Partnering with your Wholesaler w/ Lenny Walker

"Solve problems to create new business," suggests Lenny Walker, VP of sales and operations at Kennicott Brothers Company. Like many business models, the floral industry is changing. Sharon McGukin and Lenny discuss viable ways to enhance your floral business by “Partnering with your Wholesaler.”

Consider their suggestions for communicating with one another, focusing on growing the business and industry together, and reminding consumers of the value of flowers – in order to inspire success. “One flower bunch or stem at a time.”

How we Bloom podcast is an oasis of flower ideas. Hosts Sharon McGukin and Smithers-Oasis North America interview floral guests who dare to do things differently. We listen, learn, explore new opportunities and that's how we bloom!

Transcript

Track 1: 0:09

Solve the problems to create new business. There's a difference towards running towards a problem running away from a problem. The problem becomes when somebody runs away from it it gets ugly." Welcome to How We Bloom, an oasis of flower ideas. I'm your host, Sharon

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 0:28

McGukin,

Track 1: 0:28

AIFD, AAF, PFCI, and I believe that every success story starts with one simple idea. That's why we interview those who dare to do differently. Inspiring people who plant seeds, grow ideas, and bloom to their full potential. In this podcast, we listen, learn, explore new opportunities, and that's How We Bloom. Guest for today's podcast is Lenny Walker, VP of sales and operations at Kennecott Brothers Company, a trusted importer and wholesale florist supply. At the home office in Chicago, Lenny spearheads sales, marketing, and operational functions with a keen focus on growth. Today we'll be talking about'partnering with your wholesaler' through the changes of recent years in the floral marketplace. Established in 1881, Kennecott has obviously a lot of changes. With change comes challenge. And from challenge comes new opportunities. Like many business models, the floral industry is changing. It's not what it used to be. As Lenny likes say,"solve the problems to create new business." He's here with us today to brainstorm on how this can work for florists. Welcome Lenny.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 1:56

Thanks, Sharon. I'm happy to be here today.

Sharon McGukin: 1:58

You and I spoke recently about how we are in the midst of such change in the industry and how florists and wholesale suppliers, can work together to make business even better. But we have to adjust to change.

Lenny Walker: 2:15

I think the

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 2:16

think the biggest challenge that we're facing is just understanding where where everybody's heading coming out of the pandemic. I think there was some challenges and people got used to doing things differently.

Track 1: 2:28

worked

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 2:28

Some work very well, some didn't. And

Track 1: 2:31

think we all

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 2:32

I think we all have a new path we can take. And some some old friends will come with us. and we'll meet some new friends along the way. as that happens,

Sharon McGukin: 2:39

Now what we talked about in one conversation was where we are. Versus where we want to be.

Track 1: 2:47

You have to identify where you are and what the challenges are so that you know how to prepare to move forward. Where do you say we are this at this point in working between retail florists or event designers or freelancers working with the wholesale florists to make it the best partnership for both. I think it's a matter of time,

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 3:14

I think it's a matter of time, you know, Everybody's schedule is very busy now

Track 1: 3:20

And

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 3:20

and sometimes we don't spend enough time talking in order to understand how we can help one another better or understanding the challenges that we both face. Sometimes they're similar and if we, if we got together and worked on a solution together, we could solve for the problem. I think sometimes, you know, the old relationships that we have and even the newer ones, sometimes they become transactional because of the method of communication,

Track 1: 3:48

right? You

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 3:48

right? You look at a text message, there's no emotion in a text message, depending on how you read it. You could say, like that, you know, that shirt that's out there, you know, let's eat grandma or let's eat grandma with the right grammar and punctuation. It's the same thing. So are we losing the personal appeal through

Track 1: 4:07

The people

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 4:07

The people that take the hit on this as the, you know, the next generation, you know. Oh, they don't want to talk on the phone, they just want to talk by email, and they want to do messenger, and they want to do all of this.

