Now, while the economy is in a state of turmoil, may be the best time to let the WS know how displeased we are with their policies. I don't recommend that every florist should copy my actions, but if you find yourself in a similar position, you may want to consider it. Here's my situation:
We've just notified FTD that we're dropping them at the end of April. My local rep contacted me within 2 hours of my email saying she wanted to see if she could do something to change my mind. We had a meeting and she said FTD was in the process of changing their business model and that good things were on the way. I told her FTD was just too expensive to do business with. She offered to reduce or drop some fees for a "promotional period" as an enticement. When I asked her how long these fee reductions would last, she said about 6 months. I told her no, figuring after the promotion period ends things would return to normal. When I asked how long before the new refoms would be in place, she didn't know but estimated it would be about 6 months to a year. Instead, I told her I had a list of demands. If FTD would meet these demands, I would stay. Here is my list:
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1. Membership - 250.00 per year
2. 80/20 split on all inbound and outbound orders
3. No Marketing/Clearinghouse fee
4. No QA/FTD University, Low Sending or Reciprocity fees
5. No Technology or Merc incoming transmission fees
6. Very low or no outgoing Transmission fees
7. No S or E additional directory listings
8. One listing for the shop in Columbus
9. No monthly directory subscription fee
10. No Floral Sel GD Monthly fee - whatever that is.
11. No Co-op advertising - EVER.
12. No combined report on disk
13. No SAF dues
14. Weekly or bi-weekly payment for orders filled
15. No paper directory
16. No reported order fee
17. All changes are permanent and are to take effect on May 1.[/FONT]
Needless to say, my rep and her boss said it couldn't be done. No surprise there. But what it a lot of FTD members made similar demands. What if FTD saw their florist base leaving? Who would fill their orders? Those of us who are strong enough to hang on during this tough economic time actually have the upper hand here.
My guess is FTD will be back sometime before April with a compromise list. I'll keep you posted.
We've just notified FTD that we're dropping them at the end of April. My local rep contacted me within 2 hours of my email saying she wanted to see if she could do something to change my mind. We had a meeting and she said FTD was in the process of changing their business model and that good things were on the way. I told her FTD was just too expensive to do business with. She offered to reduce or drop some fees for a "promotional period" as an enticement. When I asked her how long these fee reductions would last, she said about 6 months. I told her no, figuring after the promotion period ends things would return to normal. When I asked how long before the new refoms would be in place, she didn't know but estimated it would be about 6 months to a year. Instead, I told her I had a list of demands. If FTD would meet these demands, I would stay. Here is my list:
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1. Membership - 250.00 per year
2. 80/20 split on all inbound and outbound orders
3. No Marketing/Clearinghouse fee
4. No QA/FTD University, Low Sending or Reciprocity fees
5. No Technology or Merc incoming transmission fees
6. Very low or no outgoing Transmission fees
7. No S or E additional directory listings
8. One listing for the shop in Columbus
9. No monthly directory subscription fee
10. No Floral Sel GD Monthly fee - whatever that is.
11. No Co-op advertising - EVER.
12. No combined report on disk
13. No SAF dues
14. Weekly or bi-weekly payment for orders filled
15. No paper directory
16. No reported order fee
17. All changes are permanent and are to take effect on May 1.[/FONT]
Needless to say, my rep and her boss said it couldn't be done. No surprise there. But what it a lot of FTD members made similar demands. What if FTD saw their florist base leaving? Who would fill their orders? Those of us who are strong enough to hang on during this tough economic time actually have the upper hand here.
My guess is FTD will be back sometime before April with a compromise list. I'll keep you posted.
