June 6, 2024 • 41 mins
"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. 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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Track 1 (00:09):
Solve the problems to create new business.
There's a difference towardsrunning towards a problem
running away from a problem.
The problem becomes whensomebody runs away from it it
gets ugly." Welcome to How WeBloom, an oasis of flower ideas.
I'm your host, Sharon
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04- (00:28):
McGukin,
Track 1 (00:28):
AIFD, AAF, PFCI, and I believe that every success story
starts with one simple idea.
That's why we interview thosewho dare to do differently.
Inspiring people who plantseeds, grow ideas, and bloom to
their full potential.
In this podcast, we listen,learn, explore new
(00:51):
opportunities, and that's How WeBloom.
Guest for today's podcast isLenny Walker, VP of sales and
operations at Kennecott BrothersCompany, a trusted importer and
wholesale florist supply.
(01:11):
At the home office in Chicago,Lenny spearheads sales,
marketing, and operationalfunctions with a keen focus on
growth.
Today we'll be talking about'partnering with your
wholesaler' through the changesof recent years in the floral
marketplace.
Established in 1881, Kennecotthas obviously a lot of changes.
(01:33):
With change comes challenge.
And from challenge comes newopportunities.
Like many business models, thefloral industry is changing.
It's not what it used to be.
As Lenny likes say,"solve theproblems to create new
business." He's here with ustoday to brainstorm on how this
can work for florists.
(01:55):
Welcome Lenny.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-1 (01:56):
Thanks, Sharon.
I'm happy to be here today.
Sharon McGukin (01:58):
You and I spoke recently about how we are in the
midst of such change in theindustry and how florists and
wholesale suppliers, can worktogether to make business even
better.
But we have to adjust to change.
Lenny Walker (02:15):
I think the
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (02:16):
think the biggest challenge that we're
facing is just understandingwhere where everybody's heading
coming out of the pandemic.
I think there was somechallenges and people got used
to doing things differently.
Track 1 (02:28):
worked
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2 (02:28):
Some work very well, some didn't.
And
Track 1 (02:31):
think we all
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (02:32):
I think we all have a new path we
can take.
And some some old friends willcome with us.
and we'll meet some new friendsalong the way.
as that happens,
Sharon McGukin (02:39):
Now what we talked about in one conversation
was where we are.
Versus where we want to be.
Track 1 (02:47):
You have to identify where you are and what the
challenges are so that you knowhow to prepare to move forward.
Where do you say we are this atthis point in working between
retail florists or eventdesigners or freelancers working
with the wholesale florists tomake it the best partnership for
(03:10):
both.
I think it's a matter of time,
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (03:14):
I think it's a matter of time, you
know, Everybody's schedule isvery busy now
Track 1 (03:20):
And
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (03:20):
and sometimes we don't spend enough
time talking in order tounderstand how we can help one
another better or understandingthe challenges that we both
face.
Sometimes they're similar and ifwe, if we got together and
worked on a solution together,we could solve for the problem.
I think sometimes, you know, theold relationships that we have
(03:41):
and even the newer ones,sometimes they become
transactional because of themethod of communication,
Track 1 (03:48):
right?
You
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16 (03:48):
right?
You look at a text message,there's no emotion in a text
message, depending on how youread it.
You could say, like that, youknow, that shirt that's out
there, you know, let's eatgrandma or let's eat grandma
with the right grammar andpunctuation.
It's the same thing.
So are we losing the personalappeal through
Track 1 (04:07):
The people
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (04:07):
The people that take the hit on this
as the, you know, the nextgeneration, you know.
Oh, they don't want to talk onthe phone, they just want to
talk by email, and they want todo messenger, and they want to
do all of this.
Track 1 (04:17):
I don't know if
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (04:17):
I don't know if that's true or
not.
We have people in everygeneration that wants to do
things differently.
Look how you and I connected,right?
You You, texted me, I texted youback, we made a phone call, and
now we're doing this on apodcast, So It's just like the
old days.
How are you going to do it?
You're either going to walk intosomebody's shop.
You're going to call them on thephone, maybe you email.
I don't think there's a singlelane to do that in, but it's
(04:39):
understanding what works bestfor each other.
make sense?
Sharon McGukin (04:43):
It does.
I think you're exactly right inthat because I find that we have
to determine when we begin a newbusiness relationship with
someone, we have to determine,are they an email or, or a text
or, or do they prefer a phonecall?
And if you get it right, there'san instant.
Connection.
If you get it wrong, they don'twant to be bothered with you.
(05:05):
Another thing that'sinteresting, I read, and I try
to be cognizant of it, is thatyou should phrase your text and
your emails with the knowledgethat Most people read them in a
negative sense, so sometimes youdon't even mean for it to be
negative at all, but it'sundertaken as negative.
(05:26):
So I think we have to be reallycareful about how we reach out
to a person and give theminformation in the same way they
give out information.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (05:37):
Yeah, and I would caution everybody.
I mean, My my favorite sayingis, you know, be curious, not
judgmental.
Track 1 (05:43):
I like that.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (05:44):
you know, Ask the questions,
Lenny Walker (05:45):
right?
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16 (05:46):
Right?
You know, we think thatsomebody's an emailer and, you
know, again, everything we'velearned tells us that we
shouldn't label people, but yetwe're okay to label somebody.
Oh, she only likes emails or sheonly likes to be texted.
It's Like, sit down and askabout that.
Sometimes a text is moreimportant because it's,
Track 1 (06:04):
it will
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-202 (06:04):
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 thekey to success is you have to
understand how to communicatewith one another.
You know, many people talk, alot fewer communicate.
That's the big trouble we havethese and communication is key
to accomplishing things.
(06:26):
days.
Exactly.
Sharon McGukin (06:29):
What do you see as the biggest change?
I think for retail florists, onething that I see that is a big
change is there's a lessenedwalk in customer.
What do you see in the wholesaleregion?
Do you think that you have lesswalk in and more, technical
(06:50):
communication?
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (06:53):
We're we're Chicago Is different.
different.
We do have a very high degree ofwalk in traffic, which really
helps us.
And again, you know, if you lookat all of our locations, you
would think that you want a lotof walk in, which is great
because you get to see thecustomers, you get to interact
with them.
(07:15):
But But that causes anotherchallenge because you can't get
the trucks out on time because.
oh, Lenny and Sharon are talkingand Lenny's got 4 orders to fill
and he's, he's late on hisorders.
Well, you have to plan your timejust like anything else.
So, i, I appreciate the walk inhere.
We embrace it because we learnthings from them.
(07:35):
You know, we get the the,reactions right now on a phone
call, you don't get thereaction.
You could send somebody thecoolest the coolest thing in the
world that you think is coolthat we used to say back when
you and I were a little bityounger.
You know, hey, Sharon, it's aten dollar education.
Let me send this to you.
Tell me what you think.
Right?
Right?
Now, it's everybody wants tocome in and you know when you
(07:57):
think about it and you know theyou know the wholesale business
always has been hard to explainto your peers Outside of the
industry, right?
They go.
Oh, so you do the arrangementsand then you sell them to the
florist.
No.
So the best way I know todescribe it is it's like the
chef going to the produce marketright or the farmer's market
walking through and going.
(08:17):
Oh today i'm going to havebroccolini i'm going to do this
and then i'll create the menuoff of that.
That's what we love about thisbecause that inspiration really
drives us, right?
Our buyers latch onto that, oursalespeople latch onto that.
You could be on the cuttingedge, you know, so many times
the buyers will be out ahead ofthat, whether it's at retail
import level, or wholesalelevel, And and you're, the walk
(08:41):
in is instant inspiration, andit might not be today.
Like most people want instantgratification.
They might take it, but just theyou got their noodle working.
They may do that two months fromnow, but it's because they
walked in and saw it today,Especially in wedding work work.
You see it one time and you useit down the road.
(09:02):
Yep.
And what's, more satisfying thantalking to somebody and you say,
I have the perfect thing for youbecause I saw it here.
We do it as wholesalers.
You know, when I go to Hollandevery year and walk the auction
and look at all of oursuppliers, it's like, oh, I
could see this might work forSharon.
This might work for Kelly.
This might work here.
