Knowing Your Merchandise

When I was working as head designer and manager of a floral shop, I had to know my merchandise. One of my favorite types of work, although with mixed emotions, was funerals. Whenever a customer would come in for funeral work for their loved one, I had to know what I was selling. Being sympathetic and listening yet making sure they would be satisfied was a fine line to walk.

The first thing that would be done, besides expressing my condolences, would be to see just what the customers had in mind. I would pull out the arrangement books for them to browse through to get some ideas. I would then walk them through what they might need, make suggestions for something they hadn‘t thought about and give advice. Whether the customer wanted something from the book or something more creative or customized, I had to be prepared. A lot of times the customer would like the style of something but not the flowers or the flowers of one arrangement but not the style. I had to know not only what would work but if I could get what they wanted from our suppliers. Sometimes this would involve phone calls to the supplier while the customer was still in the store. If the supplier was closed, then I had to suggest an alternative that would make them happy just in case it was something requested that was out of the question. If I knew that the flower they wanted was out of season or not something that would hold up, I would ask them if they would consider silk flowers mixed in with the fresh.

I also had to discuss different types of greens, fillers and containers. Whether they wanted ribbons on the lid sprays or cross pillows to lay in the casket. I had to find out whether other family members were coming in or calling. If they were, did the immediate family members want everything to coordinate or a different type of flowers and colors for non-immediate family members? Did the loved one have a hobby that could be incorporated in the funeral work? Did the customer prefer table arrangements or traditional baskets? Did they want a foot spray to match the lid spray? What about easels? Did the in laws want to match them to the lid spray?

We had to know the time of the viewing so that we could plan the work to be delivered two hours early at a minimum. Was it a one day viewing or two? Did the family like planters in case friends wanted to send something longer lasting? As you can see, if I didn’t know my merchandise, I couldn‘t help the customer. Being professional, knowing what we had, what we could get and what worked with what was crucial to helping the customer make those decisions in a difficult time of their lives.

Understanding the customer and making sure that the grieving customer's needs were met was a delicate job. Knowing that we had or could get the merchandise to back up those needs were just as important!

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