I remember my mom once telling me, I think it was pretty little, but she was telling me how she always liked to use September as her new year's because the whole like cycle that you get into when you go back to school in September, and she always loved using like this season as a way to hit reset. And that's always really stuck with me and this idea of a you, we get to decide when we wanna celebrate a new year, that we don't have to wait until the good old one January, but this kind of renewed energy.

I think that seems to come. Certainly I feel it mostly because of we coming into spring in Australia, but the idea of like, I know certainly in America there's always this big, like Q4 push and it's, you know, sometimes not awesome cuz it leads you way down into the overworking hustling spiral, but I've always, really felt like September feels like such a great opportunity to just kind of come into a little bit of like realignment.

So I just wanted to invite you into that space into the idea of September is a great time to just decide that this is your new year's . So if you've been putting off something in your business, if you've been putting off doing something, making a decision, just decide that September's the perfect month to make that happen.

My friends, you don't need it to be perfect. You don't need it's to be the beginning of an official new quarter or season or year or tax gear, whatever shenanigans you're telling yourself that we all do. But I just love this idea of like treating September as new year's feels so right in so many ways. So that's that, and that is not the point of today's podcast.

However, today I wanted to talk, understanding what it is that you are really selling. What are you actually selling as a floral designer and help you open your eyes to truly appreciating the value that you bring to your customers.

And it's so easy for us to get wrapped up in like the physical element of what is in our hand, like how many stems are in your hand also because of the industry approach to pricing, there is such an emphasis on stem count, right? It's like the stem count seems to be the only thing that we can really grab hold of the only tangible aspect of what we're selling.
So we all rely on that as our point of reference when it comes to defining value. So this idea of opening up our own perspective, shifting our own thinking and getting clear on the value chain, getting clear on the value of your work and how you contribute to the world. And it takes intention, particularly in our industry because there's a lot of scarcity thinking that flies around. all willy-nilly right. And there's a lot of designers walking around, truly convinced that they can't charge to the industry standard.

And that all feeds into our own scarcity thinking, which is completely normal for us as human beings and really knowing that so much of our work is creatives. And so much of our work as business owners is about intentionally shifting our own perspective.

It's about us coming to the table from a very different point of view to create bigger, better results in our business. And if we stay obsessed with stem count then our customers will stay obsessed with stem count and everybody will miss the point and the value of floral design. So I wanted to introduce this concept to you. That is just called the value chain. It's not a very sexy terminology. And I blame that on the fact that it actually comes from the manufacturing world. right. I'm like, man, I mean, we could come up with something different, but really understanding like it's quite a literal term, right?
We're not gonna overcomplicate this. So this idea and it's actually used in production, the definition being it is the process or activities by which a company adds value to an article, including production marketing and the provision of after sales service.

Going to say that again and just put some emphasis on some different Sali, but this idea of what is the value chain. So it is the process that you go through as a creative and as a business owner that adds value to the product that is in your hands. So many of us source our ingredients from other growers.

This still applies, even if you're a farmer florist, right? Cuz you got your seeds from somewhere else originally even if you are like, what is hybridizing a word? Did I just make no, it must be a word. Even if you're cultivating your own Dalia tubers, right?
And you're collecting your own seeds, you're taking cuttings from all of your own plants. At some point in time, somebody either gifted you, the original, the OG seeds, the OG tubers, or you bought them. So there was a point you didn't things. Now you have them and you as the creative use, the visionary in your business are adding value to those things. And it is so easy for us to dismiss this.

But when we think of literal definition of the value chain. So the process that you add to the article in your hand, otherwise known as production marketing and the provision of after sales service, this is very like fancy provision. It's the provision of after sales service, if you are a business junkie, if you've studied economics and production, if you happen to be one of the people who listens to this podcast, you also have your MBA, you will recognize this term because in the study of manufacturing, because there is an economic study of manufacturing, there are people that actually do that, which is so crazy, but also fascinating at the same time.

But in the study of the like art of manufacturing, it's way easier for us to envision mostly because I remember these shows on the discovery channel from like 25 years ago, you know, those like go behind the scenes of how Doritos makes their chips much.

