Struggling to figure out how to separate yourself from the competition? This article gives you my super simple approach to shortcutting the process and getting results!
(And yes, it's super easy!)
When I look back now, it seems so obvious. But when I was in the thick of my struggle, filled with so much doubt and uncertainty, the very idea of making this shift, being the florist who openly talked about the ins and outs of our craft felt scary AF.
Way back in the day (just after the dinosaurs roamed this beautiful planet), nobody was showing up on Instagram openly talking about all the shiz that goes on behind the scenes.
But I was so sick of battling price shoppers, wondering how to compete with grocery stores and struggling to compete.
In our town of 40,000 people, we had dozens of florists all fighting for their little patch of land as well as the hundreds of florists who wanted to come down from Sydney to do weddings + events in our beautiful little corner of the globe.
Needless to say, this particular footprint is the definition of competitive.
And, as a newbie-you're-not-from-these-parts immigrant, I just felt like everyone was looking for reasons for us to fail.
But, to cut a long story short, when I decided to blaze my own trail and begin to share the behind-the-scenes and pro-actively educate our customers on the ins and outs of flowering, the game changed. It's how we grew our business so quickly and cracked the code on how to separate yourself from the competition.
We started getting enquiries with budgets that aligned to wish lists.
We started to have customers call us and say 'Hey, I just love your vibe. Can you do a flower delivery for me?'
And yes, nobody cared that I was new or had just finished my formal qualifications. Nobody asked me how many years I'd been in business and nobody gave a rats ass if I had ever been published in a magazine or featured on a blog.
What they saw was a helpful team of people, making it easy for them to find answers and ready to shower them with phenomenal customer service.
Flipping the Script is How To Separate Yourself From the Competition
I don't need to tell you just how secretive our industry is.
Now, just imagine being in your customer's shoes. It's nearly impossible to get a simple answer to the most obvious of questions, right?
The reason sharing your expertise ahead of time works so well is because it builds trust. And trust is a must in order to get the customer to the point of paying you money.
The real magic of understanding this strategy lies in knowing how customers make decisions.
The most important piece to know: humans do not make decisions instantly. Particularly in the overwhelming, confusing and "I don't know" land of flowering.
Quite specifically, your customers need to move through three steps before they even get to the point of paying you money.
- They need to find out about you.
- They need to like you.
- They need to trust you.
- ...Then they'll pay you money.
What's even better is that most of your customers are on the hunt for flower information at all hours of the day – so no, making them wait until your business hours just slows down the process and increases the chance you lose the sale.
Are you totally overwhelmed by the world of online marketing? Join me inside Flower Boss Academy and get access to all the templates, tools + live coaching you need to fast track your results and show up with confidence online. Click here to learn more.
So, while every other florist on the planet is keeping all the info, expertise and know-how, I encourage you to do the exact opposite.
Quite literally.
Give it all away.
Talk about your design process on your website. Share your best tips + tricks on Instagram.
(Here's a helpful YouTube video talking through the right Instagram strategy to follow.)
Be proactive when it comes to educating your clients on budgets and how much they should be spending to create a specific impact.
If you wanna dig into this even further and get my best tips for learning how to separate yourself from the competition, jump into this week's podcast episode – Why Cutting Through the Secrecy Makes You Money So Fast
Inside This Week's Podcast Episode You'll Learn:
✓ Why you don't need to worry about the competition coming in and "stealing your ideas"
✓ What to talk about and how to make it easy to attract better customers
✓ My favourite shortcuts to cut through the confusion and overwhelm of not knowing what to post on social media
✓ How to streamline your approach to marketing, sales + social media and make it even easier to attract higher-value clients
Listen to the full episode here
Full Episode Transcript
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