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

Enjoy the Show?

Instagram / Marketing / Money Management / Pricing / Sales / Systems + Operations - 08/10/2022
How to Wedding Florist Consults

How to Wedding Florist Consults With Ease – 5 Questions to Ask Your Clients

Struggling to figure how to wedding florist consults? Here's my go-to approach to making it easier for you (and your prospective clients)!

In 2018, I must have held the record for most wedding consults done and the least number of bookings made.

When it came to figuring out finding answers on "how to wedding florist consults" I was so lost!

Seriously. It felt like a crazy hamster wheel where I would show up for the consult, ask the questions, tell them I'd send them the quote and then either get ghosted or finally hear back that they went with someone cheaper. It was happening to me every single week.

Overcoming that challenge taught me so much and, most importantly, it got me to question how I was consulting my client consults and finding new, more efficient ways to do things.

Since that time, I've really mastered the art of the wedding enquiry process and started to really see that the process of how to wedding florist consult itself isn't the end-all, be-all. Rather, it's just one step in the customer experience we're providing our clients. It's like that one meeting is simply one piece of a bigger sales process, an experience you're providing your clients.

Rule #1: There Is No One 'Right' Way To Do Consults

We all have different strengths and different personalities. Don't shy away from that and don't assume that someone else's template is going to fit you perfectly.

Instead, I want you to think about your wedding consultation process as something that is intrinsically yours, built on your strengths and structure in a way that makes it easy for you to navigate.

Make your wedding flower consult process your own and, remember, you can forever be refining it, changing it and adjusting it.

Below, I've mapped out my five favourite questions to ask clients during a consultation – feel free to use them, try them out for yourself. But also, don't feel you must stick to this formula. Make the questions your own. Play around with the specific words you use and the order you sort through the details with.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember when it comes to wedding consults is that this is about building a relationship. You want to show up with professionalism and focus on building trust, really getting to know your clients and understanding what makes them tick.

As crazy as it sounds, how you navigate your consultations can set you up for a huge amount of creative freedom. If you can get a sense from your clients about their vision for the day, their priorities, what they're worried about and really dig into their priorities, you'll get such a clear picture of where you can push the creative experience and where you need to stick to a specific box.

BONUS TIP: Not sure what to include on your wedding flower enquiry form? Check out this YouTube Video: 3 Questions Every Florist Should Include On Their Enquiry Form

How to Wedding Florist Consults: 5 Questions to Ask Your Clients

QUESTION 1: Paint me a vision for the day. How do you see the day unfolding?

I like to lead with this question for two reasons: yes, it's helpful to get them to explain how they see their day going. But just as important: get them talking, have them share their vision and dedicate a bit of time getting comfortable with one another at the beginning of the session.

This question is all about setting the tone for the consult and building rapport. Your clients are as nervous as you are. Use the first 5-10 minutes to settle in, generate excitement and build that personal connection.

QUESTION 2: What are you most excited about on your wedding day?

This one question is incredibly powerful because it shows you where their values are and what really matters to the two of them.

A word of warning: don't be surprised if they aren't quite sure or they each have sort of conflicting ideas of what matters.

Not having a clear answer to this question is super common and in fact, it presents you with the opportunity to become truly indispensable.

Be the one who helps them sort out their priorities and they will take your guidance and input on all the things (particularly when it comes to prioritising budgets, colour palettes and flowers to feature).

Don't be shy about sharing your point of view and bringing them back to the task at hand: prioritisation.

QUESTION 3: What is your budget?

Yes, talking about money can feel uncomfortable but this one question serves your clients as much as it serves you.

This is one area I really shied away from in the early years of my business. I didn't want to talk about money and I didn't want to feel the awkwardness. But I know, my hesitation to talk about budgets is one of the reasons I wasted so much time and got ghosted by so many clients.

Now, just like you, most humans hate talking about money. This is true for your clients as well.

Your clients are going to feel embarrassed to bring it up and might even be filled with a sense of shame because they are convinced they don't have enough money (this is true no matter how small or big their budget is).

HOT TIP: I like to include this question on their initial enquiry form to avoid that uber awkward first money conversation. It's much easier to repeat the information from their initial enquiry form than it is to have them be the first to throw their hat into the ring.

At the end of the day, 99% of our clients don't have enough money to afford their entire wish list (that's why it's called a wish list, right?).

That's OK. Remember, you are the expert. You're there to help. Make it your goal to pass along your guidance and expertise and give them the information they need for them to make the right decision for them.

QUESTION 4: What is stressing you out the most?

This question is there to really built trust and create a better bond between you and your clients.