You know, and you come back, youhave all this enthusiasm and you
(09:24):
want to share it with everybody.
And some people are too busy tolisten or to meet with.
you, and then eventually it'slike,"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 themoment, you got to seize the
moment for that inspiration.
So it's, it's important.
I think that people do visittheir wholesalers, but more
important It's to have that withthe with the technology we have
(09:47):
today.
we do a lot of cooler tours.
You know, whether it's Facebookor Teams, everybody can connect
via video somehow, You know,like we just talked about, you
know, we're on a completelydifferent platform than what I'm
used to using.
I can adapt to it, you adapt itto it, how do we work, right?
And it's it's, amazing when youget that, you know, a text a
(10:08):
flower, you know, to somebody.
you know, it's a lot of ways toconnect, and that inspiration is
what keeps us all in business, Iwould say
Sharon McGukin (10:15):
and the learning curve, it's like every
different.
platform has a different set ofguidelines and and operational
needs and it's it feels likeevery day is another learning
curve because everybody has aseparate platform.
Tell us how many stores do youhave in your franchise?
We have 14.
(10:36):
14, I couldn't remember.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (10:38):
and it's, Technically it's not a
franchise, it's all employeeowned.
Sharon McGukin (10:42):
Okay, tell us about that.
Oh
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (10:45):
So, A little over 20 years ago, Red
Kennecott, who's the chairman ofour company, I think most people
would know him if they know theword Kennecott.
Red red put in a NESOP NESOPplan, which is Employee Stock
Option program, that keeps thecompany going forward.
So just like we search the, forthe, best and finest flowers and
(11:07):
supplies from the factoriesaround the world, that was Red's
that was Red's, process to getthe best people into the company
all the time.
Make them owners and give themsomething to work towards and,
Keep the wealth within thecompany and make sure that, you
know, we're not following up thecompany a hundred and forty
three years now.
How do we keep it going the nextthirty years, the next 60 years
(11:27):
after that, right?
So it's, it's all aboutlongevity of the company and
sustainability of the company.
So we every manager isresponsible for their P and L at
location level,, but it's allabout the employees and all
about our all about ourcustomers.
You know, we look at ourbusiness as a triangle.
It's, we connect people withflowers.
So whether it's the retailerlearning who our grower is, who
(11:50):
our factory is, whatever thatis, basically basically we're
the connector.
Some people would call it themiddleman.
I call it the connector.
it's very common that somebodyfrom our farms know the end
customer and know our customerbecause we want that
relationship.
You know, because it does meansomething when I tell him, Hey,
remember Sharon and you lookedat this?
(12:12):
I really need that this week andshe's got that wedding coming up
that she needs this for.
okay.
Got it.
Putting a face to it.
Right the minute you humanizesomething, there should there
should be more, will.Will to doit.
right?
Because you're doing it for aperson, not just an order.
Right I'm not looking at, youknow, an M173 customer.
(12:33):
I'm looking at Sharon.
This impacts Sharon, and this isfor Sharon's bride.
And I think, you know, you as aretailer and designer for years,
you bring that passion to usthat I have to do this for my
customer.
We take We take that and give itto the grower that says, this is
what we need now.
Right.
And that connection all the waythrough really helps all of us.
(12:53):
I have a funny story relating tosupply items to us that are You
mentioned earlier you might sendsomething out for someone to
try.
So, I'm on the outskirts ofAtlanta, and I would buy from
downtown.
And I would always go through mybox, because sometimes there
would be things they fail to addin the bill and I would say you
(13:17):
need to bill me for thesebunches.
They weren't billed.
Sometimes they would billsomething they forgot to put in.
You need to credit that becauseit's not in there.
So there were these beautifulbranches in my box that
particular day.
But I hadn't purchased.
I checked my receipt carefullyor my invoice carefully and it
wasn't in there.
So I wrote a note and said I wasnot billed for these and sent
(13:40):
them back.
And salesperson called me.
She was like five o'clock in themorning.
I'm outside my flashlightcutting these branches for you
and making a bundle and you sendthem back because I didn't bill
you for them.
It was a gift.
(14:02):
But, you know, I think it's tobe sure you pay what you get.
Yeah, you know, we say Yeah, Andyou know, we say that all the
time.
We don't check orders because wedon't trust people.
We check orders to make sure thecustomer service level is what
we expect.
Track 1 (14:17):
And, you know,
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (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_04-16-20 (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 yougo, but it is important to check
everybody that, You know, trustand verify, right?
That's what they always say.
Yeah, and it goes all the wayto, you know, the farms.
you know, as, you know, ourheritage is, you know, peony
(14:45):
growers way back when, right?,which, we still grow a lot of
peonies and sell a lot ofpeonies across the world.
when COVID hit, nobody knew whatwas going to happen for those,
you know, quote unquote twoweeks that we were going to be
closed, right?
Where everybody dumped millionsand millions of dollars of
flowers and nobody knew what wasgoing to happen.
You know, leaning on thepartnerships that we have and
(15:06):
the relationships and, you know,that triangle that we talk
about,
Lenny Walker (15:10):
were
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-202 (15:10):
we were very, very open with
everybody.
One, we called all of ourpartner firms and said, we will
pay you according to the waywe'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 alot of industries stopped paying
(15:31):
bills because they didn't knowwhat was going to happen.
Cash was going to be king.
Lenny Walker (15:35):
We looked
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-202 (15:35):
We looked at it that all of our
farms has an investment in theground that needs to be taken
care of.
Can you imagine if you didn'ttake care of the roses that are
in the ground for many years?
What, what, what happens whenwe're ready to open up, right?
You remember when we weredrinking out of the fire hoses,
all of us were, you know,there's more business than we
could ever take because of thepent up demand.
(15:57):
If we didn't spend our moneywisely and make sure that
flowers were taken care of, wewouldn't be in the situation
we're in now.
you have to protect what you'redoing.
So it is, it is important with,keeping current, but it's also
important to talk about it, youknow, one of our favorite
sayings throughout all of ourcompany is, When you stumble,
we'll pick you up, we'll helpyou out.
(16:17):
Together we're stronger.
So just be open with it.
You know, everybody runs intohard times.
You know, you didn't expect thatyou needed a new heater in the
winter, and maybe you need, youknow, another 15 or 30 days to
pay something.
We've never turned anybody downwith a, a, decent a decent
request, right?
Track 1 (16:34):
There's a difference towards running towards a
problem running away from aproblem.
The problem becomes whensomebody runs away from it it
gets ugly.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (16:41):
Don't be Don't be shy about it.
"I have to do this for mycustomer," we take We take that
and give it to the grower thatsays, this is what we need now.
Right.
And that connection all the waythrough really helps all of us.
of us.
Sharon McGukin (16:55):
I think that we stress we are partnering between
two different levels in ourindustry but we need each other
and we need to be fair andhonest with each other and I
think sometimes we forget thatwe're on the same team and that
if we spent more time Trying tobe a good teammate.
(17:17):
I think in the end, we couldhave a few more wins.
Yeah, and it
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (17:22):
then, right?
Track 1 (17:23):
the companies that did take care of their suppliers and
also took care of theiremployees and tried to help as
much as they could with theircustomers, when business went
back, they were able to go fullspeed.
The ones that let go of theirwell trained employees then were
searching for people to fill inthe blanks.
(17:43):
And I I think we still see a lotof businesses who say we can't
go full speed because we can'tfind people to work.
And you have to feel like youprobably had people that you did
not take care of.
And that is following you intobetter times.
Yeah, and
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (18:03):
Yeah, and everybody had different
situations.
You know, again, it's curiosity.
You know, I'll never judgeanybody because nobody knew what
was going to happen.
You know, we did what we feltwas right.
Uh, we never closed any of ourlocations.
We, we did, do a small layoff,but we brought people back as
quick as we could.
And we just, you know, we thinkof it, you know, there's over
(18:25):
400 employees with us, employeeowners, 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 thatreally impacting?
know, every you know, everydecision we make, so we don't
take it lightly by any means.
And I, know most people in thefloral industry put faces to
names.
and every check you write,remember when we were younger,
(18:46):
when the checks used to say,this check made possible by the
sale of flowers.
