Let's do a deep dive, answering your questions around relay services, wire networks, whatever you wanna call them. It's the world of like Loral one 800 roses FTD. There are probably hundreds. hundreds of different brands that these businesses go by. And one of the questions I do get asked a lot just from like a business strategy marketing perspective, but also something I wish I had known early on in my floral design career was like, what's the go with the wire services and the relay networks? Like, what do I need to know? And that's what I want to cover in today's podcast episode. The big giant disclaimer, at the front of this is there are so many new wire services relay networks popping up all over the place. I am going to just refer to all of them generally, but also know that it is absolutely worth you doing your homework. Even if that homework is Googling and going out and finding your own information, because it is so important that every floral designer knows that you get to make the decisions that are right for you and your business. There is no right and wrong when it comes to the choices that you make in your flower business. But what I do want to make sure is that every floral designer who's like, what do I need to know about like petals or Teloflor or FTD or whoever it is? Like, what are the things I need to know? I see so many florist who are affiliated with them, aligned to them. So many of the mom and pop brick and mortar shops have the FTD flag out there. Like what's the go? Just gimme the information. So that's what I wanted to do in this podcast episode. And just lay out kind of the circumstances, the set of information, and really understanding the role that they could play within your floral design business. But also, no, this is not an endorsement for them. It is not a demand that you sign up. It is not a request to say you have to be a part of it. And it is not a giant poo poo against them. Either. There are so many relay services, wire networks out there under so many different brands. There are some pretty predatory disgusting parasite ish behaviors that happen. at some of the brands. And then there are some that have more integrity, more structure, more customer focus to them. But I wanted to kind of go behind the scenes and talk through like, what is the point of them? How could they fit into your flower business? Most importantly, what problem do they solve without having to assume that you have to be a part or you have to offer a wire service option for your customers. But I think it's so incredibly helpful. And what I wish I had known before, it took us two and a half years to figure out like even deconstruct our statement from pedals. Like the word that I think is most appropriate to most of the relay services and wire networks is obfuscate. It's one of my most favourite words in the English language. I love the fact that in English, we have a word that is very complicated, that literally describes the act of making things complicated. It's so fun. What a fun word to obfuscate, getting information and understanding the ins and outs of a wire service is not a straightforward exercise. So don't beat yourself up if you are confused or not sure. And what is so incredibly interesting and incredibly frustrating here in Australia, we have entire departments of our federal government are dedicated to customer advocacy and empowering customers to be able to stand their ground, know their rights. And there is what I will say as a Canadian, certainly in comparison, a great deal of advocating on behalf of the customer, because many times the customer cannot do that. And then you put the wire services in the relay networks in the mix. And I was like, how can they get away with this in this country? ALA ALA change might be on the horizon very, very slowly, but it's so fascinating to be in the middle of such a pro-consumer country. And then you are confronted with things like relay services and wire networks and how very specifically they market and promote themselves. And you hear story after story, after story of disappointed, customer disappointed, customer disappointed customer. And I think it's so helpful for you as a floral designer and a business owner, just go in with eyes wide open, like, what am I signing up for? What is the problem that these people solve? Stand my ground. Don't feel like you're gonna get taken advantage of and really know like, what is the problem that a relay service solves? And I actually looked this up and I do find this stuff super fascinating, cuz I was like, how long has FTD been around? Like what's the history? Where did it come from? Because it's probably the most common brands. I think a lot of people, a little bit like, Xerox or Kleenex, whether it is FTD. I think people use it as a bit of a catch all for all of the wire services and relay networks. But it actually was founded in 1910 and I was like, whoa, like this has been around a lot longer than I thought and the general premise. So it was actually, what did they say? 13 American florist came together in August of 1910 now partnered together and said, Hey, through the power of the Telegraph, right through the power of the Telegraph, we're gonna be able to coordinate orders so that we could offer a better service to our customers. Like let's talk about the foundation of phenomenal customer service, like so good so that you could be in Denver. And one of those partner, florists in a different city in the United States of America through Telegraph, you could get flowers delivered. Like the foundation of that offering is so pure and it's so good. So that is like the basis of FTD. So it's been around and it's created that network, right? This is idea of like creating a network of Florist so that you as a floral designer in Sydney or Melbourne or Chicago or Vancouver could say, oh yeah, no, we can