Chapter 3 The Storm
Previously: Maria, a florist with 40 years of experience, and her granddaughter, Elena, also a florist, tackled the thorny issue of stock ordering and cash flow management in different ways. Their views on technology and the use of AI are like chalk and cheese. That’s where the story lies. We continue.
Life followed a predictable path for the two florists.
Until one day.
A vicious storm swept through town, with high winds screaming through the streets and pelting rain hammering down hard on anything standing.
Maria anxiously watched from inside her shop as the storm pounded her neighborhood, praying that everyone would be safe.
Although they lived in different cities, that very same storm hit Elena’s neighborhood as well. Watching the wind and hail strip the trees of their leaves, Elena also anxiously wondered how much damage they would be left with.
Finally, the storm calmed down and damages could be assessed. While neither Maria nor Elena sustained direct damage, the storm had really done a number on their neighborhoods. Both agreed that this might take more than a few days to recover from.
Although the worst was over, the rain stubbornly persisted. The nasty weather and the cleanup operations kept clients away. This meant losing foot traffic, with very few customers visiting either of their shops. And on top of that, some of Maria’s corporate clients had delayed their orders due to the storm’s impact on their businesses.
They both knew that they’d have to do something to bring in sales.
Maria took action and announced a clearance sale to move her excess stock and bring a sense of normality through flowers, to her clients. To promote the sale, she put up posters in her window and added a big sign at her front door, announcing massive discounts.
With the sale up and running, she pulled out her outstanding invoices and called around to hear how her debtors were doing and enquire about the possibility of getting part-payments.
Maria thought to herself, “Well, I did save up for a rainy day…”. She dipped into her savings and transferred some of her reserve funds to cover her operating expenses. She also knew that wouldn’t be an option for very long, as her savings were limited. She had to start thinking about bank overdraft facilities soon, but dreaded the high-interest rates.
Over in the next town, Elena got started by using her AI-powered accounting software to identify the outstanding invoices and predict which customers would likely delay payments. She then opened up her AI-powered CRM to set up personalized automated emails and text messages to those customers, enquiring about their well-being and damages sustained, and gently asking about payment possibilities.
Elena then went into planning mode. With few people venturing outside, she set up virtual flower arrangement workshops along storm themes. This would not only bring attention to environmental concerns but also teach a new skill that friends could enjoy together. She promoted these workshops on social media using AI-generated posts and AI-powered advertising. She was pleased to see that within the first hour she’d attracted interest from people well beyond her community and the bookings started to come in.
She then set up an AI-powered marketing campaign to promote her workshops. Segmenting her database and dialing in all her information on past encounters and client preferences, she was pleased to see how quickly she could get these personalized notes out and start conversations. Using an AI tool, she also conducted a sentiment analysis from customer feedback on these workshops and her offers, gaining valuable insights into where she could make improvements.
She also used this time to set up a chatbot on her website to handle customer enquiries about previously placed orders, her virtual workshops, and even community recovery efforts after the storm. It was far simpler to do than she’d anticipated and she was happy to know that she could provide instant support to her community without being tied to her iPad.
While she was confident that these campaigns and workshops would bring in more revenue, she knew it wouldn’t be enough to make up the shortfall. She had to look into short-term loans as well.
Since she’d invested in some cryptocurrencies as part of her investment portfolio, she wasn’t unfamiliar with DeFi (decentralized finance). To tide her over, she obtained a short-term loan from a DeFi platform at lower interest rates than the banks in her town. It was actually more lucrative to take this loan than sell her other investments to release money, giving her the liquidity she needed.
But, there was more to do.
Read Chapter 4 to hear what Maria has in mind and the innovative approach Elena takes to support her community and business.
Comments