2022 Sponsor Q&A with Corrine Heck of Details Flowers Software

Details Flowers Software is our returning sponsor, again providing our lanyards and name badges, as well as gift bag surprises.

Founder and CEO Corrine Heck will be in attendance at the Slow Flowers Summit and you'll want to meet her there! On Sunday, June 26th (Day One), visit the Details display during our lunch and coffee breaks. Make a point of saying hello and pick up some of Corrine's great tips on growing your bottom line through professional proposals and confident pricing for weddings, events, and other client projects. Debra Prinzing recently visited with Corrine to learn more:

Above: Corrine Heck, founder and CEO of Details Flowers Software

Q. Why is Details Flowers Software supporting the Slow Flowers Movement? A. We are really excited to work with this community of customers. I think we have a lot to learn about how we can help address their pain points and business struggles. I'm hoping to gain more insights and understand, for example, who the farmer-florist is and needs. I feel like there's a lot of crossover where our platform might be the right fit for many, especially for farmer-florists who grow their own flowers for their events.

Q. What are some of the ways a farmer-florist could customize the Details tools? A. They could create collections of just their flowers, items they want to design into wedding and event proposals. They could add their growing schedule and quantities, or, tailor offerings of certain products they grown to the holidays. I'm also interested in finding ways for growers to sell to our current customer base.

Q. Who is your customer? A. As a wedding and event florist, I definitely was my own customer when I started Details Flowers Software. For so many years, I dreamed about having a tool that does exactly what Details now does, one specifically designed to help florists and designers with an elegant and easy-to-use system. Our goal is to help improve profitability, productivity, and organization for floral businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Q. How has Details evolved and grown? A. We are now in our eighth year and we've learned a lot about not only the product that we provide, but the people who are using our software. We are in a constant state of improvement and we actively listen to our members about the ways the software is helping their businesses. As the more advanced user digs into this platform, it can really start changing the way they are able to predict their business or approach their events. They are able to track how much they paid for flowers and other products, the quantities they bought, and who they bought it for. This historic data is really useful for future planning.

Q. What are some of the ways you differentiate Details from other software choices that florists may consider? A. We've spread our wings beyond providing just perishable floral products in the Details database. Consequently, this year has been about growth and new partners who carry the products that our customers use regularly. We're able to help those partners, in turn, track specific products and items and understand how they are being adopted or used in the marketplace. Examples include listing non-perishable product lines from companies like Syndicate Sales and Smithers-Oasis.

Q. So it sounds like you have diversified into being a "front door" that includes supplies and other items that florists might need to incorporate into their services? A. Yes, as many event florists turned to retail, especially since the pandemic, we wanted to give them access to the products they might use in their everyday line of work.

Q. What trend insights can you glean from the flower recipes your customers create for their wedding and event design recipes? A. There is so much data, especially as customers use Details software over time. Wouldn't it be interesting to know what is the trendy flower everybody plans to use in October? That information could help people know whether it will be more difficult to procure, or more expensive because demand is expected to be higher, or whether they should plan for substitutions.

Q. So you can use your database as a forecasting tool, since you are looking at what types of flowers your customers are building into their proposals and recipes? A. Right. And can't you see how that would be really interesting for farmer-florists, too? If you know that you're going to have specific crops at certain times of the year, wouldn't it be useful to know who in your radius is a likely consumer of those products -- and know when and how to market to them at the right time?

Q. Thanks so much for this overview, Corrine. My head is spinning with ideas and I hope our attendees take advantage of the free Details Flowers Software 7-day trial you offer. A. Of course. We are never going to be pushy sales people. We want people to come in with their eyes wide open and know exactly what they're going to get. It might take a year or two, before a potential customer is ready to hop on and see how we can help their business. We care about giving the special touch and great customer support.