September 3, 2025 • 36 mins
Flowers can do more than decorate a room. They comfort families, honor memories, and can sustain a business. For Jeanna Furst AIFD, growing the sympathy side of her family’s 120-year-old floral business introduced a thriving revenue stream, now representing nearly 27% of sales. In this episode, she shares the strategies, tools, and team practices that helped her turn compassion into consistent business growth — and how you can do the same.
How we Bloom podcast is an oasis of flower ideas. Host Sharon McGukin of Smithers-Oasis North America interviews floral guests who dare to do things differently. We listen, learn, explore new opportunities and that's how we bloom!
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Episode Transcript
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Jeanna Furst (00:09):
"And I just went up and I shook their hand and I
asked for their business and Ipromised them that if we didn't
do it right, we would make itright."
Sharon McGukin (00:23):
Welcome to How We Bloom and Oasis of Flower
Ideas.
I'm your host, Sharon McGukinAIFD AAF PFCI and I believe that
every great success storystarts with one simple idea.
That's why we interview thosewho dare to do things
differently.
Inspiring people who plantseeds, grow ideas, and bloom to
(00:48):
their full potential.
In this podcast, we listen,learn, explore new
opportunities, and that's how webloom.
You've heard the old sayingwhen you marry someone, you
marry their family too.
For Jeanna Furst AIFD thatmeant marrying into the Furst
(01:09):
family business as well.
What started in 1905 with JoeFurst Flower wagon at Market?
Has grown over the past 120years through five Furst family
generations.
Furst Florist has served theircommunity over the decades as a
retail and wholesale florist,garden center and gift shop.
(01:32):
Jeanna Furst AIFD Generalmanager of Furst the Florist and
Garden Center in Dayton, Ohiois here with us today to share
their story.
While Furst Florist is knownfor its amazing wedding work,
their innovative sympathybusiness receives equal acclaim.
They service 25 funeral homeson average, they deliver 10 to
(01:55):
20 casket covers a day, and theysupport funeral home websites.
Sympathy designs weren't alwayssuch a major part of the Furst
business plan until Jeannadecided to focus on growing that
side of the business.
A self-described introvert,Jeanna took steps outside her
comfort zone so their flowerbusiness could bloom.
(02:18):
She's here to share tips on howshe exponentially grew their
family sympathy flower business,and how you can do the same.
Thank you for joining us today,Jeanna
Jeanna Furst (02:30):
Thank you.
Glad to be here.
Sharon McGukin (02:34):
We are so excited to hear the tips and
ideas that you'll share with us,but let's talk specifically
about how you grew yourbusiness.
We know that energy followsfocus, and when we direct our
attention to a specific taskwith intention, we create
accomplishment.
What inspired you to create theintention to grow your sympathy
(02:58):
business.
Jeanna Furst (03:01):
We were at a time in our organization where we
needed to have stable businessevery day, every week, every
month, and we had a few funeralhomes where the relationship was
strong and seeing how thatcould keep designers busy by
counting on that work sparkedthe idea that we need to be
(03:23):
having these relationships withmore funeral homes.
To keep a staff working, to beable to keep our product mix
turning quicker.
There were lots of motivationbehind it, and I think I began
to take on the challenge of howdoes this happen?
How do we go about earningtheir business?
(03:46):
So I just started with a call,a cold call, which is horrible
to do.
But we reached out and I calleda director that I knew a little
bit, had a slight relationshipwith, and I just asked if I
could meet with him and theykind of welcomed it.
I don't know if a florist haddone that before.
(04:09):
And I just went up and I shooktheir hand and I asked for their
business and I promised themthat if we didn't do it right,
we would make it right.
I handed him my cell phonenumber and I said, I don't care
when it is weekend evening, youcall me if you need something.
I went back to the shop, Irounded up all the designers and
(04:30):
I said, we have an opportunityto grow.
So when you see these orderscome through, we have to give
them the utmost importance.
This is someone's family, theirgrieving.
These flowers are important.
And my designers bought intothat belief system.
And that's how it started.
That's one kind of one facet ofit.
(04:52):
The other part is really thebusiness part who was gonna make
money doing this?
And we had watched familiescome into our store and our
salespeople would do a beautifuljob selling them sympathy
tributes.
But an hour would go by, anhour and a half would go by, and
(05:13):
that family would still beasking to see more samples.
And it became such a timecrunch for the rest of the staff
to operate as one salespersonis tied up with one family.
When we talked to the funeraldirectors and they can in one
phone call, give us a five, six,$700 order in a matter of five
(05:36):
minutes.
Well, gee, that's a lot moreadvantageous to us.
And so I looked at the funeraldirector as my salesperson and I
looked at it as they shouldreceive something in exchange
for that, a sales commission,people name it, different
things.
But that director would betaking the time to sell flowers
(06:00):
on our behalf and giving us anorder.
And so we made arrangementsbased on the funeral home's
volume, what that salescommission could be, and the
funeral directors were veryhappy with this.
We were able to set our marginsso that it still was very
lucrative for us to operate thisway with the director.
(06:21):
So that's how it started.
I mean, very simple.
And we were excited because wehad one chain that was new to
our area.
It's a national chain, and theyhad three locations and we
thought if we earned theirbusiness, then we were at the
top of our game, right?
That was gonna be the bestthing that could happen, and we
had no idea how busy they were.
(06:43):
And they still are after allthese years, and now they have a
fourth location.
And so.
That was the first step into,okay, this works, this is a good
model.
I need to go shake more hands.
But what we didn't have inplace was our own sales book.
Of course some of thedifferent, wire services and
(07:04):
John Henry, they had sympathybooks.
Not all the styles were stylesthat were really good sale items
for us.
So we developed our first bookand it was raw and rough, but we
did it.
And it worked and we got betterat it, and we've probably done
about five or six additions ofthat now.
(07:24):
And so the next meetings began,can I come meet you?
I have something to bring toyou.
There was no commitment.
They didn't have to order fromus.
But the goal would be if youhave this great sales tool with
the prices listed right there,that now this helps you not
spend a lot of time on theflower ordering part of the
(07:46):
funeral meeting that yourfamilies can look at this book
quickly, point out what theylike and the process be a lot
faster.
The funeral directors loved itand they asked for more copies
and they wanted copies fortheir, pre-need people that are,
you know, planning all thetime.
(08:07):
And so what went from our firstorder of books was like 50
books.
The next time we order, weordered a hundred books and.
I just gave out my hundredthbook about a week ago, and we
need new books again.
So that tool was huge.
Speaker (08:25):
Another way that is important is not only that it
tells the director how to sell,but it tells you how to buy.
Because now if they areordering samples that you have
set up in your pictures of yourwork, then those are flowers you
frequently have in house andthe hard goods, which types of
(08:47):
mechanics you use.
All of that you can now moreeasily predict because you know
what, potentially the ordersmight be.
Jeanna Furst (08:57):
A hundred percent.
We keep our inventory rotatedso that it always compliments
what is in the selection guide.
As far as mechanics, Smithersproducts, all that is always on
hand.
