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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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nun. 



.1 Uililo in Vdur A\ i iidiiw. usIiil; ii"1 only 

 l;0(h1 lldwcrs hut 1hi' ln'st iia|i('vy yoii 

 can )iV(Kuic; usually the di'^ln's and sii- 

 \'iM' can lie Imrrowcil liuni a incrfhant 

 liv I'uttiny lii< caid on yniir ijisplay. 



THE RETAILERS' TROUBLES. 



I All i'\lr:H-t I'liiiii :i |.:i|iit liy IMwMl'il Mar 

 Miilkiii, (if I'.Hsloii. .Miis>.. Ji'iiil III u iiici'liiii;' 111' 



(lie (Jiiiilci.i'i^' .mil ll.'iiM-' (lull lit l;ii>l 



■iclolici- IS, l:ili.. I 



;\s a luniy tile irtail lliui'^ls nicail 1(1 



lie I'aii', lint [ am smiy tn say that Sdiiic 



■ if lliciii lia\i- i-ont laclcil li.ail liahits. 



In every lai'4e i-it,\' yua will linil men 



wild, llie DKiinent tlie\' liml a neii^lilior 



,11 the \vay dt' dlitaiiiiii^ a tZ'Kxl di'iifr, 



Nvill (lelitiel at ely dlVer to <lii the work 



I'or So iiinch less. ic;4a iilless nt' what 



profit lliey (••■III make, simjily 1d i.;et the 



business ;i\\;iy timii the ni'i;^ IiIkii'. This 



is a seridiis iliawiiacl; Id the man who 



is (jdiiid' a lej^itimale Im'-iiie^s. I'lit'or- 



l.tmatcly, it is .-i ciimmiin inactice all 



<(\-er the cenntry. it' these men wonlil 



only stdji ld thinlv. they wmild know 



that this |iiactire i'- ddin;^ them no "(kkI 



and is hiirtin^' the ciistdiner. who iiat- 



'irally feels lli.at he was ini|idseil en at 



lii'st. and wlid knows that he has lu^eii 



iiii|H)sei| 111! when he sees the drdei' cdin- 



p!f't(^<l. I ha\c seen many smdi ordei's, 



liiit nevei' ■-aw niie iliat w.a-- satisf.ac- 



Aiiother ti-diilde in the trade is tiiat 

 the axcraye ciistonier eaniiot understand 

 tlie ;:reat difference in the (|uality and 

 )iiire of tldwers. ]f the dealer is at all 

 iins('rii|iiilons, it is easy for him to de- 

 (•ei\e the customer liy eivin<r him the 

 im|ii'essidn that he is )-eally selling the 

 same article for less money. (If course 

 this tloes not liappcui often, and is 

 always disnsti'ous to the idieap in:iii. 

 lie makes that one tiade, but can never 

 (id business with the same custoinei' 

 ai^a i II. 



Ill Business to Stay. 



i-;\'ery man in business is entitled to 

 a IcL'.itimate jiidtit. lie ninst satisfy 

 himself what that jirofit should be. niul 

 then see that he j^ets it. If his un- 

 sciupiiloiis neighbor should take away 

 a trade it should not bother him; his 

 customer is sure to come liaek, and oonic 

 ba(d\ to stay. 



The man who starts in the retail 

 lldi'ists' business tdd:i\' is in it to stay, 

 if he can. To do a ]iaying business 

 today, he must iuNcst consideralile capi- 

 tal in fixtures, and in what is known as 

 dead sto(d<; that is, a ceilain amount 

 u\' sto(d\ tliat must al\va\s be in his 

 liossessi(Ui to do business projiiM'ly and 

 at .a jirolit. To be successful as a 

 lldiist in these times, a man must have 



Edwar(J MacMulkin. 



torv to the cu^tdiner. Y'-w I an readily I a presentabl(> place in \vhi(di to do busi- 



under<t;nid that (hh' ni.-in i-:iiindt _L;i\"e '• lU'^s; he must keep it well stocked; he 



the same thinn for nnih ii'-- than an- | mn-t ha\-e a j^ liy niiinber of Cdiiipe- 



othei- while at the -nine tune -a t isfy i ii;,' | tent empldyees. lie must also hav(> 



