TRUE. today

Again long time, no blog addition.
In the beginning of this year, two other top Manhattan florists showed interest in the TRUE. concept: Surroundings Flowers and L'Olivier. Elizabeth Ryan planned to start selling in September as well, so together with Roses and Blooms and Floralies the TRUE. five would take care of the now steady production of Excellence Roses (Colombia).

Together with the TRUE. five we would start small-scale advertising and for the rest let the product do its own promotion, the advice and experience of Jan Ooms (Roses and Blooms). In the summer I shipped two pallets of PR materials in preparation and managed to get the two pallets of TRUE. gift boxes which had been stored by Delaware, all into the store of Elizabeth Ryan. "Getting ready to rock'n roll", as she would say.

Come September, no clear "yes" to join in. "Price" now being an argument. I decided to cut the advertising part of the price and offer at cost price (production price + transport), just to make TRUE. available to more consumers. All this time, the TRUE. five had received flowers and all continued to be excited about the TRUE. performance. No orders.

The announcement of sending invoices with the flowers gave instant reactions: "not yet". Again, Jan Ooms provided the clues to my confusion: after an initial big drop in sales after the outburst of the financial crisis, the summer had not been as bad as feared, but the normal market restoration after the summer recess never came, despite the signs of recovery of the economy. The florists are facing a post-summer turnover drop of 25 to 30%. Everybody is scared to death and not prepared to undertake anything new.

I thought that I had hit rockbottom earlier on, but I realized that my now 18-year-old dream and 3.5 years of active pursuit were on the verge of a rude awakening and halt.