Exotic Flowers in Boston

Exotic Flowers has suspended issuing new customer cards. We want to know your name not your customer #. About ten years ago, we relaunched our customer card program.

Retailers all over have touted the success of their customer card programs and how they increase business. In 2001, Exotic Flowers introduced the Alizarin (the color of the card) Card at a roll out of over 10,000 customer cards.

The Alizarin Card entitled holders to instant account access; Alizarin Card Priority (delivery services unavailable to non card holders); personalization and special promos.

Why did we scrap the cards ??

• we want to know our customers by name, not by#
• we want to know your likes & dislikes; we do not just want to have our hand in Your Pocket

Of course, the cards will always be welcome at Exotic Flowers in Roslindale or Faneuil Hall or at www.exoticflowers.com

We are a family owned and operated business. Relationships are more to us than transactions. We send and share your emotions; our relationship is a lot more than a customer #. Our relationship starts with us knowing your name.

Some Florists are just too uptight when it comes to weddings. Weddings and funerals are two of the largest pieces of the independent florist's sales. Florists in Boston and New England need to embrace and appreciate that the newly engaged would choose them to create their wedding flowers.

Below is an information sheet to prospective clients from one of the larger wedding florists in New England. Exotic Flowers' viewpoint is countered in bold.

"In order that we may provide you with the attention and service you deserve, please keep the following in mind when planning your flowers.

 1. Please make an appointment. Because our bridal consultants are often attending to the details of other weddings, they are not always available to assist you properly. Yes, an appointment would be great, but we know you are pressed for time and often impulsive. Please come in any time we're open.

2. If you are part of an event site package, we suggest you consult with us no later than five months prior to your wedding date. Five months. Are they kidding? Package weddings are often the more simple ones and we will treat you no differently than any other bride and groom.

3. Have wedding and or dress colors chosen. Do not sweat it if you have not chosen your colors yet. We all know your mother in law will choose hers at the last minute.

4. Please be on time for your appointment. Each consultation is for 90 minutes. Yes, please be on time. Our attention span is short and we do not wish to lose our patience. ;-)

5. Please try to limit the number of people you bring with you. This is Your day. Bring whomever you want with you.

6. Please silence all cell phones. In a perfect world, we would appreciate it. But guess what ? While you're here, our phone is going to ring.. a lot. So we feel, yours can ring as well. We know how busy you are and half of our job is to make your life easier.

Some florists get it and some do not. As a florist, I know we are not curing cancer. The catering business has a famous saying "it's just chicken on a plate,". I agree. At the end of the day, there are much more important things in life to stress over.

Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October every year. This holiday does not catch much exposure in the Northeast. But in the Great Lakes Region, Sweetest Day rivals Valentine's Day as a day for sweethearts to show their affection. The celebration is marked with small gift giving such as flowers, candy, and greeting cards.

Traditionally, Exotic Flowers in Boston and Roslindale has tried in vain to promote flower purchases for this holiday; hoping that some of Boston's college students would bring their traditions to Boston. In 2010, Exotic Flowers decided to drop the Sweetest Category from www.exoticflowers.com. The sales over the years have shown very few orders.

Along with Sweetest Day, Exotic Flowers also chose to drop Bosses' Week (10/11 thru 10/15) from our category list as well.

Boss's Day is traditionally celebrated in the United States and Canada every October. This holiday was created as a way for employees to show thanks to their bosses. Although, we can think of no better way to show thanks than fresh flowers from Boston's Premier Florist; we also feel that the best thanks an employee can show her boss is to do their job well.

We appreciate every floral order for both Sweetest Day and Boss's Day, but we also feel that our clients October dollars can be spent wisely on all our Halloween and Harvest offerings.

"
"Pay close attention to where you are walking." I uttered these words shortly before I dropped a full case of glass hurricanes and pillar candles while setting up flowers for Exotic Flowers at the Decordova Museum in Lincoln, MA.

Sunday October 10th, 2010 - was one of the busier wedding days of the year. First, Columbus Day Weekend is always a busy wedding weekend. Second, many brides and grooms sought the 10-10-10 wedding date for its cosmic connection.

Exotic Flowers of Roslindale was on the grounds of the legendary Decordova Museum and Sculpture Garden. When setting a wedding at any type of museum, there are lots more rules than a function hall. For example, no rose petals. Bring a vacuum, stay so many feet or inches away from the displays and above all do not spill any water and do not break anything.