Track 1: 4:17

I don't know if

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 4:17

I don't know if that's true or not. We have people in every generation that wants to do things differently. Look how you and I connected, right? You You, texted me, I texted you back, we made a phone call, and now we're doing this on a podcast, So It's just like the old days. How are you going to do it? You're either going to walk into somebody's shop. You're going to call them on the phone, maybe you email. I don't think there's a single lane to do that in, but it's understanding what works best for each other. make sense?

Sharon McGukin: 4:43

It does. I think you're exactly right in that because I find that we have to determine when we begin a new business relationship with someone, we have to determine, are they an email or, or a text or, or do they prefer a phone call? And if you get it right, there's an instant. Connection. If you get it wrong, they don't want to be bothered with you. Another thing that's interesting, I read, and I try to be cognizant of it, is that you should phrase your text and your emails with the knowledge that Most people read them in a negative sense, so sometimes you don't even mean for it to be negative at all, but it's undertaken as negative. So I think we have to be really careful about how we reach out to a person and give them information in the same way they give out information.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 5:37

Yeah, and I would caution everybody. I mean, My my favorite saying is, you know, be curious, not judgmental.

Track 1: 5:43

I like that.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 5:44

you know, Ask the questions,

Lenny Walker: 5:45

right?

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 5:46

Right? You know, we think that somebody's an emailer and, you know, again, everything we've learned tells us that we shouldn't label people, but yet we're okay to label somebody. Oh, she only likes emails or she only likes to be texted. It's Like, sit down and ask about that. Sometimes a text is more important because it's,

Track 1: 6:04

it will

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 6:04

it will interrupt what they're doing because it's important. Just know where to be with that. Right? And I think that's, that's the key to success is you have to understand how to communicate with one another. You know, many people talk, a lot fewer communicate. That's the big trouble we have these and communication is key to accomplishing things. days. Exactly.

Sharon McGukin: 6:29

What do you see as the biggest change? I think for retail florists, one thing that I see that is a big change is there's a lessened walk in customer. What do you see in the wholesale region? Do you think that you have less walk in and more, technical communication?

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 6:53

We're we're Chicago Is different. different. We do have a very high degree of walk in traffic, which really helps us. And again, you know, if you look at all of our locations, you would think that you want a lot of walk in, which is great because you get to see the customers, you get to interact with them. But But that causes another challenge because you can't get the trucks out on time because. oh, Lenny and Sharon are talking and Lenny's got 4 orders to fill and he's, he's late on his orders. Well, you have to plan your time just like anything else. So, i, I appreciate the walk in here. We embrace it because we learn things from them. You know, we get the the, reactions right now on a phone call, you don't get the reaction. You could send somebody the coolest the coolest thing in the world that you think is cool that we used to say back when you and I were a little bit younger. You know, hey, Sharon, it's a ten dollar education. Let me send this to you. Tell me what you think. Right? Right? Now, it's everybody wants to come in and you know when you think about it and you know the you know the wholesale business always has been hard to explain to your peers Outside of the industry, right? They go. Oh, so you do the arrangements and then you sell them to the florist. No. So the best way I know to describe it is it's like the chef going to the produce market right or the farmer's market walking through and going. Oh today i'm going to have broccolini i'm going to do this and then i'll create the menu off of that. That's what we love about this because that inspiration really drives us, right? Our buyers latch onto that, our salespeople latch onto that. You could be on the cutting edge, you know, so many times the buyers will be out ahead of that, whether it's at retail import level, or wholesale level, And and you're, the walk in is instant inspiration, and it might not be today. Like most people want instant gratification. They might take it, but just the you got their noodle working. They may do that two months from now, but it's because they walked in and saw it today, Especially in wedding work work. You see it one time and you use it down the road. Yep. And what's, more satisfying than talking to somebody and you say, I have the perfect thing for you because I saw it here. We do it as wholesalers. You know, when I go to Holland every year and walk the auction and look at all of our suppliers, it's like, oh, I could see this might work for Sharon. This might work for Kelly. This might work here. You know, and you come back, you have all this enthusiasm and you want to share it with everybody. And some people are too busy to listen or to meet with. you, and then eventually it's like,"hey, do you want to talk to me about Holland?" It's like,"oh yeah." and then my lackluster is down. And it's like you know, in the moment, you got to seize the moment for that inspiration. So it's, it's important. I think that people do visit their wholesalers, but more important It's to have that with the with the technology we have today. we do a lot of cooler tours. You know, whether it's Facebook or Teams, everybody can connect via video somehow, You know, like we just talked about, you know, we're on a completely different platform than what I'm used to using. I can adapt to it, you adapt it to it, how do we work, right? And it's it's, amazing when you get that, you know, a text a flower, you know, to somebody. you know, it's a lot of ways to connect, and that inspiration is what keeps us all in business, I would say