I've found that most couples getting married don't feel like they have enough people advocating for them, cheering them on or giving them the support to make decisions from a place of empowerment. Instead, they're trying to make sure they're not hurting anyone's feelings or hoping mum doesn't blow a gasket when she hears how much that archway is.

Become your client's #1 fan and be their #1 cheer person. They'll love you for it!

In addition to building a better bond with your clients, this question is really helpful to give you a bit of a heads up as to what to watch for on the big day.

Weddings bring up all sorts of emotions for all of us and it's helpful for us to know what we're walking into on the big day, right?

For example, it's super helpful to know if the bride is super stressed about being the centre of attention or if one of the pair is dreading what their Aunt Judy is going to do on the dancefloor.

Shortcut your progress and get access to the full suite of templates + how to guides with my Wedding Enquiry Masterclass. This course is part of the Flower Boss Bootcamp study vault. Join today and fast track your enquiry process!

QUESTION 5: If you could ask me anything, what would it be?

Yep. Give them a few minutes to ask any questions they might have. And give them permission to ask anything (quite literally, tell them it's OK if they think it sounds silly).

Remember, your clients haven't done this before (or if they have, they did 10+ years ago).

Be patient and shower them in kindness. A the end of the day, I have found this approach really does help set the foundation for being able to create an even bigger, better 'wow' client experience on the day.

Go Deeper: Wedding Consults Like a BOSS

It's normal to feel super intimated and overwhelmed navigating wedding consults. Most of us spend a lot of time worrying about how to respond to questions like "how many weddings have you done before?" or "show me your portfolio?"

We stay stuck, paralysed by our own insecurities and are afraid we're going to get called out as a fraud, feeling like an imposter. This is a totally normal human response when we're doing new things.

The remedy: create a plan for success.

Yes. When it comes to how to wedding florist consults, there is a simple formula to follow.

And it doesn't need to be super-duper complicated.

In this week's podcast episode I'm sharing some of my favourite principles for sorting through your approach to conducting wedding consult and giving you the tools to show up like a Boss at your next consult.

What you'll learn from this episode:

✓ Why most florists approach how to wedding florist consults backwards (and how to make sure you're not!)

✓ My five-part wedding consult framework

✓ The fastest way to win a client's trust and book better clients – even if you're new

✓ My #1 tip for showing up with confidence at your next wedding flower consult

Listen to the full episode here

 

Full Episode Transcript


Enjoy the Show?

Design / Hiring + Team / Sales / Systems + Operations - 05/11/2022
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

Full Episode Transcript

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Mindset / Money Management / Pricing / Special Events / Systems + Operations - 04/20/2022
Wedding flower quote templates

Wedding Flower Quote Template

Let’s talk wedding flower quote templates, shall we?

In the early days of my flower business, I used to spend hours pulling together these uber detailed quotes and mood boards. This was back in the day before Canva.com existed or before I learned those fancy florists invested in fancy software solutions to solve these problems.

The very first booking I ever landed, for Paul + Prue, I think I spent eight hours on their quote and mood board. That didn’t include the phone calls, face to face meetings or any of my site visits to measure up the reception designs. And this was just to get the booking, not even thinking through ingredients, recipes or logistics.

Fast forward 24 months and I was doing about 100 weddings a year. There was no way I could sustain that level of customisation or personalisation. 8 hours per client was not sustainable for me.

I learned the hard way that there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to go about quotes and consultations.

Inside my Flower Boss Bootcamp, I teach florists a very streamlined approach to navigating new enquiries. I’ve wrapped up all my best lessons in a pretty bow,  giving you permission to use all my email templates, take my exact approach and make it yours.  

BREAK ALL THE {UNWRITTEN} RULES

My approach to navigating new wedding enquiries flies in the face of how most florists approach it. I created a super-streamlined approach because I was tired of wasting time on formal consultations, detailed quotes and mood boards that didn’t go anywhere.

In 2018, I tried a lot of different ideas and finally landed on an approach my clients love and one that works for me. Your business’ wedding enquiry process is one of your most important systems. Creating a process that allows you to filter clients ahead of time, providing the right info to your prospective clients as well as making it feel effortless to you is absolute magic.

No longer do you need to waste your time or your clients time doing custom quotes or detailed mood boards. There is a better way! 

It's time to flip the entire process on its head peoples!