I still I still remember thatAnd you know what, my wife,
Karen, and I, our kids know thateverything that they have up
until they were adults isbecause we sold flowers.
Plain and simple.
The sale of flowers gave useverything we have.
(19:06):
sale of flowers gave useverything we have.
Right.
Yep.
Another it.
to say it.
(19:29):
Do you have any looking glasskind of ideas of where we're
headed next?
Do you have a, a picture of howwe'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, Youknow, when we do our business
(19:53):
plans, we look to the future.
You know, everybody's looking atAI now, which I think everybody
uses some part of AI in theirdaily business or you're
automating something.
You know, I think as A.
I.
becomes really aware to a lot ofpeople, it can help in some
things.
But 1 thing we've made sureacross our company is A.
I.
will never replace a person inour company.
(20:15):
That's not what we're lookingfor it for.
You know, we're looking at waysto take the stress off of some
people so that you can do thingseasier, quicker, faster.
Just to take and Just to takethe stress off, right?
So you can have more time totalk with the customer have more
time to be inquisitive.
I think where we're I thinkwhere we're going is we have to
(20:38):
we have to take a lot of thewhite noise away from what
happens every day in our livesand focus on how we can grow the
business, grow the industrytogether.
How do we increase theconsumption of flowers?
you know, whether it's thefloral promotion board that
we've been trying to do foryears, whether it's That flower
feeling that everybody'sparticipating in.
(20:58):
you know, all boats rise in arising tide, but how are we
going to get there?
You know, and it's, it's onebunch at a time, one stem at a
time.
And, we got to get we got to getit there.
We saw it, we saw it, weexperienced it during, you know,
the, the recoil from COVID.
right?
People were selling.
More than we ever thought wecould sell.
It's banner years.
(21:19):
I don't, I don't know how we'dever have those years again in
the near future.
in the near future.
Because people were reminded ofthe value of flowers because
they could not be therethemselves and they remembered
that can speak for you.
I've always the industry like apie and instead of making a
larger pie, We seem historicallyto cut the slices in different
(21:43):
directions.
Sometimes the business goes toone slice, some to another, and
we just keep dividing up thepie.
And we really need to expand andmake two pies or make a bigger
pie.
And to do that, we're all goingto have to join forces.
We have everything we need inthe industry to promote flowers.
(22:03):
We have growers, we haveimporters, we have designers, we
have speakers, we have So manydifferent 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 andreminding the public again that
(22:27):
flowers speak.
No, unique, you know,
Track 1 (22:36):
Whether you're
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-1 (22:37):
Whether you're talking about a retailer,
an event florist, a mass market,you know, everybody's
everybody's been around likethat, even before mass markets
came on the scene, you know, inthe late 70s early 80s, right?
And that was, oh, they're goingto put us out of business, you
know, yeah, it yeah, it tooksome sales, but it actually, it
(22:57):
increased sales because itincreased the awareness, right?
right?
And There's easy gains.
I think one of the biggestchallenges we have in the
business is it's a low cost ofentry to get into the flower
business if you want to be aretailer, right?
every market has them, whetherthey're, you know, cottage
industries, somebody works outof their garage, they come to
(23:18):
work for you, you train them,and then all of a sudden they're
doing, I'm going to do mysister's wedding, then, oh, my
sister's got a friend, and youhave all these people that are,
are, out there and a lot of themare are very good at what they
do, and they want to scale thebusiness I think I think what,
what hurts us sometimes is whenit's the hobbyist That does not
(23:39):
hold everything through.
right?
They don't pay attention to coldchain.
They don't pay attention to careand handling you know, I always
tell the story of you know, whenI was selling supermarkets you
know, all produce guys want todiscount flowers,"we're just
going to discount them and getthem out" that's what hurts us
overall.
Right?
The dumping of flowers, the thenot taking care of flowers,
(24:03):
eroding the prices of flowers.
flowers, and we've talked aboutthis before.
It's the only item you can givea person either at the highest
point in their life or thelowest point in their life.
And they're still going to hugyou or smile at you.
Think about, you know, everybodytalks about the mail now.
It's going to go up to what, 70some odd cents?
(24:24):
still amazing, I can send aletter 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 ofprice.
It's a matter of how do you getthe business and how do you, how
do you keep the next generationcoming back.
I think at least.
Maybe I have it wrong, I don'tknow.
(24:46):
we get the next generation tomove on.
Remember the value of flowers isa key in going forward.
And I'm not sure exactly how wedo 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 thenwe lost that as time went on,
but I think that was,reintroduced to younger buyers,
to millennials, Gen X.
The value of flowers was learnedagain from people who didn't
(25:21):
know that.
Generationally, they had notbeen 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 thanthere was, years ago when I
first started.
The room would be filled withflowers.
And now there's just a handfulof pieces.
Somehow, again, back to the pietheory, we need to grow that pie
(25:44):
bigger instead of dividing itinto smaller slices.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (25:50):
But that's a that's a challenge.
We were talking about it becauseit's, as we talk with different
customers, you know, I mean,look at your own life.
I grew up, it was a two day wakeand a funeral.
Flowers are filled in the room.
And, you know, this was before Iwas ever in the flower business.
Right?
Late 70s, I joined this greatindustry.
(26:10):
Before then, all the wakes andfunerals I went to, it was like
that.
that.
Stayed like that for many years.
Now, you, you have thecelebrations 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 eventhere.
right?
It's just a get together.
(26:30):
And so How do we infuse flowersin that?
And that?
what's the next thing that'sgoing to get us buying flowers?
We have self care flowers, whichyou know, the flower or that
"That Flower Feeling" is doing anice job with.
You know, the take me home abunch, whatever, all that stuff
works, but it's the events.
How do you can you imagine yourfamily celebrating the event
(26:52):
without flowers?
No, no, but I think that theopportunity there, the challenge
is, it's a shortened period oftime.
The opportunity is to reach outand encourage people to send
flowers to the person's home, tothe events.
Maybe it's an event and theyhave not, a celebration of life
(27:14):
event, and they have not orderedflowers.
But friends could contributeflowers to that event.
I think it, in that case, thechallenge is to make the
customer cognizant of theopportunities to share flowers,
to put flowers in the church fora person who was an avid church
goer, to send it to a businesswhere worked.
(27:39):
I think you have to really thinkoutside the box of how flowers
should be used to recognize thatperson.
And in, very often, That waywould be through things they did
in their life.
Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
And flowers, flowers are thecommunicator in that case.
Yeah, it's true.
(28:00):
You know, you could be two townsover and I can't be there, but
you sent somebody flowers twotowns over, they're going to
think of you and they're goingto know that if they need to
call you because they're down inthe dumps or something, that
you'll listen.
Yeah, yeah.
And it's just How do we getthere 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 thanme?
And especially if I didn't haveto do the work, they're even
better.
I love flowers.
Well, now one thing, talkingabout challenges and ways to
look at business differently,one thing that is more prevalent
(28:35):
now than it was when I enteredthe workforce in flowers is
buying direct.
There was no such thing formany, many years.
And I, I believe you refer toDSD, direct store delivery, as
one means of doing that.
Talk to us about the pros andcons of buying direct, if you
could.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (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 animporter, then we're your place.
If buying direct is From anoffice in Miami or farm direct
because it comes up throughwhatever chain it comes through.
(29:18):
You know, my question would be,there's nothing wrong with any
of it, but what's the value thatyou're looking for?
Right.
And many of us sell flowers as acommodity, but we're really
selling service, right.
And peace of mind.
So, you know, many of the orderswe get for, whether it's
sympathy flowers, it's knowingthat when the flowers get there,
they're going to be on time Sothe florist can do their magic.
(29:41):
and Make their customer happy,you know, with the weddings, we
tell you we're going to fillsomething, we fill it, you know,
we deliver a world of flowers toyour door every day.
But how do we, how do you getthat?
You know, I think there's, Ithink there's confusion on what
is direct, right?
I mean, we're, we're one of thelargest importers in the
country.
(30:02):
It's just the way we work.
Many people are like that.
Our, our peers import a lot offlowers too, but we have a local
team.
That's selling imported flowers.
So is that direct?
Sure.
We're the importer of record inmany cases.
We support a lot of companiesthat are based in Miami.