coordinate flowers to go over to Montreal or Cambridge or Auckland to be able to add that value to your clientele because customer service is such a big part of what we do with our customers. Genius idea, genius idea. Now fast forward 110 years later and the rate at which technology has changed and things are a little bit different and it's so helpful to know the origins of the business model had the best of intentions, the origins of things like FTD so good, such a good thing for customers. Good thing for florist. And then you add on layers of technology and then you add on digital marketing and remote call centers, and it's just gotten really complex and you can go out there and you can find horror stories of really bad customer service offered by any one of those big, um, I shouldn't even say big, but like any one of the relay service networks, all because the customer, the person ordering the flowers doesn't know that they're not talking to a real florist or a actual floral business. So this is the part where I get the most frustrated because the poor humans on the planet are already as intimidated and overwhelmed by the process of ordering flowers to begin with. And there is no transparency around marketing these brands and these businesses as networks. And it's such an industry where our customers have so little understanding of what we do anyway, that they're not even gonna really pay attention. If somebody has like a little, you know, relay network underneath if they're marketing or advertising their services. So in so many of these instances where you hear of disappointed customers and let down clients that it's because they have no clue, they are not informed. And they're not told that they're just talking to somebody in a call centre or that they're just ordering through every lay service website, because it all looks the same. This looks like a real florist. They present themselves as a real florist. Sometimes they're even branded with a specific name. Therefore it feels like a very personal touch, which you might associate with a specific florist. However, they are a call centre and a marketing team because all of the production, all of the hands on and the delivery happens with a local florist. So the general premise of the network is still exactly the same. And the phrase that kind of gathers here or is gaining momentum here in Australia is it's a concept called the order gatherers. And that's what they do. They literally pay for Google ads. They set up a website and they gather orders and then they cite from them off to the local florist. And the problem that they are solving is a very real problem in our industry. They're bridging the gap between the customer's behaviour and the local florist. So essentially what they're doing is if they're paying for the go ads for somebody who might be Googling flower delivery, Chicago, and what's so crazy slash cool is that person might not be in Chicago. They might be in Cambridge looking to have flowers delivered to their sister in Chicago. But the relay services know that this is how the customer behaves. So the bridging the gap between customer typing into Google flower delivery, Chicago and the florist who doesn't have the resources to build their own website and capitalize and go through the Google ads system. And they're filling this gap between local flower shop and either outta town or overseas customer. And that is quite literally what they do. So they have a call centre, they pay for Google ads. In many cases, they will set up the front of your website to a very specific template that they have dictated. And then they will have a catalog of products that you can choose from in some cases to promote on your website. And essentially they are the front end of your online marketing. So when we took on the shop, our shop was a pet's website and going through the process of understanding, okay, what needs to happen here? How much revenue do we actually make off of these orders? How much control do we have? We have no interaction with the customer who's actually ordering. We had very little say about the product we were allowed to put in these designs. It was a lot of dictatorship from the order gatherers. And it's really helpful to know that there is a useful problem that the order gatherers solve, but they may not solve it in a way that aligns with your business. So if you're a floral designer, who's like, I don't want to deal with any part of marketing advertising, having a website set up, it might be that having an order gatherer do all that for you is the right way to go. But it's also really important to know that they're going to in exchange take 30% of the order value. So if a customer places, an order for a hundred dollars, the relay service gets about 30 bucks. You get the balance of it. The tricky bit, the expectation is that that order is still made to a hundred dollars value. So essentially what's happening is that they are taking all of the money, all of your revenue, that you would traditionally allocate to marketing a portion of your profit and some portion of your operations budget, taking it for themselves in exchange for having given you the order. And then you still have to make that order to the same value. They don't explain that to you though. It takes, takes a multitude of statements and, uh, lots of spreadsheets to sit down and figure out that that's how the whole thing works. So it's fair to say, setting up the website, paying for the Google ads. Yes, there's a lot of value in that service, but it would be so helpful if you went into that relationship, understanding that that was the problem that they were solving instead of the general, sometimes kg unclear, not transparent solution that they provide. So that's the first thing to be aware of. The second thing to be aware of. And this will vary depending on which relay