Ordering Flowers ~ Don't Use Wiggle Words

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Right off the bat, I'm going to say that I don't remember who shared the concept of Wiggle Words with me (so I can't give them credit) but this term changed my life! Dramatic? Yes but it truly changed how I communicate.

What is a Wiggle Word? A wiggle word is any word that fails to describe. Still confused? In the flower business we hear wiggle words all the time.

Customer: "Hello, I'd like to send flowers. Can you make me nice arrangement?"

What does nice mean? What is nice to one person could be not nice to another. Nice, beautiful, pretty ~ all are wiggle words that don't really tell us what you'd like. We love when our customer express themselves! Now taking this from the other side "Yes, we'd be happy to create a nice arrangement for you, how about if we create a very colorful mixture of Spring Flowers"? They might have something else in mind but at least I'm responding with a response that is a bit more descriptive.

In almost no instance are Wiggle Words helpful, unless we intend our communications to be vague.

Remember when I said that this concept changed my life? Here's an example of how Wiggle Words only confuse rather than clarify. As a business owner, I have to manage staff. For example if I tell Alanna ~ "You did a great job last week". What is the behavior that I thought merited this praise? Does she have the information needed to please me again? Wiggle words are fun and fluffy but adding a few other tidbits into the conversation really brings my praise up a few levels when it comes to managing staff.

So there you have it! I'm not sure if it's changed your world but it might help you when placing your next floral order.



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