I find like being able to produce those things on that scale. I just find so mesmerizing like that it's all machine based and it's so precise and that they're like kind of blows my mind what the humans are able to do. But if you think about the actual like manufacturing line of even the most simple thing, it could be like making tomato sauce or what is it? Crushed tomatoes, super simple, right? Tomatoes come in one side, then they're put through a machine then they're put into a can and a label is put on it.

Even if we think about that process, that company has added value to the original tomatoes because they've crushed them and they've put them on a can and they've put them on the shelf. So that's a very simple example of the value chain. So somebody has come up with the idea of mass producing, crushed tomatoes and then putting them on a grocery shelf.

So there's like three or four key steps that happen in there that add value to the original product. And it's really fascinating to look at something completely outside of the floral design industry, because then we can start to look at our own work very differently. Cause if we looked at those tomatoes and we think, oh, okay, in the exact opposite season of tomato season. So let's say the middle of winter, you can get access to crush tomatoes simply by going to your grocery store, you don't have to crush them yourself.

They're in a can and have an extended shelf life and you can get them in multiple sizes off of the shelf at the grocery store. And they're there at whatever hours. The grocery store is open. That is where all of this additional value comes from. And it's why that company can charge a premium for that product.

Such a helpful perspective to then take and put it in your flower business. Because if you're shopping at the wholesalers, it's so easy to get wrapped up in how much you've spent on the flowers. And then second, guess whether you can charge that level of a premium to your customers because our industry is so obsessed with stem count and so many floral designers.

And I used to do this until we started to look at it differently. But this idea of, because the pricing model that we use is based off stem count, it reinforces well, I guess the only value that we offer to our customers are the stems in our hands. And we completely miss the fact that the actual value that we offer our customers is everything else. And it required intentional shift in perspective. So we have to do that job of selling ourselves on the value of what we offer our customers.

And I mean that very literally you have to sit down document and sell yourself first on the value of what you offer your customers. And then the sales process becomes so much easier because if we hesitate and we doubt what we're selling, sales is real hard and our customers always see through that, but that concept of like confidence sell.

So if we sit down first and intentionally sell ourselves on what we want to offer the world, right, that Archway is gonna be spectacular and I'm gonna have like 3000 roses in it and it's gonna be, you know, like $20,000, this whole idea of like, no, I'm gonna sell myself on the fact that that is an amazing solution for my customers.

I'm gonna give myself all the reasons why it's an amazing solution for my customers. You're gonna be so in love with that solution, which just oozes out of you when you're having a conversation with your clients.

And it is about so much more than just the flowers that you might source to make that design happen. But this requires an intentional shift in thinking, and it's so easy, right? The number of times we've all had that conversation. If you're in a shop, if you are doing daily flower deliveries, right. And you're making something and somebody says, oh, well that doesn't look like $60 worth of value.

Right. And you always have that kind of back and forth of like, no, but the stem count rights and it is to value. Like this idea of is really easy for all of us to stay in the spiral of just thinking the stem count is the value, but I want to open your brain, open your eyes to a different perspective. Cause if we take something as simple as, I don't know, like artisan sourdough bread, the best sourdough bread has three ingredients to it.

like, isn't that fascinating. These people who are charging like $16 for a loaf of bread, flour, water, and salt, those are the actual ingredients in the like purest form of sourdough bread. And these guys are charging like 10, 12, 14, $16 for it. Or if you think about picking up milk either late at night, early in the morning at a convenience store, or if you imagine that you were like driving across the country and you were running low on the petrol and you finally saw a sign that was like next petrol station five miles ahead, or in the hypothetical situation that we're all, you know, trekking across the desert.

And some amazing entrepreneur came up and said, oh, I have water. And how much we would pay for it. And really understanding that so much of the value of what we offer the world is about way more than the stems in your hand.

So when you're thinking about like, I love thinking about those of you guys that grow your own ingredients, that experience that you have in the fall, when you're going through the seed catalog, that is the moment that your value chain begins.

The value. Isn't just being able to cut the Renus when it blooms the value is in you sourcing the ingredients, knowing where you're gonna get your Crumbs from knowing how to take care of these things, knowing how to protect them from the crazy weather conditions and watering them, feeding them, nurturing them, saving those blooms to trim and to cut at exactly the right time for that order, the experience and the expertise and the knowhow that it takes to create that outcome, to get those flowers in that customer's hands on the right day at the right time for the right occasion. Same thing applies.

