Four Must Know Customer Service Tips for Valentine's Day and Everyday!
It's Valentine's week, and Vonda and Lori are revisiting a question every flower shop faces at crunch time: you're helping a customer at the counter and the phone starts ringing — which do you handle first? While digging for a topic, Lori went back to episode six and realized its four customer service rules are just as relevant now as they were then, pandemic or not. Their advice: play this one for your whole team — after close, while everyone's still prepping, because during Valentine's week there is no "slow."
Rule one: acknowledge every customer immediately
Timing is everything. When a customer has an issue — happy, mad, or sad — your goal is to respond as fast as possible. That includes the phone: answer before the fourth ring, and ideally have someone else in line to grab it. As Vonda admits, when she's the one calling, she wants a human right away — and most customers ordering flowers feel the same. Lori points out that if she's ready to buy and the call rolls to voicemail, she'll simply hang up.
So what about the counter-versus-phone dilemma? The hosts' answer is to acknowledge both. Tell the customer in front of you, "I just want to grab this call — can you take a look at this while I do?" Then tell the caller you're with a customer and ask if they'd mind holding, or offer to call them back. Employees often think staying glued to the person in front of them is the right move, but the caller who rings and rings may never call again.
The deeper point: when someone has an issue, they need to know they've been heard. You don't have to solve everything on the spot — "I hear what you're saying" goes a long way. Whether the complaint is fair or not, it's the customer's reality, and their perception is what matters.
Rule two: don't over-apologize
Lori tweaked the original rule from "don't apologize" to "don't over-apologize." If it truly is your fault, absolutely say "I'm so sorry that happened to you" — once. Repeating it over and over shapes how the customer sees your shop. If an employee is a chronic apologizer, the customer walks away convinced the whole team knew they screwed up. Acknowledge, apologize sincerely, and move on.
Rule three: don't shift the blame
This one goes hand in hand with the apology rule — and the hosts admit it's hard, because sometimes you really do want to throw a coworker under the bus. Don't. It never ends well, and it doesn't help the company. Take one for the team, let the buck stop with you, and then, once you're off the phone, go find the person who caused the problem and tell them they owe you big. Just never do it in front of the customer — or in front of your coworkers.
Rule four: give more than they bargained for — in perceived value
The original advice says if an item is $50, deliver $60 of value. Profit-minded Vonda pushes back: give away $60 of flowers on every $50 order and you can't pay your employees or your driver. The key is perceived value — something that feels like a big upgrade but costs you little.
Her favorite example: a friend offered priority delivery for Valentine's Day, letting customers choose a three-hour delivery window for $24.95. Early orders got upgraded to priority at the regular $12.95 delivery charge — a thank-you that felt huge and cost almost nothing. It's the same trick Zappos uses when it randomly upgrades customers to faster shipping: "yay me," at nearly zero cost to the company.
It can also solve inventory problems. Sitting on vases you got a great deal on and need to move? Upgrade an order into "a more beautiful keepsake vase at the same price, because I value you as a customer." Just don't do it silently — tell the customer why, so they feel the value. Under-promise, over-deliver. And remember the salesperson side, too: be pleasant, make conversation, and go beyond order-taking, so the customer hangs up thinking, "that was a good experience — I'd call there again."
Some things never change
Vonda started in the business in 1975, and the rules then were the same: acknowledge the customer at the door, acknowledge them on the phone, don't let it ring more than three times. Members in the Flower Clique group were sharing stories of their 37th Valentine's Day — and 37 years ago, this all still applied. Customer service is customer service, pandemic or no pandemic.
Key takeaways
- Acknowledge every customer immediately — in person and on the phone — and answer before the fourth ring.
- Apologize once, sincerely, when it's your fault. Over-apologizing damages the customer's confidence in your shop.
- Never blame a coworker in front of a customer. Take one for the team and handle it privately.
- Give more than customers bargained for through perceived value — delivery upgrades, keepsake vases — not free product.
- Tell customers when you're upgrading them; the goodwill only works if they know about it.
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