Wedding Florist Enquiry Process

Wedding Florist Enquiry Process – Our Exact Approach

Looking for an insider's guide to the wedding florist enquiry process? Here's our exact approach.

If you're a wedding florist, your enquiry process is one of the most valuable assets in your business.

Quite literally, that process is worth money.

As per my usual approach, I'm here to bust through the secrecy and give you a run down on our EXACT approach to navigating wedding enquiries. Yep! Yep and more yep!

How I Created Our Wedding Florist Enquiry Process

When I first started as a baby florist, I fell into the trap of thinking that I had to do fancy proposals, custom quotes and face-to-face consults.

I think with my very first wedding enquiry, it took me more than a week to get her a quote. That was after the hour-long consultation. I spent hours on that proposal, trying to make it look at fancy and legit.

Man oh man, I'm so surprised she stuck around but since that experience, I have learned SO much about how to effortlessly navigate wedding enquiries.

The key to figuring it out? I paid attention to what wasn't working.

In 2018, I remember looking back at my calendar and seeing how many hours I had spent on consults. My close rate was disastrous and I was wasting hours every single week meeting with prospective clients...which got me $0.

Talk about a waste of time (for me and the people who didn't book with me).

But that year was also revolutionary in my business.

I could see how much time I was wasting on these enquiries and in-depth consults.

I just knew there had to be a better way.

But, instead of trying to follow the traditions of our industry, I put my blinders on. I decided to create my own way. From scratch.

I literally threw out everything I thought I had to do and got focused on creating a system that was easy for me and super efficient for my clients.

Why? Cause I knew I had to shake things up. I couldn't afford to waste so much energy on non-money-making activities. It was, quite literally, the definition of inefficient.

So, I went through the process of completely overhauling our wedding florist enquiry process. And yeah, I kinda have broken every rule in the book.

Jumping right into the myth-busting bit...I don't use fancy proposals. I don't do custom quotes. I don't do consultations. And I don't use expensive software solutions.

I keep it bare bones.

Why? It allows me to focus on what matters most to my clients – being quick and being helpful. And, I can sort through new enquiries in a matter of minutes, rather than days (or weeks).

Wedding Florist Enquiry Process – Here's Our Exact Approach

Here you go. This is the step-by-step summary of our approach.

Inside Flower Boss Academy I go through this in itty bitty detail and I give you all of my templates + shortcuts. So, if you wanna get my exact approach and shortcut your progress, come join us today.

Let's start at the very very very beginning...well before the client even contacts you.

  1. Share helpful tips in your marketing. Yep. BEFORE the client even enquires, be open with your guidance and share your wisdom. Do this on social media, your website and anywhere where your clients might be on the lookout for a wedding florist.
  2. Be proactive about talking $$$. This is the fastest way to get rid of the budget clients. The first solution I created was a simple blog post that gave a breakdown of key price points (i.e. $2K, $5K, $10K, $20K). I later then discovered a free WordPress plugin that allowed me to create an online calculator. (That was an awesome innovation for us and our clients!)
  3. On your enquiry form, ask them two seemingly unexpected questions (1) what is your budget and (2) what are you looking for in a floral design team. This gets the money piece on the table early and it changes the dynamic of the relationship (less "master > servent" and more "partnership")
  4. After they respond, send them a template email with a few points of personalisation and point them to (a) the budget blog post or online calculator and (b) your top 10 tips for wedding flowers. Also, make it clear what the next step you want them to take if they're happy to continue.
  5. At the bottom of this email, point them to an online form (a Google Doc is good enough). In this form, ask them to give you all the info you'd traditionally get in a consultation (yes, this form will be long!)
  6. Based on what they have supplied in their Q&A, put together a very simple email with two pricing options (a) their wishlist and (b) your recommendation based on their budget. No matter what your client's budget is, their wish list will always cost them more (that's why it's called a wish list!). They will love that you're giving them both solutions. It gives them a helpful point of view and valuable insight to make an informed decision.
  7. After a little back and forth, (no doubt, they'll have questions) wait until they say the magic words "How do I go about booking you in?" That's when you jump into doing up the formal quote, getting the contract together and adding in your notes.
  8. The client pays 25% to secure your team for the date. And shazaam...another beautiful client booked!

My goal in sharing the above process is to give you an idea of what's possible when it comes to navigating new wedding enquiries. But know that it's not the only way to make it happen.

No matter what you end up doing with your wedding florist enquiry process, just know that you get to create a system that works for you. Lean into your strengths and create a system that is easy for you and helps you get to the goal of booking one in four enquiries (without wasting hours and hours of your time or your client's time).

If you wanna dig into this even more and get more juicy tips from me, I'm passing along more helpful insights in this week's podcast episode – Optimise Your Wedding Enquiry Process – 3 Quick Wins

Inside This Week's Podcast Episode You'll Learn:

✓ My best lessons learned from navigating more than 2,500 enquiries

✓ My best shortcuts for optimising your enquiry process

✓ Three common mistakes many florists make when they're navigating new enquiries

✓ Super simple solutions for dealing with price shoppers and budget brides

Listen to the full episode here

 

Full Episode Transcript

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Instagram / Marketing / Money Management / Pricing / Sales / Systems + Operations - 08/10/2022
Online Flower Business Tips

Online Flower Business Tips – 6 Essential Skills For Flower Biz Success

Looking for simple online flower business tips? You're in the right place.

The other day, a friend of mine asked, "Kathleen, what does it really take to be a successful florist in 2022?"

It's such a great question and it actually made me laugh.

Why?

Cause if you had asked me a few years ago, I would have said, in order to be a successful florist, you need to:

  1. Be a great designer
  2. Have lots of followers
  3. Be the owner of a sexy AF flower shop

...And each one of those things needed to be absolutely perfect or else success was never going to be possible.

Oi.

It took me a few years, but I'm so glad I finally figured out I was so wrong. (So, so wrong my friend!)

If I could rewind the clock and go back and pass along my best online flower business tips, here's what I'd tell me from a few years back.

Skip the obsession with followers and engagement. Set up a shop if it's the right thing operationally. And focus only on learning the mechanics and techniques that help you create the look you want to create.

And then, know this...In order to run a successful flower business in 2022, you only need to learn 6 new skills:

  1. Develop a CEO Mindset
  2. Get Good at Goal Setting
  3. Own Your Outcomes
  4. Think Like Your Customer
  5. Conquer the Customer Journey
  6. Sell Like a Boss

Wanna conquer the business of flowers? Want to get access to all my online flower business tips + shortcuts? Come join me inside Flower Boss Academy. Click here to learn more.

Online Flower Business Tips

The truth is, our industry is changing. The world of marketing is so different to what it was just a few years ago.

The rise of TikTok, the dominance of Facebook + Google, and our customer's appetite for immediate solutions means we gotta change the way we're approaching our business.

No longer is the retail shop the backbone of a successful flower business. No longer is having a lot of followers a road to success.