service you might associate yourself with, or which relay service might just call and said, Hey, can you put this order through, but the customer, so the person who's ordered the flowers will deal with the call center or will deal through the website. You then get to make the design and deliver it to the recipients, the customer and the customer information still remains. I wanna say like the property of the relay service. So you don't have access to that. Customer's data to do any future marketing with. And in a lot of cases, if there is a disappointed customer or customer complaint or some sort of dissatisfaction with the customer, the blame immediately goes to the local floral designer and the local flower shop. The relay service will, depending on the situation may or may not take any responsibility for it. And your reputation could be tarnished with the local recipient in a relationship that you have no control over. And it took a long time to realize that having a direct communication line and a direct relationship with the beginning customer and end customer is one of the best things that you can do for your business. Because then if there is a misunderstanding, if there is, you know, crap product or I didn't order that, or it went to the wrong address or, you know, whatever the feedback might be, you can actually have a direct conversation and it's not being put through a third party. The other thing as well. And I think this is the part that I want to pull my hair out on because it perpetuates the misunderstanding that our customers have, or the, I shouldn't even say misunderstanding the lack of understanding that our customers have around the value of floristry because it's like an impossible ask for a customer to have ordered a hundred dollars bouquet. And then through a series of, you know, commissions being taken off and how much money is left over and handed to the local florist, the expectation that you are going to deliver a hundred dollars arrangement, but you're only gonna be given $75. And there's lots of layers and subtlety in the math around all of that stuff. And I know the idea of even thinking like when you get your website set up, you're gonna be paying transaction fees. And when you get your Google ads set up, you're gonna be allocating approximately 10% of your revenue to go to, um, your Google ads program. But it still feels like a lot of money for a customer that you can't actually directly communicate with. But understanding that like for every business owner, you get to decide, you get to decide if you want to go through the process of understanding how to get your website sorted list, the help of an expert and understand SEO and get your Google AdWord set up, or you can outsource that whole thing. And you'll end up paying a little bit of an extra premium. The thing that really kind of tipped me over the edge, because when we figured out what the right way to go with our website was, and get your online catalog sorted and SEO and Google ads. And what I teach you guys inside of the flower boss bootcamp and how you go through it all step by step. It was the not having control over that customer relationship that really put me over the edge. And it's hard to necessarily put like a financial value on that. But again, it's one of those things that, because customer service is so important to me, and it's so important to our business that I'm like, mm, this is not in an alignment. And really knowing like, because there's dozens and hundreds of relay services and order gatherers and wire networks out there now these days. I feel like they're popping up all over the place that this idea of really doing your due diligence and understanding like, who are you aligning your brand with and making sure that the quality is there and that it's a good alignment with your businesses values, because it's almost like it's so clear when I think about it now that if you don't have a customer centric business and you are partnering with a not customer centric business, those two things just aren't in alignment, right? And it's like, oh right. But I think we kind of get duped or we get sucked into thinking that we need to be a part of it, or this is the whole process. And in really understanding like the decision is either we can partner with these guys, they're gonna take a big chunk of the revenue. And in exchange for that, they're gonna bridge the gap between websites, Google ads, and getting the order, the downside being there's no customer relationship. It might tarnish your brand. You have no control over the communication. You get to decide what the pros and cons are. But I think it's super helpful, like to look at the math in a slightly different way, let's say you are paying an average commission to the relay service of what would it be like $18 for a $65 order? And let's say you received 10 of those orders in a week. So for $650 of revenue, you would've paid $180 to get those orders in, you know, best in your business. If you were to take that $180 of your own marketing activities and invested in your own Google ads and getting your website sorted and making sure you have control over where you're spending your money from an advertising point of view, could you get an even better return on investment? Could it be that maybe you spend that $180 on marketing activities and you actually generate $800 or a thousand dollars or $1,200 or $1,800 in total revenue. And that exercise of understanding, like, let's just do the math. If the relay service is getting $18 for the $65 order that they put in through the website, okay, let's mark that out over a good chunk of volume. And then you get to decide in your business. Do you want that amount of money to go to this organization over here? Or would you rather literally like build your own marketing team and list the help of experts sign up to