We have some directors thathave certain requests different
than the others, so, you know,that's all in place.
One of my biggest challengeswas because not only was I
(09:21):
making a lot of casket sprays,we have a team of designers and
I wanted it to be consistent,not that what they got from me
looks different from the nextdesigner.
And the next designer.
So having that book and thatpicture allowed all of us to
have that framework to look at.
The directors knew that itwouldn't be identical, but they
knew that that would be theinspiration picture that we
(09:45):
would use to create those familypieces.
And that allowed us a littleleeway when it comes to
substitutions, if there was anyproduct issues.
But, that's worked wonderfulfor us.
Sharon McGukin (09:58):
The investment you made into the book was
financially worthwhile?
And the upsell is not all aboutmoney.
The upsell is also aboutgetting the quality of work that
person is really searching for.
Sometimes they have to be shownsomething greater than what
they've seen periodically atfuneral homes, to know there is
(10:20):
another opportunity.
But, it's equally important tohave something that is a price
point for each differentcategory of buyer, you know, the
as pictured or do they want togo up the next two steps.
That's probably a really greatthing that you do the three
different pricing and gives themthe opportunity to see what
(10:41):
they could invest if they werewanting something a little more.
Jeanna Furst (10:45):
I was just gonna mention one thing that I always
in conversation with the funeraldirectors, we know that they
get families that are indistress and money is tight and
there there's no money forflowers.
And I tell every funeraldirector, when that family comes
to you, call me and we're gonnafigure it out.
Yeah.
If they have a hundred dollars,fine.
(11:07):
If they have nothing, fine, wedon't want you to have a family
without flowers.
And they don't take advantageof me on that at all.
But they do occasionally calland say, can you do it?
Here's the circumstance.
What can you do?
We always take care of him.
And that, goes a long way withthe director.
He knows we care just as muchfor his client as we care about
(11:29):
him and they feel like we're ateam and I feel like we're a
team, you know?
I feel like your kindness willbe returned to you.
When we take care of others.
There's always, in some way,someone who takes care of us, as
well.
Your kindness will be returnedto you.
So true.
So true.
Sharon McGukin (11:50):
Even just as you said in the respect that it
garners from your network ofprofessionals and that tells
them who you really are.
What percentage of FurstFlorist's business would you
think your sympathy work is?
It's in the neighborhood of 25to 27% of our gross sales.
(12:12):
In comparison, our wedding workis maybe 7%.
So as much as we love theparties and the galas and all
that fun stuff, the funeral workis what keeps everybody working
here.
It keeps people employed, ithappens every day.
And so we have invested.
A great deal of training in ouremployees.
(12:36):
So many of 'em when they wouldcome in, maybe they'd never made
a casket spray or a standingspray, and making sure that
they're taught the skills sothat they can execute it so that
it's beautiful, but also thatit's profitable.
It's really fun to see themdevelop because when they first
get here, they think, I'll neverget to do that.
(12:57):
And it's not that hard.
They just need confidence andsome skills.
And now every one of ourdesigners is making casket
sprays and I have about 16designers right now.
We wanna make sure they realizehow important good sympathy
work is.
It shouldn't be shortchanged,it should be quality flowers.
It should be the very bestdesigns go into the funeral
(13:20):
home.
Because when you share thatmoment in life with your
customer, it's almost likeyou've become their family for
life.
You were there for them in thetoughest, challenging time and
they remember that.
Jeanna Furst (13:34):
They do.
They do.
And we get so many beautifulletters thanking us how much the
flowers meant.
I'm sure every florist enjoysgetting those letters, and I do
too.
I just, even though maybe Inever met with them or I didn't
get an opportunity to have theconversation directly with the
family.
That they took the time toaddress the flowers.
(13:55):
Mm-hmm.
And how it, it elevated thespace or it just softened the
hard feelings or whatever they,those flowers brought to them
that day.
I always like to be a part ofthat, you know,
Sharon McGukin (14:10):
A local funeral director and I had a
conversation toward the end ofCOVID and he had grave concerns
with people not having theirgatherings.
He said that if you don't havethat immediate sense of sharing
your grief with your friends andfamily, it kind of gets away
(14:30):
from you.
At a celebration six monthsdown the road, there's not the
intensity of emotion that thereis within a couple of days of
the passing of someone, heworried that cremation was away
that ability to come together,give flowers and be supported to
that family in those immediatetimes, somehow the grief wasn't
(14:55):
as answered down the road as itis immediately.
And I thought that was a validconcern.
Jeanna Furst (15:02):
Yeah, that's very insightful.
I can see that happening.
I know in our market,cremations have become more
popular as I hear they areacross the country.
What we are seeing that's goingalong with that is more
structured dinners afterwards.
They are going to the club,they're going to a restaurant.
(15:23):
They want centerpieces forthose tables.
And even in the last 12 months,more and more celebration of
life, flower orders are comingin.
Which is wonderful.
You know, I'm glad they'restill using flowers in that
celebration, but they might nothave had as many flowers at that
(15:43):
cremation service.
Yeah.
Sharon McGukin (15:47):
Do those orders tend to come to you through the
funeral directors or do theycome directly to your business?
Jeanna Furst (15:53):
They come both ways.
We just had one earlier thisweek.
It was from the funeraldirector.
Sometimes, a family member willcall in separate from the
director.
So yeah, probably half andhalf.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay.
Sharon McGukin (16:07):
With your sympathy work, what design form
would you say is yourbestseller?
Jeanna Furst (16:14):
Well, in a standing spray we use quite a
few of the Mache Cross and theMache Wreath.
All those mache products we'remaking them every day.
They hold well.
You know, as much as I thinkI've got the inventory under
control, we're running out ofthem.
We do a lot of custom pieces aswell.
So if somebody wants a logo ora name.
(16:37):
We'll use the Sculpting Sheetsto make those.
That just varies on whatsomebody's asking us to do.
Can we do it?
And, we do our best toaccommodate 'em.
Standing sprays, we use a lotof the Jumbo cage and the
Tribute cage for our standingsprays.
Those work really well and, weuse the deluxe foam in all of
(16:59):
our casket saddles and we reallyfeel that that holds things
together through the deliveryprocess.
And, that's important.
Yes.
Very important.
Yes, it is.
Is there a color harmony thatyou've seen emerge that is
different Or is do people tendto follow traditional color
harmonies of all white.
(17:20):
That's a great question.
I would say, probably the firstcolor selection would be all
the whites, creams, blushes.
Still a very strong seller.
This summer I have seen, and Ijust made one yesterday or the
day before, and they wanted abright summer mix.
(17:43):
Our choice, they said, femininebut bright summer mix.
And so that's a lot of fun whenwe can create our own without
looking at, at a picture.
But she loves sunflowers, so itwas the oranges and the pinks
and then the bright sunflowers,and it was just a beautiful
garden, snapdragons and dahlias,and it just looked like a
(18:04):
summer garden.
So, you know, I hope the familywas pleased when they got that.
We still see a lot of patrioticin this area.