But, you know, it takeseverybody to make this work.
(30:23):
You know, and we're not, we'renot locked into anything.
You know, we, we search everyday for the best quality flowers
around.
That's job number one.
price comes second after that.
And I think that's what, what itis.
And when people say I wantdirect.
Tell me why, and I can figureout a way to where we can do
business and probably improveit.
(30:45):
Whether it's the efficiency ofthe truck, whether it's
efficiency of getting it to youon a day that you need it.
It's Just understanding whatyou're trying to do.
Sharon McGukin (30:58):
And that goes back to"solve the problems to
create the business." So if youcan speak directly with the
florist or if you're not intheir area, The wholesaler that
is in their area, go to them andsay these are the needs I have
and these are the opportunitiesI have, how could I work with
(31:19):
you through those?
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (31:23):
Yeah, I think it's, you know,
everybody uses their bestresources.
You know, do we know what thatis.
You know, and that's, it couldbe, you know, a thousand dollar
order or a hundred thousanddollar order.
You know.
What's important and, you know,where do you want to spend your
time?
You know, as a retailer, as thewholesaler, as the connector
(31:46):
like us, where do we want tospend our time?
A lot of it is developing thebusiness with the farms.
Some of it is leaning on ourpartners we already have.
But I will tell you, We spendthe most time talking with our
customers.
Sharon McGukin (31:59):
To your point about quality too, in the past,
when I would get flowers thatwere 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 mycustomer right here.
I, I can pay for the flower.
I don't need a credit.
I need quality flowers.
(32:19):
And that, that's one thing thatyou have to be sure you connect
with somebody who can delivertime after time.
Yeah, and like we say, you know,it's stealing anything from one
of the insurance companies, butit's peace of mind.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (32:33):
Mean, you know, our crew works, and
I've said it several times, youknow, anybody that's, that's any
of our peers in the business arewatching flowers from the time
they leave the farm all the waythrough the chain of
distribution.
So sometimes we know thatsomething happened, and then
we'll start to correct it beforethe customer even realizes
anything happened, right?
(32:55):
It's that old saying, like aduck, it's smooth sailing on the
surface, but underneath, youknow, that, that duck is
paddling feverishly to get wherethey're going.
And that's how the flowerbusiness is sometimes.
Nobody sees the internalpaddling, they just see the, the
end result sometimes.
Sharon McGukin (33:12):
One time when there was an earthquake in
California, and one jet filledwith flowers had left the
ground.
The other one was And I didn'tknow if the flowers I needed for
the wedding were on the firstplane or they were grounded in
California.
So I went to the supplier tomake other choices just in case.
(33:34):
And he said,"this is when we getto see who's the designer and
who's the arranger." Thearranger will say,"but I needed
that for my arrangement." Thedesigner will say,"what else do
you have? (33:46):
Right.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (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 choiceof flowers.
I always think it's important ona procurement list to say
snapdragons or suggestdelphinium or larkspur or
(34:19):
suggest different colors, andthat way it saves on the time of
the supplier calling back tosay, what else could you have?
The list is what else you couldhave following this range of
size and color and expense.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (34:33):
Guess I would.
Wish for everybody in theindustry is that we all treat
one another like professionals.
Meaning, right?
If you're going to go find anattorney, you're going to
interview that attorney, andyou're going to go through,
whether it's word of mouth, orrecommendation That's somebody
that you trust that told youthat's the place to go.
(34:53):
Same thing with an account.
I think it should be the samething with a, a flower
distributor.
It has to, you need to know whatthey're made out of, and who
they are, and how they stand upfor business.
You know?
There's a lot of good ones, butI'll tell you, it only takes
one, one one little company thatdoesn't do it right on one
(35:14):
particular hour of many severaldays, that could ruin
everybody's impression of theflower business.
So, I would invite everybody,like we do, come in, in, we'll
come to you, talk to us aboutwhat's important to you so that
we can align to best suit yourneeds.
We can only go further if wehelp you get to where you're
(35:34):
going and you help us get towhere you're going.
Right.
So I joke all the time when itcomes to ordering flowers, you
know, use a calendar, not awatch.
When you order flowers, the moretime a supplier has, the better
job they can do for you, right?
You're never going to preventthat plane from not taking off
that day if there's anearthquake, but you know what
(35:55):
you're moving and you know whatyou can have in a cooler every
day to take care of things andadjust as you need.
to.
you need.
I think it said, I think it'sjust wondering what's next.
and sharing your vision forwhat's next.
next.
You know, what's the flowers youreally like to use?
What's your, what's your methodof going to market?
How do we help you with that?
(36:17):
And I think any supplier wouldask that.
You know, tell us more so thatwe know more about how we can
coach you.
Or, or, what if we were walkinga farm one day and it's like, oh
my God, that's exactly whatSharon was telling me the other
day.
I found it.
Right?
And it might not have to be thatspecial thing, but just what do
you like?
right?
And what's important, you know,I know a long time ago when I
(36:40):
was a kid, I couldn't getbusiness from this 1 person.
And I finally just asked thequestion and it killed me.
And she says,"Don't call me at8:30.
But you told me to call you at8:30.
She says, I never told you.
My old boss told you to call at8:30.
I come in at 830.
I got my purse in my hand.
(37:00):
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 wasmuch more relaxed atmosphere for
her, we got the orders, we gotthe talk, and it was fine.
At 8:30, I was a bother, I wasnot a helper.
15 minutes made all thedifference, so ask the question.
Seems silly, but ask thequestion, right?
Sharon McGukin (37:22):
had a supplier that called me at 7 in the
morning each time because I wastrying to get my the day taken
care of before I got the kids toschool and she said you either
love or hate the person thatphones you at 7 a.m.
about work.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (37:39):
Yeah,
Track 1 (37:40):
I've
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (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 isavailable, what is the
substitution, what, I used tosend a sample if, if my bride
had a sample of her fabric.
I would send it with myprocurement list to the supplier
and then if they had to makechanges, they had the color
(38:06):
right there in front of them.
So if you send a sample of thecolor, you have made your
procurement list, but you'vemade it with options, then that
allows both of you to do thebest job.
But I am only as professional asthe person who sells to me.
Yeah
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (38:23):
I don't think anybody knows where
they're going.
I think it's, trying to create asustainable business for
everybody that you're partneringwith.
how do we get there?
And I think that's, that's themillion dollar question.
How do we keep people interestedenough that the retailer can get
the business?
And how do we do a nice enoughjob to where we earn that
business?
(38:44):
And then do we have the thefarms and the factories behind
us that are doing what they needto do in order to complete the
circuit?
Everybody now is veryprofessional.
Now it's a matter ofconsistency.
I'm a big believer in, you know,never underestimate the
compounding effect ofconsistency.
Because then people get used toit and they're happy, and they
(39:05):
just know, this is what I canexpect.
And i, I like to get back towhere it's not such a
transactional type business.
Track 1 (39:13):
To
squadcaster-j7j2_ (39:14):
understanding expectations, right?
So the difference betweensatisfaction is understanding
what the expectations are.
Having a realistic grasp on whatthe expectation is.
You know, like everybody thinksbulb flowers are not good.
It's like, I don't know, youcould get a week out of a bulb
flower if you do it right.
Right?
You've tulips in your housethat, you know, curve all over
(39:35):
as they're in the vase and itgets really wonky.
And really somebody told me onetime they're not good because
they drooped.
It's like.
like, send me a picture and it'snot drooping, it did the
geotropism and it's like, youcan'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 Ikeep Because I just like their
(39:59):
energy.
And they, they rearrangethemselves daily.
Yeah, it's always somethingdifferent to look at.
Sharon McGukin (40:06):
I appreciate you being with me.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (40:08):
I appreciate you.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Smithers Oasis North America.
Lenny and I wants 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 sharefor your personal or business
(40:31):
growth.
If you have topics or guests youwant to hear, please message me.
We'd love to hear from you.
Until next time I'm Sharon.
reminding you.
That like the unfurling pedalsof a flower.
We grow by changing form.
Soaking inspiration and likeraindrops absorbing energy from
others, like warmth from thesun.
(40:53):
This growth opens us up to newideas and that's How we Bloom.