the flower boss bootcamp. You get to decide where that revenue is going. And every business owner gets to make this decision for themselves. I totally got sucked into thinking that we had to be part of this network. We had to be part of this group because that's what legitimate florist did until I started to see that this problem could be solved in a much more effective and efficient way from just a pure money point of view, but also the care factor that I wanted to have with our clients and our clientele. So it's very possible. You might be a new business owner or a new designer, and maybe you decide that you're gonna commit to being part of a relay network for a specific window, just to get the volume that you need to turn over enough product to get your name out. And you understand, you get to go in eyes wide open knowing, you know, what you don't control that relationship. And that's okay. Or you might decide from the very beginning, you want to figure it all out for yourself. You don't wanna be a part of a relay network or a wire service. And it's so helpful to remember, like, to do your research and really go in eyes wide open. And don't be alarmed if you have a hard time figuring out the math, because the statements that they send you, aren't straightforward. , it's okay. If you feel like they're trying to obfuscate all of this information, not to say that they're doing it intentionally, because I don't necessarily think that that's true. I simply think it's this collection of humans who had a really good idea. And then they continue to fill the gap in our industry because nobody else is right, because marketing in a floral design industry is complicated. There's lots of details and lots of nuances, and yes, there's a right way to set up your Google AdWords. And yes, there's a right way to have your online catalog sorted. And yes, getting SEO optimized is part of that process. And it's super detailed and there's lots of layers to it and it can feel really frustrating. When you put all the energy and effort in, and it's not working sometimes just thinking about outsourcing that whole thing feels like a simpler solution and it's not right, and it's not wrong, but it's so helpful to just simply know, okay, what's the go with this? Do I need to be a part of it? Is this something that's good for my business? And the beautiful thing is you get to decide that. And when it comes to evaluating any relationships or any partners that you might have, who you might actually sign up for or two, or with, I don't know which preposition, it would be. One of them, one of the English words would finish that sentence, but five things that are super helpful to know. And the first one is essentially, they are a little bit like a marketing department. They are doing that front end of being where the customer is, making it easy for them to buy, getting the order, facilitating the transaction, right? So they're a little bit like a marketing department, but they're not gonna do anything with your Facebook, your Instagram, your TikTok. They're not gonna give you the email addresses or any of the information, but they are doing that front end to increase the orders. So because of that, they are setting up your website and they will push orders to your flower shop on your behalf. And you can, through that process, depending on who you are with, they can or should say, you can have some say over the online catalog products that are chosen, but you're still choosing from a very specific collection of stock photos. I did find there was a huge amount of leeway between what the photo looked like. And then what was actually delivered to the customer because our rule was always, it needs to look like the photo or better, but I know that that can be a turnoff for a lot of floral designers who have a different design aesthetic than what the online catalog might offer. So that's just something to keep in mind. If that's not the kind of work, if that's not the kind of aesthetic, if that's not the kind of design you wanna offer your customers, it's worth knowing that the online catalog is going to be set up from their stock photos. The expectation will vary from brands to brand, from relay service, to relay service as to how closely you adhere to those guidelines in exchange for having done all of that work, the relay service will take on average 30% of the order value as their commission. So if somebody orders a hundred dollars bouquet, you will get $70, but also know that it is the expectation of the customer and of the relay service that you're still delivering it to full value. And that's one of the things to think about that you need to earn $70 and deliver a hundred dollars arrangement. The other thing too, and this gets into you, really building a relationship with your customers is that the relay service is the one that owns the customer information. So one of the things you start to navigate and you start to think through and really around Valentine's day mother's day, um, if you have like, uh, trigger email system around birthdays and celebrations and that kind of thing, that, you know, the value of owning and having your customer's data, because then you can email them and you can remind them, oh, Hey, mother's day is coming up in a couple weeks or Valentine's day is happening, you know, in three days. Or do you wanna order flowers again for your wife's 51st birthday, whatever it might be, being able to have some of those marketing resources can help you grow your business. When you are getting orders through a relay service, you don't have any of that information. So there's no opportunity to increase the lifetime value of a single customer. It's like one and done, and they might not come back later. They might not come back later, but you have no way of contacting or communicating with those guys. The other thing, and this