The Exotic Flowers staff and I, had the honor of working with Jessica Kriley of the Decordova. Jessica is friendly, professional, efficient and truly welcomed us into her arena. La Fete Catering of Natick was the chosen caterer. What a truly inspirational showcase that Amy Colombi and the crew delivered.

The fun part happened when I dropped the case of glass and smashed three hurricane lanterns right on the dining room floor and I sliced my ring finger wide open. Thankfully we always bring extra vases and band aids along with us for any event. The Exotic Flowers events kit not only includes, bandaids, but tape, matches, ribbon, scissors, pins, business cards and even a sewing kit. Sewing kit ? Sure, we have had to help with last minute tailoring for guests and wedding party members.

My advice to anyone planning flowers for an event.

• arrive early
• bring extra flowers
• bring extra vases
• pack a Flower Event tool kit
• bring a camera (see above)
• if someone has to bleed, make sure it is you.

About ten years ago, Chef Tony Ambrose owned and operated the Ambrosia Restaurant on Huntington Avenue in Boston. Ambrosia was famous for its highend dining, its trend setting crowds and its surly chef.

Ambrose ran his kitchen at an intense level with high stress in his quest for perfection. Ambrose, an expert in his field, has a storied history of berating staff and clients alike.

One time, a dinner party had questioned the waiter on the freshness of the fish which they had been served. Ambrose, the perfectionist, considered this complaint an assault on his restaurant, character and his craft. He promptly came from the kitchen to quickly berate the client and their taste buds. Professional ? No, of course not. But Ambrose was an artist, an expert in his field who was blinded by his ambitions to perfect.

In Boston, Exotic Flowers is owned and operated by the Canale family. Sonny Canale is the Tony Ambrose of the floral industry. Sonny has honed his craft for over 50 years as Boston's Premier Florist. His quest for perfection in floral design and growing plants has kept  Exotic Flowers at the forefront of the floral industry.

Although Sonny has never publicly humiliated a customer, customers may have witnessed the intensity of a high energy design room at Exotic Flowers in Roslindale. There is a lot of yelling and a bit of cursing, especially in the mornings. Professional ? No, but Sonny is an expert and artist. His quest for perfection has kept Exotic Flowers in business for over fifty years.

If any client, visitor, employee or friend has ever been offended or intimidated by the surly florists in Boston, we are sorry. Our goal is never to offend, but to give you the best.

The goals of our marketing at Exotic Flowers are quite simple; we maintain a visual presence in the Boston area by presenting a beautiful flower shop and greenhouse which sells the freshest flowers and exotic plants. Our flowers and gifts are sold and delivered by uniformed personnel who drive lettered vehicles.

The color maroon resonates throughout our company. Maroon is visible in our clothing, our stationary, our vehicles, ink colors, stickers, packaging, direct mail and our website. Why maroon ? Maroon was chosen for personal reasons. I, Rick Canale, am a graduate of The Roxbury Latin School (1989) and Boston College (A&S 1993,). Both schools use this color as their signature. Of course, many other Massachusetts Universities and Colleges, like Harvard, M.I.T.. and UMASS Amherst also use this color. So Exotic Flowers reaches out to many Massachusetts residents through this subliminal advertising.

We send direct mail postcards five times per year to our client base. These mailers reinforce to our customers, who they buy their flowers from. The goal of our program is remain at 'top of mind awareness' for our customers.

We spend over ten hours per week in social media. I personally post to two blogs, am on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Our social media program keeps Exotic Flowers in a continual conversation with our customers and prospective customers.

Exotic Flowers of Boston and Roslindale will occasionally publish a print ad in a local publication like the Improper Bostonian. Our goal with these ads is to reinforce our image and presence in the marketplace. Exotic Flowers also has a small ad in the Super Pages Book for the client who still references the big book.

Exotic Flowers also donates flowers and gift cards to special causes and events for our top clients. We reserve these donations for our top clients as we like to give back to those who give to us.

Exotic Flowers also sponsors sports teams like the Red Sox and the Boston Breakers. We also contribute to local child and teen sports leagues. Exotic Flowers feels organized sports are essential to the health and well being of our community.

Finally, the staff at Exotic Flowers goes out of the shops and talks to people. We believe in going to the bank, shopping in our community, dining out and being seen. We are a member of the community and want to be visible. We also attend industry shows and conventions and network with our colleagues. We feel that we need to give as much as we can to the floral industry. We know that the more floral professionals who share ideas, the more people will buy flowers and the more successful we will be.