Solve the problems to create new business.
There's a difference towardsrunning towards a problem
running away from a problem.
The problem becomes whensomebody runs away from it it
gets ugly." Welcome to How WeBloom, an oasis of flower ideas.
I'm your host, Sharon
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04- (00:28):
McGukin,
Track 1 (00:28):
AIFD, AAF, PFCI, and I believe that every success story
starts with one simple idea.
That's why we interview thosewho dare to do differently.
Inspiring people who plantseeds, grow ideas, and bloom to
their full potential.
In this podcast, we listen,learn, explore new
(00:51):
opportunities, and that's How WeBloom.
Guest for today's podcast isLenny Walker, VP of sales and
operations at Kennecott BrothersCompany, a trusted importer and
wholesale florist supply.
(01:11):
At the home office in Chicago,Lenny spearheads sales,
marketing, and operationalfunctions with a keen focus on
growth.
Today we'll be talking about'partnering with your
wholesaler' through the changesof recent years in the floral
marketplace.
Established in 1881, Kennecotthas obviously a lot of changes.
(01:33):
With change comes challenge.
And from challenge comes newopportunities.
Like many business models, thefloral industry is changing.
It's not what it used to be.
As Lenny likes say,"solve theproblems to create new
business." He's here with ustoday to brainstorm on how this
can work for florists.
(01:55):
Welcome Lenny.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-1 (01:56):
Thanks, Sharon.
I'm happy to be here today.
Sharon McGukin (01:58):
You and I spoke recently about how we are in the
midst of such change in theindustry and how florists and
wholesale suppliers, can worktogether to make business even
better.
But we have to adjust to change.
Lenny Walker (02:15):
I think the
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (02:16):
think the biggest challenge that we're
facing is just understandingwhere where everybody's heading
coming out of the pandemic.
I think there was somechallenges and people got used
to doing things differently.
Track 1 (02:28):
worked
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2 (02:28):
Some work very well, some didn't.
And
Track 1 (02:31):
think we all
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (02:32):
I think we all have a new path we
can take.
And some some old friends willcome with us.
and we'll meet some new friendsalong the way.
as that happens,
Sharon McGukin (02:39):
Now what we talked about in one conversation
was where we are.
Versus where we want to be.
Track 1 (02:47):
You have to identify where you are and what the
challenges are so that you knowhow to prepare to move forward.
Where do you say we are this atthis point in working between
retail florists or eventdesigners or freelancers working
with the wholesale florists tomake it the best partnership for
(03:10):
both.
I think it's a matter of time,
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (03:14):
I think it's a matter of time, you
know, Everybody's schedule isvery busy now
Track 1 (03:20):
And
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (03:20):
and sometimes we don't spend enough
time talking in order tounderstand how we can help one
another better or understandingthe challenges that we both
face.
Sometimes they're similar and ifwe, if we got together and
worked on a solution together,we could solve for the problem.
I think sometimes, you know, theold relationships that we have
(03:41):
and even the newer ones,sometimes they become
transactional because of themethod of communication,
Track 1 (03:48):
right?
You
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16 (03:48):
right?
You look at a text message,there's no emotion in a text
message, depending on how youread it.
You could say, like that, youknow, that shirt that's out
there, you know, let's eatgrandma or let's eat grandma
with the right grammar andpunctuation.
It's the same thing.
So are we losing the personalappeal through
Track 1 (04:07):
The people
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (04:07):
The people that take the hit on this
as the, you know, the nextgeneration, you know.
Oh, they don't want to talk onthe phone, they just want to
talk by email, and they want todo messenger, and they want to
do all of this.
Track 1 (04:17):
I don't know if
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (04:17):
I don't know if that's true or
not.
We have people in everygeneration that wants to do
things differently.
Look how you and I connected,right?
You You, texted me, I texted youback, we made a phone call, and
now we're doing this on apodcast, So It's just like the
old days.
How are you going to do it?
You're either going to walk intosomebody's shop.
You're going to call them on thephone, maybe you email.
I don't think there's a singlelane to do that in, but it's
(04:39):
understanding what works bestfor each other.
make sense?
Sharon McGukin (04:43):
It does.
I think you're exactly right inthat because I find that we have
to determine when we begin a newbusiness relationship with
someone, we have to determine,are they an email or, or a text
or, or do they prefer a phonecall?
And if you get it right, there'san instant.
Connection.
If you get it wrong, they don'twant to be bothered with you.
(05:05):
Another thing that'sinteresting, I read, and I try
to be cognizant of it, is thatyou should phrase your text and
your emails with the knowledgethat Most people read them in a
negative sense, so sometimes youdon't even mean for it to be
negative at all, but it'sundertaken as negative.
(05:26):
So I think we have to be reallycareful about how we reach out
to a person and give theminformation in the same way they
give out information.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (05:37):
Yeah, and I would caution everybody.
I mean, My my favorite sayingis, you know, be curious, not
judgmental.
Track 1 (05:43):
I like that.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (05:44):
you know, Ask the questions,
Lenny Walker (05:45):
right?
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16 (05:46):
Right?
You know, we think thatsomebody's an emailer and, you
know, again, everything we'velearned tells us that we
shouldn't label people, but yetwe're okay to label somebody.
Oh, she only likes emails or sheonly likes to be texted.
It's Like, sit down and askabout that.
Sometimes a text is moreimportant because it's,
Track 1 (06:04):
it will
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-202 (06:04):
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 thekey to success is you have to
understand how to communicatewith one another.
You know, many people talk, alot fewer communicate.
That's the big trouble we havethese and communication is key
to accomplishing things.
(06:26):
days.
Exactly.
Sharon McGukin (06:29):
What do you see as the biggest change?
I think for retail florists, onething that I see that is a big
change is there's a lessenedwalk in customer.
What do you see in the wholesaleregion?
Do you think that you have lesswalk in and more, technical
(06:50):
communication?
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (06:53):
We're we're Chicago Is different.
different.
We do have a very high degree ofwalk in traffic, which really
helps us.
And again, you know, if you lookat all of our locations, you
would think that you want a lotof walk in, which is great
because you get to see thecustomers, you get to interact
with them.
(07:15):
But But that causes anotherchallenge because you can't get
the trucks out on time because.
oh, Lenny and Sharon are talkingand Lenny's got 4 orders to fill
and he's, he's late on hisorders.
Well, you have to plan your timejust like anything else.
So, i, I appreciate the walk inhere.
We embrace it because we learnthings from them.
(07:35):
You know, we get the the,reactions right now on a phone
call, you don't get thereaction.
You could send somebody thecoolest the coolest thing in the
world that you think is coolthat we used to say back when
you and I were a little bityounger.
You know, hey, Sharon, it's aten dollar education.
Let me send this to you.
Tell me what you think.
Right?
Right?
Now, it's everybody wants tocome in and you know when you
(07:57):
think about it and you know theyou know the wholesale business
always has been hard to explainto your peers Outside of the
industry, right?
They go.
Oh, so you do the arrangementsand then you sell them to the
florist.
No.
So the best way I know todescribe it is it's like the
chef going to the produce marketright or the farmer's market
walking through and going.
(08:17):
Oh today i'm going to havebroccolini i'm going to do this
and then i'll create the menuoff of that.
That's what we love about thisbecause that inspiration really
drives us, right?
Our buyers latch onto that, oursalespeople latch onto that.
You could be on the cuttingedge, you know, so many times
the buyers will be out ahead ofthat, whether it's at retail
import level, or wholesalelevel, And and you're, the walk
(08:41):
in is instant inspiration, andit might not be today.
Like most people want instantgratification.
They might take it, but just theyou got their noodle working.
They may do that two months fromnow, but it's because they
walked in and saw it today,Especially in wedding work work.
You see it one time and you useit down the road.
(09:02):
Yep.
And what's, more satisfying thantalking to somebody and you say,
I have the perfect thing for youbecause I saw it here.
We do it as wholesalers.
You know, when I go to Hollandevery year and walk the auction
and look at all of oursuppliers, it's like, oh, I
could see this might work forSharon.
This might work for Kelly.
This might work here.
You know, and you come back, youhave all this enthusiasm and you
(09:24):
want to share it with everybody.