totally varies from brand to brand, but you'll find a lot of different approaches to taking ownership for the end result. It's really easy when you're sitting in a call center to blame the local florist for a mistake. It's really easy as the local florist to blame the call center for a mistake. And in both cases, the customer is the one that misses out, but that I find totally hit or miss. And it's really about how much does that business, how much does that relay service care about its customers? The relay services that actually care about its customers actually care about their customers, but there is this ever increasing number of relay services. And because they're just online businesses, they can pop up out of nowhere and they all have all of these different brand names. A lot of them are owned by the same parent company. And they all just have all these different iterations and they all have varying degrees of misleading marketing. lack of transparency. And in some cases, really just not wanting to take ownership and really not aligning with phenomenal customer service. And I think it's so helpful to just go in eyes wide open because it might be that being a part of a relay service for a specific window is super helpful for you to grow your business. And you know what the downside is like you get to go in and understand, okay, I'm gonna weigh the pros and cons and I'm gonna make the best decision for my business. And then also know that there are huge numbers. like, I wanna say, like those startups or desperate relay services possibly who are now just going around and calling around local florists and pretending to be customers and putting an order in, and the florist has no idea that it's actually coming from a relay service. So it's getting, um, I don't wanna say outta control, but the proliferation of relay services and wire networks and how easy it is to set one up. And once they understand that the gap to fill, like there are dozens of entrepreneurs in this world who be like, I could set up a website and get Google ad sorted and online catalog, and just then start siphoning these out to local. Florists like the premise is actually incredibly simple and it's all about up skilling and giving the floral designers, the tools and resources to set up a better website, online catalog, Google ads, because that's the main problem that a lot of those relay services solve. And it's a problem that needs to be solved because that's where customers are going when they're looking for a flower delivery out of town or overseas. I also know that when you run the business and the level of technology and the details that need to be sorted through and how simple Shopify and Squarespace seem to make some of these things, and then you go through the effort and energy and you realize you've missed the mark, it can be incredibly frustrating. So that's why within the flower boss bootcamp, we have the entire replica website. We have step by step Google ad set up. We go through exactly how to set up your online catalog so that you never have to feel like you're starting from scratch. You never have to feel like you're trying to figure out all of these things on your own. Cause it's such an integral part of your floral design offering. If you're doing daily flower deliveries, like it's such an integral part of your revenue and where that volume's gonna come in the door is making sure that your online presence is up to scratch. So the best way to solve the problem of the relay services and wire networks is to up skill yourself in the world of digital marketing. And if you want our help just come join us inside the flower boss bootcamp, because we walk you through the whole thing step by step. The most important thing to remember around wire services and relay networks is that every business owner gets to decide for themselves. You get to sit down, figure out what the right solution is for you and your business, and then go out there and make it happen. So definitely do your research and do your math before signing up to any of it. And yeah, like you can go into those Facebook groups, but also one of the most valuable exercises I've found is find the relay service network and go out and look at actual customer reviews. It will tell you volumes about how they run their businesses about their values and just making sure that you're aligning in a way that's right for you and your business, because how they respond to customer complaints and disappointed customers, I think just speaks volumes to their values as a business and as a brand. And you get to decide if those are businesses that you wanna be associated with. So do your research know that they're gonna take somewhere around 30% of the order value in exchange for having given you the order and done the work to get the customer and go out there and make it happen? My friends and also know that there are so many, like the full spectrum, full spectrum of different relay services and wire networks and all of the different permutations and combinations. I kind of feel like one new one pops up every month. Maybe it's just an old one. That's rebranded but definitely go out there and do your homework and just know that that's the problem that they're solving, right, is really bridging the gap between the customers who are searching online and Google ads, online catalogs websites to get the order in the door. Okay. My friends, I hope that that's been helpful. I hope that that gives you a little bit of light in terms of like, what is the problem that relay services and wire networks actually solve for florists and most importantly, go out there and do your homework and decide if it's right for you have the most amazing week. Thanks so much for tuning in. It's always fun to hang out, drive safe, drink some water, get some sleep, and we'll talk to you again next week. Bye for.