Lead Your Team by Knowing Your Audience

#005: Your customer wants to be treated as an individual, the be understood, treated with kindness and always wants you to be truthful with them. Join Vonda and Lori to find out how identifying their personality type can help you give the best customer service, alleviate frustration and lead to better sales and repeat customers.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

[ music plays ] .

Vonda 0:04

Welcome to The Business and Pleasure of Flowers. I'm Vonda LaFever.

Lori 0:08

and I'm Lori Wilson .

Vonda 0:10

We often get wrapped up into the day to day operations of our business and forget the pleasure flowers bring to everyone,

Lori 0:17

including us!

Vonda 0:18

Join us each week as we touch on important subjects that will help lead you to a more successful business.

Lori 0:25

and at the same time remind you that pleasure. or just downright fun, needs to be part of your everyday life. So thanks for stopping in today. We're so glad you're here.

Vonda 0:37

Hey, cliquers we're glad to have you back. What's so funny, Lori? When I'm taking my podcasting class, they tell you you're supposed to have a name for your followers.

Lori 0:49

Cliquers is what you've chosen?

Vonda 0:55

I thought maybe you could help me come up with that name. That's not it?

Lori 0:59

Let's table that. Let's put that over here on our brainstorm list of, so you have to like call your community?

Vonda 1:08

Yeah, it's a name for our community and we have Business and Pleasure of Flowers.

Lori 1:13

Yeah. I don't know. Let's talk about that at another time.

Vonda 1:19

And speaking of names, every time we do a recording you have to put in a name of who is joining. And mine is always just my email address. And you always come up with some.

Lori 1:32

So here's in this program that we use for people that don't know, we log in cause we don't live in the same state. That's how we do our podcast. And we can see each other, but you guys can't see us. So when I have to sign in and when I sign in it asks me to put my name. But if I don't put my name, it comes up with a name for me. They're always funny. One time last week I didn't do it and it said I was the accomplice and I was like, thats funny! Today I'm the polite subwoofer. So I don't know what that is. But the other ones have been pretty funny. So I intentionally don't put my name in there.

Vonda 2:11

Just to see what they come up with.

Lori 2:12

So I have to confess I'm not making that up. You thought I was super creative. I'm not, it autogenerates it.

Vonda 2:20

I really did think you were making that up and I was thinking, wow, you're really creative . Let's get into our content today. Cause I think it's pretty great. Especially with the holiday coming up.

Lori 2:35

We did a webinar last week on this and we thought, let's do this cause we got so many questions after this webinar that were a little more specific. And so we decided to take what a little bit of a deeper dive into the types of customers that flower shops have. Right?

Vonda 2:52

Right. And first off, you want to know what is the customer need or want or expect, right. So I think that's what we started first, was to set the stage. What does the customer want? We know they want to be treated as an individual.

Lori 3:06

Right. So many times, especially during the holidays, you know, you're so quick and you got to hurry up and you're answering the phone. You maybe have exactly what you're supposed to say, but you don't really stop and take the first couple minutes to hear from them first to know, okay, what type of person this is. Like every one of us have at least an ounce of intuitiveness, right? Yeah. That's kind of what we're going to talk about today. How can we tap into that intuitiveness to listen to the type of customer calling?

Vonda 3:43

You just said something though that as a business owner, I would go no way Lori, you just said you have to take the first couple minutes to understand, and I don't have two minutes on Valentine's day to listen, but it doesn't take that long to be intuitive in that first 30 seconds. The way you're listening to their tone of voice, the speed in which they're talking, the speed in which they're talking can tell you a lot and the tone of voice, all those things really help you identify so it doesn't take two minutes. That's why I didn't want somebody to back away and be like, two minutes. No way.

Lori 4:20

Well, we're going to get to this later. We'll talk about the two minutes, unless it's a storyteller.

Vonda 4:25

That's right.

Lori 4:26

Then it will take two minutes.

Vonda 4:27

We'll go into those four kinds of customers. But then we know that they want to be understood.