Even if you access wholesale product, even if you go to a wholesale market or people ship their product to you all the same and really thinking about this, like, okay, so if a bundle of quick send roses is like a hundred dollars. Yeah. Like certainly in Sydney, Australia, your customer can get up to go to the flower market at 5:00 AM.

They can pay their money for parking. They can pay for the cost of petrol to get there and back they can wrestle with all of the angry irritated growers and florist wandering around the giant warehouse. Then they can go home. They can strip those roses. They can prep them, process them. They can do some Googling to figure out how to take care of them, maximize their shelf life. They can do a good enough job if they want to, or they can call up the local flower shop and pay 20 bucks for beautifully wrapped, presented quicksand rose.

It's such a better way to look at the service that you offer your customers and this idea of really like very intentionally selling yourself on the value of what you offer your customers and getting so specific with yourself about every single step that has to happen in order for your customer to come in and buy that one quick sand rose. So here's two things I would highly recommend that you do.

I cannot encourage you enough to actually make this happen, but one grab a pen and paper and write out every single thing that needs to happen. If you're a farmer florist to make that one Dahlia bloom, every single thing that needs to happen, right? If you're digging up your Dahlia tubers from the year before, include that in your list, right? If you're digging up and dividing all of the steps that it takes to make that Dahlia happen, every single detail, right?

Sorting out the irrigation and how the heck the whole thing's gonna get connected and figuring out how often you're gonna water and for how long are you gonna water? And what are you doing in terms of feeding these guys and do they need shade cloth? And I don't even know all the things grab a pen and a piece of paper and write out every single step.

If you access your flowers from a wholesaler, do the same thing, include your drive to the wholesaler, the experience around the wholesaler, having to access your parking pass. Like all of it. If you order flowers and people ship it to you, all of it, right? The amount of time and energy, it takes for you to start through the catalog and think about this and plan your recipe. And what about that? And if they don't have this, give them this information for a swap and all of that expertise and details every single step and do this with a pen and a piece of paper.

And you'll probably cover like two pages of the activities in your value chain. So that's the first thing is literally documents so that your brain can see every single step that needs to happen to make this a reality. The second thing I then encourage you to do is start sharing that process in your social media. Talk about what goes on behind the scenes, show customers, the not so glamorous parts of your work, share your expertise in your know how and give your customers a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes.

Like I wanna know your customers also wanna know, like when you're going through the seed catalog, what makes you decide that you're gonna get this? And you're not gonna get that. I love this idea of like, for those of you guys who are super specific on the colour palettes that you use.

Yeah. I don't plant red flowers in my field. I love the idea of you really celebrating that and explaining that people don't know that until you tell them about it. And when we bought the shop, like I knew I was so quick, so quick to wanting to bring down back wall that divided the florist from the customers, even though the previous owner was like, no, it's the best thing ever. I was like, Nope. And really threw us all into the deep end of exposing our customers to the work mm-hmm it's messy.

And yes, it does definitely increases your awareness of the oh and S issues but the idea had always stuck in my head. Cause when I was a kid living on the west coast of Canadian in our super hippie Tobi life. But when I was really young, I remember my mom's favourite coffee shop was located in the like food court kiosk area of what was in my mind, a big mall.

It's tiny, tiny, but her favourite coffee shop was there. And across from the coffee shop was a super fancy like chocolate kiosk. And I remember being really young and that chocolate kiosk was open to customers on all four sides. So it was literally in the centre of the food court. And more often then not, they would have a person, a man in the big, fancy, giant white hat and white SMO in the hole, get up making fudge, or he would be making caramel or he would be melting chocolate.

Like there would always be something happening. And I remember standing there and watching him and that vision has always stuck in my head because when I started to really learn way more about marketing and the concept of the value chain, being able to show your customers the process. And I know it can feel like a bit of a turnoff because so much of what we do.
Isn't sexy cleaning buckets. not sexy, but it's super helpful for your business to be able to share that work with your customers. And you can find a fun way to do it and set up a time lapse. And it doesn't need to be this, like, this is gross, disgusting work, but it's like, no, this is just part of the job, right? It's like chefs have to prepare all the vegetables.

