What's in a Name?

For the past 26 weeks, we have focused on one aspect of our customers' lives to increase walk-in business -- their names. The concept was simple. If your name appears on our outside ad board, come in for a free rose. We started with the A's, and featured two names for the week. While the "Name Game" worked by bringing in customers, we also received some unexpected results. Knowlege of our name board became wide-spread. It allowed our customers to become more involved with Matlack Florist, and us with them. Stories began to emerge, and we realized something truly special came from this simple promotion.
Phone calls began to come in with customers asking the name of the week, giving their opinions for the next week's names, even wondering what we were going to do with the letter Q. We gave away only two roses that week - one to Quentin & one to Qwanda - but imagine the fanfare in the store when "We have a Quentin!" is shouted from the front counter, and everyone stops work to come and greet Quentin. He knew of the sign before driving by that week, and was sure his name would be represented.
Our sign became something to look for. A pre-schooler name Ian knew of the sign becasue his mother often drove by our store. He was waiting and waiting to see what name would be picked for the letter I. When he came into the store with his mom, she told us of his excitement of his name being selected. He picked out a rose, and very sweetly gave it to her.
We've also had plenty of requests, as the sign has become a topic of conversation among our customers. Our regular post woman requested her name, Tammy for the letter T. We received a phonecall that a girl named Vicky travelled by our store every Wednesday on her way to physical therapy, and she would be thrilled to see her name selected. While we haven't been able to cater to all requests, our customers shouldn't worry. Perhaps there will be a round two. With the Y's this week (only 3 days left, Yvette & Yves!), and the Z's the next, we have nowhere left to go but right back to the A's!