Lori 4:32

Right. So no matter what personality type, they want to be understood, they want to be treated as an individual, right?

Vonda 4:39

Want to be treated with kindness and they want you to be truthful in what they're hearing. So all those things. So we'll come back to those. Just knowing what the customer wants. And then let's go into the types of personality, cause that's gonna really be where we're going to dive deep into this.

Lori 4:58

Right? And it's funny, well not funny, but it's going to be fun because you and I are very different personalities. We buy differently. We just do all of those things differently. So I would imagine people that have listened to our first few podcasts already know when we talk about which one of these, they're going to be able to pick at least who I am. So, you start with the first one.

Vonda 5:24

Well the first one is the data scientist . Now that's the customer who wants the facts, right? They want to know what exactly is going into that arrangement. How many roses are going to be in there? Is it a light shade of pink or a dark shade of pink ? They don't want to really know anything about you. They just want to know exactly what you're getting and what it's going to cost. And those are the ones who are usually going to say, how much is this going to cost? Or I'm only have $50 or I have $30 then you have to talk them into spending more. Right? You to tell them what they're getting for that amount of money.

Lori 6:00

Yeah, and what you just said is so true. So they're gonna , they're going to call and they're going to let you know right up front what their budget is, or what they want their budget to be. However, once you start explaining what it is they want for their money, they'll probably go up if they want something bigger or they're going to stick to the budget, no matter what they don't care size wise, they need it to be this. You're going to have to take a little bit of time with these people. You don't have to put a little emotion into it. You don't have to try to build relationships so much with this person. You need to be respectful, right? And if they start the very beginning saying, I don't want to spend more than $75 and that includes tax and delivery, then you honor that, you know?

Vonda 6:43

Or you let them know what they get for that value. So if they say to you they want to spend, you know, 50 bucks, right? They said $50 is my limit. Okay, that's great. We do have a couple things in that and it's going to be, you know, at $50 at Valentine's day, it's going to be a mixed arrangement that's going to have two roses and a couple stems of Alstroemeria. And this in a clear vase, you will be able to pause and hear if they say, Oh wow, but that's probably not enough. Even though they've told you 50 bucks, you might say, you know , you might consider the data, scientists will listen, right? You might consider going to the next level, which would be $75 which I can give you four roses and those flowers, which is going to be a better value for them. They're the kind who use coupons, right?

Lori 7:30

I was going to say, fun fact, they like a coupon or a Groupon.

Vonda 7:33

Right. So as long as their value equals their costs. They had that perceived value that what they're getting is a good value for their costs. They'll be happy.

Lori 7:43

Right. And so another thing you can do for these, especially during a holiday, is create a bundle, right? We've talked to so many shops that maybe you're partnering with the restaurant across the street or I know last year when I shop, I talked to you partnered with the spa, a spa like across the street from them and they created this really cool bundle that included roses and then a certificate to the spa and like a spa candle, whatever it is. It's that value of three for one, right. If you buy all of this together, it's cheaper than if you were to buy it individually. These are the people that would listen for a bundle.

Vonda 8:21

So two things you just mentioned. One was bundling with somebody externally, which helps you with marketing. A lot of shops won't do it because they're like, well, I want to sell what's in my shop, which I totally get, but that way now that spa is advertising your flower shop and vice versa.

Lori 8:41

Exactly.

Vonda 8:42

Or you can bring in the bundle just in your shop, maybe have candles and you have plush and you have candy along with your flowers. So there's two different ways to create those bundles.

Lori 8:55

Yeah, a lot of flower shops, at least around my area, they carry something that's been made locally. Maybe somebody that's also an Etsy, but they're bringing their stuff and so they're selling their , I don't know, crosses or jewelry, so I would, I would also reach out to them and say, Hey, for the holiday, do you want to go in together? And we do a bundle, bundles are a whole nother podcast, but these are the types of the data scientists, they love to get the most value for the money. They're not cheap. I'm not saying these are cheap people, but they, they want to know exactly what they're getting for their money.

Vonda 9:33

So I'm going to go onto the next one because you might guess that this might be me.