!lis in^tiinier; he iithii rei-; ilnwii (III ; i^reeiihdiises in whiidi to store the st 0(dc 



the ipi.'intils' df lie- i|e:ilii\ nf sld(d< I i,eces-aiy for the li!isines>. er must, hire 



siijipli'd, either nm' i.f whhli i~ sure td 1 them, thus reilncin«; hi^ profits; In must 



liO iidticed. .\s ;i cdii^i ,|ni'ni-e, he does ] ha\e or hire land for his garden work; 



him-elf no IS 1 and pie\c.|iis hi- uei;zh- | in fad, he ^hmild be in a position to 



iif.i truln m.-ilNin^; a l:iii pmlit mi the : tell his cu-tdiner he can i\\ np his 



(ir his l;: 



"aideii as W(dl ;i- 



table. Nowadays the customer not onl;, 

 wants such service of his ilorist, but ex 

 ])ects it of liini. Jf you cannot do it foi 

 him lie goes to the other fellow, Avhn 

 does the work for him. lie also sell- 

 llowcrs to your former customer, who i- 

 now yours no more. Every man in tin 

 trade should have the ambition to run :; 

 jilace where evcrytiiing relating ti 

 flowers can be obtained for the askini; 



Busy the Year Around. 



The outdoor work of the florist is 

 gradually assuming large proportions 

 and is deserving of his best efforts. 

 Jt is a well known fact that what is 

 called the store business is only good 

 from about October 1 to May L Th( 

 rest of the year the Ilorist who does 

 nothing l)ut a store business has hard 

 work to make both ends meet, generally 

 using u)) the winter's jirofits to pay thi 

 summer's expenses. Many years ago I 

 saw the necessity of making the dull 

 months, if not jirofitable, at least self 

 suppinting, and, to my surjirise, found 

 conditions were such that 1 would find 

 no difliculty in providing work for men 

 who otherwise would have to remain 

 idle during the summer. I want to say 

 here that ex])erienced laljor is diOicult 

 to obtain, and when you get good men 

 it is belter to keep them than let them 

 go for a cou]il(! of months when you 

 really h;iv<^ nothing for them to do. 



To mak(.' the florists' business profit 

 able to<lay requires a certain class of 

 men. and the more they know about 

 their business the more successful they 

 will be. Any ordinary, well-dressed man 

 can s(dl a customer what he wants, Init 

 the real man must have many qualifica 

 lions to make him a ^access. All these 

 vhiudd be natural, but if the individual 

 is so unfortunate as not to possess (hem. 

 I hey can be acquired. 



Taste, Tact and Integrity. 



The successful ilorist must have good 

 tasie, ;;ood ideas, good manners, and the 

 integrity to carry out in good faith any 

 agreement he may make with a ens- 

 tome)-. .X.aturally. his taste and ideas 

 must be good, as customers do not care 

 for the same thing often, and some 

 times do not want what they have seen 

 (dsewhere. This makes it imperative 

 for the florist to be able to originate 

 new S(diemes for the arrangement of 

 Mowers and new methods of placing 

 them before the customer. 



The temptation to save money and 

 material at the expense of the cus- 

 tomer is often great, but it is always a 

 mistake. 



The ])rincipal mistake made by the 

 I'etail florist is the sidling of old 

 How (IS. Don't sidl (dd flowers (I liojie 

 all the growers heic aie listening). 

 \'iiii make money by throwing them 

 aw.ay. .\dthing disc(Mirages a customer 

 sd much as td buy a few flowers and 

 find them all curled up the lu'xt da>'. 

 lie may stand it once cu' twice, but in 

 ;i short time he f(>(ds he is throwing 

 money away to buy flowers, and instead 

 df liu\ing (uice or twice ;i week, he 

 only buys when it is absolutidy neces 

 ^aiy. .and then \\\\\\ the feeling that he 

 ;s not t^ettini.;- what li(> pays for. 



It is .also poor ]iolicy to sell your 

 customer A\ hat h(> asks for simply be- 

 cause he is willing to pay for it, when 

 you know he will not be satisfied with 

 the result. I'o the right thing by tell- 

 ing him what yini kiidw. It will give 



liim 



" . " " • ..... ^- • 



cdiil'dence ill yiiiir .alility and in- 