And some people are too busy tolisten or to meet with.
you, and then eventually it'slike,"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 themoment, you got to seize the
moment for that inspiration.
So it's, it's important.
I think that people do visittheir wholesalers, but more
important It's to have that withthe with the technology we have
(09:47):
today.
we do a lot of cooler tours.
You know, whether it's Facebookor Teams, everybody can connect
via video somehow, You know,like we just talked about, you
know, we're on a completelydifferent platform than what I'm
used to using.
I can adapt to it, you adapt itto it, how do we work, right?
And it's it's, amazing when youget that, you know, a text a
(10:08):
flower, you know, to somebody.
you know, it's a lot of ways toconnect, and that inspiration is
what keeps us all in business, Iwould say
Sharon McGukin (10:15):
and the learning curve, it's like every
different.
platform has a different set ofguidelines and and operational
needs and it's it feels likeevery day is another learning
curve because everybody has aseparate platform.
Tell us how many stores do youhave in your franchise?
We have 14.
(10:36):
14, I couldn't remember.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (10:38):
and it's, Technically it's not a
franchise, it's all employeeowned.
Sharon McGukin (10:42):
Okay, tell us about that.
Oh
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (10:45):
So, A little over 20 years ago, Red
Kennecott, who's the chairman ofour company, I think most people
would know him if they know theword Kennecott.
Red red put in a NESOP NESOPplan, which is Employee Stock
Option program, that keeps thecompany going forward.
So just like we search the, forthe, best and finest flowers and
(11:07):
supplies from the factoriesaround the world, that was Red's
that was Red's, process to getthe best people into the company
all the time.
Make them owners and give themsomething to work towards and,
Keep the wealth within thecompany and make sure that, you
know, we're not following up thecompany a hundred and forty
three years now.
How do we keep it going the nextthirty years, the next 60 years
(11:27):
after that, right?
So it's, it's all aboutlongevity of the company and
sustainability of the company.
So we every manager isresponsible for their P and L at
location level,, but it's allabout the employees and all
about our all about ourcustomers.
You know, we look at ourbusiness as a triangle.
It's, we connect people withflowers.
So whether it's the retailerlearning who our grower is, who
(11:50):
our factory is, whatever thatis, basically basically we're
the connector.
Some people would call it themiddleman.
I call it the connector.
it's very common that somebodyfrom our farms know the end
customer and know our customerbecause we want that
relationship.
You know, because it does meansomething when I tell him, Hey,
remember Sharon and you lookedat this?
(12:12):
I really need that this week andshe's got that wedding coming up
that she needs this for.
okay.
Got it.
Putting a face to it.
Right the minute you humanizesomething, there should there
should be more, will.Will to doit.
right?
Because you're doing it for aperson, not just an order.
Right I'm not looking at, youknow, an M173 customer.
(12:33):
I'm looking at Sharon.
This impacts Sharon, and this isfor Sharon's bride.
And I think, you know, you as aretailer and designer for years,
you bring that passion to usthat I have to do this for my
customer.
We take We take that and give itto the grower that says, this is
what we need now.
Right.
And that connection all the waythrough really helps all of us.
(12:53):
I have a funny story relating tosupply items to us that are You
mentioned earlier you might sendsomething out for someone to
try.
So, I'm on the outskirts ofAtlanta, and I would buy from
downtown.
And I would always go through mybox, because sometimes there
would be things they fail to addin the bill and I would say you
(13:17):
need to bill me for thesebunches.
They weren't billed.
Sometimes they would billsomething they forgot to put in.
You need to credit that becauseit's not in there.
So there were these beautifulbranches in my box that
particular day.
But I hadn't purchased.
I checked my receipt carefullyor my invoice carefully and it
wasn't in there.
So I wrote a note and said I wasnot billed for these and sent
(13:40):
them back.
And salesperson called me.
She was like five o'clock in themorning.
I'm outside my flashlightcutting these branches for you
and making a bundle and you sendthem back because I didn't bill
you for them.
It was a gift.
(14:02):
But, you know, I think it's tobe sure you pay what you get.
Yeah, you know, we say Yeah, Andyou know, we say that all the
time.
We don't check orders because wedon't trust people.
We check orders to make sure thecustomer service level is what
we expect.
Track 1 (14:17):
And, you know,
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (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_04-16-20 (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 yougo, but it is important to check
everybody that, You know, trustand verify, right?
That's what they always say.
Yeah, and it goes all the wayto, you know, the farms.
you know, as, you know, ourheritage is, you know, peony
(14:45):
growers way back when, right?,which, we still grow a lot of
peonies and sell a lot ofpeonies across the world.
when COVID hit, nobody knew whatwas going to happen for those,
you know, quote unquote twoweeks that we were going to be
closed, right?
Where everybody dumped millionsand millions of dollars of
flowers and nobody knew what wasgoing to happen.
You know, leaning on thepartnerships that we have and
(15:06):
the relationships and, you know,that triangle that we talk
about,
Lenny Walker (15:10):
were
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-202 (15:10):
we were very, very open with
everybody.
One, we called all of ourpartner firms and said, we will
pay you according to the waywe'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 alot of industries stopped paying
(15:31):
bills because they didn't knowwhat was going to happen.
Cash was going to be king.
Lenny Walker (15:35):
We looked
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-202 (15:35):
We looked at it that all of our
farms has an investment in theground that needs to be taken
care of.
Can you imagine if you didn'ttake care of the roses that are
in the ground for many years?
What, what, what happens whenwe're ready to open up, right?
You remember when we weredrinking out of the fire hoses,
all of us were, you know,there's more business than we
could ever take because of thepent up demand.
(15:57):
If we didn't spend our moneywisely and make sure that
flowers were taken care of, wewouldn't be in the situation
we're in now.
you have to protect what you'redoing.
So it is, it is important with,keeping current, but it's also
important to talk about it, youknow, one of our favorite
sayings throughout all of ourcompany is, When you stumble,
we'll pick you up, we'll helpyou out.
(16:17):
Together we're stronger.
So just be open with it.
You know, everybody runs intohard times.
You know, you didn't expect thatyou needed a new heater in the
winter, and maybe you need, youknow, another 15 or 30 days to
pay something.
We've never turned anybody downwith a, a, decent a decent
request, right?
Track 1 (16:34):
There's a difference towards running towards a
problem running away from aproblem.
The problem becomes whensomebody runs away from it it
gets ugly.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (16:41):
Don't be Don't be shy about it.
"I have to do this for mycustomer," we take We take that
and give it to the grower thatsays, this is what we need now.
Right.
And that connection all the waythrough really helps all of us.
of us.
Sharon McGukin (16:55):
I think that we stress we are partnering between
two different levels in ourindustry but we need each other
and we need to be fair andhonest with each other and I
think sometimes we forget thatwe're on the same team and that
if we spent more time Trying tobe a good teammate.
(17:17):
I think in the end, we couldhave a few more wins.
Yeah, and it
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (17:22):
then, right?
Track 1 (17:23):
the companies that did take care of their suppliers and
also took care of theiremployees and tried to help as
much as they could with theircustomers, when business went
back, they were able to go fullspeed.
The ones that let go of theirwell trained employees then were
searching for people to fill inthe blanks.
(17:43):
And I I think we still see a lotof businesses who say we can't
go full speed because we can'tfind people to work.
And you have to feel like youprobably had people that you did
not take care of.
And that is following you intobetter times.
Yeah, and
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (18:03):
Yeah, and everybody had different
situations.
You know, again, it's curiosity.
You know, I'll never judgeanybody because nobody knew what
was going to happen.
You know, we did what we feltwas right.
Uh, we never closed any of ourlocations.
We, we did, do a small layoff,but we brought people back as
quick as we could.
And we just, you know, we thinkof it, you know, there's over
(18:25):
400 employees with us, employeeowners, 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 thatreally impacting?
know, every you know, everydecision we make, so we don't
take it lightly by any means.
And I, know most people in thefloral industry put faces to
names.
and every check you write,remember when we were younger,
(18:46):
when the checks used to say,this check made possible by the
sale of flowers.
I still I still remember thatAnd you know what, my wife,
Karen, and I, our kids know thateverything that they have up
until they were adults isbecause we sold flowers.
