mercurymessenger Vol. 55 No. 3 FTD Newsletter 2011, FTD Flowers say it better. FTD says it best. Sweet Effects Bouquet by Vera Wang

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1 mercurymessenger august 2011 The FTD Sweet Effects Bouquet by Vera Wang Look inside! social media tips see page 3 free technology training see page 5 easy ways to advertise your site see page 6 Vol. 55 No. 3 FTD Newsletter 2011, FTD Flowers say it better. FTD says it best.

New Master Florist Program Recognizes Quality shops FTD is pleased to introduce an exciting new program that

FTD Master Florists are focused on excellent customer service and outstanding achievement in the floral industry.

The program provides participants with valuable services that help run their business more efficiently and effectively.

Marketing Kit including a neon sign, aprons, knives and a door mat P Free half page FTD Directory advertisement P FTD

Please send your photos and stories to prdept@ftdi.

Exciting News for FTD Florists: Florist-Filled Vera Wang Flowers by FTD Next month, we are unveiling the beautiful new

This exciting collection of breathtaking products will include both everyday and holiday offerings by Vera Wang, one

FTD is pleased to offer you this new, exclusive opportunity to bring this beautiful collection to your customers.

chance to give a truly upscale gift. Only FTD can bring you and your customers such an exciting offering.

more about the amazing new Vera Wang Flowers by FTD products for the upcoming holidays and everyday occasions.

2 New Master Florist Program Recognizes Quality shops FTD is pleased to introduce an exciting new program that recognizes and elevates the membership status of select FTD Florists whose quality levels are best in class. FTD Master Florists are focused on excellent customer service and outstanding achievement in the floral industry. To become an FTD Master Florist, a shop is measured on its FTD Quality Star Rating (FTDi.com/quality). The program provides participants with valuable services that help run their business more efficiently and effectively. It includes the following products and services: P Priority customer and technology support P FTD Master Florist Marketing Kit including a neon sign, aprons, knives and a door mat P Free half page FTD Directory advertisement P FTD Luxury Program participation For more information about the FTD Master Florist Program, please contact your FTD Field Business Consultant at Robert Apatoff FTD President New Look for the FTD Mercury Messenger This month, we have a new look for our FTD Mercury Messenger newsletter. We hope you enjoy this new format, which offers an easy-to-read updated design and stronger business-building content. In addition, we are launching a new monthly e-newsletter starting in September called the FTD Mercury Minute that will feature the latest news, events and milestones highlighting FTD Florists. Please send your photos and stories to prdept@ftdi.com so that we can celebrate your success and promote your business to all FTD Florists. Exciting News for FTD Florists: Florist-Filled Vera Wang Flowers by FTD Next month, we are unveiling the beautiful new florist-filled Vera Wang Flowers by FTD. This exciting collection of breathtaking products will include both everyday and holiday offerings by Vera Wang, one of the most respected fashion designers in the world. FTD is pleased to offer you this new, exclusive opportunity to bring this beautiful collection to your customers. Vera Wang s distinctive approach to design has influenced an elite collection of bouquets that give your customers a chance to give a truly upscale gift. Only FTD can bring you and your customers such an exciting offering. The FTD Holiday Wishes Bouquet by Vera Wang C3 dear ftd florists, Contact your FTD Marketplace Representative to learn more about the amazing new Vera Wang Flowers by FTD products for the upcoming holidays and everyday occasions. Your customers will be truly thrilled with this beautiful assortment of trend-forward, upscale products that will link your shop with a world-respected, leading brand like Vera Wang. Enjoy the rest of your summer and get ready as the fall holidays are fast approaching. Please contact your FTD Field Business Consultant if there is any way we can assist you as you prepare for the upcoming holidays. Master Florist Welcome Kit Get on the path to more orders! Get on the path to more orders when you purchase the new Fall/Winter 2011 Collection and expand your advertising in the FTD Directory. Call your FTD Marketplace Representative today at for complete details on pricing, shipping and special offers. 2 Watch your mail in August for the Fall/Winter POP Kit including posters, workroom calendar and FSG Exclusive Pages and Workbook. The FTD Giving Thanks Bouquet (F4)