MY WEDDING ENQUIRY PROCESS

Here is a quick snapshot of how I go about wedding flower quote templates:

  1. New Client Enquiry
  2. Welcome Email Response (Template email, provides my clients with super helpful planning tools and a budget guide). In this email, they are invited to move to the next step in the enquiry process (Step 3)
  3. Online Design Q&A (gives me guidance on their wish list, personal preferences and priorities)
  4. Budget Recommendation Email (outlines total budget required to achieve their wish list as well as a recommendation on what to include and what to let go of, if they want to stick to their budget)
  5. Finalise the Scope of Work (inevitably there is some back and forth on deliverables)
  6. Formalise Booking (only after they say “How do I book you in?” do I move to this phase of the process and create the detailed quote)

WEDDING FLOWER QUOTE TEMPLATES

My approach to navigating new enquiries works for me and it works for my clients and it turns the traditional process on its head. I got tired of doing detailed wedding flower quote templates and being ghosted by clients.

When I teach floral designers how to effortlessly navigate new enquiries, I share two fundamental principles:

  1. Talk about budgets and pricing in your up-front marketing and make it the first thing you sort through (even before you have a consultation if you choose to do that)
  2. Instead of worrying about being fancy, focus on being quick to respond and uber helpful. 

You will see an increase in your bookings if you do the opposite of what you see in our industry. Be the florist that talks about budgets and pricing ahead of time (like actually on your Instagram posts, write some helpful blog posts etc.). It works so good!

3 LESSONS LEARNED FOR EFFECTIVE WEDDING FLOWER QUOTE TEMPLATES

  1. Use a Template – whether you use a CRM system like Dubsado or stick with your accounting software (we use Xero), setting up your items as template products makes the formal admin around creating the final quote super easy.  
  2. Itemise Delivery, Set-up and Pack Down – in most cases your clients will have sticker shock over the labour involved on the day. I found breaking down those three items into three separate line items super helpful. 
  3. Use the Event Description to Sell the Experience – that bit of copy you put at the top of the quote that paints the picture of the day and gives your clients the reassurance that you know what you’re selling is a great sales opportunity.

Here is an example of a wedding flower quote template (click here for the PDF). 

NEED HELP GETTING MORE SALES IN YOUR FLOWER BUSINESS?

It’s time to learn the secrets of successful florists – sign up for my {Free} Ultimate Guide to Building a Thriving Flower Business. CLICK HERE to get immediate access. 

WANT MORE {FREE} WEDDING FLOWER QUOTE TEMPLATE SUPPORT?

Check out this archived podcast episode – Real Wedding Quote: Detailed Review. 

I dig into a real quote and give you some great tips to make the process run smoothly and increase your chances of getting the booking.

Money Management / Pricing / Sales / Systems + Operations / Website - 11/05/2021
Wedding Proposal Template for Florists

Wedding Proposal Template for Florists

I used to assume wedding proposals needed to be some fancy, flashy, complicated thing. Turns out, that’s not true.

How did I figure it out? Ummmmm the super hard, really awkward way. 

I was getting enquiries, hosting formal consultations but I wasn’t booking many of these customers. 

I was being ghosted a lot. Like every single week, even though I had invested a lot of time and energy into the relationship.

Because I wasn’t getting the result I wanted, I started experimenting with different formats and processes.

Lesson learned! It turns out, a complicated, detailed proposal isn’t what’s needed to book more clients.

Wedding Proposal Template for Florists - The Basics

In 2018, my calendar was packed with wedding consultations. Back then, my process looked something like this (1) enquiry (2) consultation (3) detailed proposal and quote.

I booked less than 10% of the clients I met with. From a pure numbers perspective, it wasn’t working – my effort “in” wasn’t matching the outcome I wanted.

In a traditional sales context, the objective is to set up an enquiry process that enables you to effortlessly book25% of the customers who enquire. If you’re receiving 20 enquiries, your mission is to set up a sales process that lands 5 of those clients.

5 / 20 = 25%

A 25% close rate is awesome. My close rate in 2018 wasn’t awesome.

I knew I needed to change my approach.

Three Tips for Booking More Clients

In the end, through a lot of trial and error, I’ve finally figured out a process that works. The system we’ve created is built on three key insights:

  1. Be quick to respond – more than 50% of clients go with the vendor who responds first. So, set up a system that gets you back in their inbox within 48 hours. And I don’t just mean an autoresponder. I mean providing real, tangible value to your clients quickly.
  2. Talk about budgets first – yep. One of the best things we did to increase our booking rate was to flip our entire system on its head. We learned that being upfront about budgets, being open with pricing and making that our first step in the consultation process got us from enquiry to booking with way less effort. As a matter of fact, we started booking $8-$10,000 clients in just a few emails.
  3. Skip the complicated proposals – you bet. I give you permission to break all the traditional approaches. We don’t use fancy software, we don’t do fancy mood boards. We keep it all unsexy and boring. Why? Refer to point #1.