Sharon McGukin: 10:15

and the learning curve, it's like every different. platform has a different set of guidelines and and operational needs and it's it feels like every day is another learning curve because everybody has a separate platform. Tell us how many stores do you have in your franchise? We have 14. 14, I couldn't remember.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 10:38

and it's, Technically it's not a franchise, it's all employee owned.

Sharon McGukin: 10:42

Okay, tell us about that. Oh

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 10:45

So, A little over 20 years ago, Red Kennecott, who's the chairman of our company, I think most people would know him if they know the word Kennecott. Red red put in a NESOP NESOP plan, which is Employee Stock Option program, that keeps the company going forward. So just like we search the, for the, best and finest flowers and supplies from the factories around the world, that was Red's that was Red's, process to get the best people into the company all the time. Make them owners and give them something to work towards and, Keep the wealth within the company and make sure that, you know, we're not following up the company a hundred and forty three years now. How do we keep it going the next thirty years, the next 60 years after that, right? So it's, it's all about longevity of the company and sustainability of the company. So we every manager is responsible for their P and L at location level,, but it's all about the employees and all about our all about our customers. You know, we look at our business as a triangle. It's, we connect people with flowers. So whether it's the retailer learning who our grower is, who our factory is, whatever that is, basically basically we're the connector. Some people would call it the middleman. I call it the connector. it's very common that somebody from our farms know the end customer and know our customer because we want that relationship. You know, because it does mean something when I tell him, Hey, remember Sharon and you looked at this? I really need that this week and she's got that wedding coming up that she needs this for. okay. Got it. Putting a face to it. Right the minute you humanize something, there should there should be more, will.Will to do it. right? Because you're doing it for a person, not just an order. Right I'm not looking at, you know, an M173 customer. I'm looking at Sharon. This impacts Sharon, and this is for Sharon's bride. And I think, you know, you as a retailer and designer for years, you bring that passion to us that I have to do this for my customer. We take We take that and give it to the grower that says, this is what we need now. Right. And that connection all the way through really helps all of us. I have a funny story relating to supply items to us that are You mentioned earlier you might send something out for someone to try. So, I'm on the outskirts of Atlanta, and I would buy from downtown. And I would always go through my box, because sometimes there would be things they fail to add in the bill and I would say you need to bill me for these bunches. They weren't billed. Sometimes they would bill something they forgot to put in. You need to credit that because it's not in there. So there were these beautiful branches in my box that particular day. But I hadn't purchased. I checked my receipt carefully or my invoice carefully and it wasn't in there. So I wrote a note and said I was not billed for these and sent them back. And salesperson called me. She was like five o'clock in the morning. I'm outside my flashlight cutting these branches for you and making a bundle and you send them back because I didn't bill you for them. It was a gift. But, you know, I think it's to be sure you pay what you get. Yeah, you know, we say Yeah, And you know, we say that all the time. We don't check orders because we don't trust people. We check orders to make sure the customer service level is what we expect.