And no longer is it necessary to have the best portfolio or flashiest styled shoot set-up.

Nope.

When it comes to conquering the business of flowers and learning online flower business tips, the game has officially changed. Welcome to being a floral designer in 2022.

At the end of the day, when it comes to getting customers, scaling your business and increasing your revenue, these are the two things I'd prioritise:

  1. Get good at marketing (and I don't mean start posting to TikTok, I mean understanding strategy)
  2. Learn to manage your mindset (cause you're the only thing in the way of your own success)

Heck, if I'm honest, you don't even need to be the best at those two things.

Ain't no need for perfection here.

When you can learn to shift your focus and get good enough at these two things, the money will follow.

Yep.

Being a successful flower boss can be boiled down to this very simple formula:

Marketing + Mindset = Money

I wish someone had told me that making money isn't complicated. (In fact, it's actually super straightforward.)

The thing that makes making money so messy is the fact that we're human beings. And we have all these BS stories we like to tell ourselves about what is and isn't possible (particularly when it comes to making money as a floral designer).

But that, my friend, is why I'm so excited to share this week's podcast episode with you – Your Super Simple Formula for Conquering the Business of Flowers in 2022.

Inside This Week's Podcast Episode You'll Learn:

✓ My super simple formula for conquering the business of flowers in 2022

✓ My favourite shortcut for feeling more confident + showing up with more authority in your flower business

✓ The exact steps to follow to make more money as a floral designer

✓ My story...and my best tip for building your business faster (it's so good!)

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Marketing / Mindset / Systems + Operations - 07/27/2022
How to Sell Floral Subscriptions in 2022

How to sell floral subscriptions in 2022

Wondering how to sell floral subscriptions in 2022? You're in the right place!

Floral subscriptions are definitely rising in popularity. Florists are recognising that having a set, recurring income is awesome. Customers are recognising that having flowers in their workspace or on the kitchen island is awesome.

It's the definition of win-win, right?

And from the outside, selling floral subscriptions feels like it should be simple. It's like "Who wouldn't want to have flowers delivered to their house regularly?"

It's easy learning how to sell floral subscriptions in 2022 should be super basic, right?

After you've gone through all the effort of getting the subscription tech sorted on your website, you step out into the big bad world and tell a few people about it.

Maybe you mention it to a few friends or family members. And then you sit back and wait for the orders to come rolling in...

...But all you hear are crickets. Nada. Nothing.

Maybe you've had a handful of customers pop on from now and then, but it's not the rush of revenue you thought it would be.

You're left feeling frustrated, wondering how everyone else makes it look so easy but you're left wondering what you're missing, wondering "WTF am I missing?"

Maybe you've even Google "How to sell floral subscriptions in 2022?" (Well hello there. Nice to see you too!)

Let's get into it!

I'm here to share a few helpful tips to make it easier for you to sell floral subscriptions this year!

Back to Basics: What is a Floral Subscription?

(I know it might seem obvious, but just in case the whole concept is new to you.)

Just like the name states, a floral subscription is a regular, recurring flower delivery you make to a customer. It might be a corporate client who received flowers for a reception table every week. Or it might be for a family of four to put on their kitchen table every week.

Typically, the frequency of the delivery is weekly, fortnightly or once per month. But there are no real set rules around timing.

Some florists require their clients to sign a contract, locking them into a specific window of time. Others allow their clients to navigate subscriptions on a self-serve basis, meaning they can go into their account and pause their order, update their details and change their information. (It's kinda like if you signed up for a CSA or weekly veggie delivery. The customer sets up their account info and then has total control over the details and delivery.)

What's the Most Common Mistake Florists Make in Offering Subscriptions?

One of the most common mistakes I see florists making when it comes to how to sell floral subscriptions in 2022, is offering up too many choices and too many options for their customers.

Most of us would assume that giving our customers choices, leaving the possibilities open, will lead to increased revenue.

But it doesn't.

Instead, it leads your customers to overwhelm and decision fatigue. And that always leads to no sale.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but in actual fact, one of the most helpful things you can do for your customers is narrow down the choices. Yes. Scarcity leads to easier decision making, leads to more sales, leads to increased revenue.

So, if you're wondering where to start in terms of how to sell floral subscriptions in 2022, start with a very simple offering of two choices, each in just three sizes. One in a neutral palette, one in a more colourful palette. And make sure the size variation price points increase by at 30% between sizes.

For example, you might have your smallest size start at $135, your medium is listed at $175.50 and your large is listed at $228.15 (and yes, you can set your prices even higher than this).

My #1 Tip For How to Sell Floral Subscriptions in 2022

I used to think I needed to ask the client to supply the vase or that I needed to offer enough options to cater to a wide array of containers.

Turns out, it can be a lot simpler than that.

Turns out, one of the best sales tactics you can implement for floral subscriptions is to design with a specific vase in mind – a vase you pick. A vase that aligns with your vibe and your brand.

Every florist I've met has heaps of stories of showing up at a client's house, thinking we knew what container everything was going in...only to find out that container is actually four times bigger than the sizes they provided.

So, set yourself a little shopping mission. Go exploring and look around at different container options and find one that feels right for your floral designs.

Offer it up as a 'free' incentive for a new customer to start their subscription and then you'll know, with every week's bouquet you're making, it's going to look awesome because it's going in exactly that container.

Yes, it makes your job 100x easier. But just as important, it makes the flowers look great.

That adds to your customer's satisfaction and, because of that, they're more likely to tell their friends or share a photo on social media.

That, in turn, increases your exposure. More people find out about your offer. And, just by having offered a super simple solution for your customers, all of sudden you're experiencing the power of word of mouth marketing. SHAZAAM, more orders come in the door! So good, ain't it?

Let's Go Deeper: Selling Floral Subscriptions Like a Boss

Want more inspo to help you learn how to sell floral subscriptions in 2022? I've gotcha covered!

On this week's podcast, I'm diving deep into all things floral subscriptions. I'm passing along three tips to help you get better results when it comes to selling floral subscriptions in your business and we talk strategy.

Whether you're brand new to the idea of subscriptions or you've been selling floral subscriptions for a long time, this podcast episode will give you lots of juicy tips and tricks so you can sell floral subscriptions like a Boss.

Inside This Week's Podcast Episode You'll Learn:

✓ The right marketing strategy to follow for selling floral subscriptions so you can get results faster

✓ Sales tips to help you grow your revenue

✓ My #1 approach to making it work so you make faster progress

✓ Simple, step by step guidance on levelling up your floral subscription business today

Listen to the full episode here

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Marketing / Sales / Systems + Operations - 06/22/2022
Website Must-Haves for Florists

8 Website Must-Haves for Florists

Looking for a list of website must-haves for florists? You're in exactly the right place.

Y'all heard me preach about how important your website and I believe that down to my bones. Particularly now, with the continued increase in online ordering and more and more customers getting comfortable connecting with florists online.

