6.  We’re part of your community. Buying local is the new buzzword. Get involved in your Local First  (here’s another list, or just google "Local First" and your city) or downtown merchant’s association.  Learn about how local merchants are promoting small, locally-owned businesses over big boxes.  Remind your customers, and your city council members, that studies show that spending $100 at a local...

5.  We’ll handle your long-distance orders. Your customers have probably had a bad experience with order gatherers, without even really knowing what an order gatherer is. But you can be sure they don’t like the idea of dealing with a call center. "Sending flowers out of town?  Call us and we’ll get the order to the right florist, anywhere in the world.  No more dealing with call centers or fraudulent...

4.  We offer a money-back guarantee. Can you offer a 7-day vase life guarantee?  What about 5 days?  "All of our flowers come with a vase life guarantee. Just follow our simple care instructions, and if your flowers don’t last a week, we’ll replace them or refund your money." "Wrong color?  Wrong size?  Wrong address?  Wrong date? Wrong girl? We’ll take care of it. (Okay, it’s...

3.  We take better care of you. Your customers might not even realize how much personal service you offer.  Give them some concrete examples.  Don’t just say "we have better service."  Everybody says they have better service. "We know that people buy flowers on some of the best days — and the worst days –  of their lives.  Florists have seen it all. Whether you’re getting...

2.  We take better care of our flowers. Most people who buy flowers don’t have any idea how to tell whether or not they’re fresh.  So it’s up to you to teach them.  If you’re taking better care of your flowers than anybody else in town, let people know! "Your flowers should last a week if you care for them properly.   But that’s only possible if they were handled right from the farm to...

1.  Our flowers are better. OK, so I am, admittedly, starting out with one of the more controversial issues.  Are the flowers really better at a flower shop?  If so, why?  And if not,  can you expect people to pay more for them at a flower shop? I would say (and this is actually what I told Money magazine, although they didn’t have room to quote our entire conversation) that in fact, supermarket flowers are fine...