Track 1: 14:17

And, you know,

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 14:19

you know, to your point, we have a lot of customers that would say,"Hey, you didn't bill me for this." And it's like,

Track 1: 14:23

what? And you see

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 14:24

And you see that it's a keystroke, right? We mix up the item numbers and, oh, I sent this instead of that. You square up the bill and you go, but it is important to check everybody that, You know, trust and verify, right? That's what they always say. Yeah, and it goes all the way to, you know, the farms. you know, as, you know, our heritage is, you know, peony growers way back when, right?, which, we still grow a lot of peonies and sell a lot of peonies across the world. when COVID hit, nobody knew what was going to happen for those, you know, quote unquote two weeks that we were going to be closed, right? Where everybody dumped millions and millions of dollars of flowers and nobody knew what was going to happen. You know, leaning on the partnerships that we have and the relationships and, you know, that triangle that we talk about,

Lenny Walker: 15:10

were

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 15:10

we were very, very open with everybody. One, we called all of our partner firms and said, we will pay you according to the way we've been paying you. If We pay you in seven days. we'll pay in seven days. If we pay you in 15, 30 days, whatever that is, that's how we will continue to pay. And we did. A lot of, a lot of people in a lot of industries stopped paying bills because they didn't know what was going to happen. Cash was going to be king.

Lenny Walker: 15:35

We looked

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 15:35

We looked at it that all of our farms has an investment in the ground that needs to be taken care of. Can you imagine if you didn't take care of the roses that are in the ground for many years? What, what, what happens when we're ready to open up, right? You remember when we were drinking out of the fire hoses, all of us were, you know, there's more business than we could ever take because of the pent up demand. If we didn't spend our money wisely and make sure that flowers were taken care of, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now. you have to protect what you're doing. So it is, it is important with, keeping current, but it's also important to talk about it, you know, one of our favorite sayings throughout all of our company is, When you stumble, we'll pick you up, we'll help you out. Together we're stronger. So just be open with it. You know, everybody runs into hard times. You know, you didn't expect that you needed a new heater in the winter, and maybe you need, you know, another 15 or 30 days to pay something. We've never turned anybody down with a, a, decent a decent request, right?

Track 1: 16:34

There's a difference towards running towards a problem running away from a problem. The problem becomes when somebody runs away from it it gets ugly.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 16:41

Don't be Don't be shy about it."I have to do this for my customer," we take We take that and give it to the grower that says, this is what we need now. Right. And that connection all the way through really helps all of us. of us.

Sharon McGukin: 16:55

I think that we stress we are partnering between two different levels in our industry but we need each other and we need to be fair and honest with each other and I think sometimes we forget that we're on the same team and that if we spent more time Trying to be a good teammate. I think in the end, we could have a few more wins. Yeah, and it

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 17:22

then, right?

Track 1: 17:23

the companies that did take care of their suppliers and also took care of their employees and tried to help as much as they could with their customers, when business went back, they were able to go full speed. The ones that let go of their well trained employees then were searching for people to fill in the blanks. And I I think we still see a lot of businesses who say we can't go full speed because we can't find people to work. And you have to feel like you probably had people that you did not take care of. And that is following you into better times. Yeah, and