I know it’s typical in our industry for florists to invest in expensive, complicated software. I used to think the prettier the proposal, the more legitimate we’d appear.

It didn’t work. Fancy wedding proposals templates for florists slowed us down.

When we followed the traditional approach, I wasted a lot of time talking to clients about colour palettes, flowers and big visions for their wedding. And spend a lot of time putting pen to paper, resting fancy proposals and quotes.

And eventually, when it came to $$$$, we’d be so out of alignment with what our clients were expecting that they would just run the other direction. Literally. We’d never hear from them again.

Start Here - Wedding Proposal Template for Florists

Your wedding enquiry process is one of the most important systems to create in your business. And it’s something that takes time to finesse but it’s worth every ounce of energy!

To begin, the best thing you can do is sit down and put yourself in your client’s shoes. What would they like to see/hear/have access to that would be helpful?

Forget about what is normally done in this industry or what your flower friends focus on. What does your client need?

Yes, question all of your assumptions. I know it sounds crazy, but don’t assume that the traditional fancy proposal approach is required. In fact, our enquiry process is so streamlined these days that, most of the time, we don’t do formal consultations.

Instead, we focused on dialling in our marketing messages, our enquiry form and our planning tools – to a point where clients are sold on us by the time we send them the first quick quote.

Our enquiry process has been refined over thousands of enquiries and I’ve spent so much time thinking about my clients that I can almost predict their behaviour.

[As an aside, if you decide, having a pretty PDF or cute mood board is a helpful part of your progress, jump over to Canva.com and check out their templates.]

Our approach is awesome because we don’t worry about custom quotes, detailed mood boards or a fancy wedding proposal template for florists until after they’ve made their first payment.

It works for us.

We got to this place because we questioned all the assumptions. We focused on what mattered most to our customers and kept tweaking and refining our approach.

Need Help?

Want to fast track your progress? Want to get access to our exact enquiry process (including all our planning templates, emails and the exact questions we ask our clients)?

Sign up for my Flower Boss Bootcamp (click here).

Inside my program, I have created specific training on our wedding enquiry process. We include all the templates and tools you need to get real good at responding to clients – and show you what really matters when it comes to attracting better clients.

It’s not as complicated as you think.

Your Current Knowledge + Experience are Enough.

We’re here to make it easier for you to make more money in your flower business!

You don’t need to have a flower shop or qualifications. Nor do you need to have thousands of Instagram followers or worry about being featured on a fancy blog. 

All you need are the tools to get you focused and pointed in the right direction.

That’s where our Flower Boss Bootcamp comes in. It’s like a 90-day business school for florists. If you’re on a mission to make more money in your flower business, this is the program for you!

We’re here to fast track your progress, to give you the tools you need to change the trajectory of your flower business. Click here to learn more about my Flower Boss Bootcamp and we’ll see you on the inside.

Imagine where your flower business could be in 90 days? Learn more here.

08/29/2021
Florist Wedding Contract Terms and Conditions

Florist Wedding Contract Terms and Conditions

It used to scare me to talk through our wedding terms and conditions with our clients. I thought our clients would see right through me and call me out for not having a clue about what I was talking about.

I was afraid of getting called out. Of being told we were doing it wrong.

Cause the truth is, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t have a clue why wedding terms and conditions mattered or how to structure a florist wedding contract template.

That is until I had my first client cancel their event. This was back in 2018. On an otherwise-uneventful Thursday afternoon in September. We received the heartbreaking update that the couple were not going through with the wedding. The event was being called off.

I still think back to the day, talking to the bride’s mother. She called just to let us know Stephanie and Tom had decided to call off the wedding.

She was in tears. The bride's mother could barely get words out. It was had to console her. I didn’t quite know what to tell her so I said, “I’ll send you an email so you have the formal confirmation from us.”

Of course, I was heartbroken. Yes, my heart goes out to the couple, to the family navigating this experience. I don’t want any human to have to navigate this experience.

But I also know, as a business owner, I have an obligation to do right by my business. That’s part of what we are required to do when we start a business.

Being a Human vs Being a Business Owner

It’s the ultimate tug of war: the experience of being a caring human and the experience of being a flower boss. Sometimes, the two things don’t perfectly align.

As a human, I was heartbroken. As a flower boss, I knew I had to say the uncomfortable thing.

Emotionally, I find these situations very challenging. I care a lot about my business and I care a lot about our clients. I don’t want to go through these experiences. It has to be sunshine, rainbows and lollipops for me. All. The. Time.