Lori 9:39

Yes, this is you. This is Vonda.

Vonda 9:42

The closers. They want the bottom line. They don't want your step-by-step, they don't want to know what it is, but they just want to know, I need flowers. I need to know that you're going to get them to the right person at the right time and just tell me what I need. These are the ones that we wished all of our customers were on Valentine's Day. They're in a hurry. It's usually that businessman. He calls, he wants to, I want a dozen roses and you could probably talk him into a wow dozen roses. He's like, okay, tell me that and here's my credit card. Okay, get it there when I need it there .

Lori 10:14

Right. So they, their biggest thing is number one, their time. Number two, will it be delivered when it needs to be delivered? And can I check it off my list? These people are list people. I wish I was like this, but I am not. They want to be able to check this off of their list. They're not linear. You don't have to put emotion into it. I know we said that, but you also don't want to think you're going to win them over as a friend. Does that make sense? Like people like me that answered the phone to this person, I'm going to think, Oh, if I'm nicer or if I tried to find out more about it really does more harm than good. Right? So your intuitiveness kicks in. You're like, okay, this person wants to hurry up. Also, I will say most closers nowadays, they don't pick up the phone. Right?

Vonda 11:06

You're right. They don't. Those are the ones that are going to order off your website. They're going to be quick and easy and go, alright , click, click, click. I'm done. You're right. That's a really good point because the closer doesn't necessarily want to have the conversation. If you have the closer who's on the phone, be sure and check to see if they've ordered with you before because if they have and you have that in your point of sales system, Ooh , you're going to really win them over because it's like, Oh, you want to order it for your wife? Oh, we did that before. She's at this address. Should we just do happy Valentine's day? Love Steve and I have your billing address. Are the last four of your credit cards still six, nine, nine, five and he'll say, yes. Thank you. Oh my gosh. He's going to call you time and time again, because you were quick, easy. You had his information.

Lori 11:49

Yup. Exactly. Okay. The next one when these people call, if they were to call and I was to answer, I would say, can you hold a minute, I'm going to get Vonda to talk to you.

Vonda 12:01

Yeah. The director, right? These are the people who know their flowers. They know the difference between a red Rose and a like a freedom Rose and a free spirit Rose. Right ? And you're like, Oh, I'm sure they know hydrangea. They know Veronica or they know, you know , some specialty flowers.

Lori 12:22

What's on the greenery you always talk about and you use all of the words and all of the things they know that right?

Vonda 12:28

They do. And we as designers love these people. They speak our language. Valentine's day is a little more challenging, but as long as we have an arrangement visually in front of us that we can describe to them, they like to hear what is in each one of those arrangements.

Lori 12:47

I think with directors, going back to checking your POS system , if you're doing any kind of pre-marketing for Valentine's Day, these would be the people. It would be great to have your designer reach out to prior to say, listen, you know, you ordered this last time, do you want to take it a step further? Do you want it ? What do you want to do to get that conversation already taken care of? And it would also make them feel, Oh they're calling me cause I'm kind of more of an elite person cause I know my stuff.

Vonda 13:24

Yes. Right.

Lori 13:25

Or even an email, something like that. I would want these people to order early.

Vonda 13:30

It would be beneficial, especially to the flower shop if they could order early.

Lori 13:34

Yeah. Maybe that's what the email or the text or however you're corresponding with your customers, let them know, Hey, I'm reaching out to you because I know everything is in the details for you. When can you talk? You know, they're probably not going to order online.

Vonda 13:49

And you let them know that you understand the value of customer satisfaction and you want them to be happy. And so that's why you're reaching out and want them to order early, so.

Lori 13:59

Right. We talked about this a little bit , in the, in the webinar we did last week, I brought up the question, would these be people you would want to send a picture of what you made and you said yes and no.

Vonda 14:17

Right, right. Because a lot of times when you send that picture, since they want to be the ones controlling the design, they might even say, I like it, but maybe if you could move that Rose here or that Rose there or I don't really like that. Just like it is. Those are the type of people, if you have a policy that you're sending pictures, you might want to send the pictures of the recipient receiving the flowers because then the focus is more on the person and the flowers look pretty, but they're not like every little detail they're not looking for in the flowers .

