of the camera, through 

 which means we are able to place be- 

 fore the eyes of our trade positive 

 proof of our contention that we can 

 produce something more suitable and 

 more elegant than the old, solid- 

 detailed monstrosity. 



Our trade is being elevated to its 

 sphere. The process of elevating is 

 tedious at times, but by perseverance 

 and persistence we will evolve from 

 the old to the new method. We must 

 evolve, for though our tools are the 

 hands of man, our material is nature's 

 highest form of art, and though by 

 mistaken, mercenary methods we have 

 created a demand for the ridiculous, 

 we are surely leading back to nature's 

 arrangement and are fast driving to 

 oblivion our first errors. 



The Persuasive Photograph. 



The floral photograph plays a most 

 important part in this educating, as 

 well as greatly aiding us in securing 

 the highest amount a purchaser de- 

 sires to spend. The old method of 

 the wire frames, or a play on the" 

 imagination with the assistance of a 

 tape line, is giving place to the 

 graceful and true delineation of the 

 camera lens, so that many now are 

 able to place before their buyers a 

 reproduction of work that is far more 

 subtle in its persuasion than any word 

 description. 



Above all, remember in our elevat- 

 ing methods that we are in our posi- 

 tions to serve the requirements of the 

 customers, and to those customers, 

 whether they come with 5 cents or $5, 

 is due courteous treatment. Deference 

 will ever remain the strongest lever in 

 modern methods of salesmanship. 



NUGENT 'S DESIGNS. 



The illustrations in this issue show 

 two of the pieces by John B. Nugent, 

 Jr., made for the opening of the 

 Weber & Fields theatrical reunion at 

 a New York theater February 8. The 

 showing made by the basket of carna- 

 tions will be considered distinctly good. 

 The other piece is one of those oddities 

 which frequently attract more atten- 

 tion than a really artistically arranged 

 basket of choice blooms. The wide- 

 spread wings of the eagle were made 

 of red and white carnations, with a 

 feathering of pampas plumes. The 

 base of the design was built, appro- 

 priately, to represent rocks. 



RHODODENDRONS FOB EASTEB. 



Please let me know how to grow 

 rhododendrons for Easter flowering. I 

 received a few eight or ten days ago 

 and potted them at once, but do not 

 know what temperature to give them. 



M. S. 



Rhododendrons started early want a 

 cool house. A night temperature of 45 

 to 48 degrees would suffice. They will 

 flower in time for Easter in such a 



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