Eye On DVFlora

Try these three sales tips today!

For Free Prom Advertising, Have Teens ‘Tag’ You

Looking for a new way to “click” with teens, increase your name recognition and pull in more prom sales? Get your customers to identify your shop in their prom photos on Facebook.

“Tag me” — that’s what Heather McVay, owner of Bellevue Florist in Nashville, Tenn., started requesting in April 2011, knowing that prom goers tend to be little shutterbugs.

Last year, Bellevue Florist has appeared in dozens of photo albums, exposing the shop to thousands of high school students. McVay rotates Bellevue’s profile picture on its Facebook page daily to one of these images. And she’s sure to thank them on the shop’s wall: “It means so much to have you all as satisfied customers,” she wrote. “Your recommendation to others is the best kind of advertising this small business could ask for.”

Check Out Tim Huckabee’s Sample Spring Holiday Bootcamp Webinar

Are you looking to increase your sales this Spring? Want proven sales tips to help increase every sale during Mother’s Day?

If so, then take advantage of this free, 10 minute webinar hosted by SAF Partner and Floral Strategies President Tim Huckabee. The webinar is a sample of Tim’s Spring Holiday Bootcamp Webinar where he breaks down the best ways for your shop to increase your sales during the upcoming spring holidays.

View the 10 minute sample here and start increasing your sales today!
Spring Holiday Bootcamp Sample from SAFVISION on Vimeo.

In Video Ads, It’s Not Shock and Awe; It’s Surprise and Joy

When making a video ad, do you aim for humor? Or play it straight? What kind of emotion should you attempt to elicit to keep them watching?

Researchers found surprise and joy are the keys to an effective video ad. Hook viewers with something unexpected, and keep them riveted with content that makes them feel happy.

Researchers used “eye tracking technology and facial recognition to figure out who was engaged and who wasn’t,” said Cynthia Boris, in a March 15 Marketing Pilgrim article on the study, to be published in the April Journal of Marketing Research.

Follow the lead of America in Bloom and its president, Marvin Miller, Ph.D., and show another side of yourself or your business. AIB recently released a series of funny YouTube videos to relay the message that plants are more than pretty, including “Plants: They Make Sexy Gifts” and Plants: They Reduce Crime.”

Or have a contest, and get students to direct their talents your way. That’s what Flowers & Co. in Pasadena, Texas, did, awarding $2,500 in February to the area high school whose students produced a branded video for the store that got the most views, close to 2,000 by the time the contest ended.

It shows a nerdy guy walking into Flowers & Co. to buy flowers for a girl he likes. After he presents them to her, he turns into a better-dressed, more suave suitor.

Article provided by the Society of American Florists (www.safnow.org)

Memorial Day Flowers was initiated by Ramiro Peñaherrera of the Flowers for Kids organization in 2010 to honor those who have served and fallen in the United States Armed Forces. Flowers for Kids and the Delaware Valley Floral Group (DVFG) along with our strategic partners in Lynx-Global and Centurion Airlines have join together to provide a foundation to grow this event in 2012. With the help of the floral industry, local retail florists, and many volunteers this year we are reaching many locations across the United States.

As Memorial Day draws near we are busy organizing the details of each event of remembrance. I am very proud to say that we now have over eighty retail florists sponsoring over one hundred cemeteries across the country. The Flowers for Kids grower network and the California Cut Flower Commission will be providing more than one hundred and forty thousand stems of flowers to friends and neighbors for this great event.  More importantly than any of the above, the flowers will go to the people that have suffered the ultimate loss in the name of freedom for our country. Arlington National Cemetery is the cornerstone location for Memorial Day Flowers 2012, where over one hundred volunteers will hand out more than one hundred thousand roses for visitors to place on headstones and take home in remembrance of their loved one. In addition to Arlington, retail florists will hand out roses at local cemeteries across the United States.

Each week I travel to different cities and hear people repeatedly people expressing how they, “want to go home” after a few days or a week of travel. The men and women that serve our country spend months, or years, away from loved ones, friends and family.  Unfortunately, too many of them never return home to their families. Remembering them, their sacrifice, and recognizing those that have been left to carry on without them is the reason we will are joining together. We live in a day and time when war has become a three-minute time slot on the evening news each day and in many ways, I believe we have become desensitized to it. It happens in a far off place and on most days, it is treated as any other news story. I remember January of 1991 when the Gulf war started.  For many in my generation this was the first time war was a real thing. I think it’s safe to say this was the first war the world could watch in real time on TV and it played out in front of us on CNN twenty-four hours a day for a few weeks. As days passed by, the coverage became less and less and now today it’s a blurb or a subset to a headline that few pay attention to. However, this does not change the fact that each day men and women venture out directly into harm’s way while there friends and families are at home distressed thinking of their safety waiting for the day they walk through the door and return home.

