It's growing

La Crosse Tribune, Feb 13, 2005 by Rindfleisch, Terry

ONALASKA, Wis. - Joe Sexton devoted almost 15 years of his life to the direct-mail software business.

In La Crosse, Joe co-founded Postalsoft, now Firstlogic, a multimillion dollar company that sells software to big businesses such as Walt Disney and Wal-Mart. As vice president of sales and marketing, Joe opened 17 sales offices across the country and was making an annual six-figure salary.

He was working long hours and traveling all the time, leaving little time with his family. "The lifestyle was fun for a while, but we didn't see each other much," said Rhonda, Joe's wife.

Joe left the corporate world in 1997. After another two years of software consulting work and traveling, Joe said it was time for him and Rhonda to pursue their dream.

"We always wanted to own a business together, and actually work together and drive in the same car to work with each other," Joe said.

Joe worked for La Crosse Floral for two years while studying business at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He was working on a computer software program to target mailings to the same type of people who bought flowers at La Crosse Floral. It was the start of the Postalsoft idea of direct-mail software, always loved the business, Joe said. "We wanted to finally realize our dream."

The Sextons decided to write letters to La Crosse area flower businesses to see whether any of them were for sale. Within 48 hours, they heard from Ron and Kathy Guenther, who had run Flowers by Guenthers in Onalaska for 22 years.

The Sextons bought the flower shop, opened it on Dec. 31, 1999, and kept the name, Flowers by Guenthers.

"People didn't know me, but they knew the Guenthers," Joe said. "We get a lot of their faithful customers. People still remember that Bob did their wedding flowers. They had a fabulous reputation, and I wasn't going to change the name."

The Sextons wanted to keep the friendly, down-to-earth atmosphere the Guenthers had established, but they were thinking way beyond a little mom-and-pop flower shop. Joe was thinking like a corporate vice president, whose mission was to sell flowers everywhere.

In just five years, the Sextons have doubled the shop's annual sales to almost $1 million and have become a major player in the flower business in the La Crosse area. They developed a huge presence in the community by opening satellite sites in Festival Foods, two Skogen's IGA stores and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse bookstore.

Joe said Flowers by Guenthers once had 8 percent share of the flower business market in the area but now cap tures 34 percent of the market among the 18 flower shops.

Flowers by Guenthers was featured in the December issue of Floral Management, a magazine for the floral business, because it has bucked traditional boundaries in the floral business.

The Sextons' strategy is simple - build a business by finding and developing opportunities to sell flowers where people gather.

When the Sextons first took over the shop, they visited flower shops and noticed that most didn't display many fresh flowers. Flowers-by Guenthers also had gifts and silk plants that make up only about 5 percent of sales, Joe said.

"I decided we needed to fill our place with things that sell, and that's flowers," Joe said. "Many people gasp when they see all our flowers. We stock gigantic inventories of the real product.

"We have this down to a science," he said. "We turn over all our inventory weekly, 52 times a year," he said.

The Sextons replaced bontanicals and gifts in the front of the store with a large numbers of fresh flowers and green plants, with a fishpond and bench in the middle of the store.

Joe said he has hundreds of flowers and 12 different colors of roses. He said most florists often don't buy huge numbers of flowers because they don't want to lose money on perishable items.

They approached Dave Skogen, owner of Festival Foods and Skogen IGA stores, about providing blooming plants and fresh flowers at Festival Foods. In October 2002, Flowers by Guenthers opened up in Festival Foods.

"The sales have been unbelievable," Joe said. "The average grocery store sells $200,000 (in floral) a year, and we're well over that. The store gets 10 percent, and it's a great service to customers."

The Sextons opened locations at Skogen's IGA in Center 90 across the street from their shop and at the Holmen, Wis., Skogen's store. They also are selling flowers at Saver Stop, a gas and convenience store between La Crosse and La Crescent, Minn., and they are constantly on the lookout for other sites.

"If you don't grow, you die," said Rhonda, the bookkeeper and the business manager who also buys the flowers.

The Sextons plan to provide space in their flower shop to rent tuxedos and sell corsages in a partnership with After Hours tuxedos. They also are partnering with Cold Stone Creamery to provide flowers and a "Cupid Arrow" ice cream cake for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is the single busiest day of the year for the Sextons as they sell plenty of roses, special arrangements and candy bouquets. But Joe, added, "Any fool can sell flowers on Valentine's Day."