In the final column of a special five-part series for wholesalers, leading Dutch retail florist and florist trainer Ton Verzijl explores marketing's 4 Key P's: product, price, place & promotion. This month: promotion.
As the great American impresario P.T. Barnum once said: "Without promotion something terrible happens... Nothing!" And so it goes for the flower trade. Wholesale product promotions - special weekly-monthly-seasonal offers - are of course a must, but so too is the wholesalers' promotion of the customer care and convenience they offer retailers.
Moderation
"Internet as a promotional sales tool is like a beautiful rose bush: beautiful in that promotional offers reach all your customers with a simple mouse-click, yet also thorny in that these same customers receive heaps of junk sales-mails every day. How to ensure your rose of an offer isn't buried between the thorns? Moderation helps: my wholesalers only send promotional mails once a week or every two weeks. They don't bombard me; rather, they only send specific offers for specific products they know I'd be interested in."
Customer care
"So how does my wholesaler know what I need for my business? He knows, because he promotes his business by making my business his business. For example, a wholesaler's account manager visits my flower shop a few times a year. He looks over my stock, inquires about my evolving customer base, and also leaves behind informative leaflets about the flowers I sell, which I then pass on as value-added information to my customers. This is what I call real customer care!"
"Knowing your customers is key, especially in the US, where floral professionals increasingly operate in niche markets. Is your customer a corporate event planner, florist, wedding planner...? Once you know this, you can then selectively target them with specific product offers that meet their niche market needs, triggering their interest on price and flower quality. To prosper in an increasingly tough business environment, today's wholesalers must work more closely together with retailers than ever before."
"Promotions must build trust in the wholesaler-retailer relationship. Quality products do this: it's not just about unloading wholesale over-stock or older flowers; it's also about offering retailers the right flower quality and varieties. Be creative and surprising: also offer unusual varieties - not just the typical seasonal varieties. Ask your Dutch flower exporters to recommend some varieties that are especially fine at that moment and then promote them as truly special 'quality + price' offers."
"My favorite wholesaler makes great use of 'Inspiration tables', on which you'll find fresh, best-quality flowers beautifully and colorfully arranged. My weekly trip to this wholesaler is therefore not only a time to buy, but also to be inspired by! Wholesalers of course also offer older flowers at reduced prices, but when doing so, be sure to keep these flowers well separate – in a 'reduced price corner' for instance - from your other higher flower quality offers."
"Convenience is a great promotional vehicle – quite literally in some cases. One of my wholesalers is called the 'Flying Dutchman', and as the name suggests, he travels from customer to customer in a truck loaded with flowers. Wholesalers can also use smaller 'show trucks', which are like floral showrooms on wheels: inside you choose from a selection of the finest Dutch flowers, and the next day they're delivered. Caring, convenient and inspirational – now that's a wholesaler I want to do business with!"
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