Flowers play many roles in everyday life and we in the floral industry often become caught up in the business of it all and forget these details.  They can say, “I’m sorry” when a loved one is no longer with us or when we have done wrong, and as a man I have personal experience with this point. Flowers cover a range of statements or provide the final polish to a memorable event. Flowers are an extension of people’s emotions and I cannot think of a more significant role for flowers to play then the one that will unfold on Memorial Day, May 28,2012. When Ramiro approached me with this opportunity, “how can I help,” spontaneously emerged from my mouth. I have had the good fortune to be with a company that places a sincere effort toward being a part of the community and supporting meaningful programs and for me, this one tops this list.

With your support the Flowers for Kids Organization, Delaware Valley Floral Group and our network of donators and supporters, will show that we have not forgotten what our nation asks of some.

Sincerest regards,
Kevin Clifford
Ramiro Penaherrera

Thank you to our DV customers who visited our booth at the Northeast Floral Expo in Sturbridge, Ma. March 10th & 11th.  The Northeast Floral Expo is one of America’s Premier Florist Trade Shows with over 40 vendors on display as well as a variety of educational and design programs featuring some of the industry’s leading floral experts. Over 750 industry professionals attended this year’s event. Our display featured DVFlora Brand product, DV Grower Direct Flowers, Botanicals, Gourmet and Produce. DV sales associates were available to demonstrate our website to customers offering real-time inventory and the convenience of shopping 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Transflora (DV’s California Division) is featuring some exciting deals for the entire month of March. They have been exploring the fields and talking to many farm partners in order to find “what’s hot.” The end result is a collection of essential California items that are sure to help you cut costs and bring the “Best of the West Coast” to your store!

Beginning now, you can purchase their 5 SUPER selections for delivery Monday March 5th, through Friday, March 30th. In addition to those SUPER specials, they will also be introducing several new items each week.

All specials are available only through our DV Grower Direct Program.

For pricing information, visit the DV Grower Direct of dvflora.com or contact your sales associate.

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As the Spring Season progresses, our resident quality control expert out in California, Jose, will be visiting our farms partners daily in search of more deals.  He recently relayed some very good news back to us regarding the production of certain crops, including stock, snapdragon, and amaranthus. Below you can view some of the pictures from his adventures.

Why Come to Congressional Action Days?

Lobbying works, so turn up the volume before the 2012 elections, says SAF Government Relations Chairman David Mitchell. If you think an individual can’t make a difference in Washington, think again. As proof, retailer David Mitchell, AAF, will point to what happened last year shortly after industry members visited legislators during SAF Congressional Action Days (CAD).

“If you’re happy that you don’t have to fill out a ton of additional 1099s right now – one for every vendor you paid $600 to last year – thank the SAF members who went to CAD,” said the owner of Mitchell’s Flowers in Orland Park, Ill. “It was one of the major issues we took to Capitol Hill last March.” Congress repealed the requirement less than a month later.

Registration for CAD is currently open so reserve your spot today!

SAF has an exciting line-up of speakers for this year’s event as well. Look who we have already lined up for CAD:

Donna Brazile

Democratic National Committee
Presidential Campaign Manager for Vice President Al Gore

Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is vice chair of voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee and the former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. She has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore.

Brazile is a syndicated newspaper and magazine columnist and author of the best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics. She is also an on-air contributor to CNN, NPR, and ABC, where she regularly appears on This Week. Brazile has been named one of the most powerful women in America by publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine, Washingtonian and Essence.

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Dana Perino

Fox News
White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush

As White House Press Secretary from 2007-2009, Dana Perino was one of the most widely respected members of President George W. Bush’s senior staff. She is skilled at communicating key messages under stressful conditions.

Currently a Fox News contributor and co-host of The Five, the channel’s daily political news show, Perino also is president of the strategic communications firm Dana Perino and Company. She is an expert on healthcare, energy policy, and the position of female leaders in government and business. Perino also is a frequent public speaker about how politics affects people outside the beltway.