Here’s the most amazing thing about being a business owner: you are the authority. The biggest downside of being a business owner? You are the authority.

As a flower boss, we have to make hard calls, unpopular decisions and do the best thing for our business. Many times, that might mean saying the unpopular, uncomfortable thing.

In this case, I was heartbroken for our clients. And I advised the family in writing, the 25% payment made is non-refundable (as per the wedding contract terms and conditions they signed).

It’s not about having to decide between one thing or the other. We can feel sad AND stand our ground.

And, in my experience, this is where the real value of florist wedding contract terms and conditions come into play. 

Mapping out a formal set of booking terms and conditions for your clients requires you, as the flower boss, to think ahead, to decide now what you’re going to do if the wedding gets called off, postponed or rescheduled.

Do that in the cool calm light of day and then when shit hits the fan, you already have a plan to follow. And then, all you need to do is follow the plan.

Florist Wedding Contract Terms and Conditions - The Basics

Why create florist wedding contracts? There are three main reasons to have clear wedding terms and conditions in place:

  1. To get clear on what your plan is when things don’t go to plan
  2. It helps protect your business
  3. It also protects your clients 

Yep. You read that right: your florist terms and conditions are of value to your business and to your clients. 

Technically the word “contract” comes from the Latin contractus, meaning ‘drawn together’. As in, ‘two things tied together’.

Your florist wedding contracts aren’t created as a defence mechanism. 

Booking terms and conditions aren’t something we need to use to intimidate or bully our clients. It’s not about threatening a lawsuit and being aggressive.

In fact, in my experience, I found the exact opposite to be true: walking our clients through our booking terms and conditions is an amazing opportunity to demonstrate our professionalism and care.  To educate our clients and show them how methodical we are in our approach.

It shows your clients you’re looking out for their interests and demonstrates that your business has a plan in place should things not go to plan. 

As a result, your clients walk away feeling reassured, cared for and know they can trust you.

An added bonus, when you take the time to walk your clients through your wedding florist booking terms and conditions, the trust factor increases. Better yet, this increased trust leads to more creative freedom on the day.

This is the most surprising outcome of having a set of terms and conditions: when you take the time to talk your clients through your wedding terms and conditions, they trust you. That increased trust leads to more creative freedom. What an amazing outcome for all involved!

Florist Wedding Contract Template - Start Here

I know exactly how overwhelming and intimidating the world of booking terms and conditions can feel. 

We’re here to help. We’ve created a set of booking terms and conditions for you to follow. For FREE. 

Yep. Our wedding florist contract template is inside our Big Ass Folder of Free Shiz #ForFlorists. 

👉  CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR FREE FLORIST WEDDING CONTRACT TEMPLATE

Use these florist wedding contract terms and conditions as your foundation. Be sure to engage a contract lawyer who knows the laws in your state. 

Hire a professional contract lawyer to help you formalise your agreement and account for the laws in your area. They will help you navigate the ins and outs of the details. 

I know the idea of talking to a contract lawyer feels scary. But I promise it’s nowhere near as intimidating an experience as you think. And it’s nowhere near as expensive as you’re imagining (particularly if you start off with this free template – click here to grab it).

Focus On The Future

If you don’t have a formal set of terms and conditions in place, you’re not alone. Don’t waste a minute beating yourself up or wishing you could turn back the clock.

As Maya Angelou once said, “When you know better, you do better.” This is precisely how I think about wedding florist contracts.

All that matters is that you know you can adjust your approach today. Stop stressing about what you did (or didn’t do) yesterday and get to work on making things better.

Today is a great day to get yourself sorted. 

Jump in and grab our free wedding event booking terms and conditions (click here) and get to work on implementing them in your business.

Your future self will be so grateful that you did the uncomfortable, boring thing today.

Do you struggle to show up with confidence in your flower business? Check out my Flower Boss Bootcamp – it’s the only program available to floral designers focused entirely on the business of flowers. Click here to learn more.

Want More Help?

Want more guidance when it comes to florist terms and conditions? I recorded a podcast episode all about it – jump in and listen to it today.

08/26/2021
What is a reasonable price for wedding flowers?

What is a Reasonable Price for Wedding Flowers?

I have so much empathy for couples planning a wedding. COVID or no COVID, there’s a lot to think through. With so many other expenses to cover, you'd often find them wanting to spend the least on flowers - wondering what the reasonable price for wedding flowers would be. 

When it comes to thinking about flowers + budgets at a wedding, there is so little information available. What little information is available is so confusing or utterly misleading.