3 ftd spotlight: Bachman s Minneapolis florist Bachman s launched a unique new marketing concept called Bachman s Ideas House in 2010 to drive more visitors to their retail location and showcase the retailer as a local design expert. FTD spoke with Bachman s President Paul Bachman to learn more about this creative endeavor. FTD: How did the concept originate? Paul: Directly adjacent to our store sits a 1930s era, secondgeneration Bachman family home which was transformed into Bachman s Ideas House as part of our 125th anniversary celebration. For our anniversary year, we wanted to employ a unique way to remind customers of our brand heritage as well as successfully launch a new line of vintage-inspired gift and home décor products that will establish repeat traffic throughout the year. FTD: How many times a year do you execute the program? Paul: we have executed a new concept for each of the four seasons. Our goal is to bring a completely different experience to our repeat guests. Using the ideas and talents of our visual design team, every room in the house is decorated with flowers, plants, and a surprising mix of vintage and new home décor items. FTD: How do you incorporate sales opportunities for Bachman s within the Ideas House? Paul: everything in the Ideas House is for sale and much of the merchandise is available for sale in our stores and on bachmans.com. The $5 entrance ticket also The Bachman s Ideas House is the perfect stage to showcase our products and creativity and empower customers to use our products in their own homes, no matter what their décor style. doubles as a coupon, good for $5 off a purchase of $25, which drives additional traffic and sales opportunities to all our retail locations. To support our local community, 20% of Ideas House ticket sales are donated to the Children s Home Society of Minnesota. Why FTD Bachman s 2010 Holiday Ideas House. FTD: What has been the reaction from your customers? Paul: Main store sales The living room in Bachman s Ideas House. Outdoor garden shed converted into a reading room. for floral and gift (garden and phone sales not included) were up 11% for the year. We attribute this increase to the addition of many new customers to this store who returned to shop regularly during the year. The results for the Spring 2011 Ideas House were fantastic with over 4,750 tickets sold and merchandise sales hitting $222,000. FTD: How do you promote the Ideas House? Paul: we utilize various methods to gain awareness and create buzz, including: P Public relations: TV, newspaper, magazine and online press coverage P Advertising: Local newspapers and magazines, online advertising and newsletters targeted at home décor audiences P Social media: Facebook, Twitter and our weekly eclub newsletter For more information, go to Paul Bachman, Bachman s path to more orders Leading Technology business solutions brand & innovation build and grow An Event Using Social Media As you begin planning for an in-store event like FTD Good Neighbor Day, include social media as an impactful, cost-effective part of your marketing plans. Here are some ways you can maximize your event s exposure using online tools. P Facebook: Post updates before, during and after an event to keep your event top of mind. Post photos of your event and create a photo album so visitors can view them long after the event. P Twitter: Don t overlook the best real-time tool in social media for your event. Sending tweets out to your followers is a great way to keep everyone updated on what s happening. Twitter is a great tool for connecting people online and offline to your event. P Blog: Blogging beforehand can alert others about your event. Live blogging during your event can create buzz and excitement for those who were unable to attend and encourage them to come to one of your future events. Blogging afterwards can provide a recap, as well as information on upcoming events. 3