We are very close to WrightPatterson Air Force Base, and a
lot of military.
So every day there arepatriotic sprays, standing
sprays, cremation pieces goingout.
Sharon McGukin (18:26):
Is there a design style that you see people
favor most, like contemporaryor traditional or specialty?
Jeanna Furst (18:36):
In our market, I'm going to say mostly
traditional.
I do think our customers ingeneral expect something beyond
traditional.
So maybe traditional with someflair, not just your standard,
you know, western triangle.
Something with, has a moreorganic feel to it.
We do carry a large inventoryof flowers and foliages.
(18:57):
We're always encouragingdesigners to make sure that they
add some element that makessomeone ask wonder what that is.
That's really interesting.
Why do you think they use that?
That they question and areintrigued by the design.
And that's not always easy whenyou're copying designs from a
book, right?
You, you don't always get thatopportunity.
(19:18):
So when they have the designerchoices come in.
That's a great opportunity forsome creativity and, and
hopefully the client, enjoysseeing something unusual.
But beautiful.
Yes,
Sharon McGukin (19:31):
that is important because I think one of
the most important uses offlowers in sympathy is that once
they fill the room where peopleare gathered and at a loss of
words.
They can go to the flowers anddiscuss the flowers and comment
on the beauty.
And it just gives a point tochange the conversation and be a
(19:55):
little more uplifting.
That's why it's so sad to me tosee a room that doesn't have a
lot of flowers.
They just have two or threeitems.
I remember years ago, when thesympathy work was massive
amounts and rooms would beoverfilling with flowers.
And then today you can see somethat perhaps don't even have a
(20:17):
flower because they ask fordonations instead.
I just think it's sadder whenyou are in a room without some
beauty to redirect theconversation to, and flowers
also say to the bereaved, "Iloved them too." It gives you a
way to speak when there are nowords.
Jeanna Furst (20:37):
That's so true.
I am so thankful that when wehave more than just the family
work for a funeral, that otherorders have come in.
Even if it's only a few.
There are gonna be places thatfamily can look and say "they
remembered us.
They loved him, they cared." Or"here's a keepsake that we get
to take home.
And we're always gonna knowthat this person's cared enough
(21:02):
to send this." We did get intothe gift market a little bit
with our funeral pieces,probably 10, 15 years ago when
people had this idea that theyshouldn't be sending flowers to
funeral, everybody wants adonation.
Instead, they wanted somethinglasting.
So we, like many flower shops,started using the wind chimes
and the afghans and thelanterns.
(21:24):
I didn't just wanna sell thatstanding alone, just a wind
chime.
I wanted it to ride withflowers, or flowers to ride with
it.
So, we developed designs, withall those where fresh flowers
would be added, and that waythey could enjoy those flowers.
And then when they're gone,they would have the keepsake.
(21:46):
For the family to take home.
And those have been popular forus, and we just continue to try
to bring more, styles into thatline because, that's what
people request.
You know, they're looking forthose things that have a
tangible value.
The last for the family.
Yeah.
So.
We worked on that.
(22:07):
And then we've worked on our,plant offerings as well because
with the plant boom in our area,everybody wants to have more
green plants in their home.
We really focused on thedifferent types of foliage,
plants and gardens that we canoffer.
People are even ordering greenplants for the head of the
casket and the foot of thecasket.
They've asked for green plants.
Or green plants to sit in frontof the casket, which looks
(22:31):
beautiful.
And it's something entirelydifferent.
Or I've had several requests.
"Can you include plants in thecasket spray?" And so we've done
the small plants, or maybe evenblooming plants down through
the casket spray that they takeout afterwards.
Sharon McGukin (22:46):
Are you seeing more plants and centerpieces
going to people's homes,especially in terms of cremation
services.
Jeanna Furst (22:55):
We do get a lot to the home, but the cremation
services here, I mean, they'restill receiving other flowers.
Even if it's like an hourservice, they're still receiving
the rest of the flowers, at theservice.
I think one reason is.
For the customer that is goingto the funeral home to read the
obituary as soon.
And you probably looked up anobituary and right away it says,
(23:18):
order flowers.
Order flowers.
Well, we're fortunate enoughthat with almost all the funeral
homes that we service, we'vebeen able to be their preferred
vendor, on those websites.
And we've been able to put ourown merchandise on those
websites.
You don't have to, you can dothe whatever catalog they throw
(23:39):
up.
But we really want it to bemore personable with what we do.
We want it to look like ourwork.
So we went in and made acatalog on these websites of our
work.
And I shake my head a littlebit because there is a markup.
Now I think the funeraldirector makes some, and I think
(23:59):
the website makes some, and Ithink "is this too pricey for
the customer?" And the customerreally doesn't know it's our
flower shop, putting thistogether for them.
They don't really know who theend person is, but it's so
convenient for them to just say,"yeah, I'll send this.
Here's the card, here's mycredit card, and it's done." And
(24:21):
the amount of business thatthat has generated for us.
It was unexpected.
I had no idea that thesewebsites would generate the
amount of orders.
So that's great because nowinstead of just taking family
work, we're taking family workplus a dozen pieces and, it's
(24:41):
makes it easier to go fartherfrom our location.
'cause you know that truck is afull truck going, right?
So you feel a little bit betterabout that and.
I think the convenience forthat consumer is so strong that
they don't mind spending alittle bit more and they're
getting beautiful product.
But a lot of plants.
(25:02):
That seems to be the biggestseller off of those websites.
We do something called anEnglish garden, and it's a
collection of blooming plantsand green plants.
That's a huge seller for us.
Or just the single green plant,the Peace Lily or whatever it
is that we have on that week,and those are good price points
(25:24):
as well.
That's probably why.
But those do sell and I wouldencourage anybody that's working
with the funeral home to pleasemake sure you're the florist on
that website.
And the funeral director mightnot even know that he can make
you a preferred florist.
That's right.
So, you know, it took a fewcalls.
We have three funeral homegroups here in our community
(25:47):
that are national funeral homegroups.
They're all over the country.
And so I was calling theirheadquarters and asking, how do
I get to be the florist on yourdate and locations?
It took a lot of calls and ittook some patience, but
eventually we got there.
Sharon McGukin (26:06):
You set the intention.
You made a plan.
And even though you say youdidn't love making cold calls,
no, you did it.
I did it.
And you brought this sympathybusiness to life a much greater
degree.
So there had to be challengesalong the way.
It, it looks and sounds easy'cause you laid it out for us so
(26:28):
well.
But I know there was something,besides having to get out of
the car and walk in that firstbuilding.
Were there other challengesthat you might want to warn our
listeners about?
Jeanna Furst (26:42):
I believe when I shook their hand and said, we're
all in, whatever we could do, Iknew that I couldn't do it by
myself.
I had made a big promise for alot of other people.
And I had to be sure that theywere part of this plan as well.
Yes, they're employed here, butthat doesn't mean that people
are always on the same page asyou are wanting to earn this
(27:05):
additional business.
So I think one of thechallenges for me was making
sure that our entire team formedrelationships with these
funeral directors.