Some of what is available to our clients lead them to believe they need $250,000 to create their dream wedding florals. Or, the opposite, they only need to spend $250 at the grocery store and can DIY everything.

But what about the giant opportunity between those two extremes? What about that space where 99% of floral designers make money? 

What about your typical couple who is spending anywhere from $10,000 - $80,000 on this once-in-a-lifetime event?

Something is out of alignment here. It’s time for us to show up differently and be the ones to educate our clients on what’s possible. To be proactive and be helpful.

What Is a Reasonable Price for Wedding Flowers?

Canstar.com.au published an article a few years ago, providing a summary of typical wedding expenses. In that summary, they said the average couple spent just under $3000 on flowers and decorations. That was based on an average spend of $36,000 for the wedding day.

Sounds reasonable. Why? It follows the commonly taught industry norm of allocating 10% of the total wedding flower budget to flowers.

However...in most cases, that 10% will only cover the essentials. Bouquets, boutonnieres, maybe a table arrangement or two.

These days, a lot of couples of looking for a feature ceremony experience or a "wow factor" for their reception. Those require an additional investment and likely won't be accessible if only 10% of the budget is reserved for flowers.

So, if your clients are the type to fall in love with something they saw on Pinterest or Instagram, their floral budget needs to be closer to 20-25% of their overall wedding budget.

Of course, every couple gets to define what their dream day budget is. Every couple as different priorities. 

So, the next time you’re looking for something to post to Instagram, answer your client’s biggest question:  What is a reasonable price for wedding flowers?

And give them a clear guide to follow – 10% to cover the essentials, 25% if they want flowers to be a focus of their event.

Be The Courageous Leader

One of the most frustrating parts of trying to plan a wedding is figuring out all the things. The list of to-dos is long. Real long. And most couples will spend hours and hours and hours sorting through the details for the big day.

But when they get to the part of the process where they’re looking to see what is a reasonable price for wedding flowers, they will likely come up empty-handed. They’ll be presented with those blog posts telling them how to save money on their wedding flowers. There is little to no information provided by actual florists, presenting budget and cost options.

The result? Our customers have no idea how much to budget for their wedding flowers and we floral designers are inundated with price shoppers. It’s a vicious cycle.

Let's Talk About Wedding Flowers Price Shoppers

When you Google, “Price Shopper”, this is what Google offers up:

A cost-conscious consumer or price shopper is a person who works diligently to learn how much things cost, and who also generally avoids buying expensive things. They engage in comparison shopping, which is the practice of comparing prices (to find the best deals) often in advance of actually shopping.

This definition got me thinking, I’ve never met a customer who isn’t “cost-conscious”.

I don’t mean that every client is after the lowest priced option, but every human does have their upper limit. They are cost-aware and in every instance, have a specific threshold for what they are willing to spend. And this is true in any situation, no matter what we’re selling.

This experience isn’t limited to weddings. It’s something we deal with on a daily basis. Because the price is one of the key attributes humans use to make decisions. That means that every single one of your customers is price-sensitive. They are “cost-conscious”. 

It’s time to just accept it as part of the deal.

Instead of labelling that one distinct, slightly irritating group of customers as “price shoppers”, what if we decided every human on the planet is a price shopper? 

What if we accept it as part of the normal human shopping experience? What if we decided ahead of time that every potential wedding client is going to reach out to 3+ florists for a quote.

Because that’s precisely what happens. Particularly when it comes to buying flowers.

We’re asking our clients to spend the most amount of money they’ll ever spend on flowers in their life. Like ever. And they’ve never done this before. 

In addition, everything in our industry is so secretive, totally hush-hush. Which is incredibly unhelpful for our clients. So, why do we expect them to know how much to budget for their flowers?

Unless we tell them, they can’t possibly know.

Make It Easier For Your Customers

I learned early on, one of the best ways we beat the competition was to approach things totally differently. Like, literally, do the exact opposite of what was seen as traditional in our industry.

So, when I see that no one in our industry talks about pricing and budgets, I decide it’s all I’m going to talk about.

I challenged myself to do the courageous thing. What if we took the leadership position and proactively and openly talked about pricing. 

The results were amazing. By simply approaching our marketing from a customer-first perspective, we started to win their trust early on in the relationship...like they fell in love with us before I even knew they existed.

Shift Your Perspective

We spent hours and hours and hours thinking about our clients. Thinking about what they struggle with and how we can be the most helpful humans on the planet.

When we started to look at wedding planning from our customer’s point of view, we came up with a set of super helpful tools to help our clients sort through their budget.

It worked wonders.

We started receiving enquiries that praised us for our transparency and helpfulness. Soon we were booking $7,000 + clients with little to no back and forth.

