Florist News

Came into work this mornign to a letter fromk the hotel where i do the flowers cancelling their order of flowers.That is worth nearly £300 per week to me.I am absoloutely gutted.We have bent over backwards to give them what they want.I have tried calling them but can't find the person i need.I feel so let down and very sick.Not even sure they want me to do the customer flowers anymore which has also been a major source of revenue.I feel at rock bottom at the moment.Last Friday i had a call from my flower wholesaler to tell me they had gone bust and that i would not have any flowers this week.I have managed to sort it with another company thank goodness.Somehow i need to pull myself back together and get some more work in but to be honest i've lost loads of contracts lately,i reckon i must just be very very crap.
Alison

Alison
do not blame yourself, these things happen, lots of hotels cutting back money problems all over. My wholesaler went bust too end of last year, with just a couple of days notice. Always another choice the internet is a great source of suppliers, have you tried Heemskerk, or others similar for supplies. I am in a very remote area and I manage to get supplies, lots of big hotels that do most of there own stuff now(you would cringe if you seen what they had on the reception desk) You must have regulars that keep coming back to you, I know I do and they keep me going. Keep your chin up girl, do not blame yourself. As one door closes another will open.

oh ali, your having sucha shitty year.

has any new florists opened up nearby, they may be undercutting you. try to find out.

maybe send a letter to the person in charge of ordering the flowers, stating your disapointment at loosing the contract and ask if there is anything you can change or offer to get the contract reinstated.

might not be what you want to do but it might work.

life gets us down sometimes the trick is not to give in at the bad times but fight like bugger to get through.

if you need to vent anymore just pm me babe.

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Never say never.

Well, unless your sure.

Ali contracts are always very fickle..and quite often they flit between different suppliers. They might find their new florist not half as good as you or miss your personal service and come crawling back in a month.

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Sarah Creating Bespoke Wedding Flowers Cheshire

please don't feel so down i went through a stage last year when a shop opened round the corner from me i lost quite a bit of trade with having to dea with them under cuttig and then relising my florist was just shit luckily since shes left and people have relised that the other shop is shit i have had a huge turn around in the last 4 months and so glad i didn't throw it all away just try something new have a scout around the internet find some new ideas and start to introduce them to your customers then you won't feel so down your trying something new and it should inspire you you are not crap tell your self that you are a fab florist and if i am losing contracts then i will change my style i did and it so worked good luck honey chin up and don't let the barstools grind you down

Hi Alihud

Sorry to hear your bad news but don't blame yourself. It's probably cut backs and unfortunately flowers are always the first thing to go when cut backs are made in my opinion.

I've had this sort of thing happen a few times and something has always turned up to replace the lost business. Think positively and maybe do a bit of self-promotion and networking and I'm sure you'll replace this lost business.

I had a large hotel contract when I started off and was very reliant on it. Put myself out all the time for them even driving to the hotel and changing the water for them without charging. When the hotel changed hands, the flower budget was cut out completely and I lost the contract. In the end it was a relief really as no one looked after the flowers, watered them etc and I was able to replace the business with a few smaller contracts. It taught me a valuable lesson though not to be too relient on one contract especially in the fickle world of contract flowers where a change of manager, ownership etc can loose you the business through absolutely no fault of your own.

Hope this helps

Flowerfool

As the others have said, dont take it to heart, theres cut backs everywhere, and flowers always seem to go first.One door closes another opens, stay posotive. xx

I have had a lot of dealings with hotels over the years and one thing i have learnt, that your regular hotel work is only as regular as the manager that made that agreement !! new managers come and go and budgets change with their group. Dont worry, its nothing youve done.....probably a pen pusher with the job of tightening the budget !! Another contract will come along !!

Don't want to repeat what everyone else has said Ali, but the more you hear it the more you may accept that it really isn't your fault. It's just par for the course. Many moons ago we had a string of fruit & veg shops with a wholesale catering business attached. We supplied loads of hotels, nursing homes, health farms etc. I can remember one health farm that had a change of manager. First thing she did was call in all the suppliers to renegotiate the discounts. At the end of the meeting she told me i was supplier number 3 that day and so far she had negotiated extra discounts equal to her annual salary. It was obvious where she was coming from. She didn't give a monkeys about quality or service, just the bottom line. That wasn't a one-off either. Whenever there was a new manager or chef at any of the places, it was very much touch and go. You just expected it.

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