Sending Smiles ~

Here at the shop , not only are there 2 Vinicombe's running the store ~ my husband Kevin and myself, of course but did you know that Kevin's Mother Arlene also works at the shop? 7 or 8 years ago when she retired from her Corporate Position, she joined us as a Sales Associate and she learned about the business from the ground up. Although she was also supportive of us, she was even more so when she realized how hard we worked! She ended up working almost full time for about 5 years before she went to part time working for Kevin in the office helping him with bookkeeping and office management duties.  This week and I took a quick photo of Mother and Son hard at work in the office. At Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co, it truly is all in the family! 

You can't teach an old dog new tricks... well, I'm not sure I fall into the category of being an old dog, but I certainly can learn new tricks. Kevin and I just got back from the Retail Success Summit put on by Bob and Susan Negan at WhizBang Training. Bob and Susan are 2 of our favorite business people and we've been learning from them for over 5 years now. Running through the heart of the conference was putting the customer first while giving them an amazing shopping experience. As you can see from the photo above, I had my coffee and I was ready to put my customer first and improve my business. The conference took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan (what a lovely city, not that we saw much but from what we did see, it was super nice) and with over 500 Independent Retailers in attendance. Marketing stategies, customer service, social media and personal improvement were all on the agenda and Kevin and I took page after page of notes and came up with many action items t

Ah, that is the question. Those who know me, know that I would answer that question with a resounding yes. Why? I love being Social. I love getting to know people and having them get to know me and my company. I was born to be a Social Media person but mostly what I love about it, is the fact that without having to leave my business, I can get to know others and they can get to know me. Years ago business was done by folks go out into a local business, seeing the owner, their staff, learning about what they had to offer. Years later, there was the phone and then next came website - a bit impersonal but still a wonderful addition. Did you know that on our website, the most often read page after the Homepage is our About Us page? That's because folks want to know more about us - know who we are on a personal level so they can determine if they wish to business with us. As a small retailer we've had great success in gaining new customers through social media such as blogging,