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 18:03

Yeah, and everybody had different situations. You know, again, it's curiosity. You know, I'll never judge anybody because nobody knew what was going to happen. You know, we did what we felt was right. Uh, we never closed any of our locations. We, we did, do a small layoff, but we brought people back as quick as we could. And we just, you know, we think of it, you know, there's over 400 employees with us, employee owners, and we don't look we don't look at it as 400 people, we look at it as 400 families. And how many people is that really impacting? know, every you know, every decision we make, so we don't take it lightly by any means. And I, know most people in the floral industry put faces to names. and every check you write, remember when we were younger, when the checks used to say, this check made possible by the sale of flowers. I still I still remember that And you know what, my wife, Karen, and I, our kids know that everything that they have up until they were adults is because we sold flowers. Plain and simple. The sale of flowers gave us everything we have. sale of flowers gave us everything we have. Right. Yep. Another it. to say it. Do you have any looking glass kind of ideas of where we're headed next? Do you have a, a picture of how we're going to evolve? Because on the cusp of change, but I'm not sure we know which direction we're going in. I don't have anything solid, You know, when we do our business plans, we look to the future. You know, everybody's looking at AI now, which I think everybody uses some part of AI in their daily business or you're automating something. You know, I think as A. I. becomes really aware to a lot of people, it can help in some things. But 1 thing we've made sure across our company is A. I. will never replace a person in our company. That's not what we're looking for it for. You know, we're looking at ways to take the stress off of some people so that you can do things easier, quicker, faster. Just to take and Just to take the stress off, right? So you can have more time to talk with the customer have more time to be inquisitive. I think where we're I think where we're going is we have to we have to take a lot of the white noise away from what happens every day in our lives and focus on how we can grow the business, grow the industry together. How do we increase the consumption of flowers? you know, whether it's the floral promotion board that we've been trying to do for years, whether it's That flower feeling that everybody's participating in. you know, all boats rise in a rising tide, but how are we going to get there? You know, and it's, it's one bunch at a time, one stem at a time. And, we got to get we got to get it there. We saw it, we saw it, we experienced it during, you know, the, the recoil from COVID. right? People were selling. More than we ever thought we could sell. It's banner years. I don't, I don't know how we'd ever have those years again in the near future. in the near future. Because people were reminded of the value of flowers because they could not be there themselves and they remembered that can speak for you. I've always the industry like a pie and instead of making a larger pie, We seem historically to cut the slices in different directions. Sometimes the business goes to one slice, some to another, and we just keep dividing up the pie. And we really need to expand and make two pies or make a bigger pie. And to do that, we're all going to have to join forces. We have everything we need in the industry to promote flowers. We have growers, we have importers, we have designers, we have speakers, we have So many different opportunities to expose the general to flowers, but we have a tendency to just keep preaching to the choir, preaching to ourselves, and we need to be reaching out and reminding the public again that flowers speak. No, unique, you know,

Track 1: 22:36

Whether you're

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 22:37

Whether you're talking about a retailer, an event florist, a mass market, you know, everybody's everybody's been around like that, even before mass markets came on the scene, you know, in the late 70s early 80s, right? And that was, oh, they're going to put us out of business, you know, yeah, it yeah, it took some sales, but it actually, it increased sales because it increased the awareness, right? right? And There's easy gains. I think one of the biggest challenges we have in the business is it's a low cost of entry to get into the flower business if you want to be a retailer, right? every market has them, whether they're, you know, cottage industries, somebody works out of their garage, they come to work for you, you train them, and then all of a sudden they're doing, I'm going to do my sister's wedding, then, oh, my sister's got a friend, and you have all these people that are, are, out there and a lot of them are are very good at what they do, and they want to scale the business I think I think what, what hurts us sometimes is when it's the hobbyist That does not hold everything through. right? They don't pay attention to cold chain. They don't pay attention to care and handling you know, I always tell the story of you know, when I was selling supermarkets you know, all produce guys want to discount flowers,"we're just going to discount them and get them out" that's what hurts us overall. Right? The dumping of flowers, the the not taking care of flowers, eroding the prices of flowers. flowers, and we've talked about this before. It's the only item you can give a person either at the highest point in their life or the lowest point in their life. And they're still going to hug you or smile at you. Think about, you know, everybody talks about the mail now. It's going to go up to what, 70 some odd cents? still amazing, I can send a letter across country for 70 cents, right? What can you buy for 0. 70 Not much anymore. Stem of Alstromeria maybe, that's what we're up against. You know, it's not a matter of price. It's a matter of how do you get the business and how do you, how do you keep the next generation coming back. I think at least. Maybe I have it wrong, I don't know. we get the next generation to move on. Remember the value of flowers is a key in going forward. And I'm not sure exactly how we do that, but I think that, that is our need.