Lori 14:49

I was also thinking this type of personality, again, I know where there's a lot of people listening going who has time for this, but I'm talking about after Valentine's day. If I knew I had had conversation with all these people, I might even reach out to them and be a little preemptive to make sure how did it go? Were they happy with it? Because if they weren't, you could get a bad review in the world of the internet. That stinks and we hate that. But if you reached out to them just to make sure they were happy with it, even if they come back and go, you know, I really wasn't and here's why. Okay, well we can make that right.

Vonda 15:28

Years ago we used to say, no news is good news, but that's not necessarily true anymore. No news means it could be somewhere on social media that they're not happy. So if you have any customers like this that you think, you know what, it might be beneficial for me to reach out to get some input. Go with your gut.

Lori 15:48

Yeah. I know we got, after we went to dinner at a pretty nice restaurant in new year's Eve, we got an email the following week checking in to see, not that we are directors, but I'm like that was pretty smart because there were some things that I wasn't super happy about there customer service wise, not the food. And so I did, I emailed this guy back privately and then he responded and I'm like, I would not do a negative review out unless I had addressed it first and gotten nothing back. But a lot of people would. So I think he was being preemptive saying, Hey, you know, if you had problems, let me know. And I'm sure it was a mass email to everybody that was there and he got it because we reserved on like open table or something. So he had our email .

Vonda 16:35

Okay, so the next one is all about you Lori . So this is called the storyteller. For all of you storytellers out there, I feel you. You're not alone. It is me. This type of customer can become your best friend. I have flower shop owners that I've known for eight years and they're doing their own thing now, but they still call me because we're best friends and we've never even met face to face. These people are going to become your best friend if you take those few extra seconds or minutes. I know you said two minutes is too much, but they will be a forever loyal customer. These people are the loyal ones. Like if they hang up and they had a great experience, they're going to look for reasons to call you back to order more flowers. Like they are, you know, you see all of the shop, local support, your local business, this personality type, they're pretty big into that and it's a good thing. You know. It's a good thing. It is a good thing because these are your loyal customers. You have made a connection with them. And so they'll come back. Tell me, Lori , as a storyteller, if I'm taking an order from you, how can I get you off the phone quicker without making you feel bad.

Lori 18:00

Yeah I know, I hear you say no more Vonda say no more. Here's how I do it. This was coming from a storyteller that I've had to think through this cause I talked to a lot of them. I say something like, Oh my goodness, I could talk to you all day long but I know I need to let you go get back to work. So let's wrap up. Let me just reaffirm what you ordered. Something like that. You, you let them know, you know they're busy or you need to let them go. Don't ever say, Hey, I'd love to hear you but I'm swamped. I got to go. That, It hurts my feelings.

Vonda 18:42

You don't want to make them feel like they're not important.

Lori 18:45

Right, or valued or that you just got on their nerves. I mean just put it on you. I mean, you know like I need to let you go. I could talk to you all day long. You need to come visit me after Valentine's day . Come in and you know, something like that. Anything to where your putting it back on them, you've got to let them go. You're the one that's taking too much of their time. Does that make sense?

Vonda 19:08

It does. That makes a lot of sense because we tend to go just, just like you said, we tend to say, Oh, I'm really swamped Lori. I really love to talk to you even more, but I really gotta go.

Lori 19:19

Or what happens is you're , you're taking that order and they're talking and telling you about their new grand baby and you're so excited. And when they , there is a pause. The person, the employee on the phone says, okay, just to wrap up the end completely ignores their heartfelt story of their brand new baby grandchild. You know what I mean? At least fake it. If you're not into that fake just a little bit of it. These people fun fact are the ones that will post those positive reviews. They're going to click the Google and make a review. They're going to click Yelp. They're going to, because they love to take the time to say something positive about their experience.