Your website is the easiest way to make your sales process super simple as well as making marketing way more streamlined.

But it's also really easy to get overwhelmed sorting out website must-haves for florists. The additional layers of tech, trying to troubleshoot and getting totally confused by the possibilities, add-ons and additions is totally normal.

In fact, I just saw another ad from Shopify, celebrating how easy it is to get a shop set up on their platform. I think these ads actually make the issue even bigger for us.

Yeah, it is easy to get it set up and started but getting the products uploaded, looking the way you want it to look, getting the delivery date picker sorted, and the checkout streamlined in a way that suits the needs of your customers is a totally different game.

So, I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of my 8 website must-haves for florists.

Website Must-Haves for Florists – Tip 1: Your Website Is Your Flower Business.

One of the biggest changes to come out of the last two years of upheaval is that more customers are shopping online than ever before. In fact, the world of online shopping is expected to exceed $5.5 trillion dollars in 2022. That's a big number, right? (Check out this article from Cloudwards.net.)

No longer is having a brick + mortar shop the benchmark for success as a floral designer. In 2022, your website is your flower business.

So, the goal is to translate the in-store shopping experience, the expert status of being a professional florist into your flower business website, creating an easy-to-navigate online experience for your clientele and a money-making asset for your business.

Tip 2: Find a Restaurant Theme For Your Website.

If you are going to use one of the DIY platforms like Shopify or Squarespace, when you're looking for a theme to use, focus on restaurant and cafe themes.

In the early iterations of my website, I made the mistake of paying for a portfolio theme (yes I totally got sucked in by the prettiness of the templates). But then I had to back to the beginning, figure out how to add heaps of new content, set up new page layouts from scratch and add on extra plugins and widgets.

Learn from my mistake and save yourself a giant headache on Day 1: focus on finding a theme that works for a cafe, a bakery or a restaurant.

There are so many crossovers and similarities between floristry and restaurant services that you'll be able to repurpose a lot of the default theme templates and layouts to really fast track your progress.

It's one of the easiest shortcuts to adopt when you're sorting through florist website must-haves.

Tip 3: First Impressions Matter.

Particularly in our industry. We're selling a luxury service and marking up our designs at a hefty premium. That demands that we put our best foot forward in terms of our marketing and the first impression we present to our customers.

So, be intentional with your visuals, the flow on your website and the level of sophistication you put out into the world. As crazy as it sounds, your customers are going to use your website as a placeholder for your ability to design. That means those first impressions really do matter.

If you don't want to figuring all things florist website, be sure to join us inside Flower Boss Bootcamp – we give you the templatest to follow, the words to use on each page and give you the tools to make it easier to build a better flower business website. Click here to join us today.

Tip 4: Use Simple, Direct Words.

One of the common mistakes I see florists make is trying to be uber creative with the words they use on their website. Yes, there are SEO implications with our word choice but just as important is that we need to make our language as simple as possible for our customers to understand.

Most customers are incredibly intimidated and overwhelmed by the prospect of talking to a florist and if we use too much industry jargon, designer speak and just make it all too fancy and complicated, they're going to run screaming the other direction.

So, when it comes to things like 'Order flowers', just say that. You don't need to get fancy and go with 'fill your basket' or 'spread joy'.

The general rule I like to follow with website words is to stick with the language your seven-year-old nephew would understand. Keep it simple AF.

Tip 5: Set up an About Me Page

I spent years hiding behind the facade of our business because I was worried I'd get called out as a fraud or not good enough. Turns out, I lost customers because they didn't know there was a real person, a real family behind this business.

So, don't be shy about telling your story.

Share with your clients why you LOVE flowers, how you first fell in love with this work and what your mission is. In turn, you'll notice your clients will fall in love with you even more because they'll be able to see your passion and your drive.

The brand Toms is a great example of this. We can buy a pair of slip-on shoes from thousands of different businesses around the world.

But we buy Tom's because we know their story and want to support their mission.

Your flower business is no different. Embrace the discomfort and start to share your mission and passion with the world!

Tip 6: Integrate Your Instagram Feed

This has got to be one of my favourite shortcuts for making your website look good. Integrating your Instagram feed into a few pages on your website keeps the content looking fresh, but you don't have to spend any time going in and updating image galleries or uploading new photos.

And, rather than just having it on one page on your website, don't be shy about doubling up. I suggest having it on your homepage, your about me page and your main services page.

This one tip has got to be one of my favourites when it comes to website must-haves for florists.

Tip 7: The Top Navigation is More Important Than You Realise

I didn't realise this but there is actually a lot of thinking that goes into setting up that top navigation on your website.

The goal with the navigation is to make it easier for your customers to navigate themselves through your customer experience. You want to serve up the experience and your content one step at a time.

So, put yourself in your customer's shoes and map out the process you want your clients to experience – from the moment they land on the page, to where they want to go next, second and last. And go through it all step by step (better yet, have a trusted friend do it for you and give you an honest opinion.)

HOT TIP: One of the best lessons I learned is to NOT have your wedding enquiry form linked in that top navigation. Yes, it lead to lots of enquiries but most of them were a waste of time.

Tip 8: Take It One Step At a Time

The thing about getting a kick-ass website stored is it is a lot of work. And what seems like a simple idea (thanks to Shopify), ends up leading you down a whole path of solving lots of itty bitty problems, constantly running into roadblocks and then taking the time to figure out how to overcome it.

One of the reasons getting a florist website sorted is complicated is because we need to have lots of layers of tech. For example, when your customers are ordering flowers, there are some very specific plugins we need to include (i.e. card message, delivery date picker).

This is what makes florist business websites different to other websites (and much more complicated than Shopify pitches it to be).

One of the best things you can do is get off your computer and grab a pen + piece of paper. Map out the process. Go step by step and really think about the stages your client needs to go through.

You can even look at florists in other cities, heck even head on over to Interflora or Petals just to see the steps in the process. And then start to sort it out for yourself.

I find drawing myself a diagram and going through it in detail to be really helpful.

In my experience, of all the website platforms available, I like WordPress the best. I've found it to be the most flexible, SEO-rich and cost-effective option for florists.

I know the initial set-up on WordPress can be overwhelming so check out this YouTube video where I walk you through the process step by step.

So, when it comes to sorting through website must-haves for florists, remember to take it one step at a time.

My #1 Tip for Streamlining Your Approach

Your website can be one of your best allies in growing your business. All the struggle and frustration we experience in trying to sort out the tech and getting it working is 100% worth it. It's one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and our business.

One of the biggest reasons I've been such an advocate for getting a kick-ass website sorted is that it saves you thousands of hours of time. Literally.

And it doesn't even need to be the fanciest, most sophisticated solution out there. I'm not talking about the sexiest plugins and latest widgets. And I'm definitely not saying you need to spend $$$$ on it.