There was no way that I couldbe the only person doing that.
I needed to be sure that myphone people knew, their lingo,
knew that when they called andthey asked for a, you know, A,
(27:28):
B, C, 1, 2, 3, whatever thatitem number was, that they knew
what that was, and they knew howto ask the right questions and
that the details were sharp,that they made sure that they
got those scripts right.
They got the spellings right.
And we have a great staff.
So that wasn't that hard, butit was so important for me to
make sure that they understoodwhat their role was now as
(27:51):
salespeople.
So every time we broughtanother funeral home on the word
would go out, Hey, this funeralhome is now part of our team.
They're in our system, youknow, welcome them.
And so, 20 years later what hashappened is that a funeral
director now will call andthey'll ask for that specific
(28:13):
sales person because they'veformed a relationship.
Yeah.
And they'll call, they'll saythey're great.
They're so great on the phonethat Mary, she's wonderful, and
I love Susan.
I mean, they've really become ateam themselves and that, I
mean, that's just wonderful.
That makes me feel so good thatI know that they trust that
(28:33):
person just as much as theytrust me and they know we're
gonna get it right.
Because they know that teamworkmakes the dream work.
So true.
So true.
And a little funny on the sideof all this is, you know, we're
not perfect.
Right?
And I told them, if we screwup, you call me and we're gonna
be there and fix it.
And you know, it doesn't happenvery often, but somebody read
(28:56):
the number wrong or you know, ithappens, right?
But the funeral directors arenotorious forgetting to order
their casket sprays.
Wow.
And they will call and they'reso sorry you guys, any way you
can do this.
And we will get a casket spraymade and delivered to them in
under an hour.
Oh wow.
And that creates more goodwillthan we could buy.
(29:17):
They're so happy.
So I would say if you ever havean opportunity to go out on a
wing for these directors, dosomething unexpected.
Make sure that they look goodwith their client.
Do it because it will come backto you.
They will remember that.
They'll call you the next time.
They'll recommend you the nexttime.
Sharon McGukin (29:36):
I was in a program, funeral directors were
speaking and they gave a shortlist and they said, "bring us
lunch "Let's go to lunchtogether to discuss." I was with
a florist one day and after ourlunch, he came back with a
handful of gift cards.
And I said, "what is that?"Because it was quite a lot of
(29:58):
'em.
He said, "Make my FuneralDirector Happy Day." They said,
share with us what's going on,what you don't have, what you
can't get, how we can make itwork." Gel as team members, just
like you said,
Jeanna Furst (30:12):
We make sure that every Christmas we take good
care of all the directors.
And then every summer, weusually do either take 'em
lunch, we've taken 'em, cakes,we'll take 'em, cookies, we've
done gift cards before.
Just to let 'em know how muchwe appreciate them.
They'll bring us stuff.
And then when, you know, one of'em has a wedding, I've got a
(30:33):
funeral director.
Next week his son's gettingmarried and so I sat down with
him and have taken care of himand they just so appreciate that
one-on-one.
Because they're having lifemoments and when they come to us
for that, you're like, okay,the full relationship's been
formed here.
Sharon McGukin (30:51):
It has been proven that relationship selling
is a number one way to drive abusiness.
Now, you talked about thephotos, and of course with the
photos, there's the descriptionsand sometimes we're not good at
that.
Sometimes we're good atarranging the flowers more so
than with the computer workingthrough.
(31:11):
So we did a podcast and a blogthat I'm going to link to also
called AI ChatGPT for Floristswith Brandy Ferrer and she's out
of Texas and she learned how toput in the information to
ChatGPT, tell them the kind ofarrangements she was looking
(31:32):
for, and it, involves a good bitof tweaking now and then, but
once she got the photos shewanted to put on her website,
then she would ask them to helpher write the descriptive.
She said, "what took me so muchtime it did in seconds." That
is something that I think ourlisteners might want to check
out also.
How can I do this moreefficiently?" I think that
(31:54):
that's something you've done islearned how to taper down and
how to make the whole processvery doable.
And I also think one of yourbiggest strengths is team
building.
Not only with your ownemployees, not only with the
network of funeralprofessionals, but with your
customers as well.
And that team building givesgreat results because it focuses
(32:18):
the energy on the intentionthat you set.
Jeanna Furst (32:20):
Mm-hmm.
I think you're right.
Speaker (32:25):
Is there anything else, Jeanna, that you would like to
share that maybe we overlooked?
Jeanna Furst (32:31):
One thing that my next challenge with these
funeral directors, I'll sharethat I, we don't have it
resolved yet, but we're workingon it is.
Many of the directors, whenthey now sell a funeral, they
have large screen up in theirsales office and they want to be
able to put all the floralimages up on the screen and not
(32:52):
hand them a book to look at.
And our catalog is not set upthat we can do that right now.
And so our next catalog willbe, but we've had several
directors asking for that.
I hate to put them on holdbecause it's a tool.
I mean, they see the benefit ofit, and if that's the tool they
want, then we're gonna supplyit.
So that's a summer project forus.
(33:15):
The advice would be alwayslisten to what they're asking
for.
If you're not giving it tothem, they're gonna find
somebody along the line thatwill, and even though if it's
just a few funeral homes thatoperate that way, that should be
something easy for us toaccomplish and offer it to them.
Sharon McGukin (33:32):
Okay.
For our listeners, would yourecommend they first do the book
or should they skip that stepand go ahead and do the screen?
Or should they do it such thatwhat's gonna show on the screen
is also what's gonna be on abook?
So there's both options.
Jeanna Furst (33:46):
I think if you could set it up that way with
both options at the same time,you're gonna appeal to the
younger funeral directors andyou know what they're gonna
want.
And the more traditional olderdirectors are gonna want to use
the book.
I think the book was just soimportant to us in launching
into this market and you know,it's not perfect, but we work on
(34:11):
it each time and try to make itbetter, but being able to hand
those out very freely.
I didn't care what they costme.
If they wanted 10 books, I wasgiving 'em 10 books.
And some funeral homes needthat many, you know, the larger
groups.
But they'll call and they'llsay, "our books worn out.
Do you got a new one?
The corners are tethered andtattered" and what can you do?
(34:33):
I would never be stingy withany marketing materials.
Give them as much as youpossibly can.
And, if you can do both thedigital and the hard copy,
that's wonderful.
Yeah,
Sharon McGukin (34:44):
Do both.
Jeanna Furst (34:45):
Oh, yeah.
Sharon McGukin (34:46):
We appreciate you sharing your knowledge with
us.
When I was asking the DesignDirector's team, is there
anybody you would recommendthat's just outstanding in
sympathy?
Loann Burke said, "oh yeah, yougotta talk to Jeanna.
She's amazing." So thank youLoann for the tip.
Thank you, Jeanna, for sharingyour tips with our audience.
And to our audience,Smithers-Oasis North America,
(35:10):
Jeanna and I want to thank youfor 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 theinspired solutions our upcoming
guests will share with you foryour personal or business
growth.