September, 2010 - Orlando, FL - 126th Annual SAF Convention

by Rick Canale of Exotic Flowers in Boston

I just got back from the SAF Orlando floral convention in Florida. The convention celebrated its 126th anniversary this year. 289 people from 35 states and four countries attended the event. Fifteen percent of the registrants attended for the first time.

The numbers from the show exhibit a small sliver of the floral industry.

The highlight of my trip however was three-fold.

One - the people. Floral industry members are some of the hardest working and kindest people there are. I was able to have coffee with industry leader Mark Nance AAF of Bloomnet. I chatted with Floral Management 'capo' Amanda Long. And it was great getting pats on the back by industry icons Stan Pohmer and Teleflora Chairman Tom Butler AAF, PFCI.

Two - I served as a judge for the 2010 Floral Management Marketer of the Year Contest and also served as a judge for the Outstanding Varieties Competition.

 Left: This year's winner is magical.

Three - Educational Sessions

I was honored and thrilled to participate in an engaging panel with two marketing muses. Our job was to present "Finding the Right Social Networking Strategy for Your Business,". Along with Georgianne Vinicombe of Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Company and Mandy Majerick, AIFD, PFCI of HotHouseDesign Studio.  What an engaging response from the attendees ! It was great. Renato Sogueco, CIO at SAF put together a great panel and executed the session flawlessly.

It was a joy to see industry heavies, Brian Wheat of Lafayette Florist, Paul Bachman of Bachman's of Minnesota, Paul Brockaway of Conklyn's of Virginia, Don Coleman of Mayfield Florist and Kathy Dudley of The Bloomery in Butler PA all in the audience. 

Just seeing a full audience engaged in our session was worth the time trip alone. 

My only disappointment at the convention - why was I the only florist, grower or wholesaler there from Massachusetts? Massachusetts is one of the largest consumption states of fresh flowers in the United States. We even boast the most recent Florist of the Year. Yet me, Rick Canale of Exotic Flowers in Boston was the only Massachusetts representation. Too bad for Massachusetts and too bad for Boston florists.

Ben Affleck's new movie "The Town" is an adaptation of the 2004 novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan. The story is a tale of four men - thieves, rivals, friends - who are hunted through the streets of Boston by a driven FBI agent (Jon Hamm).

 Ben Affleck plays lead character Doug MacRay. MacRay was born and raised in Charlestown and a lifelong criminal who learned his trade from his father. MacRay is the leader of a gang of bank robbers who has eluded capture. The gang works for crime boss Fergie, played by Pete Postlethwaite.

In order to have a public profile, Fergie's front is as a Boston florist. Scenes in the movie show Fergie in his shop and arranging flowers. These scenes give viewers an interesting look into day to day operations at a Boston flower shop.

(Inset of O'Banion flower shop)

Fergie's character is loosely based upon Irish American mobster Dean O'Banion (1892-1924). O'Banion was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone in Chicago. At the height of his power, O'Banion was rumored to  be making one million dollars in bootlegging operations. Like Fergie, O'Banion need a legitimate front for his criminal operations. O'Banion was not only known as a successful Chicago florist, but also an excellent floral designer. Much of his floral work came as a result of the Mob wars in Chicago. These mob hits often resulted in $1000 floral tributes for the deceased. The rooms above O'Banion's flower shop (Schofield's) were used as headquarters for his Northside Gang.

Boston, MA - September 2010

Rick Canale, the Managing Director of Exotic Flowers, Boston's Premier Florist and www.exoticflowers.com has been chosen by the editorial staff at Floral Management Magazine to serve as a judge for the 16th Annual Marketer of the Year Contest.

Floral Management Magazine is published monthly by the Society of American Florists (SAF), the Association provides marketing, business and government services for the entire floriculture industry. Floral Management Magazine is a member benefit of SAF.

A $5,000 cash prize, sponsored by Design Master color tool, Inc., as well the the opportunity to be on the cover of the October 2010 issue of Floral Management.

What Makes a Winner?
Judges look for unique, innovative and successful marketing efforts. It can be a single campaign, or a series of promotional and advertising efforts over the course of a year or more.

Rick Canale won the contest in 2008 and has been asked to return as a judge for this years contest. Rick is one of seven judges from the floral and media industry.

"I am proud to serve the industry and my peers. This year's contestants inspired me in my own flower shop. The contest is a great opportunity for the floral industry to implement some marketing savvy in their own operations. I cannot wait to see the results at the SAF Convention in Orlando. " - Rick Canale