Plain and simple.
The sale of flowers gave useverything we have.
(19:06):
sale of flowers gave useverything we have.
Right.
Yep.
Another it.
to say it.
(19:29):
Do you have any looking glasskind of ideas of where we're
headed next?
Do you have a, a picture of howwe'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, Youknow, when we do our business
(19:53):
plans, we look to the future.
You know, everybody's looking atAI now, which I think everybody
uses some part of AI in theirdaily business or you're
automating something.
You know, I think as A.
I.
becomes really aware to a lot ofpeople, it can help in some
things.
But 1 thing we've made sureacross our company is A.
I.
will never replace a person inour company.
(20:15):
That's not what we're lookingfor it for.
You know, we're looking at waysto take the stress off of some
people so that you can do thingseasier, quicker, faster.
Just to take and Just to takethe stress off, right?
So you can have more time totalk with the customer have more
time to be inquisitive.
I think where we're I thinkwhere we're going is we have to
(20:38):
we have to take a lot of thewhite noise away from what
happens every day in our livesand focus on how we can grow the
business, grow the industrytogether.
How do we increase theconsumption of flowers?
you know, whether it's thefloral promotion board that
we've been trying to do foryears, whether it's That flower
feeling that everybody'sparticipating in.
(20:58):
you know, all boats rise in arising tide, but how are we
going to get there?
You know, and it's, it's onebunch at a time, one stem at a
time.
And, we got to get we got to getit there.
We saw it, we saw it, weexperienced it during, you know,
the, the recoil from COVID.
right?
People were selling.
More than we ever thought wecould sell.
It's banner years.
(21:19):
I don't, I don't know how we'dever have those years again in
the near future.
in the near future.
Because people were reminded ofthe value of flowers because
they could not be therethemselves and they remembered
that can speak for you.
I've always the industry like apie and instead of making a
larger pie, We seem historicallyto cut the slices in different
(21:43):
directions.
Sometimes the business goes toone slice, some to another, and
we just keep dividing up thepie.
And we really need to expand andmake two pies or make a bigger
pie.
And to do that, we're all goingto have to join forces.
We have everything we need inthe industry to promote flowers.
(22:03):
We have growers, we haveimporters, we have designers, we
have speakers, we have So manydifferent 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 andreminding the public again that
(22:27):
flowers speak.
No, unique, you know,
Track 1 (22:36):
Whether you're
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-1 (22:37):
Whether you're talking about a retailer,
an event florist, a mass market,you know, everybody's
everybody's been around likethat, even before mass markets
came on the scene, you know, inthe late 70s early 80s, right?
And that was, oh, they're goingto put us out of business, you
know, yeah, it yeah, it tooksome sales, but it actually, it
(22:57):
increased sales because itincreased the awareness, right?
right?
And There's easy gains.
I think one of the biggestchallenges we have in the
business is it's a low cost ofentry to get into the flower
business if you want to be aretailer, right?
every market has them, whetherthey're, you know, cottage
industries, somebody works outof their garage, they come to
(23:18):
work for you, you train them,and then all of a sudden they're
doing, I'm going to do mysister's wedding, then, oh, my
sister's got a friend, and youhave all these people that are,
are, out there and a lot of themare are very good at what they
do, and they want to scale thebusiness I think I think what,
what hurts us sometimes is whenit's the hobbyist That does not
(23:39):
hold everything through.
right?
They don't pay attention to coldchain.
They don't pay attention to careand handling you know, I always
tell the story of you know, whenI was selling supermarkets you
know, all produce guys want todiscount flowers,"we're just
going to discount them and getthem out" that's what hurts us
overall.
Right?
The dumping of flowers, the thenot taking care of flowers,
(24:03):
eroding the prices of flowers.
flowers, and we've talked aboutthis before.
It's the only item you can givea person either at the highest
point in their life or thelowest point in their life.
And they're still going to hugyou or smile at you.
Think about, you know, everybodytalks about the mail now.
It's going to go up to what, 70some odd cents?
(24:24):
still amazing, I can send aletter 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 ofprice.
It's a matter of how do you getthe business and how do you, how
do you keep the next generationcoming back.
I think at least.
Maybe I have it wrong, I don'tknow.
(24:46):
we get the next generation tomove on.
Remember the value of flowers isa key in going forward.
And I'm not sure exactly how wedo 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 thenwe lost that as time went on,
but I think that was,reintroduced to younger buyers,
to millennials, Gen X.
The value of flowers was learnedagain from people who didn't
(25:21):
know that.
Generationally, they had notbeen 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 thanthere was, years ago when I
first started.
The room would be filled withflowers.
And now there's just a handfulof pieces.
Somehow, again, back to the pietheory, we need to grow that pie
(25:44):
bigger instead of dividing itinto smaller slices.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (25:50):
But that's a that's a challenge.
We were talking about it becauseit's, as we talk with different
customers, you know, I mean,look at your own life.
I grew up, it was a two day wakeand a funeral.
Flowers are filled in the room.
And, you know, this was before Iwas ever in the flower business.
Right?
Late 70s, I joined this greatindustry.
(26:10):
Before then, all the wakes andfunerals I went to, it was like
that.
that.
Stayed like that for many years.
Now, you, you have thecelebrations 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 eventhere.
right?
It's just a get together.
(26:30):
And so How do we infuse flowersin that?
And that?
what's the next thing that'sgoing to get us buying flowers?
We have self care flowers, whichyou know, the flower or that
"That Flower Feeling" is doing anice job with.
You know, the take me home abunch, whatever, all that stuff
works, but it's the events.
How do you can you imagine yourfamily celebrating the event
(26:52):
without flowers?
No, no, but I think that theopportunity there, the challenge
is, it's a shortened period oftime.
The opportunity is to reach outand encourage people to send
flowers to the person's home, tothe events.
Maybe it's an event and theyhave not, a celebration of life
(27:14):
event, and they have not orderedflowers.
But friends could contributeflowers to that event.
I think it, in that case, thechallenge is to make the
customer cognizant of theopportunities to share flowers,
to put flowers in the church fora person who was an avid church
goer, to send it to a businesswhere worked.
(27:39):
I think you have to really thinkoutside the box of how flowers
should be used to recognize thatperson.
And in, very often, That waywould be through things they did
in their life.
Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
And flowers, flowers are thecommunicator in that case.
Yeah, it's true.
(28:00):
You know, you could be two townsover and I can't be there, but
you sent somebody flowers twotowns over, they're going to
think of you and they're goingto know that if they need to
call you because they're down inthe dumps or something, that
you'll listen.
Yeah, yeah.
And it's just How do we getthere 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 thanme?
And especially if I didn't haveto do the work, they're even
better.
I love flowers.
Well, now one thing, talkingabout challenges and ways to
look at business differently,one thing that is more prevalent
(28:35):
now than it was when I enteredthe workforce in flowers is
buying direct.
There was no such thing formany, many years.
And I, I believe you refer toDSD, direct store delivery, as
one means of doing that.
Talk to us about the pros andcons of buying direct, if you
could.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (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 animporter, then we're your place.
If buying direct is From anoffice in Miami or farm direct
because it comes up throughwhatever chain it comes through.
(29:18):
You know, my question would be,there's nothing wrong with any
of it, but what's the value thatyou're looking for?
Right.
And many of us sell flowers as acommodity, but we're really
selling service, right.
And peace of mind.
So, you know, many of the orderswe get for, whether it's
sympathy flowers, it's knowingthat when the flowers get there,
they're going to be on time Sothe florist can do their magic.
(29:41):
and Make their customer happy,you know, with the weddings, we
tell you we're going to fillsomething, we fill it, you know,
we deliver a world of flowers toyour door every day.
But how do we, how do you getthat?
You know, I think there's, Ithink there's confusion on what
is direct, right?
I mean, we're, we're one of thelargest importers in the
country.
(30:02):
It's just the way we work.
Many people are like that.
Our, our peers import a lot offlowers too, but we have a local
team.
That's selling imported flowers.
So is that direct?
Sure.
We're the importer of record inmany cases.
We support a lot of companiesthat are based in Miami.
But, you know, it takeseverybody to make this work.