On this week's podcast episode, I'm sharing heaps of helpful shortcuts, tips and tricks and ideas to help you use your website to streamline your approach.

Spending a little bit of time now can free up so much time and energy in the future, giving you more flexibility and allowing you to spend more time flowering and less time admin-ing.

Inside This Week's Podcast Episode:

✓ Simplifying the website building experience for florists

✓ My go-to strategy for getting your website sorted

✓ The five layers of every flower business website you need to pay attention to

✓ What to focus on first when you next evaluating your own website and making planned updates

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Marketing / Sales / Systems + Operations / Website - 05/18/2022
How to Price Wedding Flowers

How to Price Wedding Flowers – Example $1500 Wedding Flower Budget

Looking back now, one of the reasons I struggled so much with pricing my work was that I had no point of reference. I knew how to do the math and price to the formula but I had no reference point in terms of what specific budgets looked like for wedding flowers.

The secrecy of our industry, the fact that your closest flower friends will not share their approach with you, is one of the many reasons florists consistently undercharge and underearn.

In my experience, one of the biggest reasons florists struggle to charge the right price is because no one talks about it. So, that is the point of this little exercise here, peoples. To help fill the giant void of information and give you the tools you need to learn how to price wedding flowers with confidence.

How to Price Wedding Flowers – The Right Formula to Follow

One of the greatest blessings we’ve been handed as florists is that hundreds of thousands of florists have travelled before you, testing out the pricing formula for florists. Florists of all shapes + sizes have used this pricing model, which means you don't need to keep guessing. It truly is such a gift and makes pricing our designs so simple!

In case you’re not sure what the right formula is and you're wondering how to price wedding flowers, here is the industry standard formula for pricing wedding + events work:

Wholesale x 3.5-4 + 30-50%.

Yes, I suggest you markup all wholesale items (flowers, foliage + sundries) at the same percentages to keep it easy on yourself. And yes, delivery, set-up and pack down are over and above this equation. (They're calculated based on the specific event requirements and logistics).

To bring this equation to life, let's go through an example. Let’s say you're a floral designer who just loves an abundance of roses in your bridal bouquets (me too!). Maybe we'll keep it simple and go with a very traditional colour palette and design the entire bouquet with Vandellas. These days, they wholesale for around $2.20 per stem.

For me, based on my design aesthetic and the level of abundance I like my clients to have, I want to account for 34 stems in a bridal bouquet. Plus, let’s allow $10 (wholesale) for ribbons, tape, packaging, etc.

Following the industry-standard approach, the math works out to be $415.

[(34 x $2.20) + $10] x 3.5 + 40% = $415

Pricing Is Based on Equation. Not an Emotion.

Let's dig into an example budget and break down the specifics. If a client came to you with a $1500 budget, what could they expect to see?

With the continued rising cost of flowers, it’s fair to say $1500 doesn’t buy you what it used to, right? These days, it's the starting off point and is enough to cover a basic set of personals or a few items for a more intimate ceremony.

Here’s a few examples of how $1500 might break down for a wedding:

EXAMPLE 1

Bridal Bouquet $415 x 1
Bridesmaid Bouquet $250 x 3 = $750
Buttonhole $25 x 4 = $100 (Groom, 3 x Groomsmen)
Saturday Delivery + Drop Off (Local) = $200

EXAMPLE 2

Brial Bouquet $415 x 1
Buttonhole $25 x 3 = $75 (Groom, 2 x Father)
Front-facing floral arrangement to sit on bar or signing table = $750
Saturday Delivery + Drop Off (Local, 2 locations) = $250

Looking for a step by step tutorial to help you quote a design you've never made before? Check out this YouTube video.

You Set Your Prices. Your Customers Set Their Budget.

One of the best lessons I learned in navigating wedding enquiries is that your customers have no idea how much to allocate or budget for wedding flowers.

You know how you, as the business owner, have a hard time finding information? Now, imagine being one of your clients! It's nearly impossible.

I know it feels scary to be the florist that openly talks about budgets and wedding planning, but it is the most helpful thing you can do for your customers. Being the florist who gives your clients the tools and resources to make empowered decisions is a game changer – it sets you up for an incredible relationship because the foundation for your entire creative relationship is built on transparency and helpfulness. And yes, that relationship then gives you the space you're dreaming of to make beautiful floral art!

So, while all the other designers are making it hard for clients to find information on how to budget for wedding flowers and what $1500 (or $5,000, $15,000 or $150,000) will get them, be the brave one. The easiest way to separate yourself from the competition and stand out from the crowd is to be the florist who actually gives your clients helpful, practical information.

And I don’t mean having it hidden deep in some blog post from a hundred months ago. Or setting up an auto email to send a price list (no, it's actually not that helpful). I mean be brave AF and put together a few helpful resources your clients can find on your website and in your IG feed/profile.

As counterintuitive as it feels, your clients will love you because you're making it easy for them and will love you more because you're the most helpful.

Worried Your Competition Will Find Out About Your Prices?

Don’t be. If your competition is spending all their time focused on you, you’re winning. It means they’re not focused on your clients and that provides you with the perfect opportunity to come in and sweep them off their feet, right?

And if you’re really stuck on the idea that your competition will find out, think about how all the big companies operate. Remember, the people who run Samsung know exactly what price the iPhone is offered at. In every country in the world. Because it's right there, in our faces every day, on their website.

They've figured out how to make it work. So can you.

Struggling to feel confident in your pricing? Come join us inside Flower Boss Bootcamp. No more second-guessing, offering discounts or saying to whatever comes your way. Learn how to show up with more confidence and build a thriving flower business.

Let's Go Deeper: 3 Steps to Break the Habit of Undercharging + Underquoting

If you're anything like me and find yourself constantly underquoting and offering discounts, you're not alone. I stayed in that cycle for years in my business.

It was like the fear of making felt impossible to navigate. It felt like an impossible battle and I couldn't figure out how to break the cycle.

When it comes to sorting out how to price wedding flowers, I was constantly filled with doubt and uncertainty. But I eventually figured out a way to make it work, to shift my approach and step into the discomfort.

I don't want you to stay stuck as long as I did. On this week's podcast, I'm digging into pricing in more detail and giving you specific actions, a step by step approach to getting yourself out of the undercharging cycle. It's time to get your pricing sorted once and for all!

What you'll learn from this podcast episode:

✓ What is causing the doubt and uncertainty and how to move through it

✓ Why we, as creative entrepreneurs, struggle with our pricing so much (yes, it's normal!)

✓ How to reframe your perspective and show up with more confidence

✓ My exact approach to getting out of your own way and finally getting your pricing sorted!

Listen to the full episode here

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Mindset / Money Management / Pricing / Special Events / Systems + Operations - 04/20/2022
Mothers Day Florist Business Tips

Mothers Day Florist Business Tips: 3 Ideas to Smash Your Goals

As a creative entrepreneur, I love the high-pressure periods of Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day + Christmas. I think it’s these periods that separate out the ‘good designers’ from the ‘great florists’ and the successful entrepreneurs from the starving artists.