4 2012 calendar and datebook special Buy your 2012 FTD Wall Calendars and Datebooks today and take advantage of our special offer. FTD is offering no payments on the calendars until September 2011 so order today! Quantities are limited. Call FTD Marketplace at for pricing and detailed information. Datebook Wall Calendar Awesome APP offer Save 50%* on the floralapp license fee through the end of August. The mobile application is compatible with both iphone and Android devices. Contact today and save $500! *$99 per month/1 year commitment Exclusive Discounts for FTD Florists Now all FTD Florists and their employees have access to exclusive discounts from Sprint. Your business can receive: P 16% off select regularly priced monthly service plans P $50 credit back on new line activations for orders on your private online store (enter the code SAVE 50 at checkout) For complete details, visit the Sprint online store at Budget Truck Rental is offering up to 20% off for FTD Florists when you use discount code # The services Budget Truck Rental offers include: P over 2,600 convenient US locations P reliable, easy-to-drive trucks P 24/7 roadside assistance P Cargo vans available for local rentals at select locations P optional insurance and protection plans To make a reservation, go to or call FTD Members can now save up to 29% on select FedEx shipping services. Visit and click on the FedEx logo for more details. For a list of all the FTD Partner Discount Programs go to FTD GOOD DAY NEIGHBOR Drive New Customers To Your Shop FTD is celebrating its 17th annual FTD Good Neighbor Day on September 7. The concept of the holiday is simple: florists give away a bouquet of flowers and encourage each recipient to keep one flower and hand the others away to spread goodwill. This event is a terrific marketing event that can drive new customers into your shop and promote your business. P Generate new customers by increasing walk-in traffic P Increase outgoing orders P Create publicity for your shop P spark goodwill for your shop and within your community David Ghent (on left), owner of Flora All Occasions Flowers and Gifts located in Brampton, ON, and the CEO of the Brampton Board of Trade, Gary Collins, assisted in promoting the event. For 17 years, this high-visibility, low-cost event has drawn thousands of potential new customers to flower shops across the country. By hosting an FTD Good Neighbor Day event at your flower shop, you can generate valuable media coverage for your business, while building community support and increasing consumer loyalty. Last year, we collected 14,000 lbs. of food for our local food banks. We also gave away 10,000 roses in 6 hours that s 10,000 new and existing customers that Judy s Flowers & Gifts reached and encouraged to come back for a future purchase. Rick Samuelson Jr. Owner of Judy s Flowers & Gifts, Medford, OR To sign up to participate in this great business-building event, visit To order your flowers for FTD Good Neighbor Day, call your FTD Flower Exchange Representative at

5 ftd solutions How Has FTD Helped You? Illinois Florist Finds Success with a Technology Business Solution from FTD Kathy Viskocil of Heritage House Flowers, located in Downers Grove, IL, needed to make some technical and operational improvements to her business. She recently decided toupgrade her FTD Mercury POS and loves the improvements as a result. I ve always been happy with my decision to purchase FTD Mercury POS. stated Kathy. Five years ago I purchased the POS system to replace an old computer, a cash register that could no longer be repaired and non-compliant credit card processing equipment. We weighed the cost to replace each item against the cost of the Mercury POS and thought it made sense. The training was very easy and the FTD Technology Staff was exceptional. Mercury Support was also excellent to work with. Kathy continued, Now five years later, our warranty was running out and we needed to address new compliance requirements for credit card processing, and as a result, we considered the upgraded Mercury POS. We weighed the cost and questioned what would happen if the computers failed during a holiday and the new POS package was a perfect fit. It didn t cost any more for the upgrade. We eased through install with the awesome FTD Technology Staff and we are back on track with new equipment and a new warranty. We couldn t be happier with the ease of transition. 5 FTD technology training classes are available to increase your knowledge and get the most out of your FTD Mercury Point of Sale (POS) system. FTD offers both classroom-based training and web-based training options. Both are available at no charge to POS users*. Classroom Training FTD s most popular class is provided at FTD headquarters, located in Downers Grove, IL. Within our stateof-the-art facility including 10 classroom-style workstations, multiple members can train simultaneously and follow along with an instructor. P Increase familiarity with FTD Mercury Point of Sale P Gain in-depth knowledge of the system through focused training P Meet other FTD Mercury customers from the United States and Canada P Get a personalized tour of FTD Headquarters Get the Most Out of FTD Mercury POS with Free Training Programs FTD Mercury training class at FTD Headquarters. The environment and class structure not only help you learn, but also provide you the opportunity to focus, take notes and ask whatever questions you have about your system. The following topics are covered: P Customer Maintenance P statements P House Accounts P Advanced Order Entry and Point of Sale P wire Reconciliation P Mercury Administration P Marketing P Mercury Delivery * for classes held at FTD headquarters, transportation to Downers Grove, IL is not included. Web-Based Training Web-based training is offered to you in the convenience of your own shop at no additional charge. You are welcome to attend as many sessions as you like, as often as you like. The one-hour sessions have a Q&A session at the conclusion of the presentation. Available topics include: P Mercury Marketing P Advanced Marketing P Mercury Delivery P FTD Mercury Automatic Wire Reconciliation P Mercury Accounting Register for Training Today! All FTD technology training is by appointment. If you are interested in learning more about the classes, or are ready to register, please techeducation@ftdi.com or visit Merc Tech U at and click on the training link.