Vonda 20:06

The other thing we talked about on the webinar was the importance of having your about us page on your website filled out with correct information because the storyteller wants to know who they're buying from. So before they even pick up the phone, if they've never ordered from you before, they will research to see, okay, what does this person stand for? And you know, Oh, they work at a animal shelter on their things off or they are in this organization or that organization because they want to know a little bit about you before they enter into that conversation.

Lori 20:42

They like to humanize. And I can tell you because I do order flowers quite a bit because it's the industry I'm in. So I'm always wanting to support people. I always go to the about page about us and I love it even more if there's a picture of everybody I can tell if it's just a script. But I love when it started in 1820 with great aunt Gladys or that's so cool. You know, I love that a lot of people don't because I feel like I'm helping.

Vonda 21:15

Lori. I know that our listeners are very busy.

Lori 21:22

Yeah, it's true. It's true. We need to let them go. Right?

Vonda 21:26

We do, so let's, let's recap on what the customer wants. And then in your minds , everyone who's listening, think about the four different kinds of customers, but they all want to be treated like individuals. They want to be understood, they want to be treated with kindness, and they want you to be truthful. So all of those things really go into all four types of customers.

Lori 21:48

Right. And so let's, let's talk real quick about truthful. Because in this industry we have always said, never say no, we can't . Right ? However, you have to be truthful. So Vonda since you owned a flower shop for so long and have been through, I don't know how many Valentine's Days, how do you handle that? If someone calls and they want, I don't know, eight, you know , 18 roses with stargazers or fill in the blank and you're out of Poloma roses . Like how can you say, yes, we can do that, but?

Vonda 22:27

If they want it delivered on Valentine's day, that's a tough one. You could say, you know those Poloma roses are out of stock right now, but I will have some more in tomorrow if you want to wait and send them the day after Valentine's Day. However, if your messages to get your love across today, I'm going to suggest that we do white roses and red combination so that it's going to give you a red, white combination, but it's going to be a little bit different look, or I also have a different two-tone Rose that is a yellow and orange. Would that work? So you're giving them a yes. If you want that exact thing, I can get it to you later. But if the urgency is today, which would know is Valentine's Day, right? Let's see what I can do for you today.

Lori 23:08

And so my new favorite line is if you need to get your love out today instead of tomorrow, I've never heard of that.

Vonda 23:14

That just kind of rolled off didn't it.

Lori 23:22

I'm going to use that on my husband. You need to get your love out today, but if you can wait until tomorrow, I can have more roses or I can go to a fancier restaurant.

Vonda 23:35

All right , you got me on that on.

Lori 23:37

I challenge everyone listening to use that sentence on the phone at some point over the holidays. That's great. So that's truth . That's the bottom line with all of them. Use your common sense, your intuitiveness, whatever you want to call it. When you pick up that phone, start figuring out within that first 15,30 seconds of their who they are, their tone of voice. You know if I answer and say Vonda's flower shop and the person on the other line is yes I need to order a dozen Rosas , you quickly know, okay this isn't a storyteller. But if you answer and they say well hello Vonda how's, how's the weather there? You know, Oh here we go.

Vonda 24:23

Yeah, tone and speed. I think both of those you can, you can definitely read them and , and I know those who are listening to us have been through this many times and are pretty intuitive. So I think that's trying to determine the four different kinds will be kind of fun for them to be able to figure it out.

Lori 24:40

Right. So one, one more thing. Regardless of the personality type or the customer that's calling you are going to start the conversation and end the conversation virtually the same way. And what I mean is start it say, well let's talk a few minutes. Or you can say second, let's talk a little bit. Who is it for? You know , because you, even if it's a closer, you want to revert back to them exactly what they're ordering. Don't even paraphrase it. You're going to say the exact, so they know, okay, they heard me. I can trust this person. They're going to do it.

Vonda 25:20

Yeah. Kind of get a recap of the order. Give a recap, right.

