GRAND RAPIDS – Who is responsible for running the day-to-day operation and how is this being implemented? Even the best and brightest entrepreneurs cannot do everything.
Identify key work areas that will ensure customer satisfaction and company growth and make sure staff understands their responsibilities. This ranges from how the telephone should be answered to what is your return policy, to how do we reach more customers, to what is the most cost effective level of inventory?
You may want to highlight the following elements within this section:
Basics on how work will be processed
Use of subcontractors
Quality control
Market Analysis
Facility needs
Manufacturing needs
Budget requirements
Sample Text:
Fresh flowers are purchased through local and state wholesalers, direct buying from growers and internationally from various vendors. Green plants come from local and state growers. Gift items are purchased through national companies on an as-needed basis. These include stuffed animals, cards, candy, specialty vases, mugs, figurines, and decorative containers. These range in price from $5.00 to $30.00 in retail cost.
Sales are processed via the phone, fax, e-mail and walk-in. The sales people generally handle all incoming orders by processing them directly into Point-of-Sale Software. The order is processed for billing (credit, billing or cash) and then prints a work order for the designers.
The designer fills the order and then completes a worksheet on how the order was filled. The completed arrangement is then given to delivery that determines the most effective route to take for delivery of arrangements.
The software tracks all orders and is integrated into the accounting software to track payments and receipts. All fresh flowers are manually tracked for usage. A count is taken at the end of each day to inventory what was used. At the end of each week, all flowers that were not used or were disposed of are tracked in a dumpage report.
Sales for the past three years have been increasing. The following areas: Fresh arrangements, green plants/planters, blooming plants, weddings, silk arrangements, and giftware. These are all classified in the areas of gross sales, incoming wire service (resale), tax exempt for churches and schools and the state sales tax.
The Michigan Small Business Development Center provides counsel, training, research, and advocacy for Michigan?s new business ventures, existing small businesses, expanding new businesses, new technology companies, and innovators. The MI-SBDC is housed at the Grand Valley State University Seidman School of Business in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As host of the MI-SBDC State Headquarters, the Seidman School of Business oversees the 12 region MI-SBDC network and over 60 satellite and affiliate offices.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners may access the services of their nearest MI-SBDC by calling 616.336.7480 or clicking on
This columns was written by Jill Wallace, Marketing & Training Manager ? Michigan Small Business Development Center State Headquarters
