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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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March 31, 1910. 



Telephoning the Florist 



pLOWERS for Easter, dances and theatre 

 parties, birthdays and weddings, flowers to 

 cheer the sick and comfort those who mourn, 

 may be ordered fresh from the florist at the 

 last moment by the Bell telephone. 



The goods will be on the way be/ore you could have 

 reached the first store if you had gone in person. 



Bell service may be used in a myriad of ways that arc 

 just as helpful. Anyone, anywhere within its sphere of 

 operation, has ample opportunity to appreciate this facf. 

 Local and Long Distance Bell service is accessible to 

 20,000,000 people. 



TELEPHONE FOR A TELEPHONE 



Chicago Telephone Company 



Call Main 294. Contract Department 



•203 Washington St. 

 Florists' Advertisement of the Chicago Telephone Company. 



FLORISTS AND' THE PHONE. 



Publicity Precedes Profits. 



The use of the telephone is as imieh 

 a habit as is the use of flowers, and the 

 big telephone companies, in their adver- 

 tising campaign to extend the habit of 

 using the phone, are helping the florists. 



The telephone people took the week 

 preceding Easter to advertise the facility 

 with which flowers can be bought by 

 'phone. Without doubt the liberal ad- 

 vertising done for telephony did nuuli to 

 increase the sale of flowers, not only by 

 'phone, but to buyers who made their 

 selections in person. All that it takes 

 to increase the use of flowers for such 

 special occasions as Christmas, Valen- 

 tine's day, Easter, birthdays, etc., is to 

 call the attention of the public to the 

 adaptability of flowers for the purposes 

 of these special days. The telephone com- 

 panies helped not a little to do this, be- 

 cause they used generous spaces in lead- 

 ing papers in many cities. Reproduced 

 herewith are the Easter flowers adver- 

 tisements published last week by the New 

 York Telephone Co. and the Chicago Tel- 

 ephone Co., each of which is a part of 

 the Bell system. 



The Retailer and the 'Phone. 



"It is a fact," said a leading Chi- 

 cago retail florist recently, ' ' that the pro- 

 portion of our business done by 'phone 

 is increasing steadily. Time was when 

 one 'phone answered our purpose; now 

 we have three. We find it pays well to 

 make special arrangements for handling 

 the telephone trade. We take extra care 

 to see that all telephone orders are filled 

 to the best of our ability, in order to in- 

 sure the future use of that means of buy- 

 ing. It does not take as long to wait on 



a customer over the 'phone as it does to 

 wait on that same customer in person at 

 the store. 



"We get all kinds of orders over the 

 'phone. The lady of the house calls us 

 up when she wants a few flowers for the 

 dinner table or for her personal use. A 

 large increase was made in our telephone 

 trade when we undertook to carry in 



stock the engraved calling cards of our 

 customers. With these on hand, the cus 

 tomer had only to 'phone us the order 

 for a gift of flowers or for funeral flow- 

 ers, and the matter was off the custom- 

 er's mind; we had everything required 

 for the satisfactory handling of the 

 order. 



"But there is another feature of the 

 telephone trade that has impressed me. 

 Desirable as the smaller sales are, and of 

 course they far outnumber the large jobs, 

 it nevertheless is a fact that practically 

 all the big work now comes to us by 

 'phone. Usually the first intimation of 

 a big funeral or wedding job, or other 

 decoration, comes through a telephone 

 request to have our estimator call. When 

 a leading eitijsen dies his family seldom 

 come to the store to order the flowers; 

 they 'phone for their favorite salesman 

 or decorator to come to the house and 

 receive the order. The largest funeral 

 orders we have had this season have been 

 handled this way. And it's frequently 

 the same with the big weddings. Some- 

 times the bride-to-be and her mother drop 

 in with the news that there is a good 

 order in prospect, but more often the 

 •voice in the 'phone invites us to call to 

 offer suggestions for a decoration." 



Buying by Phone. 



With the retail florists on Fifth ave- 

 nue in New York a decidedly important 

 part of the business is done by 'phone, 

 and in many cities the retail florist not 

 only receives his orders over the wire, 

 but he makes his purchases of stock in 

 the same way. As competition has in- 

 creased among the wholesalers, the deliv- 

 ery of purchases has come into vogue, 

 thereby relieving the retailer of the ne- 

 cessity for visiting the wholesale market. 

 In some wholesale houses it is the prac- 

 tice for certain clerks to call up a list 

 of customers every morning, take the or- 

 ders, and later see that they are filled. 

 One wholesale house has at least six 

 'phones so employed every morning. 



ELEPHONE Your Order 

 for EAS TER FL OWERS 



"More tbin half of our orders are received by telephone," aays a 

 well-known Fiftb Avenue florist. 



"I cannot imagine doing bntlneat without teleohone serrice. 

 One of our young ladiaa devote* her entire time to handling telephone 

 orders, and we are making a ipecial effort f please our telephone customers. It would 

 be poor business not to do so. Every up-toslate business bouse now recognizes the Im- 

 portance of telephone trade, aixl know* that telephone orders must receive prompt attention. 

 "Easter it the seaaoo for flowers, and It Is always a busy time for us. I expect that 

 this week telephone calls will be coming In faster thin ever, and I have made special prepara- 

 tions In order that such calls may receive proper attention." 



The florist is right. Easier Is the seaaon for flowers, so 

 when you are making Easter eggs and bunnies for the little 

 folk, do not forget Easter flowers for grown-ups. Just tele- 

 phone the florist. He will aid you in your selection and deliver 

 the flowers promptly. 



Not only in ordering flowers, but In a hundred oifter 

 ways the telephone demonstrates Its usefulness. 



By the way, hoot you a Ttltfkonet 



NEW YORK THIFIIONE OOMPANY 



Easter Flowers Advertisement of the New York Telephone Company. 