If you have topics or guestsyou want to hear, please message
me.
We'd love to hear from you.
(35:31):
Until next time, I'm SharonMcGukin reminding you that like
the unfurling petals of aflower, we grow by changing
form.
Soaking inspiration in likeraindrops.
Absorbing energy from others,like warmth from the sun.
This growth opens us up to newideas and that's how we bloom.
"And I just went up and I shook their hand and I
asked for their business and Ipromised them that if we didn't
do it right, we would make itright."
Sharon McGukin (00:23):
Welcome to How We Bloom and Oasis of Flower
Ideas.
I'm your host, Sharon McGukinAIFD AAF PFCI and I believe that
every great success storystarts with one simple idea.
That's why we interview thosewho dare to do things
differently.
Inspiring people who plantseeds, grow ideas, and bloom to
(00:48):
their full potential.
In this podcast, we listen,learn, explore new
opportunities, and that's how webloom.
You've heard the old sayingwhen you marry someone, you
marry their family too.
For Jeanna Furst AIFD thatmeant marrying into the Furst
(01:09):
family business as well.
What started in 1905 with JoeFurst Flower wagon at Market?
Has grown over the past 120years through five Furst family
generations.
Furst Florist has served theircommunity over the decades as a
retail and wholesale florist,garden center and gift shop.
(01:32):
Jeanna Furst AIFD Generalmanager of Furst the Florist and
Garden Center in Dayton, Ohiois here with us today to share
their story.
While Furst Florist is knownfor its amazing wedding work,
their innovative sympathybusiness receives equal acclaim.
They service 25 funeral homeson average, they deliver 10 to
(01:55):
20 casket covers a day, and theysupport funeral home websites.
Sympathy designs weren't alwayssuch a major part of the Furst
business plan until Jeannadecided to focus on growing that
side of the business.
A self-described introvert,Jeanna took steps outside her
comfort zone so their flowerbusiness could bloom.
(02:18):
She's here to share tips on howshe exponentially grew their
family sympathy flower business,and how you can do the same.
Thank you for joining us today,Jeanna
Jeanna Furst (02:30):
Thank you.
Glad to be here.
Sharon McGukin (02:34):
We are so excited to hear the tips and
ideas that you'll share with us,but let's talk specifically
about how you grew yourbusiness.
We know that energy followsfocus, and when we direct our
attention to a specific taskwith intention, we create
accomplishment.
What inspired you to create theintention to grow your sympathy
(02:58):
business.
Jeanna Furst (03:01):
We were at a time in our organization where we
needed to have stable businessevery day, every week, every
month, and we had a few funeralhomes where the relationship was
strong and seeing how thatcould keep designers busy by
counting on that work sparkedthe idea that we need to be
(03:23):
having these relationships withmore funeral homes.
To keep a staff working, to beable to keep our product mix
turning quicker.
There were lots of motivationbehind it, and I think I began
to take on the challenge of howdoes this happen?
How do we go about earningtheir business?
(03:46):
So I just started with a call,a cold call, which is horrible
to do.
But we reached out and I calleda director that I knew a little
bit, had a slight relationshipwith, and I just asked if I
could meet with him and theykind of welcomed it.
I don't know if a florist haddone that before.
(04:09):
And I just went up and I shooktheir hand and I asked for their
business and I promised themthat if we didn't do it right,
we would make it right.
I handed him my cell phonenumber and I said, I don't care
when it is weekend evening, youcall me if you need something.
I went back to the shop, Irounded up all the designers and
(04:30):
I said, we have an opportunityto grow.
So when you see these orderscome through, we have to give
them the utmost importance.
This is someone's family, theirgrieving.
These flowers are important.
And my designers bought intothat belief system.
And that's how it started.
That's one kind of one facet ofit.
(04:52):
The other part is really thebusiness part who was gonna make
money doing this?
And we had watched familiescome into our store and our
salespeople would do a beautifuljob selling them sympathy
tributes.
But an hour would go by, anhour and a half would go by, and
(05:13):
that family would still beasking to see more samples.
And it became such a timecrunch for the rest of the staff
to operate as one salespersonis tied up with one family.
When we talked to the funeraldirectors and they can in one
phone call, give us a five, six,$700 order in a matter of five
(05:36):
minutes.
Well, gee, that's a lot moreadvantageous to us.
And so I looked at the funeraldirector as my salesperson and I
looked at it as they shouldreceive something in exchange
for that, a sales commission,people name it, different
things.
But that director would betaking the time to sell flowers
(06:00):
on our behalf and giving us anorder.
And so we made arrangementsbased on the funeral home's
volume, what that salescommission could be, and the
funeral directors were veryhappy with this.
We were able to set our marginsso that it still was very
lucrative for us to operate thisway with the director.
(06:21):
So that's how it started.
I mean, very simple.
And we were excited because wehad one chain that was new to
our area.
It's a national chain, and theyhad three locations and we
thought if we earned theirbusiness, then we were at the
top of our game, right?
That was gonna be the bestthing that could happen, and we
had no idea how busy they were.
(06:43):
And they still are after allthese years, and now they have a
fourth location.
And so.
That was the first step into,okay, this works, this is a good
model.
I need to go shake more hands.
But what we didn't have inplace was our own sales book.
Of course some of thedifferent, wire services and
(07:04):
John Henry, they had sympathybooks.
Not all the styles were stylesthat were really good sale items
for us.
So we developed our first bookand it was raw and rough, but we
did it.
And it worked and we got betterat it, and we've probably done
about five or six additions ofthat now.
(07:24):
And so the next meetings began,can I come meet you?
I have something to bring toyou.
There was no commitment.
They didn't have to order fromus.
But the goal would be if youhave this great sales tool with
the prices listed right there,that now this helps you not
spend a lot of time on theflower ordering part of the
(07:46):
funeral meeting that yourfamilies can look at this book
quickly, point out what theylike and the process be a lot
faster.
The funeral directors loved itand they asked for more copies
and they wanted copies fortheir, pre-need people that are,
you know, planning all thetime.
(08:07):
And so what went from our firstorder of books was like 50
books.
The next time we order, weordered a hundred books and.
I just gave out my hundredthbook about a week ago, and we
need new books again.
So that tool was huge.
Speaker (08:25):
Another way that is important is not only that it
tells the director how to sell,but it tells you how to buy.
Because now if they areordering samples that you have
set up in your pictures of yourwork, then those are flowers you
frequently have in house andthe hard goods, which types of
(08:47):
mechanics you use.
All of that you can now moreeasily predict because you know
what, potentially the ordersmight be.
Jeanna Furst (08:57):
A hundred percent.
We keep our inventory rotatedso that it always compliments
what is in the selection guide.
As far as mechanics, Smithersproducts, all that is always on
hand.
We have some directors thathave certain requests different
than the others, so, you know,that's all in place.
One of my biggest challengeswas because not only was I
(09:21):
making a lot of casket sprays,we have a team of designers and
I wanted it to be consistent,not that what they got from me
looks different from the nextdesigner.
And the next designer.
