Business Marketing Interview – Florist

In an attempt to learn more about retail marketing, I’ve embarked on a series of interviews with local businesses. Here is what I discovered from one such interview.

The florist was the most fun to interview by far. She was positively radiant with enthusiasm for her work. Her biggest customer group was brides. She ran a one-person shop with a very modest storefront in a location unlikely to get much walk in traffic.

She told me that her best marketing tool was a satisfied bride writing on message boards on the Internet. She also worked bridal shows and advertised on The Knot. I asked her if she was affiliated with any local churches and she said she had advertised in a local church bulletin with disappointing results. Bridal flower orders were much more likely to come from word of mouth than any other way. The girls all talk to their friends and there’s always one more with a wedding coming up. Customer satisfaction was key. An unhappy customer would let people know in many, many ways.

A friendly attitude and an excellent product is what sold for her. She mentioned that she had worked for a larger organization and left it when an operations manager had been hired to cut costs. As she spoke it occurred to me that for an artistic worker like her, a cold-blooded accountant type would be the worst possible person to work with. Her warmth and gentle nature blossomed, so to speak, in an environment where she could work her craft for happy young women.

I’ve seen that one in my own job. Harsh, unpleasant people rarely make good teammates. On occasion their skills are worth more than the bruised feelings they cause, but not often.

Technorati tags: business / marketing / profit / retail