When I first fell in love with flowers and toiled with the idea of starting a flower business, I had no idea how much expertise was required to navigate all the logistics and manage production. I was so swept up in all the beauty, the design mechanics, colour theory and trying to learn as much as I could about seasonality.

In our industry, no one really talks about the behind-the-scenes, the ins and outs of trying to sling that many flowers and manage a hectic trading period like Mother’s Day while still having your sanity stay somewhat intact at the end of it. So, finding Mother's Day Florist business tips can be like looking for a needle in a haystack, right?

When it comes to Mother's Day florist business tips, I like to think of it as a well-choreographed performance: it looks so effortless from the outside, but behind the scenes is a heap of plans, checklists and schedules.

Mother's Day Florist Business Tips: Get Your Website + Online Catalogue Sorted NOW

I liked to use the period leading up to Mother’s Day as a window to go in and make sure our online catalogue is up to date. If I'd been putting off a price increase or had an idea for a new product, I always used Mother’s Day as my deadline for new additions and updates. Anything I wanted to change, I'd make it my goal to get the updates sorted in the weeks before the big day.

Yes, of course, we’d make changes the other 51 weeks of the year but I liked to use Mother’s Day as an annual reminder to go in and evaluate our online catalogue more strategically and really make sure what we’re offering was still in line with our design aesthetic, flower availability, rising wholesale prices and evolving colour preferences.

So, tip #1 for florists looking to conquer Mother's Day 2022: put some time in your calendar this week to work through any updates you've been putting off. And yes, go in and raise those prices if it's been too long!!

Not sure what to offer in your online catalogue, here's my go-to approach.

Tip #2: Price Anchoring – Understanding Sales Psychology 

I learned about the idea of price anchoring when I was doing my MBA. It’s something I keep coming back to time and time again and Mother's Day is the perfect opportunity to put it to work for your flower business.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, when I first learned about it, I was kinda sceptical. I didn’t really think this big business idea would work for our little flower businesses but I'm glad to report, it totally does!

The simplest way to explain the concept of Price Anchoring is as follows: What’s the easiest way to sell a $1000 watch? Put a $10,000 watch next to it.

In the case of the watches, the goal isn't to actually sell the $10,000 watch. Instead, it's there to make the $1,000 more appealing and sell more $1,000 watches.

In the case of floral design, we can do exactly the same thing. We can use a premium-priced design, placed next to our average priced design and more people will be more inclined to pay even more. Thus, increasing our average order value. Yeah baby!

The first time I tried this idea out was for Valentine’s Day 2016 (yes, that seems like forever ago now). We intentionally created a bouquet of 3 dozen Cherry Brandy roses and slapped a juicy price on it. I had no intention of it actually selling that bouquet, but instead using it as an anchor for price comparison – its premium price tag was there to simply make everything else feel cheaper. It worked so good!

That one 3-dozen rose bouquet made the 2-dozen roses look way more appealing and our average sales increased. From that moment forward, I have used this strategy in a variety of areas of my business. I love experimenting with it and playing around.

These days, with more and more customers ordering online, we can take this exact strategy and put it to work on our websites – and it's even easier because you only have to photograph it, add in your fancy description and throw it up on your catalogue. It's like a one-time effort that keeps paying off (as opposed to in the shop when you need to keep designing it with fresh product).

Throwing a $450 or $600 product into the mix makes a really easy point of reference for your customers to then compare and come to the conclusion, ‘Oh yeah, I guess $150 for that bouquet is cheap’. Versus just having the $150 bouquet there and then they default to the $65 option.

So, on your list of updates to make on your website, make sure you add a new product that has a juicy price point – something that is 3-4 times higher than your average order value. (And remember, when someone orders that product, go in and make an even bigger one!)

Want a step by step guide to setting up a more effective florist website? Come join us inside Flower Boss Bootcamp and get all the tools + templates you need to fast track your growth (including my exact approach to setting up your website). Click here to join us today.

Tip #3: Review Your Google My Business Listing Today

When it comes to getting yourself sorted for Mother's Day, don't overlook some of the most basic marketing tactics we have available to us. Your Google Business listing is one of the most powerful (and free!) opportunities we have to get on our customer's radar.

And, when it comes to Mother's Day florist business tips, if you’re one of the many florists traditionally not open on Sundays, but you are trading on Mother’s Day Sunday, go in and make sure your hours are up to date for the big day.

Go in now, add in the specific hours you'll be open (i.e. answering the phone) and capitalise on some of those last-minute deliveries.

Plus, if it’s been a while since you’ve checked over your listing details, information and photos, take a few minutes to make sure it’s accurate and up to date.

Hot Tip: upload a few new photos to show the Google algorithm your business is active. This will help increase the organic reach of your listing and keep you current in the search world

More Free Stuff: How to Smash Your Revenue Goals for Mother's Day 2022

At the end of the day, there is a lot to focus on, particularly in the lead up to crazy times like Mother's Day.

If you want more support, a little clarity on what really matters and where to spend your time and energy to make the most of Mother's Day 2022, be sure to listen to this week's podcast episode. I'm sharing five tips to help you grow your revenue and make more money for Mothers' Day 2022. I'm also passing along more super practical Mother's Day Florist business tips.

I still think back to my very first Mother's Day and laugh awkwardly about all the things I assumed mattered, all the mistakes I made and what I'd do differently. I want to help you avoid the same mistakes I made and ensure your Mother's Day is a little less stressful than my first few years!

What you'll learn from this episode:

✓ 3 sales tactics to help you increase your average order value

✓ Helpful strategies to follow to navigate the uncertainty and last-minute-ness of Mother's Day

✓ My #1 tip for sorting through deliveries and logistics

✓ My favourite tactics to implement to help you skyrocket your sales

Listen to the full episode here

 

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Google / Marketing / Sales / Special Events / Systems + Operations / Website - 04/13/2022
How to Improve my Florist Business

How to Improve My Florist Business – My #1 Sales Strategy

One of the things I wish someone had told me early on in my floral design + creative entrepreneurship journey is that when it comes to marketing + sales, one of the best things you can do is decide ahead of time what you’re selling.

When you’re first starting out, it’s tempting to think you need to offer up lots of choices and lots of options – that you need to cater to customers across all sorts of styles and aesthetics.

That sounds OK in practice but in reality, it leads to a lot of confusion and total overwhelm – for us and our customers.

This is exactly how we ran our flower business for years. And it was hard work – hard on the customers, hard on our business and hard on me, as a designer. It took me a long time (and a lot of money) to learn there is a better, easier way, a strategy we can follow that helps our customers and helps us.

It’s Time To Step Up and Take Charge: How to Improve My Florist Business

One of the biggest mistakes we designers make is not getting clear on exactly what they’re selling, handing over all your power and authority to your customer.