6 The FTD Team is Working For You FTD Marketplace Sales FTD Flower Exchange FTD Member Services FTD Mercury Support FTD Technology Sales FTD Florists Online FTD Flowers All Hours FTD Cash-Flo FTD Directory Services FTD Newsletter FTD International Retrans By FTD Design Instructor Jeff Corbin, AAF, AIFD, CFD, PFCI easy ways to advertise your website Just as you would advertise your physical location to get customers to your door, you need to take steps to get people to your website. Unlike traditional advertising, promoting your business online can be done with little to no cost. Get Listed Make sure your domain/website is listed with the major search engines. An easy way to do this is to go to and enter your business name and zip code. The results will show if your business is registered with the top three search engines and online directories. Additionally, this one site provides you with links to access search engines if you need to register. Check back on the getlisted.org site every few weeks to make sure the registrations have been recognized. Be Linked Get other businesses to put a link from their website to yours and, as a courtesy, you should offer the same. Inbound links increase search engine rankings of the site. The more links your site has, the higher it will get ranked. Link with funeral homes, restaurants, wedding venues, photographers, hair stylists, etc. The goal is to get more inbound links than your competition so you rank higher. getlisted.org page More Citations Increase citations of your business on other sites. Citations are mentions of your business. They can be from blogs or news stories but most frequently, they come in the form of reviews. Ask customers to review your business. Popular review sites are Yahoo! Local, Angie slist.com, Yelp and InsiderPages, etc. Also, provide a link to a review site on your delivery confirmation messages to make it easier for customers to write a review. Utilize Social Media You must have a presence on the most popular forms of social media like Facebook and YouTube. Use Facebook as a means to list news and events, upload floral pictures, host fun interactive games with floral giveaways and offer informative community tidbits. The trick is to not overload people with sales information as they will block your page. YouTube topics can be as simple as bow-making to care and YouTube.com page handling of a lily. The most important part of this process is actually the information you list for title, description and tag. The goal with YouTube is not really the actual video but submitting the written information that will help get your business recognized by search engines. To learn more about search engine optimization (SEO), go to and watch Jeff s webinar Scratching the Surface of SEO and Social Media. free elearning WorkshopS offer valuable ideas Based on the success of our first FTD elearning Workshops, we are very excited to launch another education webinar series. These 45-minute webinars are FREE to all FTD Florists and will provide you with the opportunity for an interactive Q&A after the presentation. Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 2pm EST Topic: Capturing the Corporate Client Host: Jeff Corbin AAF, AIFD, CFD, PFCI, FTD Education Team Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 2pm EST Topic: Preparing for a Successful Holiday Season Host: Tina Stoecker AIFD, FTD Education Team Go to to register today! Missed a webinar? Go to to view it.

The FTD Advantage. new! Color Your Day line Extension. new! FTDi.com Received a Makeover. THREE new WAYS To ColoR YouR DAY AnD HElP improve PRoFiTS

The FTD Advantage. new! Color Your Day line Extension. new! FTDi.com Received a Makeover. THREE new WAYS To ColoR YouR DAY AnD HElP improve PRoFiTS MARkET YouR BRAnD GRoW YouR BuSinESS How Has FTD Helped You? FTD FlorisT learns new ways To improve profits at FTD BooT Camp laura ressler, owner of Roberts Floral & Gift located in Bismarck, nd, attended