So having that book and thatpicture allowed all of us to
have that framework to look at.
The directors knew that itwouldn't be identical, but they
knew that that would be theinspiration picture that we
(09:45):
would use to create those familypieces.
And that allowed us a littleleeway when it comes to
substitutions, if there was anyproduct issues.
But, that's worked wonderfulfor us.
Sharon McGukin (09:58):
The investment you made into the book was
financially worthwhile?
And the upsell is not all aboutmoney.
The upsell is also aboutgetting the quality of work that
person is really searching for.
Sometimes they have to be shownsomething greater than what
they've seen periodically atfuneral homes, to know there is
(10:20):
another opportunity.
But, it's equally important tohave something that is a price
point for each differentcategory of buyer, you know, the
as pictured or do they want togo up the next two steps.
That's probably a really greatthing that you do the three
different pricing and gives themthe opportunity to see what
(10:41):
they could invest if they werewanting something a little more.
Jeanna Furst (10:45):
I was just gonna mention one thing that I always
in conversation with the funeraldirectors, we know that they
get families that are indistress and money is tight and
there there's no money forflowers.
And I tell every funeraldirector, when that family comes
to you, call me and we're gonnafigure it out.
Yeah.
If they have a hundred dollars,fine.
(11:07):
If they have nothing, fine, wedon't want you to have a family
without flowers.
And they don't take advantageof me on that at all.
But they do occasionally calland say, can you do it?
Here's the circumstance.
What can you do?
We always take care of him.
And that, goes a long way withthe director.
He knows we care just as muchfor his client as we care about
(11:29):
him and they feel like we're ateam and I feel like we're a
team, you know?
I feel like your kindness willbe returned to you.
When we take care of others.
There's always, in some way,someone who takes care of us, as
well.
Your kindness will be returnedto you.
So true.
So true.
Sharon McGukin (11:50):
Even just as you said in the respect that it
garners from your network ofprofessionals and that tells
them who you really are.
What percentage of FurstFlorist's business would you
think your sympathy work is?
It's in the neighborhood of 25to 27% of our gross sales.
(12:12):
In comparison, our wedding workis maybe 7%.
So as much as we love theparties and the galas and all
that fun stuff, the funeral workis what keeps everybody working
here.
It keeps people employed, ithappens every day.
And so we have invested.
A great deal of training in ouremployees.
(12:36):
So many of 'em when they wouldcome in, maybe they'd never made
a casket spray or a standingspray, and making sure that
they're taught the skills sothat they can execute it so that
it's beautiful, but also thatit's profitable.
It's really fun to see themdevelop because when they first
get here, they think, I'll neverget to do that.
(12:57):
And it's not that hard.
They just need confidence andsome skills.
And now every one of ourdesigners is making casket
sprays and I have about 16designers right now.
We wanna make sure they realizehow important good sympathy
work is.
It shouldn't be shortchanged,it should be quality flowers.
It should be the very bestdesigns go into the funeral
(13:20):
home.
Because when you share thatmoment in life with your
customer, it's almost likeyou've become their family for
life.
You were there for them in thetoughest, challenging time and
they remember that.
Jeanna Furst (13:34):
They do.
They do.
And we get so many beautifulletters thanking us how much the
flowers meant.
I'm sure every florist enjoysgetting those letters, and I do
too.
I just, even though maybe Inever met with them or I didn't
get an opportunity to have theconversation directly with the
family.
That they took the time toaddress the flowers.
(13:55):
Mm-hmm.
And how it, it elevated thespace or it just softened the
hard feelings or whatever they,those flowers brought to them
that day.
I always like to be a part ofthat, you know,
Sharon McGukin (14:10):
A local funeral director and I had a
conversation toward the end ofCOVID and he had grave concerns
with people not having theirgatherings.
He said that if you don't havethat immediate sense of sharing
your grief with your friends andfamily, it kind of gets away
(14:30):
from you.
At a celebration six monthsdown the road, there's not the
intensity of emotion that thereis within a couple of days of
the passing of someone, heworried that cremation was away
that ability to come together,give flowers and be supported to
that family in those immediatetimes, somehow the grief wasn't
(14:55):
as answered down the road as itis immediately.
And I thought that was a validconcern.
Jeanna Furst (15:02):
Yeah, that's very insightful.
I can see that happening.
I know in our market,cremations have become more
popular as I hear they areacross the country.
What we are seeing that's goingalong with that is more
structured dinners afterwards.
They are going to the club,they're going to a restaurant.
(15:23):
They want centerpieces forthose tables.
And even in the last 12 months,more and more celebration of
life, flower orders are comingin.
Which is wonderful.
You know, I'm glad they'restill using flowers in that
celebration, but they might nothave had as many flowers at that
(15:43):
cremation service.
Yeah.
Sharon McGukin (15:47):
Do those orders tend to come to you through the
funeral directors or do theycome directly to your business?
Jeanna Furst (15:53):
They come both ways.
We just had one earlier thisweek.
It was from the funeraldirector.
Sometimes, a family member willcall in separate from the
director.
So yeah, probably half andhalf.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay.
Sharon McGukin (16:07):
With your sympathy work, what design form
would you say is yourbestseller?
Jeanna Furst (16:14):
Well, in a standing spray we use quite a
few of the Mache Cross and theMache Wreath.
All those mache products we'remaking them every day.
They hold well.
You know, as much as I thinkI've got the inventory under
control, we're running out ofthem.
We do a lot of custom pieces aswell.
So if somebody wants a logo ora name.
(16:37):
We'll use the Sculpting Sheetsto make those.
That just varies on whatsomebody's asking us to do.
Can we do it?
And, we do our best toaccommodate 'em.
Standing sprays, we use a lotof the Jumbo cage and the
Tribute cage for our standingsprays.
Those work really well and, weuse the deluxe foam in all of
(16:59):
our casket saddles and we reallyfeel that that holds things
together through the deliveryprocess.
And, that's important.
Yes.
Very important.
Yes, it is.
Is there a color harmony thatyou've seen emerge that is
different Or is do people tendto follow traditional color
harmonies of all white.
(17:20):
That's a great question.
I would say, probably the firstcolor selection would be all
the whites, creams, blushes.
Still a very strong seller.
This summer I have seen, and Ijust made one yesterday or the
day before, and they wanted abright summer mix.
(17:43):
Our choice, they said, femininebut bright summer mix.
And so that's a lot of fun whenwe can create our own without
looking at, at a picture.
But she loves sunflowers, so itwas the oranges and the pinks
and then the bright sunflowers,and it was just a beautiful
garden, snapdragons and dahlias,and it just looked like a
(18:04):
summer garden.
So, you know, I hope the familywas pleased when they got that.
We still see a lot of patrioticin this area.
We are very close to WrightPatterson Air Force Base, and a
lot of military.
So every day there arepatriotic sprays, standing
sprays, cremation pieces goingout.
Sharon McGukin (18:26):
Is there a design style that you see people
favor most, like contemporaryor traditional or specialty?
Jeanna Furst (18:36):
In our market, I'm going to say mostly
traditional.