It’s kinda like if you decided to start a restaurant but, instead of deciding on a menu or cuisine, you just brought lots of different kinds of food and then waited for your customers to approach you and tell you what to make.

Could you imagine walking into your favourite cafe and, instead of the server handing you a menu, he looked at you and asked, “What would you like?” (leaving it entirely open-ended and expecting you, the hungry customer, to have come preferred with a recipe or cookbook).

This is exactly how we're taught to run our flower business. We are trained to have our customers tell us what to create, give us a reference picture and we're expected to know all the techniques and mechanics to be able to just make it.

When we do that, we're setting ourselves (and our customers) up for so much frustration. This approach requires your clients to have the same level of experience, expertise and flower knowledge we do, putting a huge amount of pressure on them.

And, for you as the designer, it leads to creative burnout and often requires you to spend hours and heaps of $$$ learning all sorts of different mechanics and styles. Plus, most of the time you don't even like the work going out the door (that was me!).

Over the past few years, I've heard similar stories from florists around the world, having been advised they need to cater to lots of different tastes and styles in order to grow their business. Philosophically, it makes sense. Practically, from a marketing + sales perspective, it’s an absolute nightmare.

The Paradox of Choice

Have you ever had that experience, where you’re trying to sort through making a decision and just feel overwhelmed by the options available to you? Maybe at the wine shop, looking at the 100s of options available. Or possibly in the chocolate bar section at the convenience store? (That was totally me as a kid!)

In the world of sales, there is a common anecdote that goes: “ A confused mind always says no.” As in, too much choice leads to overwhelm and confusion leads to the customer walking away.

One of the best sales studies I’ve learned about is called The Jam Study. Two psychologists set up an experiment, testing out their hypothesis on selling jars of jam. They wanted to see how sales were impacted by the number of options available to customers.

In one scenario, they set up the experiment with 24 different choices. In the second scenario, they limited it to 6.

Common sense might lead us to believe more choice is better, right? Turns out, the exact opposite is true.

When it comes to learning how to improve my florist business, there is such a thing as too much choice. In the case of the Jam Study, the psychologists found that sales increased when there were 6 products on offer (as compared to 24 options).

We floral designers can learn SO much from this one study. Our customers need us and want us to narrow down the choices and simplify our offer.

A Real-World Example: Apple iPhone

I often think about what a disaster it would be if we, as customers, had to walk into the Apple Store and were presented with shelves of wires, plastic screens, microchips and lenses as opposed to working phones and computers. As if the staff at Apple expect us, the totally tech ignorant customer, to come along and be able to tell the engineers what we wanted to made.

For me, I'd be in a spiral of confusion and overwhelm so quick I'd run screaming out the door. Me, the non-engineer type, has no idea what’s even possible when it comes to this sort of tech. I don't even know where to begin.

Apple has, in fact, does us a massive favour by limiting the number of decisions we iPhone customers need to think through. As of this moment in time, we can decide between basic things like (1) memory (2) colour (3) size (4) version. The rest, the amazing team at Apple have done for us.

We, floral designers, get to do the same thing in our flower business. You and I both know there are an infinite number of solutions when it comes to flowers. And, instead of relying on your customer to tell you what to create, it’s time to take charge and refine your offer.

Step #1 is to decide ahead of time what you think looks good, what ingredients you want to use and what formats you want to offer.

Simplification is the Secret to More Sales

One of the places I really saw this strategy work was when it came to table arrangements. A client would send us one of those generic emails that reads, “I’m having lunch for nanna’s 80th birthday next Thursday. And I’d like something for the table.”

Early on, we’d go back and forth with the customer for days, giving them heaps of options and overwhelming them with decisions and details.

In the end, when I saw how much time my staff was spending on all this back-and-forth, I realised I needed to find a better way. I’d have one of my best designers trying to sort through this for hours – in some cases, navigating the enquiry would take far longer than actually making the arrangements. I had had enough.

We sat down and decided OK, what do we want our go-to table arrangements to look like. We came up with a very simple framework.

  • Mini arrangement $85
  • Standard size $195
  • Premium $350

Rather than using a reference picture as a literal ‘please make me one of these chef’ directives, we started to use the reference pictures as a guide for colour palette, textures and overall vibe. We used it as a tool for communication, rather than a literal set of instructions on what to make.

It finally occurred to me that our clients were sending us reference pictures because (1) they thought they had to and (2) they didn’t know the words to describe what they liked.

PRO TIP: Looking for guidance on pricing your floral arrangements? Jump over here and grab my FREE pricing worksheets.

In the end, this new, simpler sales strategy changed the game for us. It cut down on 90% of the back and forth and streamlined our approach dramatically. Our clients loved how simple we made things and that helped us close more sales with less effort.  Better yet, it ensured that every design that went out the door met our standards. Win-win!

How to Effortlessly Sell Your Dream Designs

When you're looking for ideas on how to improve my florist business, keep this sales strategy in mind: stepping up and taking charge is the best way forward.

On a very practical note, remember that this sales strategy works for many different areas of your business. In fact, it applies to anything – ceremony features, funeral work, corporate arrangements, subscriptions.

If you're tired of saying yes to whatever is coming your way and feel totally embarrassed by the work you're being asked to create, you're not alone. That was me. 100%. Over the years, I've learned to flip the entire process on its head. There is an easier way!

It's time to put yourself back in the driver's seat and take control.

And that's precisely what I'm teaching in this week's podcast episode, passing along my exact approach to effortlessly sell your dream designs and giving you my best advice on how to improve my florist business.

What you'll learn from this week's podcast episode:

✓ Why we're all taught the exact wrong approach to get orders and navigating event clients

✓ My super simple solution to quoting designs you love and how to make it easier to close more clients

✓ How to put yourself back in the driver's seat of your business and start making work you love

✓ Streamline your wholesale ordering process and stop all the second-guessing

Listen to the full episode here

 

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Marketing / Sales / Systems + Operations - 04/06/2022
Online Catalogue Template for Flower Business

Online Catalogue Template for Flower Business – My Basic Framework

Struggling to figure out the right way to set up the online catalogue template for flower business? I've gotcha covered.

Navigating through all the details of your online catalogue is definitely a 'thing'. And yes, there is a specific strategy to follow. It's kinda like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: you don't want to offer too many options and you don't want to be too skimpy.

How Many Products Should You Include in Your Online Catalogue Template for Flower Business?

A few years ago I read about this study that a few psychologists did about selling jam. The general premise is that customers are MORE likely to buy when you limit their options. (You can read about it here.)

It sounds kinda counterintuitive, doesn't it? We as humans think we want to have an unlimited number of options. And as business owners, we fear missing out on sales if we aren't offering enough, right?

But at the end of the day, customers so want choice, but actually only from a limited number of choices. In the world of psychology, this concept is referred to as the Paradox of Choice.

In the case of the jam study, the psychologists found that more jam was sold when customers only had 6 options versus the initial 24 choices.

