Attention all plant nuts, geeks and nerds -you can now find Grandiflora on Facebook!

So new, this Gaillardia 8-2009 has no name, only a number

 We will be using the site to post hundreds of plant photos and to keep our “fans” informed about our trade show, seminar and travel experiences. For instance, just recently Grandiflora exhibited at the Southeastern Color Connection in Greenville SC. On the way home, Pat and I stopped at the University of Georgia to look at Dr. Allan Armitage’s famous trial garden and to see what was performing well. When we got home, we uploaded many of the plant pictures to Grandiflora’s Facebook site. Go there for a sneak peek at the up-and-coming varieties that will be next year’s hot items.

Because we carry about 2300 varieties of plants in multiple pot sizes, ordering from Grandiflora can be a long and involved task. Our Availability Sheet runs 10 pages with three columns of tiny print. The situation eased a bit a year ago when we started e-mailing the Availability. Receiving the file by e-mail rather than fax has saved many customers paper as well as their eyesight (since the document can be blown up to many times its size on their computer screens).

But then there’s the issue of placing the order. Some folks just mark up the already crowded Availability Sheet, fax it back and hope we can decipher it. Others create a separate list and fax or e-mail it back. Some prefer to give the order by phone directly to a salesperson. Those conversations often run over an hour, tying up the customer’s valuable time as well as that of our staff.

A New Way of Ordering

Now we have a new way to order that we think will speed up the process and eliminate errors. Instead of receiving our old Availability Sheet, we can now e-mail you an Excel version listing all of our highest grade material, the number in stock, and even comments about size and grade. There is an empty box next to each listing where you type in the number needed. When you e-mail this sheet back to us as an attachment, it automatically uploads into an invoice without having to re-key the data. Then our salespeople will call you back to discuss any shortages and possible substitutions.

To download the XL spreadsheet directly from our web site, after you have logged on, click on “Products”, then “Prices and Availability”, and then scroll down to the bottom of the list and click “Excel Availability and Order Form”. When it opens, just fill in the quantity column (Qty) marked with the red arrow. Save the document on your computer with your company name and the date and put it somewhere you can easily find it. It might be best to create a folder “Grandiflora Orders” to store these in. Last step is to send an e-mail to your favorite salesperson and attach the spreadsheet.

Open. Fill in. Save. Attach. Send. It’s just that easy. Give it a try.