Candidate Number Six: Pat’s Floral Supplies (updated with video)

These days in the flower business, the scenario is hardly rosy. There’s cutthroat competition for diminishing clients and in Dangwa market, where rows and rows of beautiful fresh flowers can be seen every day, the hunger for buyers can be felt in every corner.

I love the luxury of shopping around for the best prices in Dangwa and making ruthless demands to stall owners to drop their price tags. But during the plenary session of business mentoring recently, I learned that the other side of the fence could be thorny.

How does one business differentiate itself from the next one? Do values still matter in this kind of environment? Jay and Pat Gina (so sorry! my fault) Domingo, owners of Pat’s Floral Supplies, have downsized with much thought and care when others would have forced growth by sheer size. And they have kept their values intact, deciding not to directly compete with the small storeowners who buy flower supplies from them.

But downsizing doesn’t mean sitting back on their butts waiting for manna to fall, Jay says. Jay and Pat Gina, trained in business management and investing, knew that a well-crafted strategy will eventually bring them to where the grass will be greener and the flowers are all a-bloom. They are hoping that being mentored by Open For Business consultant Willy Arcilla will improve their sales and marketing strategies.

Pat Gina remembers what it was like when her grandmother, Pat, was the only one selling flowers in Quiapo back in the 70s. The flower business is deeply woven in her family’s history. No wonder that for the couple, failure is not an option.

Watch the video, and see how Jay and Pat Gina are so passionate about their business. (Click here to watch the video.) These days when marital relationships are stretched in all directions by conflicting goals and clashing values, it was refreshing to see a couple dedicating their life’s work to their four children. Pardon the cliche but if you watch them, you’ll get the sense they are really in this together, through good and bad. (This is the most emotionally charged video in the bunch.)

Vote for Jay and Pat Gina by commenting in this blog post. This week, we will decide who makes it to our Batch 2008 business mentoring activity. Good luck!

(Business Mentoring is a one-year project by Open For Business of INQUIRER.net. We are choosing eight businesses from the ones that applied by email, who will be mentored by Willy Arcilla, regional director of ZMG Signium Ward Howell and president of Business Mentors Inc. Willy is an industrial economist from the UA&P-CRC with a 25 year career in corporate planning, marketing, sales and general management across Asia-Pacific, and is a recipient of the Agora Award for Marketing Excellence. Click here for more information on our business mentoring project.)

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