When I learned about this study, I immediately put it into action and put together a new framework for setting up the online catalogue template for flower business.

When it comes to setting up your daily deliveries, start with 12 products in your core offering. Set up your catalogue so that 50% of your products are presented in some sort of vase or container. And 50% is a hand-tied bouquet.

Why Not Just Add a Vase For An Add-On?

In our flower business, I found our customers came to us having decided ahead of time if they wanted something in a container or not. It's kinda like they came to our website with the format question already answered. They then looked through the photos and immediately eliminated the options that weren't the format they were looking for.

My experience is based on catering to a broad away of customers and living in a small town. So, if you operate in a big city and have a bigger population to work with and/or cater to a sophisticated audience, things might be different for you.

It's possible you're missing out on incremental revenue because your online catalogue isn't aligning to how your customers shop for flowers. Of course, every business is different and I reckon it's worth experimenting with both options. Track the data and then make a decision from there.

The most important thing to remember is to put yourself in your customer's shoes. Really think about how much expertise, experience and familiarity your clients have with ordering flowers and test out new hypotheses to really push the limits of what is possible.

Offer Three Size Options for Each Product

With each of the 12 products in your online catalogue template for flower business, set up three different sizes for each product. And make sure there is at least a 30% increase between each size.

For example, if your cheapest bouquet is $85 + delivery, then the next size up needs to be at least $110.50 and then the third is $143.65 (yes, they can be even more than this, just make sure the differences are noticeable).

Most customers aren't going to be able to tell the difference between an $85 bouquet and a $100 so make the price points and difference between the sizes you offer quite chunky. You can use your written descriptions to outline the basic sizes and educate your customers on what to expect (i.e. What's the difference between each size?).

Which Size Should I Show in the Pictures?

I'm lazy and kinda cheap. So when I set up our first online catalogue I just showed photos of only one size of bouquets. I didn't bother trying to take photos of each size. It was all too fussy for me.

Instead, I like to use the product description to give more detail, outline more specifics and give guidance on size. Want an example of what to write in the product description? Check out this YouTube video from the archives – 4 Details to Include in Your Online Catalogue

It's All a Work in Progress

One of the best lessons I've learned in my business is that nothing is permanent. This is particularly true with your website.

The nature of floristry is that every day there is a new set of customers coming into your little bubble. New babies are being born. More birthdays are being had. More get well soon gifts to be given.

This means that the customers who come to your website today aren't the same customers that visited last week (or even yesterday). So you can go in and update your website any day of the week.

For us, we found that more than 80% of our customers hadn't been to our website in the last 365 days.

Yes, you read that right.

More than 80% of our paying clients hadn't ordered in the past year. So they have no idea what was on there five weeks ago, let alone five days ago.

Don't delay! Stop telling yourself you'll do at the beginning of next quarter to the beginning of next financial year. Give yourself the go-ahead to go in today and make updates.

Your future self will love you so much because of it.

NEXT STEP: Wondering how to increase online orders? Google Ads is our go-to solution. Check out this super helpful blog post: 4 Google Ads Tips for Florists

Want more tips to help you get y our online catalogue sorted?

There is a lot of strategy that goes into getting an online catalogue sorted. Having the right mix of offers, but without too many options can be one of the best improvements you can make for your flower business. The first time I set up our online catalogue, I totally underestimated the task and I missed the mark with some of our solutions.

It's easy to overlook some of the finer details with an online catalogue. And it's really easy to do it wrong. If you need help sorting through your online catalogue, be sure to check out this podcast episode: What to Include in Your Online Catalogue as a Floral Designer

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Design / Marketing / Sales / Systems + Operations / Website - 03/16/2022
How to Promote Floral Business on Instagram

How to Promote Floral Business on Instagram – 3 Time-Saving Tips for Florists

Wondering how to promote floral business on Instagram? I'm here to help.

I used to be so intimidated and overwhelmed by all things Instagram. I used to look at the famous florists and think 'Wow, their work looks so effortless. They show up and make it look so easy.'

Meanwhile, I was struggling with finding halfway decent photos, knowing what to write in the caption and constantly second-guessing what I needed to do.

I spent so much time stuck, so much time wondering how to promote floral business on Instagram.

But then I started to look at things differently. I shifted my frame of reference.

Very specifically, I stopped focusing on what I thought I was supposed to do in comparison to my florist idols. I stopped worrying about what my competition was doing, I stopped dwelling in my own insecurities and self-doubt.

Change Your Perspective

When it comes to how to promote floral business on Instagram it's super important to remember that we're using Instagram as a way to attract customers. At the end of the day, Instagram is simply another way to market your flower business.

And when it comes to marketing, job #1 is to focus on your customers. It's time to get your self-doubt, your uncertainty and your fears out of the way. Hit pause for a few minutes and put yourself in your customer's shoes.

When you shift your perspective, stop focusing on yourself and start obsessing over your customers, it brings so much clarity.

It gives you guidance on what really matters when it comes to how to promote floral business on Instagram. No longer do you need to have the sexiest captions or worry about having the world best photos.

Instead, you can pour your heart into helping your clients, being helpful and making it easy for your customers to find the answers they're looking for.

You can play a totally different game.

Step Away From The Crowd

If you've ever spent any time deconstructing how most florists show up on Instagram, you'll see feeds filled with flower photos, pithy captions filled with a handful of emojis and, mostly, a lot of self-centred, look-at-how-good-a-designer-I-am posts.

This is how I thought we were all supposed to show up on Instagram.

But I realised that approach wasn't helping me get clients. It wasn't helping me streamline my systems and it definitely wasn't helping me show up consistently on Instagram.

All in all, that approach was just too hard.

So I came up with a totally different path. I decided to step away from the crowd, break with tradition and make my own rules for posting to Instagram.

Turns out, Instagram can be easy. When you shift your perspective and step away from the crowd, you can use your creativity to develop a better process – one that is (1) helpful to your customers (2) saves you time and (3) is actually fun (seriously!).

3 Time-Saving Tips: How to Promote Floral Business on Instagram

It's time to follow a new path, my friends! It's time to learn a better way to approach Instagram.

Here are my three favourite time-saving tips to help:

  1. Batch Your Posts + Plan Ahead – set aside 60 minutes in your schedule to sit down and plan your posts. I use Planoly to schedule and map out my feed. Decide ahead of time how often you want to post to your feed and then get to work making it happen. And remember, consistency is more important than frequency. Start with 1-2 times a week and go from there. It's better to post 1-2 per week x 52 weeks a year rather than 100 days in a row and then give up for 36 weeks.
  2. Use Stock Photos and Graphic Headlines as Images – Canva.com is one of the greatest shortcuts available to us and makes it so much easier to create a pretty feed and cohesive vibe on your feed. And, instead of posting a wall of your designs, switch it up. Be intentional with curating your feed and creating a sophisticated, cohesive vibe using a mix of stock photos and graphic headlines. (You also schedule your content using Canva.com, so if having it all in one place is helpful, this might be worth checking out.)
  3. Answer Your Customer's Questions – this is one of my favourite time-saving shortcuts when it comes to Instagram. Instead of wondering what to write or filling up that valuable real estate with a pithy, charming caption, use your Instagram captions to educate and inform your clients. It can be as simple as taking the very last question a customer asked and writing out the question + answer in the caption. Literally. (Yes, it really can be that simple my friends!)