Lori 25:25

Give a recap of the order before you hang up that phone. So you're going to start it. Go and tell me a little bit more because I want to know what exactly you need in the end. Here's what I heard you say, right? I'll tell you, I have ordered flowers from a shop that I told them, you know, pink, my mom's favorite color was pink, she loves pink and greens and I don't know a lot about flowers. And they were almost too vague with me and it made me feel stupid. You have to be really careful in how you do that, but when they came back, they didn't even explain to me what I like. I hung up not quite knowing what it was going to be and maybe that could be just because it was me and I knew this person, the shop owner and I called them to have it delivered and they're like, I got you. I'll take care of it. And so part of that , okay, but if you tell them back , if you say back to them, this is what I heard you say and this is what we're going to make happen. Everybody that hangs up the phone is going to feel okay, they got this.

Vonda 26:29

Right and that's what you want. They all want to know you got their message and you're going to say it with flowers.

Lori 26:35

Right. You're going to send them your love, send them love or how did you say it now I forgot it?

Vonda 26:41

If you want your love sent out today.

Lori 26:43

Yes, their going to send their love out today. I feel like that's a song.

Vonda 26:48

It could be.

Lori 26:49

Send my love out today. So, okay. Vonda we're wrapping up. What is giving you life right now? What are you loving?

Vonda 26:54

Interesting? Cause this isn't usually me, but my body shop hand lotion and it's sitting on my desk and it's berry bon bon. Ooh , this fragrance is great. And uh , body shop is a lotion that's all natural and I'm just loving it today.

Lori 27:14

Very nice. And it's cold where you are in Florida today.

Vonda 27:18

It is cold today. I'm not used to this cold, but I am venturing up to see my grandchildren. And so it will be even colder in Iowa.

Lori 27:27

Yikes. Well I will be visiting you in Iowa too . I am not, you know, I'm like you, I don't have big warm coats so I'm going to have to go steal from someone's closet.

Vonda 27:39

What is giving you life?

Lori 27:40

What's give me life right now is I love, I love the little quick morning devotion book just to, it doesn't even have to be biblical. It can be just feel good. And so I have this book, it's called 100 days to Brave and it's just a hundred different super short days of like believe that you are never alone as a topic. And then prepare for change is what I read today. And I'm like, that's really cool. So I just love a quote . It's by Annie F Downs. I listened to her podcast, she has a podcast that's called, That Sounds Fun. And I love her. I think she's funny. She always has really great guests, but that's what's giving me life. I try to read , they're short, you know, they're like a little, just one little page. So that's what's kind of given me life. It's a fun way to start my day.

Vonda 28:37

It a great way to start your day. A little inspiration cause we all need that.

Lori 28:40

Yes. So anyway. All right . I think we're done.

Vonda 28:44

We're so happy everyone joined us today.

Lori 28:47

Yes, we're up to quite a few listeners.

Vonda 28:50

We are so excited, over 200.

Lori 28:53

I know! And I'm laughing cause I'm like, man, I really just thought my relatives would listen. I don't even think they've listened. So I'm excited that it's very fun. And for all of you that are listening, we are so, so grateful. I know I say that at the end of every one , but I , I really mean that from the bottom of my heart. Because we couldn't do this without you guys. So those of you that love it and if you want to get notified, subscribe and you'll get a notification. We're trying to launch when every Tuesday, is that right?

Vonda 29:25

That is right. Every Tuesday.

Lori 29:26

That's, that's all I got. So I guess Vonda, I will see you face to face on Friday.

Vonda 29:31

So when we're working on our flower prep school, which is kind of next for.

29:34

the cliquers,

Vonda 29:35

the cliquers.

Lori 29:36

Cliquees, click, click. I don't know. Next week we'll have a better, we'll have a better name.

Vonda 29:42

It's actually our flower prep school, which we're recording in Iowa at some great studio and we're excited about it. We are actually going to teach Lori. How to design. This is going to be so much fun.

Lori 29:58

Here's the thing, here's what I'm excited about because my, again, I do live my life glass half full because I really think we can all do anything we want. If I can do this, honestly, anyone can if you have the desire.

Vonda 30:14

Absolutely. So we hope you come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in life and business.

Speaker 1 30:31

[inaudible] .