Sharon McGukin: 24:58

I think that we had, in the boomers, a greater of flowers for events, and then we lost that as time went on, but I think that was, reintroduced to younger buyers, to millennials, Gen X. The value of flowers was learned again from people who didn't know that. Generationally, they had not been exposed that much to flowers. But, I don't know in your area, in the area I am in, there's so many less funeral flowers than there was, years ago when I first started. The room would be filled with flowers. And now there's just a handful of pieces. Somehow, again, back to the pie theory, we need to grow that pie bigger instead of dividing it into smaller slices.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 25:50

But that's a that's a challenge. We were talking about it because it's, as we talk with different customers, you know, I mean, look at your own life. I grew up, it was a two day wake and a funeral. Flowers are filled in the room. And, you know, this was before I was ever in the flower business. Right? Late 70s, I joined this great industry. Before then, all the wakes and funerals I went to, it was like that. that. Stayed like that for many years. Now, you, you have the celebrations of life could be a single vase of flowers. You don't have the casket spray. you don't have the end baskets. Sometimes the person's not even there. right? It's just a get together. And so How do we infuse flowers in that? And that? what's the next thing that's going to get us buying flowers? We have self care flowers, which you know, the flower or that"That Flower Feeling" is doing a nice job with. You know, the take me home a bunch, whatever, all that stuff works, but it's the events. How do you can you imagine your family celebrating the event without flowers? No, no, but I think that the opportunity there, the challenge is, it's a shortened period of time. The opportunity is to reach out and encourage people to send flowers to the person's home, to the events. Maybe it's an event and they have not, a celebration of life event, and they have not ordered flowers. But friends could contribute flowers to that event. I think it, in that case, the challenge is to make the customer cognizant of the opportunities to share flowers, to put flowers in the church for a person who was an avid church goer, to send it to a business where worked. I think you have to really think outside the box of how flowers should be used to recognize that person. And in, very often, That way would be through things they did in their life. Yeah, Yeah, exactly. And flowers, flowers are the communicator in that case. Yeah, it's true. You know, you could be two towns over and I can't be there, but you sent somebody flowers two towns over, they're going to think of you and they're going to know that if they need to call you because they're down in the dumps or something, that you'll listen. Yeah, yeah. And it's just How do we get there again?

Sharon McGukin: 28:15

As a designer, people will say, well, I couldn't send you flowers. And I'm like, why? Who loves flowers better than me? And especially if I didn't have to do the work, they're even better. I love flowers. Well, now one thing, talking about challenges and ways to look at business differently, one thing that is more prevalent now than it was when I entered the workforce in flowers is buying direct. There was no such thing for many, many years. And I, I believe you refer to DSD, direct store delivery, as one means of doing that. Talk to us about the pros and cons of buying direct, if you could.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 28:57

But I, guess I'd have to ask more questions. You know, again, being curious, what is buying direct? If, if buying direct is from an importer, then we're your place. If buying direct is From an office in Miami or farm direct because it comes up through whatever chain it comes through. You know, my question would be, there's nothing wrong with any of it, but what's the value that you're looking for? Right. And many of us sell flowers as a commodity, but we're really selling service, right. And peace of mind. So, you know, many of the orders we get for, whether it's sympathy flowers, it's knowing that when the flowers get there, they're going to be on time So the florist can do their magic. and Make their customer happy, you know, with the weddings, we tell you we're going to fill something, we fill it, you know, we deliver a world of flowers to your door every day. But how do we, how do you get that? You know, I think there's, I think there's confusion on what is direct, right? I mean, we're, we're one of the largest importers in the country. It's just the way we work. Many people are like that. Our, our peers import a lot of flowers too, but we have a local team. That's selling imported flowers. So is that direct? Sure. We're the importer of record in many cases. We support a lot of companies that are based in Miami. But, you know, it takes everybody to make this work. You know, and we're not, we're not locked into anything. You know, we, we search every day for the best quality flowers around. That's job number one. price comes second after that. And I think that's what, what it is. And when people say I want direct. Tell me why, and I can figure out a way to where we can do business and probably improve it. Whether it's the efficiency of the truck, whether it's efficiency of getting it to you on a day that you need it. It's Just understanding what you're trying to do.