Instagram is an incredible marketing tool to attract new customers and better clients to your flower business.

But one of the most important things to remember is we flower business owners get to play a totally different game. We can create a new set of rules because we don't need to worry about engagement or followers or cracking the algorithm.

If you're ever stuck wondering how to promote floral business on Instagram, come back to these three time-saving tips. They really do work!

Oh, and, if you want more Instagram tips for florists, check out this recent post on how to use Instagram Reels in Your Flower Business.

Instagram / Marketing / Sales / Systems + Operations / Website - 02/09/2022
Florist Pricing Formulas

Florist Pricing Formulas

I've never met a florist who hasn't struggled with pricing.

Seriously. It's part of the journey from Backyard Betty to Profitable Polly.

I work with florists from every corner of the globe and every one of them, at one time or another, has struggled with feeling confident in their pricing.

For me, I struggled with pricing for the first three years. One day I finally hit rock bottom and realised I couldn't keep going the way I was going.

I didn't have enough money in my bank account to warrant the work I was doing.

I had to make it work.

I didn't have a Plan B. I didn't have a separate household income to support me. I didn't have time to get another job.

If I could turn back time to that old version of me, it would have been so helpful if someone had told me on day one of my business...

Kathleen pricing is actually super-duper straightforward. The math is easy. What's making it feel so hard is all the self-doubt and meaning you're adding to the math.

If some magic unicorn had walked up to me and whispered those words, I probably would have tilted my head and been like, "WTF are you even talking about?"

It certainly would have encouraged me to pause for a second and ask more questions (yes, about my approach to pricing but also, Why is there a magic unicorn here and does anyone else see this thing?!?!?)

I'm embarrassed to admit this but I was taught the florist pricing formulas before I even started my business. Early on in class we talked a lot about pricing and did a lot of math.

But what we didn't talk about was feeling so full of doubt, fearing rejection and what it's like to lack confidence in your prices.

I allowed all of that to lead the way in my business and it's what stood in the way of me making it work.

Stories We Tell Ourselves

You know that little voice in your head that says:

😬 I can't charge that much.
😬 I don't want to be too expensive.
😬 My customers won't pay that much.
😬 This area is too competitive to charge those prices.

Or...maybe your flower friends price have told you they only charge 3 x markup and so you feel obligated to fall in line.

Quite possibly you've got a little push back from your local flower peeps telling you anything higher than that isn't marketing compatible or competitive?

Welcome to the world of being a professional floral designer and business owner my friends. It's time to put your big girl pants on and step away from the crowd.

Do you want to be Backyard Betty or a Profitable Polly?

What no one tells you about running your own business is that it's going to bring up all of our fears, doubts and worries.

For florists, a lot of that starts with pricing.

We fear rejection.
We fear failure.
We fear standing out from the crowd.

All of that fear is normal. 100% totally completely normal.

You are not broken. There is nothing wrong with you.

But the mindset shifts away from Backyard Betty to Profitable Polly is how you go from exhausted, struggling designer to thriving business owner and creative entrepreneur.

For many of us, our pricing woes are compounded by the fact that our industry is super secretive. No one openly talks about pricing and trying to find specifics on florist pricing formulas online is nearly impossible.

The result: we allow fear to lead the way and set pricing based on emotion, not an equation.

Florist Pricing Formulas

Yes, there are a set of commonly taught formulas for pricing. They go like this:

DAILY DELIVERIES / SUBSCRIPTIONS
Wholesale x 3 + 20%

WEDDINGS / EVENTS
Wholesale x 3.5-4.5 + 30-50%

Deliveries, set-up and pack down are charged over and above this.

And yes, your wholesale line item includes your flowers, foliage and sundries (hard goods). And yes, as wholesale prices increase, so do your prices. It's the perfect market economy and you don't need to carry the burden for increasing costs of labour, transportation, fuel, or fertiliser.

These florist pricing formulas have worked for decades. Through all sorts of economic situations.

This year is no different.

NOTE: I find the above florist pricing formulas necessarily complicated and take too much time to sort through. Here are my super simple formulas:

Everyday Flowers = wholesale x 4
Weddings + Events = wholesale x 5 (or 6)

If you're struggling with your pricing, it's time to dig deep and get curious about the stories you're telling yourself.

How to Price with Confidence in Your Flower Business

Getting your pricing sorted is the foundation for your success – it's how you grow your business, build a team, upgrade your workspace, buy a new delivery vehicle.

Setting your pricing with profit in mind is a must if you want to build a sustainable, successful flower business.

But I also know it can feel like a giant leap into the unknown to sit down and do the work to raise your prices.

How do you go from struggling designer to thriving flower boss? Here are three powerful coaching questions to consider:

  1. What are you afraid of? If you raise your prices and send your next customer an updated quote, what is the worst-case scenario? Write it down. Articulate it and be really specific. You'll feel a shift right away in your approach with this one exercise.
  2. What is the downside in believing it is possible? Right now, your actions are being driven by the belief that you cannot charge those prices. Flip the scenario on its head and rewrite the story in a way that serves you. Get curious, what would happen if today was the last day you struggled with your pricing?
  3. If you let go of all the fear, doubt and hesitation, how would you show up differently? Who would you get to become if you stepped into your authority and knew you could not fail?

Remember, at the end of the day, pricing itself is super simple. The math is so easy your seven-year-old nephew could do it. (Grab my florist pricing formula worksheet here.)

It's what we make the prices mean that stands in the way of our success.

NOTE: If you're struggling to quote an event or full wedding set-up check out this super helpful blog post: https://littlebirdbloom.com.au/how-to-price-out-an-event-for-florists/

Pricing With Confidence: There Is An Easier Way

If you want to dig into this more, get support and blow your own dang mind with what's possible in your flower business, grab a spot inside my Flower Boss Bootcamp.

We talk pricing, marketing, sales and all the things you need to know to build a thriving flower business.

My Flower Boss Bootcamp is the ultimate business program for florists, teaching you the exact process to follow so you can effortlessly attract more customers and make more money.

FBB is the program #ForFlorists, to help you earn a living doing what you love and grow your business. That's because you'll be learning my proprietary blueprint for creating a successful flower business, getting more customers while doing work you love and making money.

Join us inside the program today and, together, we'll change the trajectory of your flower business.

Let's go!!

Hiring + Team / Marketing / Mindset / Money Management / Pricing / Systems + Operations - 12/22/2021

Free Resource for Florists

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