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Norman J. Ornstein

American Enterprise Institute
America’s Preeminent Congressional Scholar

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an election analyst for CBS News. He also writes the weekly column “Congress Inside Out,” for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, and has written for many major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He is also seen regularly on programs such as ABC News’ Nightline and PBS’s Charlie Rose and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

He has written numerous books on congressional issues such as campaign reform, health policy and the national debt. Ornstein is co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.

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Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-5-Ore.)

U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman Schrader currently serves as a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, House Committee on Small Business and serves as ranking member of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Finance and Tax. Schrader also chairs the Blue Dog’s Taskforce on Fiscal Responsibility and the New Democrat Coalition’s Health Care Reform Taskforce.

A farmer, veterinarian and small business owner for over thirty years, Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-5-Ore.) currently is serving his second term in the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, House Committee on Small Business and serves as ranking member of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Finance and Tax. Schrader also chairs the Blue Dog’s Taskforce on Fiscal Responsibility and the New Democrat Coalition’s Health Care Reform Taskforce.

Elected to the Oregon State House of Representatives in 1996, Schrader served as a member of the Joint Ways & Means Committee. In 2001, Congressman Schrader was one of 5 legislators asked by their peers to guide Oregon through the worst budget crisis since the depression. In 2003, he was elected to the Oregon State Senate and was immediately appointed to chair the Joint Ways & Means Committee. He continued to serve in that capacity until he was elected to Congress in 2008.

Topic: FAQ’s about black edging on red roses

Originally posted on flowersandcents.org by Gay Smith
« on: February 01, 2012, 02:37:43 PM »

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1.  WHY BLACK EDGES on ROSES?

Black edging happens for two reasons: light and temperature

Explanation:
UV light–
Roses are grown in areas with lots of intense light energy. Production areas close to the equator (Colombia and Ecuador) get 12 hours light      everyday of the year and the light energy (luminosity) is strongest at the equator vs. northern latitudes.

Pigments in red roses are particularly sensitive to “sun-burning”. This condition is genetic to red, brown and purple rose varieties

UPSIDE: It is this strong equatorial light that also provides us intense colors

Temperature:
Greenhouses in Latin America are mostly not heated so when there is a big difference between daytime and night time temperatures, roses respond in a way that the pigments concentrate.  In yellow and pink varieties, concentrated pigments appear as red flames or    intense color chips, but in red varieties, pigments appear black.

UPSIDE: The wide variance in daytime—night-time temps gives us HUGE head sizes

2.  DO BLACK EDGES AFFECT VASE LIFE?
No, not at all. The down side is simply the effect on aesthetic appearance

3.  WHY DON’T GROWERS PEEL PETALS SHOWING EDGING?
•   Peeling opens the bud structure and blooms pop fast
•   Peeling triggers the internal production of ethylene which shortens vase life
•   Ethylene gas is produced as a wound response
•   Peeling distorts the bud shape. No one wants a Hershey’s kiss shape rose
•   Peeling the guard petals leaves roses susceptible to mechanical damage inherent in  transit and handling
•   When roses open, the dark edges re-curve down and are not visible

4.  WHY DO WE GROW VARIETIES THAT SUFFER EDGING PROBLEMS?
These varieties are selected because they perform well in the growing conditions of Latin America (e.g. large heads, strong, long, straight stems, good opening)

from www.morningnewsbeat.com
posted Thursday, February 2nd

Valentine’s Day Spending in 2012 Likely to Hit 10-Year  High

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is out with its annual predictions about what US shoppers are going to spend on Valentine’s Day, suggesting that they will spend an average of $126 on their sweethearts this year, up 8.5 percent from last year, for a total 2012 expenditure of $17.6 billion.

NRF says that this is the highest level of Valentine’s Day spending in a decade.

According to the survey, 19 percent of shoppers plan to buy jewelry for their significant others, 50 percent intend to buy candy and 36 percent plan to buy flowers and dinner out.