The only reason that we know that is because the food network exists. like quite literally the only reason that we know how a chef chefs is either, you know, chefs or you watch the food network. And then the discovery channel came along and then Netflix and all of the Bonna petite YouTube stuff. But literally that is the only reason now that customers put food on such a high value, that it can have such a high price tag, because we don't ever question.

We don't question any of it's we're like, no, the chefs are back. They're doing all the things because we now can envision it. So you get to do exactly the same thing in your business. And I think about that, that chocolate shop a lot because it is a genius marketing tactic to bring your design, bring your craftsmanship to the centre of your presentation.

So you can do this on social media. Thank you. Instagram makes it super simple. And you can obviously do this in your shop and this idea of really making that part of your marketing strategy so that people understand the craftsmanship that goes into this work so that they can see that it's handmade so that they can actually see and understand that there is a process in what you're doing, that they can experience the magic because we all stand at these workbenches, hoping that somebody doesn't call us out on the fact that, oh, you shouldn't put that next to that and you're not doing your spiral.

Right. And this and NA NA NA NA, meanwhile, all of our customers are looking at you like, wow, it's magic. Do you know what I love thinking about people? Didn't question the price of the chocolates at that chocolate shop. People were happy to pay the premium. And honestly, I would guess that their chocolates probably cost five times more than you think you could pay for fancy chocolate .

But because you got to see that it was handmade and you're like, wow, no, the big guy in the big, you know, chef's hat made this fudge and it's, you know, $17. , here's my credit card that really bringing the value chain to life for your customers. And it requires a different way of thinking. And I will encourage you to use your creativity in how you get to bring that to life. But it's so helpful to know that your marketing strategy can be driven by educating your customers on the value chain so that you could be sitting at your computer.

You could be ordering your flowers. You could be planning out your mood boards. You could be doing your run sheet. You could be updating your online catalog. You could be doing a time lapse of processing products. You could be doing a time lapse of setting up the shop.
You could be doing a time lapse of so many things, cleaning the buckets and really showing your customers all of the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes as if we think about our customer perspective, right? And they don't know the difference between row and our Carnation. I think PS are available 52 weeks through the year. And many of them believe that flowers just come from a machine and they can just command and demand what needs to be made.

The shift has to happen with us. The shift has to happen from the actual idea of thinking about our marketing strategy is going to be led our content strategy.
Our social media strategy is going to be led by us educating our clients on the process. We're going to shine a light. We're going to educate them. We're going to bring whatever we can to the surface to show them this is the 17,000 steps that need to happen so that you can come in here and get that one quick sand rose.

And I love doing this work and even thinking about, okay, so those quick sand roses are grown on the other side of the planet. Most of them will get their bundles of quick sand roses over to the distribution centre by like horse and buggy by donkey. I've heard in even some cases like the logistics of getting these things even then to the airport so that they can then be flown to your location, sent to the wholesaler, organized for you to be able to come and pick them up for you to then process them and move one step closer.

If we think about the number of touch points and the value that has to be added at every single step, this is why flowers are magic. My friends and the intricacies of transportation in our industry, fucking blow my mind. but the value chain is so real in your customers are never gonna understand it until you start telling them about the value chain and really believing in the value chain.

We stop obsessing over the flowers and the stem count in our hand, and we start really appreciating the value of what we offer the world. So if you're in the car, start making a mental list of what needs to happen to that one, stem to get to your work bench and then go out there and raise your prices and start educating your customers on what goes on behind the scenes, share your magic and your customers will love you even more because of it.
You can't blame the customers, my friends, because they don't know. And this is one of your greatest marketing opportunities. It's like so simple. It just requires a different perspective. So go out there, start capturing your content, start documenting your processes, start setting up your time, lapses, and then start sharing it with the world.

Your customers will appreciate you so much more because they'll understand what goes into this process and they will still continue to believe that flowers are magic. Okay. My friends, I hope that that has been helpful as always, please, please, please drive safely. Drink your water, eat your vegetables, get some sleep. And we shall talk to you again next week. Happy September, my friends. Bye for now.