And we were rewarded because we made it easy for our customers to price shop from the luxury of their own sofa at whatever time suited them. 

Want to hear more about how we set up a system to effortlessly navigate price shoppers? Check out this week’s podcast episode (play on Spotify at the bottom of this post).

Want Help With Your Flower Business?

I teach floral designers how to take charge of their business inside my Flower Boss Bootcamp. We dig into all things marketing and money and learn the ins and outs of running an empowering flower business.

The moral of the story: Flowers are fun. But so is making money.

My Flower Boss Bootcamp is the only program available to floral designers focused entirely on the business of flowers.

Yes, we talk about navigating price shoppers and setting up simple sales systems to avoid you wasting heaps of time going back and forth with potential clients.

We talk about feeling confident with your pricing, learning to manage your costs, and growing your business.

This program will change the trajectory of your flower business. I promise.

Click here to learn more. 

 

Money Management - 06/15/2021
April 13 – Florists Make Money The Scientific Approach

How To Make Money As A Florist - The Scientific Way

Today I'll be talking about a topic that I love - makin' money as a floral designer. In an industry that is so secretive about its ways, it gives me great joy to share my knowledge and help floral designers all over the world, build successful businesses.

Do you remember sitting in chemistry class back in High School? Those sexy goggles we got to wear. The Periodic Table. Bunsen burners and all that madness?

I’m not gunna lie, I wasn’t the best at chemistry. But I did have fun with it.

I loved running the experiments and seeing the outcomes of mixing a bit of this and a bit of that. Today, I do exactly the same thing in my flower business.

We get to approach our marketing exactly the same way scientists approach their experiments. And, truth be told, it’s one of the most helpful mindset strategies I’ve learned in the past 10 years.

Now, you’re probably wondering: Kathleen how are science + mindset connected? And how the heck does all of that link to you making money in your flower business?

Florists Making Money - The Scientific Way

There is this thing called the Scientific Method. And it can be applied to anything – including a specific marketing activity you’re doing in your flower business.

Here’s a very simple interpretation of the Scientific Method:

  1. Identify your question
  2. Create a hypothesis
  3. Run your experiment
  4. Review the data Recalibrate as needed

So often, when we’re running a business, our human brain wants to tell us “It’s not working.” When in actual fact, that’s not true.

Any time my students come to me, inside my Flower Boss Bootcamp, and say “It’s not working,” I always come back with the same question:

“What’s not working?”

Our primitive brain is programmed to focus on the negative. To keep us safe and out of harm’s way. And when we’re running a flower business, we’re always battling this pre-programming.

The Scientific Method has been one of the best blessings I’ve stumbled on in the journey to build this business. It’s how I turned into a florist making money.

It requires us to dig into the data. To get our geek on and focus on tracking our progress.

When you circle back and ask yourself, what’s not working, you get to work on looking at the data. Where on the path to purchase are your customers getting lost?

  • Is it that they’re not finding you?
  • Are they confused by what is on your website?
  • Overwhelmed by choice or distracted by too many options?
  • So are they jumping off your website because you’re not showing big enough price points?
  • Did they move on to the next Instagram profile because you’re too elitist and standoffish?

I’ve asked myself all of these questions over the past few years. And I’ve tested so many different hypotheses along the way.

But that’s precisely how I figured out what worked.

I didn’t indulge in confusion or overwhelm. I refused to let my brain get stuck in a rut. When my brain was telling me, “It’s not working”,  I did not listen to it. I came back and said, "OK, well let’s figure out precisely what’s not working".

Get Your Geek On

Even if you didn’t conquer chemistry, embracing the Scientific Method in your flower business is so empowering. (Even better, in this instance, there is no one looking over your shoulder pushing you to get an A.)

Which simply is that we get to ask a question and post a hypothesis and then we get to work on testing it out. It requires us to focus on the data.

Not making as much money in your flower business as you’d like? Let’s get our geek on and get into the data.

What’s not working? Are they landing on your website? What are they not seeing? Are you using relevant hashtags to get found by your clients?

There are literally thousands of experiments we can run in our business –and even to this day, I’m still running experiments. Focused on looking at the data and always looking for ways to make our business and our offering better.

It’s so fun.

Even better, I’ve created an entire podcast episode on how to make money as a florist - the scientific way, to help you dig even deeper into this subject. And it’s so helpful!

You can listen to it on Spotify here or on the player at the end.

Need Help?

I know building a business can feel super overwhelming. I’ve been there. I’m here to help.