Sharon McGukin: 30:58

And that goes back to"solve the problems to create the business." So if you can speak directly with the florist or if you're not in their area, The wholesaler that is in their area, go to them and say these are the needs I have and these are the opportunities I have, how could I work with you through those?

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 31:23

Yeah, I think it's, you know, everybody uses their best resources. You know, do we know what that is. You know, and that's, it could be, you know, a thousand dollar order or a hundred thousand dollar order. You know. What's important and, you know, where do you want to spend your time? You know, as a retailer, as the wholesaler, as the connector like us, where do we want to spend our time? A lot of it is developing the business with the farms. Some of it is leaning on our partners we already have. But I will tell you, We spend the most time talking with our customers.

Sharon McGukin: 31:59

To your point about quality too, in the past, when I would get flowers that were less than the quality I was expecting, and they would say, well, I'll just credit you. I don't need a credit. I need a good flower for my customer right here. I, I can pay for the flower. I don't need a credit. I need quality flowers. And that, that's one thing that you have to be sure you connect with somebody who can deliver time after time. Yeah, and like we say, you know, it's stealing anything from one of the insurance companies, but it's peace of mind.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 32:33

Mean, you know, our crew works, and I've said it several times, you know, anybody that's, that's any of our peers in the business are watching flowers from the time they leave the farm all the way through the chain of distribution. So sometimes we know that something happened, and then we'll start to correct it before the customer even realizes anything happened, right? It's that old saying, like a duck, it's smooth sailing on the surface, but underneath, you know, that, that duck is paddling feverishly to get where they're going. And that's how the flower business is sometimes. Nobody sees the internal paddling, they just see the, the end result sometimes.

Sharon McGukin: 33:12

One time when there was an earthquake in California, and one jet filled with flowers had left the ground. The other one was And I didn't know if the flowers I needed for the wedding were on the first plane or they were grounded in California. So I went to the supplier to make other choices just in case. And he said,"this is when we get to see who's the designer and who's the arranger." The arranger will say,"but I needed that for my arrangement." The designer will say,"what else do you have?: Right.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 33:51

the look, not exactly the same flower sometimes. And, you know,

Track 1: 33:55

The key is not to sell to the customer a specific item, a specific color. But sell a look. and a color harmony and a choice of flowers. I always think it's important on a procurement list to say snapdragons or suggest delphinium or larkspur or suggest different colors, and that way it saves on the time of the supplier calling back to say, what else could you have? The list is what else you could have following this range of size and color and expense.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 34:33