I do think our customers ingeneral expect something beyond
traditional.
So maybe traditional with someflair, not just your standard,
you know, western triangle.
Something with, has a moreorganic feel to it.
We do carry a large inventoryof flowers and foliages.
(18:57):
We're always encouragingdesigners to make sure that they
add some element that makessomeone ask wonder what that is.
That's really interesting.
Why do you think they use that?
That they question and areintrigued by the design.
And that's not always easy whenyou're copying designs from a
book, right?
You, you don't always get thatopportunity.
(19:18):
So when they have the designerchoices come in.
That's a great opportunity forsome creativity and, and
hopefully the client, enjoysseeing something unusual.
But beautiful.
Yes,
Sharon McGukin (19:31):
that is important because I think one of
the most important uses offlowers in sympathy is that once
they fill the room where peopleare gathered and at a loss of
words.
They can go to the flowers anddiscuss the flowers and comment
on the beauty.
And it just gives a point tochange the conversation and be a
(19:55):
little more uplifting.
That's why it's so sad to me tosee a room that doesn't have a
lot of flowers.
They just have two or threeitems.
I remember years ago, when thesympathy work was massive
amounts and rooms would beoverfilling with flowers.
And then today you can see somethat perhaps don't even have a
(20:17):
flower because they ask fordonations instead.
I just think it's sadder whenyou are in a room without some
beauty to redirect theconversation to, and flowers
also say to the bereaved, "Iloved them too." It gives you a
way to speak when there are nowords.
Jeanna Furst (20:37):
That's so true.
I am so thankful that when wehave more than just the family
work for a funeral, that otherorders have come in.
Even if it's only a few.
There are gonna be places thatfamily can look and say "they
remembered us.
They loved him, they cared." Or"here's a keepsake that we get
to take home.
And we're always gonna knowthat this person's cared enough
(21:02):
to send this." We did get intothe gift market a little bit
with our funeral pieces,probably 10, 15 years ago when
people had this idea that theyshouldn't be sending flowers to
funeral, everybody wants adonation.
Instead, they wanted somethinglasting.
So we, like many flower shops,started using the wind chimes
and the afghans and thelanterns.
(21:24):
I didn't just wanna sell thatstanding alone, just a wind
chime.
I wanted it to ride withflowers, or flowers to ride with
it.
So, we developed designs, withall those where fresh flowers
would be added, and that waythey could enjoy those flowers.
And then when they're gone,they would have the keepsake.
(21:46):
For the family to take home.
And those have been popular forus, and we just continue to try
to bring more, styles into thatline because, that's what
people request.
You know, they're looking forthose things that have a
tangible value.
The last for the family.
Yeah.
So.
We worked on that.
(22:07):
And then we've worked on our,plant offerings as well because
with the plant boom in our area,everybody wants to have more
green plants in their home.
We really focused on thedifferent types of foliage,
plants and gardens that we canoffer.
People are even ordering greenplants for the head of the
casket and the foot of thecasket.
They've asked for green plants.
Or green plants to sit in frontof the casket, which looks
(22:31):
beautiful.
And it's something entirelydifferent.
Or I've had several requests.
"Can you include plants in thecasket spray?" And so we've done
the small plants, or maybe evenblooming plants down through
the casket spray that they takeout afterwards.
Sharon McGukin (22:46):
Are you seeing more plants and centerpieces
going to people's homes,especially in terms of cremation
services.
Jeanna Furst (22:55):
We do get a lot to the home, but the cremation
services here, I mean, they'restill receiving other flowers.
Even if it's like an hourservice, they're still receiving
the rest of the flowers, at theservice.
I think one reason is.
For the customer that is goingto the funeral home to read the
obituary as soon.
And you probably looked up anobituary and right away it says,
(23:18):
order flowers.
Order flowers.
Well, we're fortunate enoughthat with almost all the funeral
homes that we service, we'vebeen able to be their preferred
vendor, on those websites.
And we've been able to put ourown merchandise on those
websites.
You don't have to, you can dothe whatever catalog they throw
(23:39):
up.
But we really want it to bemore personable with what we do.
We want it to look like ourwork.
So we went in and made acatalog on these websites of our
work.
And I shake my head a littlebit because there is a markup.
Now I think the funeraldirector makes some, and I think
(23:59):
the website makes some, and Ithink "is this too pricey for
the customer?" And the customerreally doesn't know it's our
flower shop, putting thistogether for them.
They don't really know who theend person is, but it's so
convenient for them to just say,"yeah, I'll send this.
Here's the card, here's mycredit card, and it's done." And
(24:21):
the amount of business thatthat has generated for us.
It was unexpected.
I had no idea that thesewebsites would generate the
amount of orders.
So that's great because nowinstead of just taking family
work, we're taking family workplus a dozen pieces and, it's
(24:41):
makes it easier to go fartherfrom our location.
'cause you know that truck is afull truck going, right?
So you feel a little bit betterabout that and.
I think the convenience forthat consumer is so strong that
they don't mind spending alittle bit more and they're
getting beautiful product.
But a lot of plants.
(25:02):
That seems to be the biggestseller off of those websites.
We do something called anEnglish garden, and it's a
collection of blooming plantsand green plants.
That's a huge seller for us.
Or just the single green plant,the Peace Lily or whatever it
is that we have on that week,and those are good price points
(25:24):
as well.
That's probably why.
But those do sell and I wouldencourage anybody that's working
with the funeral home to pleasemake sure you're the florist on
that website.
And the funeral director mightnot even know that he can make
you a preferred florist.
That's right.
So, you know, it took a fewcalls.
We have three funeral homegroups here in our community
(25:47):
that are national funeral homegroups.
They're all over the country.
And so I was calling theirheadquarters and asking, how do
I get to be the florist on yourdate and locations?
It took a lot of calls and ittook some patience, but
eventually we got there.
Sharon McGukin (26:06):
You set the intention.
You made a plan.
And even though you say youdidn't love making cold calls,
no, you did it.
I did it.
And you brought this sympathybusiness to life a much greater
degree.
So there had to be challengesalong the way.
It, it looks and sounds easy'cause you laid it out for us so
(26:28):
well.
But I know there was something,besides having to get out of
the car and walk in that firstbuilding.
Were there other challengesthat you might want to warn our
listeners about?
Jeanna Furst (26:42):
I believe when I shook their hand and said, we're
all in, whatever we could do, Iknew that I couldn't do it by
myself.
I had made a big promise for alot of other people.
And I had to be sure that theywere part of this plan as well.
Yes, they're employed here, butthat doesn't mean that people
are always on the same page asyou are wanting to earn this
(27:05):
additional business.
So I think one of thechallenges for me was making
sure that our entire team formedrelationships with these
funeral directors.
There was no way that I couldbe the only person doing that.
I needed to be sure that myphone people knew, their lingo,
knew that when they called andthey asked for a, you know, A,
(27:28):
B, C, 1, 2, 3, whatever thatitem number was, that they knew
what that was, and they knew howto ask the right questions and
that the details were sharp,that they made sure that they
got those scripts right.
