Do you relate emotionally to your customers? Layne Tidwell does.
As a floral designer and owner of Every Blooming Thing in West Akron, Tidwell says it’s essential in his profession, because when a customer calls, there’s always an emotional attachment to the transaction.
Perhaps it’s a newly engaged couple wanting to discuss wedding flowers. Often, it’s a grieving family that must make arrangements for funeral flowers.
“Either way, I must be their friend and confidant. It’s not ‘just business’ in this business — I won’t allow it to be,” he says.
Tidwell says that while his employees also relate to customers with vicarious emotion, clients usually want to talk to him personally because they have an emotional attachment with him. So he drops everything to be there for them.
“If somebody wants to talk to me, I may be busy, but I will always call them back within minutes,” he says, explaining that he won’t let his inaccessibility damper customer excitement, or escalate tension and sorrow.
“I want them to know that what they need will be taken care of that day, if necessary, and that I’ll handle those details myself if I have to.”
Tidwell says if that requires him to start work at three in the morning and leave at midnight, he’ll do that — even if it’s because a customer has put something off until the last minute.
“Recently, a customer promised her mother she’d handle the flowers for her father’s funeral. He died on Friday. She called me on Monday, the day of the funeral, begging me to help her. So I put a lot of things off to take care of that.”
Some might assume that such “customer co-dependency” would prohibit an entrepreneur from effectively and efficiently running a business. But Tidwell says his shop is successful because he’s always done every blooming thing to please clients.
Tidwell recalls his first day of business, Nov. 1, 1991.
“I was so excited because I made 75 cents that first day and I thought, ‘I’m on my way!’ I decided I was going to do whatever it took to make Every Blooming Thing happen.”
His first shop, near City Hospital, was 800 square feet. In 1994, he purchased his current location, a 2,800-square-foot building at 1079 West Exchange. Tidwell says he’s gained a loyal following by putting customers first.
In the process, he’s learned to juggle priorities and delegate duties, he says, declaring that he’s lucky he can rely on his staff. But he doesn’t take advantage of their capabilities.
“I take care of my employees and they also know they can usually count on being out of here by 5 p.m.”
Tidwell says there are times when he can’t fill a client request. When that happens, he feels as if he’s failed the customer.
“Last week, a man called and wanted yellow tulips for his wedding anniversary that night. I spent two hours calling all my wholesalers, but no one had them
“I felt bad because he’d been so excited, wanting to do this for his wife. And I’d wanted to make his day, for both of them.”
How to reach: Every Blooming Thing, (330) 867-6699