Guess I would. Wish for everybody in the industry is that we all treat one another like professionals. Meaning, right? If you're going to go find an attorney, you're going to interview that attorney, and you're going to go through, whether it's word of mouth, or recommendation That's somebody that you trust that told you that's the place to go. Same thing with an account. I think it should be the same thing with a, a flower distributor. It has to, you need to know what they're made out of, and who they are, and how they stand up for business. You know? There's a lot of good ones, but I'll tell you, it only takes one, one one little company that doesn't do it right on one particular hour of many several days, that could ruin everybody's impression of the flower business. So, I would invite everybody, like we do, come in, in, we'll come to you, talk to us about what's important to you so that we can align to best suit your needs. We can only go further if we help you get to where you're going and you help us get to where you're going. Right. So I joke all the time when it comes to ordering flowers, you know, use a calendar, not a watch. When you order flowers, the more time a supplier has, the better job they can do for you, right? You're never going to prevent that plane from not taking off that day if there's an earthquake, but you know what you're moving and you know what you can have in a cooler every day to take care of things and adjust as you need. to. you need. I think it said, I think it's just wondering what's next. and sharing your vision for what's next. next. You know, what's the flowers you really like to use? What's your, what's your method of going to market? How do we help you with that? And I think any supplier would ask that. You know, tell us more so that we know more about how we can coach you. Or, or, what if we were walking a farm one day and it's like, oh my God, that's exactly what Sharon was telling me the other day. I found it. Right? And it might not have to be that special thing, but just what do you like? right? And what's important, you know, I know a long time ago when I was a kid, I couldn't get business from this 1 person. And I finally just asked the question and it killed me. And she says,"Don't call me at 8:30. But you told me to call you at 8:30. She says, I never told you. My old boss told you to call at 8:30. I come in at 830. I got my purse in my hand. I got my lunch in my hand. I'm trying to open up the door. 845 is much better for me. for me. It's okay, 8:45, and then it was much more relaxed atmosphere for her, we got the orders, we got the talk, and it was fine. At 8:30, I was a bother, I was not a helper. 15 minutes made all the difference, so ask the question. Seems silly, but ask the question, right?

Sharon McGukin: 37:22

had a supplier that called me at 7 in the morning each time because I was trying to get my the day taken care of before I got the kids to school and she said you either love or hate the person that phones you at 7 a.m. about work.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 37:39

Yeah,

Track 1: 37:40

I've

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 37:41

yeah, no doubt. That

Track 1: 37:43

as professional as the person who sells to me. Because they're my eyes. They, they know what is available, what is the substitution, what, I used to send a sample if, if my bride had a sample of her fabric. I would send it with my procurement list to the supplier and then if they had to make changes, they had the color right there in front of them. So if you send a sample of the color, you have made your procurement list, but you've made it with options, then that allows both of you to do the best job. But I am only as professional as the person who sells to me. Yeah

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 38:23

I don't think anybody knows where they're going. I think it's, trying to create a sustainable business for everybody that you're partnering with. how do we get there? And I think that's, that's the million dollar question. How do we keep people interested enough that the retailer can get the business? And how do we do a nice enough job to where we earn that business? And then do we have the the farms and the factories behind us that are doing what they need to do in order to complete the circuit? Everybody now is very professional. Now it's a matter of consistency. I'm a big believer in, you know, never underestimate the compounding effect of consistency. Because then people get used to it and they're happy, and they just know, this is what I can expect. And i, I like to get back to where it's not such a transactional type business.

Track 1: 39:13

To

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 39:14

understanding expectations, right? So the difference between satisfaction is understanding what the expectations are. Having a realistic grasp on what the expectation is. You know, like everybody thinks bulb flowers are not good. It's like, I don't know, you could get a week out of a bulb flower if you do it right. Right? You've tulips in your house that, you know, curve all over as they're in the vase and it gets really wonky. And really somebody told me one time they're not good because they drooped. It's like. like, send me a picture and it's not drooping, it did the geotropism and it's like, you can't design stuff like that. That's the way it should be. Yeah. but it is wild. So, I keep I don't know. in my house time. And percentage of the time I keep Because I just like their energy. And they, they rearrange themselves daily. Yeah, it's always something different to look at.

Sharon McGukin: 40:06

I appreciate you being with me.

squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024_133912: 40:08

I appreciate you. I appreciate the opportunity.

40:14

Smithers Oasis North America. Lenny and I wants to thank you for joining us today. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and be sure to hit subscribe. You don't want to miss the inspired solutions. Our upcoming guests will share for your personal or business growth. If you have topics or guests you want to hear, please message me. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time I'm Sharon. reminding you. That like the unfurling pedals of a flower. We grow by changing form. Soaking inspiration and like raindrops absorbing energy from others, like warmth from the sun. This growth opens us up to new ideas and that's How we Bloom.