January 16, 1913. 



The Florists^ Review 



9 



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THE VOICE WITH THE SMILE. 



It Wins Business. 



There is a most careful way of be- 

 ginning a telephone conversation that 

 florists as well as many other people 

 are now adopting. It is the courteous 

 and direct method because it saves use- 

 less words, confusion and uncertainty. 

 It runs thus: 



The telephone bell rings, and the 

 person answering it says: "Morton & 

 Co." The person calling then says: 

 "Mr. Wood, of Curtis & Co., wishes 

 to talk with Mr. White." When Mr. 

 White picks up the receiver he knows 

 Mr. Wood is on the other end of the 

 line, and, without any unnecessary and 

 undignified "Helios," he at once 

 greets him with the refreshing and 

 courteous salutation, "Good morning, 

 Mr. Wood!" This savors of the genial 

 handshake that Mr. Wood would have 

 received had he called in person upon 

 Mr. White. 



A far higher degree of telephone 

 courtesy would be obtained if the 

 face-to-face idea were more generally 

 held in mind by those who use the 

 telephone. The fact that a line of wire 

 and two shining instruments separate 

 you from the person to whom you are 

 talking, takes none of the sting out of 

 unkind words. 



Telephone courtesy begins when the 

 bell rings. Promptness in answering 

 the call is a compliment to the caller. 

 Telephone courtesy on party lines 

 means being polite when someone else 

 unintentionally breaks in — mot snap- 

 ping, "Get off the line; I'm using it." 



In a word, it is obviously true that 

 whatever is the correct thing to do 

 in a face-to-face conversation is also 

 correct in a telephone conversation, 

 and anyone has but to apply the rule 

 of courtesy prescribed long years be- 

 fore the telephone was first thought of, 

 to know the proper manners for tele- 

 phone usage. Be forbearing, consider- 

 ate and courteous. Do over the tele- 

 phone as you would do face to face. 

 "The voice with the smile wins." 



FASHIONS IN FliOWEES. 



Among the leading London florists, 

 according to the Pall Mall Gazette, 

 there seems to be a very considerable 

 difference of opinion as to the popu- 

 larity of bouquets at the present time. 

 One or two firms say that they have 

 sold many more this season than in 

 former years, while others agree that 

 bouquets are now used chiefly for pres- 

 entations, weddings and state func- 

 tions. 



"Things have to last nowadays," 

 said one florist, "and the presents of 

 flowers sent to private houses are gen- 

 erally either big bunches of cut flow- 

 ers — 'gerbes, ' as the French call them 

 — or growing flowers in baskets. A 

 favorite way just now is to send them 



arranged in a china vase the color of 

 the flowers, so that the recipient has 

 not the trouble of rearranging them. 

 For weddings a sheaf of flowers for the 

 bride and shower bouquets for the 

 bridesmaids are the usual thing. 

 Bouquets are often made of yellow 

 arum lilies and other rare flowers, but 

 nothing can be more chic than a 

 bouquet of orchids chosen to match the 

 dress, and tied with a ribbon of the 

 same color." 



"Does the fact that flowers are now 

 seldom passed across the footlights 

 affect your trade?" 



"Perhaps it does a little. But it is 

 a difference of quality rather than of 

 quantity. In place of the many small 

 bouquets which were made up of ex- 

 pensive flowers, like lilies of the valley, 

 big baskets are more usual, and these 

 are composed of larger and less delicate 

 blossoms. ' ' 



A LUNCHEON TABLE. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 a unique decoration for a luncheon as 

 arranged by John Mangel, Chicago. 

 This was a large, round table, seating 

 fourteen, in the Colonial room at the 

 Blackstone hotel, for Miss Helen V. 

 Drake's Sunday-school class. A tall 

 vase of daisies stood in the center, with 

 ribbons leading to straw hats on the 



getting what's due you in volume of 

 business? Kead this and see: 



"We have often thought of telling 

 you how we appreciated some item, 

 especially one article you had in The 

 Review a year or two ago. It was the 

 one telling of the different numbers of 

 varieties of carnations planted by the 

 larger growers. It certainly indicated 

 the varieties that were best adapted 

 for most sections of the country. 



"We have often had in mind asking 

 you if you could obtain what would be 

 an average consumption or sale of 

 flowers in the small towns. For in- 

 stance, for our town of about 10,000 

 the sales run from $10,000 to $12,000 

 per year. This does not include any 

 out-of-town sales. We have often won- 

 dered whether we were farming our 

 territory as well as it should be. If a 

 report could be had from other similar 

 towns as to the amount of business 

 that might be had per thousand of pop- 

 ulation, it might be a great stimulus 

 to florists who are not pushing their 

 trade. 



"We have no downtown store and 

 have often wondered whether it would 

 increase trade to have a store in the 

 business part of the town. And to 

 what extent might a good, live, up-to- 

 date store create trade? If there are 

 those who have added stores to their 

 business in the last few years and they 

 would give the increased amount of 

 sales and the size of their towns, we 

 think it would be extremely helpful to 

 the trade. ' ' 



, The Review invites comment. Name 

 and address must be signed, but will 

 not be published without permission. 



CHOPIN PUSHES ALONG. 



P. A. Chopin is one of the progress- 

 ive florists of New Orleans. He be- 

 lieves in getting before the people, and 



Hats Filled with Flowers for a Luncheon Decoration. 



table, which were filled or trimmed 

 with daisies and sweet peas. 



DO YOU OET WHAT'S DUE? 



The following letter, received from 

 an Iowa florist, opens an interesting 

 line of thought. How much do you 

 sell per thousand of population in your 

 town? Is your "farming" of your 

 field sufficiently intensive? Are you 



staying there. Also, he believes that a 

 flower store should be accessible, and 

 as one store can be accessible to only 

 a part of the prosperous people in a 

 community, he now has two stores. 

 They each present an imposing front. 

 At St. Charles and Washington ave- 

 nues he has established a store with 

 splendid display facilities, and a show 

 house stretching along the street be- 

 side his store on Magazine street, at 



