As an event designing company in Central Florida for over 15 years, we have been supplied with blooms and greenery for many years by our retailers here in Florida, from Jacksonville to Miami. They have always provided excellent service and products! But when we learned about the NEW company - Orlando Wholesaler Florist - we discovered a wholesaler ready to make things happen - we couldn't wait to try them out! Hence, we have been a believer and a client of Orlando Wholesaler Florist since. Wait till you meet Tracy Collins, who has been instrumental in the endeavors of an entrepreneur by creating a brilliant workforce and commitment to provide some of the very best blooms and greenery, but the best blooming is with customer service, they don't like the word NO! We love that, and Tracy, you will too!
In January 2015, friends Tracy Collins & John Kobylinski got together and started discussing problems in the industry. With Tracy's background in wholesale and John's knowledge in retail, Orlando Wholesale Florist was born. With only three customers between them, 400 square feet of cooler, and a pick-up truck for deliveries, they have since grown to a location that houses 8,400 square feet of space with 1,600 square feet of coolers, 7 vans, and 16 employees! They are now servicing over 400 customers. Yes, that was January 2015!! How do you spell success - Orlando Wholesale!
We got together with Tracy to learn some of the things that make Orlando Wholesale tick! Here's a peak inside of this young, innovative, and fresh Wholesale House located in downtown Orlando in Central Florida-- servicing some of the most widely known brands in the floral industry with beautiful blooms each week!
We have just over 400 accounts. If you look at the map of Sarasota to Clearwater - draw a line to Ormond Beach & Vero Beach, then onto Ocala, Lakeland, Bradenton, Rockledge, Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Eustis, Tavares. We service Central Florida-- from Palm Coast to Jupiter and Tampa. The I-4 corridor and I-75.
We don't understand the word no and we don't like to use it. Peonies in August? I hate to say it but No! It's not my fault, but it's just not available. We try to do everything that we are asked. The quality that we bring is far superior to the local suppliers. A fact per our testimonials from the Customer. Pricing is relevant to the quality of the product. Pricing isn't bad when you don't have a broker in Miami marking up the product 12% before it comes to you. We don't have a huge corporate structure, and that brings lower inventory costs, so it keeps our margins lower.
Partnering with a large local florist - who has got to be one of the Top 5 largest florists in this area. John is willing to share his experience with everybody. He doesn't consider competition the same but truly believes in community over competition. He does help his competition get the freshest flowers. He wants to see everyone win and success for everyone.
Recently and increasingly over the past two years, Tracy has received as many texts as phone calls! He deals with all his farms with Skype, and some customers use Skype to IM their orders.
Honestly, we have customers that we ship to customers in other cities, which is exciting. We will sell to anyone, everywhere.
Monday through Friday for 100% of them. During the off-season, we might pull a day when it's slow. Saturday, we travel not more than an hour from here. We have a handful of florists that we deliver to Sunday, and they can also pick up at our location. We like customers to come in they come in and walk through the coolers and check out the flowers. Some don't get there very often, but when she walks in, her eyes light up to see all the beautiful flowers. When they see the product, touch, feel-- it's incredible. We invite them all into the facility.
We get a truck every day, and the product comes to your cooler daily. You can keep fresh product in the rotation very easily to move it... and get the product in daily to keep product turning. Once the product lands in Miami, it moves through cold storage into our Orlando Facility immediately.
Whenever we make a mistake, or someone else does, we do whatever we need to do to help... literally! I've actually driven to Miami to pick up the product and brought it back to meet the customer's needs. I think I've sometimes Fed Ex'd directly so we can solve the issue. Sometimes things happen, and we might be able to solve problems when we or someone else messed up... we can be the hero. Everyone makes mistakes, the most crucial is getting it right for the customer. Those instances have created valued relations and trust that we will do whatever is possible.
We're not successful 100% of the time, but we also have the knowledge and know-how to get the product when we need it in a jiffy. Knowledge is power-- and we're able to find the right product.
Hahaha.... my biggest pet peeve is the person who turns in a $5,000 wedding order on Thursday afternoon, and they need it on Monday. Procrastination is the biggest problem. That's why I love Details. You have solved that problem. People aren't uneducated, but they just don't know how to get organized to give us enough lead time. If you don't have at least four days, things are sometimes impossible. When they sit on an order-- that kills us. That's the only thing I dislike. And those that choose not to pay - but then they aren't our customers for long!
The fact that they allow us to shine and succeed. Let us be a part of their business. I look at how we have a physical partnership with every client. If they are not succeeding, I am not succeeding. Help your customers succeed, and success will follow. If more people would love their business, no matter if you are a boat dealer, you must realize that your client is your partner. If you think that way, then you'll succeed.
We are looking into some things... really good friends with our Oasis Rep. We are going to start planning now that our space is more operational, we are looking at more of a design opportunity and perhaps a corsage, bouquet, and funeral class. Maybe try to do these three times a year, it would help our floral clients learn more. There aren't enough opportunities to encourage this. Plus, we would love the FSFA to get involved in this, it works really well to partner with these state associations. We are members of WFFSA and CAL Flowers, and John is a member of SAF.
The biggest thing is it should be able to save money, time, and headaches, we also think it will help them from getting angry at their wholesaler. If they push that quote button, we have the opportunity to give a heads-up on these orders and can start projecting out instead of only being hand-strung because we're pre-booked and prepared. It will save them money. This helps with availability and offers a greater probability that these products will be available. For weddings and events, it's a no-brainer! We think It's a great tool, and I talk about it all the time. It goes back to the end game, it's about that bride on her wedding day. If they are happy, the chances that they will buy flowers from us again is 100%!
Pay cash for everything. Good idea! Get with your floral associations in whatever state you are in, and learn their classes. Teleflora classes are really good too-- but it's all the way in Oklahoma. Whenever there is an opportunity to learn, you should go. Also, being a part of a floral association, you can connect and learn from mentors. The first thing they need to know is how to design or hire a designer. And trust your wholesalers. We want to sell you flowers and make sure that you have the best, freshest, and the right product. Trusting your partners is critical. Go to open houses and learn something. Get free food!
We cry a little bit. If you're not throwing away 4% of your product, you didn't have enough in your cooler to begin with. We have "trash bins" and he sometimes sells a whole cart for cheap to buy.
Getting the Wholesale Florist of the Year in Florida was pretty cool. Every time someone clocks in for the first time. I love employing people. Any time that we get feedback that the client was so happy and that they loved the flowers. When you hear the positives, it is so lovely, but we need the negative so we tune our business to better serve the needs of our clients. It's great to get positive feedback. Instagram and Hashtags allow us to have a footprint in the market!
The Pulse attack is a block and a half from our building. We freeze bottles of water for our flowers and the blood bank was lined out the door, so we. We pushed the cart of cold water for the people wanting to donate because it was hot out. Several boxes of flowers were sent to Orlando Wholesale to deal with the families and we arranged for an opportunity and showed up at InBloom Florist and made about 500 bouquets to give away at the vigil. John and Sally Kobylinski made a heart wall of flowers- for the city of Orlando. Those two things were really important to be in the community and hit us hard.
We carry full supplies. Everything from zip ties, foam, easels, choppers, tools, paint... we carry all of it. If you need it for your business, we have it. We're a little smaller than the other guys, but we got it, and we care.