Valentines Day is approaching, you’re busy and reporters are calling with questions about rose prices and the economy. Breathe. Smile. And seize the opportunity to talk to the media and score great publicity for your shop. The Society of American Florists (SAF) compiled a list of potential questions reporters might ask this Valentine’s Day along with suggested answers:

How is your business handling the down economy?
We have been serving our customers here in (town) for xx years. We have seen them through births, weddings, deaths and every joy and hardship in between. We thank them for their loyalty in supporting local business. In a tough economy, product quality, personal attention and a satisfaction guarantee became very important. We are proud to carry the best quality flowers and provide outstanding service that keeps our customers coming back.

Why are rose prices so high for Valentine’s Day?
Just like other commodities, supply and demand affects the price of roses. Valentine’s Day inspires the heaviest demand, more than any other day of the year. Several rosebuds must be sacrificed to create one long stemmed rose, and we need to hire additional help and drivers to fulfill the huge demand for roses on this one day in the middle of winter.

I saw roses advertised for much less elsewhere. Why are your roses more expensive?
When comparing prices, it is important to know what you’re buying. The price of a dozen roses will vary based on the rose variety, design style and the level of service. For example, long stem roses arranged in a vase and delivered to your sweetheart’s doorstep will cost more than an unarranged bunch of medium-length stems. Most of our customers find the added services and superior quality to be well worth it.

SAF members can see the more questions and suggested answers at www.safnow.org/vdayinterview.

By cooperating with the media, you can develop valuable relationships and establish yourself as a reliable, expert resource for future stories. This Valentine’s Day, seize the opportunity to talk to the media and make it work to your advantage. You may be surprised at what a little added exposure can do for your year-round business.

Ace Valentine’s Day Test Orders

Keep in mind that you may not always hear directly from the media even if they are doing a story on the cost of Valentine’s Day flowers. During the past several years, there have been numerous examples of “test order” stories during major holidays where reporters pose as consumers ordering flowers and publish a story picturing the arrangements they received, along with details on the cost and how their order was handled (courteousness of salespeople, accuracy of message card, timeliness of delivery, etc.). For some florists such stories have resulted in positive coverage; for others, not so good. The lesson? Treat every order as if it will end up on the front page of your local newspaper.

Looking for more Valentine’s Day tips? Order a copy of SAF’s Valentine’s Day Playbook today! This book was built for florists by florists in order to make sure they are prepared for the holiday. Make this year’s Valentine’s Day your best one ever. Call SAF Member Services at (800) 336-4743 or visit the SAF Store at www.safnow.org.

By The Numbers

California Floral Leads the Way

California is the top flower-producing state in the country.  It’s growers account for most of all domestically grown cut flowers in the United States.  Below are statistics that profile the floral industry in California.

• Number of cut-flower and foliage growers in California, 250.
• Number of employees of cut-flower growers, wholesalers and retailers, 14,580.
• Percent of all cut-flowers sold in the United States that are grown in California, 20.
• Percent of all domestically grown flowers sold in this country grown in California, 75.
• Percent of flowers sold to wholesalers and retailers outside the state, 50.
• Annual impact on the state’s economy, $10.3 billion.
• Combined assets of growers, wholesalers and retailers in the sate, $2.6 billion.
• Sales in 2007 of California flowers and foliage, $330 million.

(Source: The Flower Factor, Dec. 10, 2008, Center for the Study of Small Business, California State University-Sacramento.  Study funded by the California Cut Flower Commission.  Most data from 2007.)

Did You Know:
Important dvflora.com Tip For Holiday Shopping

Have you ever been shopping online at dvflora.com and noticed we have an item that is sold out and the website shows more are coming in? Then when you try to order that item, a message appears saying there are no more available.

Well the reason for this is that dvflora.com only looks for the next open Purchase Order for that item once it is sold out. It is unable to determine how many units on that purchase order are sold…to do that would slow down the website quite a bit.

I have an amazing tip that will solve this issue. However, it should be used with caution…

When you are viewing a list of items on dvflora.com, there will be a drop down box in the top right-hand corner of the list that says “AVAILABILITY.”

By default, yours should read “ALL.” This means that you will be able to see everything that is priced and available OR on an incoming purchase order (whether or not it is sold out).

In order for you to see only items that have available quantities for the specific delivery day you are shopping for, you will need to change that to read “By Ship Date.” Doing so will only show items that can be entered at that time for that day.

So now you’re wondering, “why don’t we have that as the default?” The main problem with always using this feature is that you will not see any future items listed on a purchase order. There is a good chance you can miss out on something special you may want to wait for or order at a later date.

Note: Changing this setting will be saved and appear every time you log in.