This is one of the questions we get asked most often by new florists during onboarding – so I thought I’d share the answer here for everyone to see!
🌸 Step 1: Receiving Orders
We accept orders through various channels, all seamlessly integrated into Strelitzia:
- In-Person Orders: Customers visiting our village studio have their orders entered directly into Strelitzia by our team. Receipts are automatically emailed, & we asked their permission to send them marketing emails while Strelitzia ensures we are GDPR compliant.
- Website Orders: Orders placed on our website are instantly captured by Strelitzia and visually flagged for easy identification.
- Phone Orders: Our VoIP system routes calls to our main computer or team mobiles, allowing remote order taking. Orders are entered into Strelitzia, with receipts emailed to customers. Payments are made using the customer’s billing address (entered using a postcode lookup to avoid typing & spelling errors) and card details are entered into Strelitzia Pay’s virtual terminal.
- Account Orders: When our Account customers give us a ring or drop us an email to order some flowers we go onto Strelitzia, find their account (simply by typing in their name) choose the product they have asked for and pop it onto their account ready for Strelitzia to create their invoices at the end of the month.
- Relay Orders: Full disclosure; we don’t use a relay service. But if you do orders from your relay platform are automatically imported into Strelitzia when you accept them, flagged as ‘New’, and ready for processing.
- Repeat Orders: All regular corporate orders of reception vases that are renewed weekly & customers’ subscription orders are generated automatically by Strelitzia, flagged as ‘New’, waiting for us to process without doing anything.
🗂️ Step 2: Organising Orders
Once orders are in Strelitzia, we organise them efficiently:
- Printing and Filing: Orders are printed and stored by delivery day. Some florists opt for paperless methods, assigning products to florists within Strelitzia.
- Card Messages & Addresses: We use ‘peel and stick’ labels for delivery addresses and card messages, perfectly sized for our floristry cards, saving so much time during busy periods.
- Colour Coding: Cards are colour-coded based on delivery areas in Darlington, helping florists group products by delivery routes.
💐 Step 3: Designing our Bouquets
Our florists craft the orders with precision:
- Make-Up Lists: During peak times, we print make-up lists to track creations and flag any discrepancies.
- QR Codes: Each order includes a QR code. Florists can scan these with their phones to view the product in Strelitzia, ensuring accuracy regardless of the order source.
- Recipe Cards: Each design from our website has a recipe card for our florists to use so that we can create our beautiful designs profitably. Check out our free bouquet recipe cards here.
Our florists then weave their magic.
- Storage: Completed arrangements are stored on Dutch trolleys, organised by delivery day and area colour codes.
🚚 Step 4: Managing Deliveries
Efficient delivery is crucial, especially at busy periods!
- Delivery Lists: The evening before, we organise deliveries by dragging and dropping orders into vans within Strelitzia, auto-sorting by postcode with timings flagged so we don’t miss anything important.
- Route Optimisation: We use Strelitzia Go, which integrates with Google Maps, allowing drivers to see delivery lists on their devices.
- Real-time communication: Our delivery driver (Graham) marks deliveries off in real time and sends confirmation emails with photos and notes to customers, providing a personal touch.
By leveraging Strelitzia, we streamline our order processing from receipt to delivery, ensuring efficiency and excellent customer service.