They got the spellings right.
And we have a great staff.
So that wasn't that hard, butit was so important for me to
make sure that they understoodwhat their role was now as
(27:51):
salespeople.
So every time we broughtanother funeral home on the word
would go out, Hey, this funeralhome is now part of our team.
They're in our system, youknow, welcome them.
And so, 20 years later what hashappened is that a funeral
director now will call andthey'll ask for that specific
(28:13):
sales person because they'veformed a relationship.
Yeah.
And they'll call, they'll saythey're great.
They're so great on the phonethat Mary, she's wonderful, and
I love Susan.
I mean, they've really become ateam themselves and that, I
mean, that's just wonderful.
That makes me feel so good thatI know that they trust that
(28:33):
person just as much as theytrust me and they know we're
gonna get it right.
Because they know that teamworkmakes the dream work.
So true.
So true.
And a little funny on the sideof all this is, you know, we're
not perfect.
Right?
And I told them, if we screwup, you call me and we're gonna
be there and fix it.
And you know, it doesn't happenvery often, but somebody read
(28:56):
the number wrong or you know, ithappens, right?
But the funeral directors arenotorious forgetting to order
their casket sprays.
Wow.
And they will call and they'reso sorry you guys, any way you
can do this.
And we will get a casket spraymade and delivered to them in
under an hour.
Oh wow.
And that creates more goodwillthan we could buy.
(29:17):
They're so happy.
So I would say if you ever havean opportunity to go out on a
wing for these directors, dosomething unexpected.
Make sure that they look goodwith their client.
Do it because it will come backto you.
They will remember that.
They'll call you the next time.
They'll recommend you the nexttime.
Sharon McGukin (29:36):
I was in a program, funeral directors were
speaking and they gave a shortlist and they said, "bring us
lunch "Let's go to lunchtogether to discuss." I was with
a florist one day and after ourlunch, he came back with a
handful of gift cards.
And I said, "what is that?"Because it was quite a lot of
(29:58):
'em.
He said, "Make my FuneralDirector Happy Day." They said,
share with us what's going on,what you don't have, what you
can't get, how we can make itwork." Gel as team members, just
like you said,
Jeanna Furst (30:12):
We make sure that every Christmas we take good
care of all the directors.
And then every summer, weusually do either take 'em
lunch, we've taken 'em, cakes,we'll take 'em, cookies, we've
done gift cards before.
Just to let 'em know how muchwe appreciate them.
They'll bring us stuff.
And then when, you know, one of'em has a wedding, I've got a
(30:33):
funeral director.
Next week his son's gettingmarried and so I sat down with
him and have taken care of himand they just so appreciate that
one-on-one.
Because they're having lifemoments and when they come to us
for that, you're like, okay,the full relationship's been
formed here.
Sharon McGukin (30:51):
It has been proven that relationship selling
is a number one way to drive abusiness.
Now, you talked about thephotos, and of course with the
photos, there's the descriptionsand sometimes we're not good at
that.
Sometimes we're good atarranging the flowers more so
than with the computer workingthrough.
(31:11):
So we did a podcast and a blogthat I'm going to link to also
called AI ChatGPT for Floristswith Brandy Ferrer and she's out
of Texas and she learned how toput in the information to
ChatGPT, tell them the kind ofarrangements she was looking
(31:32):
for, and it, involves a good bitof tweaking now and then, but
once she got the photos shewanted to put on her website,
then she would ask them to helpher write the descriptive.
She said, "what took me so muchtime it did in seconds." That
is something that I think ourlisteners might want to check
out also.
How can I do this moreefficiently?" I think that
(31:54):
that's something you've done islearned how to taper down and
how to make the whole processvery doable.
And I also think one of yourbiggest strengths is team
building.
Not only with your ownemployees, not only with the
network of funeralprofessionals, but with your
customers as well.
And that team building givesgreat results because it focuses
(32:18):
the energy on the intentionthat you set.
Jeanna Furst (32:20):
Mm-hmm.
I think you're right.
Speaker (32:25):
Is there anything else, Jeanna, that you would like to
share that maybe we overlooked?
Jeanna Furst (32:31):
One thing that my next challenge with these
funeral directors, I'll sharethat I, we don't have it
resolved yet, but we're workingon it is.
Many of the directors, whenthey now sell a funeral, they
have large screen up in theirsales office and they want to be
able to put all the floralimages up on the screen and not
(32:52):
hand them a book to look at.
And our catalog is not set upthat we can do that right now.
And so our next catalog willbe, but we've had several
directors asking for that.
I hate to put them on holdbecause it's a tool.
I mean, they see the benefit ofit, and if that's the tool they
want, then we're gonna supplyit.
So that's a summer project forus.
(33:15):
The advice would be alwayslisten to what they're asking
for.
If you're not giving it tothem, they're gonna find
somebody along the line thatwill, and even though if it's
just a few funeral homes thatoperate that way, that should be
something easy for us toaccomplish and offer it to them.
Sharon McGukin (33:32):
Okay.
For our listeners, would yourecommend they first do the book
or should they skip that stepand go ahead and do the screen?
Or should they do it such thatwhat's gonna show on the screen
is also what's gonna be on abook?
So there's both options.
Jeanna Furst (33:46):
I think if you could set it up that way with
both options at the same time,you're gonna appeal to the
younger funeral directors andyou know what they're gonna
want.
And the more traditional olderdirectors are gonna want to use
the book.
I think the book was just soimportant to us in launching
into this market and you know,it's not perfect, but we work on
(34:11):
it each time and try to make itbetter, but being able to hand
those out very freely.
I didn't care what they costme.
If they wanted 10 books, I wasgiving 'em 10 books.
And some funeral homes needthat many, you know, the larger
groups.
But they'll call and they'llsay, "our books worn out.
Do you got a new one?
The corners are tethered andtattered" and what can you do?
(34:33):
I would never be stingy withany marketing materials.
Give them as much as youpossibly can.
And, if you can do both thedigital and the hard copy,
that's wonderful.
Yeah,
Sharon McGukin (34:44):
Do both.
Jeanna Furst (34:45):
Oh, yeah.
Sharon McGukin (34:46):
We appreciate you sharing your knowledge with
us.
When I was asking the DesignDirector's team, is there
anybody you would recommendthat's just outstanding in
sympathy?
Loann Burke said, "oh yeah, yougotta talk to Jeanna.
She's amazing." So thank youLoann for the tip.
Thank you, Jeanna, for sharingyour tips with our audience.
And to our audience,Smithers-Oasis North America,
(35:10):
Jeanna and I want to thank youfor 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 theinspired solutions our upcoming
guests will share with you foryour personal or business
growth.
If you have topics or guestsyou want to hear, please message
me.
We'd love to hear from you.
(35:31):
Until next time, I'm SharonMcGukin reminding you that like
the unfurling petals of aflower, we grow by changing
form.
Soaking inspiration in likeraindrops.
Absorbing energy from others,like warmth from the sun.
This growth opens us up to newideas and that's how we bloom.
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