Check out my Flower Boss Bootcamp. Because I have created this one-of-a-kind program specifically to help floral designers, just like you, master the business of flowers. I’d love to see you there!

💖

Kathleen

Money Management - 04/13/2021
Silk-Ribbon-1-768x1024

How to Dye Natural Silk Ribbons

Friends, giving you the rundown on what I've learned to date about dying your own silk ribbons.

A few photos are posted at the bottom of this post and hopefully, my rambling outline is helpful. But if in doubt, there is so much information about this online, that you can Google it and easily sort through more details.

Generally speaking, you really need to embrace the idea of going along for the ride. It basically all comes down to a science but because we're working with natural products, there is a lot left up to Mother Nature and how the chemical reactions all happen.

My biggest learning is to stay open to the colours not turning out at all like you imagined (and nothing like that of what results others post on Pinterest).

Even the pH of your tap water will impact the end colour so I certainly wouldn't go into this hoping to make exact matches of specific colours.

I will say though, I haven't yet made a colour that I don't think we'll use. Because we're dealing with natural dyes from natural products, they seem to marry quite well with flowers. It's a beautiful thing. A little bit magical.

If you are after a specific colour range, I would suggest Googling 'Natural Dye + Your Colour'. People are always experimenting with everything – and I mean everything. Grass, flowers, bark, fruits, herbs, flowers, extracts and plants are all options. 

There really is no limit to what you could think about using but my current favourite is avocado skin or avocado pits. They are different shades of peachy / pink/blush.

I can guarantee you that your shade of blush will be different to what I create  – because the avocados you use will be different and your tap water is different. 

This really is playtime. Stay open-minded about what happens on the other side and don't be shy about experimenting a lot.

What Kind of Silk Do I Buy?

Nature Silk Crepe de chine. You can get it on Amazon, eBay and I'm sure other places. Yes, 99% of the time it's going to come from China and that is what you want (that is where the world's silkworms actually live).

You can buy it in different weights, referred to as momme: the lower the momme number (12), the thinner the silk; the higher the momme (40), the heavier it is. 

I started with 12 and I really like it – it's lighter weight than the expensive stuff I've bought from well-known silk ribbon brands but hangs beautifully on our bouquets.

It's about $30 for 1/4 metre but you get a load of ribbons from that one piece of fabric. You're almost always paying close to $0 for your plant matter to dye with so it's a low-cost creative experiment really.

The Process

Create your pot of dye first – every fruit, veg, herb, plant, extract etc. behaves slightly differently so the amount of time you boil and let your mixture stand is totally up to you.

I put the avocado skin in a pot of water and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes and let it sit in the water for another 20 minutes. None of these times is exact so just go with what feels right.

I cut up my ribbons before I put them in the dye, making ribbons about 2-3 cm wide.

Avoid attempting to cut strips of fabric and use the old sewing trick of making a small snip and then tearing it down the fabric. You get those beautifully frayed edges, super straight lines and a beautiful product in my opinion. Pull off any loose threads and you've got yourself your base ribbon.

After you've removed the skins/plants etc. from your dyed water, place the ribbons in. If the water has cooled down a lot, put it back on the heat for a few minutes to get it back to a simmer and then you can turn it off.

The longer you leave the ribbons in the water, the more colour the ribbons will have. 

Remember too, the ribbon colour in the pot will be different to what the ribbons look like when they're dried (usually goes a touch lighter). Hang them to dry and you're good to go.

We straighten ours with an old hair straightener on its lowest setting. 

Can I Use A Fabric Other Than Silk?

You can but there is a whole other process involved when you use man-made materials.

Natural dying is easiest when you use natural fabrics (silk, linen etc.) and natural pigments from plants.

There is lots of opportunity to trial man-made fabrics but you need to add on a 'mordant' stage. I know nothing about that process so if you're interested, Google it and you'll find out more about it. 

Experimenting With Vinegar + Baking Soda

Making the world of natural dyes even funnier, you can play around with changing the Ph balance of the water – more acidic by adding Vinegar and more alkaline by adding baking soda.

Again, dozens of people are posting about this online so if you're curious about how baking soda or vinegar will affect the colour of a specific plant, Google it.

But this simple addition opens up a whole other spectrum of colours.

My biggest advice is to make sure you add in the baking soda/vinegar before you put in your ribbons – don't try to add it in after you've put in your ribbons otherwise it leads to uneven colouring.

I put it in after I've strained out the plant matter, but before I put in the ribbon.

How much do you put in? About a teaspoon. I'm far from precise with this one so it's basically just a spoonful. Put it in and stir it around and you'll see the colour change instantly.

01/01/2021

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