Nic Faitos, Founder and Senior Partner of Starbright Floral Design, on Delivering 5-Star Customer Experience to New York's Top Hotels

SHOW NOTES

Let's say you ran a business. I'm not going to tell you what kind of business. I'm going to let you guess.In this business, your customers spend a lot of time, and consideration choosing which of your products they're going to buy from you. Often they select only the components, and leave you to assemble it in its final form. There's often a lot of emotional investment involved in making their decision. And needless to say the final result has got to be perfect.In choosing the component parts, your customers can choose among hundreds of options, and leave it to you to put it all together. To add to the complexity of this business, you never really know how busy you'll be. That said, all of your inventory needs to be completely rotated about every three days. After about 3 days, you can't use it. And finally, your customers will often never see what they finally buy. They select the components, pay you for them, and the work you'll do with them, and walk away, and it's your job to make sure they somehow feel good about their choice to work with you, without seeing what they actually bought!How are you possibly going to keep those customers coming back to you?Have you guessed the kind of business I'm describing? It's a florist. Think about it. Think of those times you've ordered flowers. You may never see the final result unless someone sends you a picture. So what is it about that that makes it a great experience for you? Now to add even more complexity to that….What if you're the founder/ceo of one of the largest florists in New York City, serving all of the major hotels, where you have to get it 100% right every time? Managing that kind of complexity is trickier than any juggling act I think I've ever seen. And our guest today, Nic Faitos, let's just say he's damn good juggler.About Our GuestNic Faitos is the owner and founder of Starbright Floral Design, Inc. He goes by the title of Senior Partner, and he started the company in 1994.Prior to Starbright, Nic has lived, worked and studied in California, Greece, Florida before finally settling in NY. Nic has always been entrepreneurial, and his career has included publishing, technology and financial sales. But it makes sense that he found his home in NY. Nic is part of that enery, that sparkle, that puts the pizzazz in NY. If you've been to NY, you know what I'm talking about.Nic's dedication to this industry, and as well as his dedication to delivering a five-star service experience, helped set a new standard for the floral industry. Specifically in his interactions with hoteliers, travel and tourism, which is a market he soon dominated. We spend some time talking about that.Since its start in 1994, Starbright Floral Design has grown from a single employee to seventy-five non-seasonal team members. Never has the company experienced a down year in revenue and is by every measurable standard the largest and most well- known floral brand in New York City.Nic has been featured on ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, Crain's Business and at a presser with former Mayor Bloomberg, and now, this podcast.Nic and I connected over Zoom late this summer. And we started our conversation talking about what has set Starbright Floral Design apart from other florists, and what has made them the florists of choice for hotelliers in NY who have the highest standards in the world. Click