(30:23):
You know, and we're not, we'renot locked into anything.
You know, we, we search everyday for the best quality flowers
around.
That's job number one.
price comes second after that.
And I think that's what, what itis.
And when people say I wantdirect.
Tell me why, and I can figureout a way to where we can do
business and probably improveit.
(30:45):
Whether it's the efficiency ofthe truck, whether it's
efficiency of getting it to youon a day that you need it.
It's Just understanding whatyou're trying to do.
Sharon McGukin (30:58):
And that goes back to"solve the problems to
create the business." So if youcan speak directly with the
florist or if you're not intheir area, The wholesaler that
is in their area, go to them andsay these are the needs I have
and these are the opportunitiesI have, how could I work with
(31:19):
you through those?
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (31:23):
Yeah, I think it's, you know,
everybody uses their bestresources.
You know, do we know what thatis.
You know, and that's, it couldbe, you know, a thousand dollar
order or a hundred thousanddollar order.
You know.
What's important and, you know,where do you want to spend your
time?
You know, as a retailer, as thewholesaler, as the connector
(31:46):
like us, where do we want tospend our time?
A lot of it is developing thebusiness with the farms.
Some of it is leaning on ourpartners we already have.
But I will tell you, We spendthe most time talking with our
customers.
Sharon McGukin (31:59):
To your point about quality too, in the past,
when I would get flowers thatwere 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 mycustomer right here.
I, I can pay for the flower.
I don't need a credit.
I need quality flowers.
(32:19):
And that, that's one thing thatyou have to be sure you connect
with somebody who can delivertime after time.
Yeah, and like we say, you know,it's stealing anything from one
of the insurance companies, butit's peace of mind.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (32:33):
Mean, you know, our crew works, and
I've said it several times, youknow, anybody that's, that's any
of our peers in the business arewatching flowers from the time
they leave the farm all the waythrough the chain of
distribution.
So sometimes we know thatsomething happened, and then
we'll start to correct it beforethe customer even realizes
anything happened, right?
(32:55):
It's that old saying, like aduck, it's smooth sailing on the
surface, but underneath, youknow, that, that duck is
paddling feverishly to get wherethey're going.
And that's how the flowerbusiness is sometimes.
Nobody sees the internalpaddling, they just see the, the
end result sometimes.
Sharon McGukin (33:12):
One time when there was an earthquake in
California, and one jet filledwith flowers had left the
ground.
The other one was And I didn'tknow if the flowers I needed for
the wedding were on the firstplane or they were grounded in
California.
So I went to the supplier tomake other choices just in case.
(33:34):
And he said,"this is when we getto see who's the designer and
who's the arranger." Thearranger will say,"but I needed
that for my arrangement." Thedesigner will say,"what else do
you have? (33:46):
Right.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-20 (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 choiceof flowers.
I always think it's important ona procurement list to say
snapdragons or suggestdelphinium or larkspur or
(34:19):
suggest different colors, andthat way it saves on the time of
the supplier calling back tosay, what else could you have?
The list is what else you couldhave following this range of
size and color and expense.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (34:33):
Guess I would.
Wish for everybody in theindustry is that we all treat
one another like professionals.
Meaning, right?
If you're going to go find anattorney, you're going to
interview that attorney, andyou're going to go through,
whether it's word of mouth, orrecommendation That's somebody
that you trust that told youthat's the place to go.
(34:53):
Same thing with an account.
I think it should be the samething with a, a flower
distributor.
It has to, you need to know whatthey're made out of, and who
they are, and how they stand upfor business.
You know?
There's a lot of good ones, butI'll tell you, it only takes
one, one one little company thatdoesn't do it right on one
(35:14):
particular hour of many severaldays, that could ruin
everybody's impression of theflower business.
So, I would invite everybody,like we do, come in, in, we'll
come to you, talk to us aboutwhat's important to you so that
we can align to best suit yourneeds.
We can only go further if wehelp you get to where you're
(35:34):
going and you help us get towhere you're going.
Right.
So I joke all the time when itcomes to ordering flowers, you
know, use a calendar, not awatch.
When you order flowers, the moretime a supplier has, the better
job they can do for you, right?
You're never going to preventthat plane from not taking off
that day if there's anearthquake, but you know what
(35:55):
you're moving and you know whatyou can have in a cooler every
day to take care of things andadjust as you need.
to.
you need.
I think it said, I think it'sjust wondering what's next.
and sharing your vision forwhat's next.
next.
You know, what's the flowers youreally like to use?
What's your, what's your methodof going to market?
How do we help you with that?
(36:17):
And I think any supplier wouldask that.
You know, tell us more so thatwe know more about how we can
coach you.
Or, or, what if we were walkinga farm one day and it's like, oh
my God, that's exactly whatSharon was telling me the other
day.
I found it.
Right?
And it might not have to be thatspecial thing, but just what do
you like?
right?
And what's important, you know,I know a long time ago when I
(36:40):
was a kid, I couldn't getbusiness from this 1 person.
And I finally just asked thequestion and it killed me.
And she says,"Don't call me at8:30.
But you told me to call you at8:30.
She says, I never told you.
My old boss told you to call at8:30.
I come in at 830.
I got my purse in my hand.
(37:00):
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 wasmuch more relaxed atmosphere for
her, we got the orders, we gotthe talk, and it was fine.
At 8:30, I was a bother, I wasnot a helper.
15 minutes made all thedifference, so ask the question.
Seems silly, but ask thequestion, right?
Sharon McGukin (37:22):
had a supplier that called me at 7 in the
morning each time because I wastrying to get my the day taken
care of before I got the kids toschool and she said you either
love or hate the person thatphones you at 7 a.m.
about work.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (37:39):
Yeah,
Track 1 (37:40):
I've
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16- (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 isavailable, what is the
substitution, what, I used tosend a sample if, if my bride
had a sample of her fabric.
I would send it with myprocurement list to the supplier
and then if they had to makechanges, they had the color
(38:06):
right there in front of them.
So if you send a sample of thecolor, you have made your
procurement list, but you'vemade it with options, then that
allows both of you to do thebest job.
But I am only as professional asthe person who sells to me.
Yeah
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (38:23):
I don't think anybody knows where
they're going.
I think it's, trying to create asustainable business for
everybody that you're partneringwith.
how do we get there?
And I think that's, that's themillion dollar question.
How do we keep people interestedenough that the retailer can get
the business?
And how do we do a nice enoughjob to where we earn that
business?
(38:44):
And then do we have the thefarms and the factories behind
us that are doing what they needto do in order to complete the
circuit?
Everybody now is veryprofessional.
Now it's a matter ofconsistency.
I'm a big believer in, you know,never underestimate the
compounding effect ofconsistency.
Because then people get used toit and they're happy, and they
(39:05):
just know, this is what I canexpect.
And i, I like to get back towhere it's not such a
transactional type business.
Track 1 (39:13):
To
squadcaster-j7j2_ (39:14):
understanding expectations, right?
So the difference betweensatisfaction is understanding
what the expectations are.
Having a realistic grasp on whatthe expectation is.
You know, like everybody thinksbulb flowers are not good.
It's like, I don't know, youcould get a week out of a bulb
flower if you do it right.
Right?
You've tulips in your housethat, you know, curve all over
(39:35):
as they're in the vase and itgets really wonky.
And really somebody told me onetime they're not good because
they drooped.
It's like.
like, send me a picture and it'snot drooping, it did the
geotropism and it's like, youcan'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 Ikeep Because I just like their
(39:59):
energy.
And they, they rearrangethemselves daily.
Yeah, it's always somethingdifferent to look at.
Sharon McGukin (40:06):
I appreciate you being with me.
squadcaster-j7j2_1_04-16-2024 (40:08):
I appreciate you.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Smithers Oasis North America.
Lenny and I wants 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 sharefor your personal or business
(40:31):
growth.
If you have topics or guests youwant to hear, please message me.
We'd love to hear from you.
Until next time I'm Sharon.
reminding you.
That like the unfurling pedalsof a flower.
We grow by changing form.
Soaking inspiration and likeraindrops absorbing energy from
others, like warmth from thesun.
(40:53):
This growth opens us up to newideas and that's How we Bloom.
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