Retail Business Adjustments & Customer Service with Julie Poeltler AIFD, PFCI, IMF, CAFA
Recorded in the middle of a Flower Clique photo shoot in central Iowa — after a first attempt was postponed by "dinner and a bottle of wine" — this episode pairs Vonda with her longtime friend Julie Poeltler AIFD, PFCI, who has owned Julie's Fountain of Flowers in Lone Tree, Iowa for 42 years. Between runs in and out of the cooler, the two sit down to talk about what four decades of shop ownership teaches you about slowdowns, trust, and the kind of customer service that keeps people calling back.
"I've been there before" — reading the current slowdown
Julie has lived through multiple recessions, including 2008, and the bump florists are feeling now is a familiar one. Customers shop like they do at the grocery store in lean times — same peanut butter, just not the name brand — so shops should buy what they need and not overbuy until the groove returns. Her read: this summer feels about the same as the slowdown right before COVID, not worse. After two years of flowers being back on everyone's table and desks, the phone ringing less is unsettling, but the seasons will change and the holidays will bring the groove back. In the meantime, she recommends a favorite goodwill builder: SAF's Petal It Forward, where you hand people two bouquets — one to keep, one to give away. A few bouquets outside the post office or a local bakery fills hearts, generates thank-you cards, and pays for itself in community goodwill.
Why her customers stayed kind when everyone else's got snarky
Vonda notes the industry arc: customers were endlessly appreciative early in COVID, then turned demanding — yet Julie's customers are back to kind and accepting. Julie's secret is simple acknowledgment. Everyone understands short staffing now, but only if you tell them. Like the server who says "sorry, we're a little short-staffed today, we'll be right with you," a wave and "I'll be with you in a minute" changes everything. And if you've just had a rough phone call? Step into the cooler, take a big deep breath, cool down, then come out with a smile.
The green-and-white bouquet: a masterclass in owning a mistake
The heart of the episode is a story that happened to Julie just days earlier. A loyal customer, Lisa, ordered a colorful birthday arrangement for her daughter Eva in Arizona. Julie — with the daughter's green-and-white wedding flowers stuck in her head — told her sister to make it green and white. She realized the mistake at a stoplight on her way home, pulled over, and called Lisa immediately to apologize. Lisa's response? Eva loved the bouquet, and "how wonderful of you to call me." The lesson Julie draws: call the customer the moment you catch a mistake, even the next day. You release the stew of guilt, and honesty builds so much trust that the customer will absolutely call again. Vonda adds that doing this in front of employees is a teachable moment — it shows your team the owner isn't perfect and models the communication you expect from them.
The same principle covers substitutions. When an order comes in for a specific design and a flower is missing, Julie lays out her materials, figures out the exchange, and then picks up the phone — thanking the customer for the order and asking permission to substitute so the arrangement won't look exactly like the picture. Nine times out of ten they say "do whatever you want," and they almost always thank her for calling.
Delivery fees, tips, and corporate customers
Delivery-charge pushback is real — customers often assume it's baked into the price. Julie's disarming explanation: "I have to pay someone to do the delivery — your delivery charge goes straight to my driver." Customers get it immediately. Vonda adds the tactical tip: quote the flowers first, then present the total with tax and delivery. On tipping, the hosts note the post-COVID rise of website tip jars works because the sender — not the surprised recipient — is the one who ordered. Julie's corporate accounts, meanwhile, show more appreciation than expectation: they trust her, they let her be creative, and walking flowers into a room full of oohs is the thing she says she'd miss most if she ever retired. Just always ask for the budget — and expect to stretch it a little.
Key takeaways
- Slow seasons are the old normal returning — buy conservatively and hold steady until the holidays.
- Acknowledge waiting customers; a simple "I'll be right with you" buys you all the patience you need.
- Call customers proactively about substitutions and mistakes — honesty is the fastest trust-builder there is.
- Explain that the delivery fee pays your driver, and present it after the flower total, not before.
- Try SAF's Petal It Forward — a few given-away bouquets create outsized community goodwill.
- Be kind, be nice, and smile — they'll always call you back.