Florists, are you feeling like you are barely staying afloat in your floral business? Despite peoples perception that running a flower shop is a smooth operation, it is actually a retail business that requires so many attributes.
I always reference florists that I speak to and what I sometimes hear depending on the season is ” I have not gotten any flower sales lately!” What am I doing wrong?” This is so hard to hear because I do sympathize as I have been there myself. In fact, most florists have been there -if this is your situation now feel comfort in knowing you are not alone.
The good news is that with a little business planning things do get better! In our last write up we discussed how being too nice is not good for your floral business. In this write up let’s go over 6 other must-do principles to run a successful flower business. Although this can be a bit daunting taking the actions below in your floral business will prove beneficial and ensure its longevity and success.
01. UNDERSTANDING YOUR FLOWER SALE DEMOGRAPHICS.
So what are flower sale demographics? Demographics describe the people you sell flowers too. What is their age group? What are they purchasing? Who are you selling the most florals too- and why? Also, where are people finding you- Google, word of mouth, Facebook or other social media communities?
If you have no idea then its time to sit down and create a spreadsheet or grab a pencil and paper and jot it down. Go into your Google Analytics and set up your eCommerce demographics as well.
“Wait how in the world will knowing my customer’s demographics help – when am I complaining I have no sales?
The answer to this is simple, I promise. Understanding your consumers and grouping them into a category will allow you to understand who you are selling most to. This allows you to understand the targeted audience you need to focus attention to for specifically targeted marketing.
Running a business does take time and research although this is easy enough knowing who and where your consumers are finding you will help you gain more customers. Wow, really how? Well if your flower shop sales majority consist of selling flowers to women over 40( btw nothing wrong with being a woman over 40 I am 🙂 ) then you know that you are missing out on targeting many other consumer demographics.
Mostly everything retail or digital is now targeted. I’m sure you heard about a popular social media community in which they target Ads according to demographics this is no different and most successful businesses do marketing to win certain demographics.
Tip: If you are using a Point of Sale at your flower shop get in the habit of adding to the notes or anywhere it allows you ( this should not be visible to the actual customer) the customer demographic. Or make categories on their demographics so you can easily pull these reports.
02. FLORAL WIRE SERVICE.
We are discussing on how to run a successful floral business. Let’s keep it black and white here. If you are filling orders for a floral wire service/s and are not profiting or even worse you have to pay your floral wire service/s at the end the month – do not continue with the floral wire service/s.
I’m not saying that there are not flower shops that make a profit with a floral wire service. If you are making money with a floral wire service then stay.
However, I have noticed that some florists are not sure if they are making a profit and by profit, I’m not referring to a few grand a year. We are talking about an actual profit here that compensates you for all your time and energy.
Pouring all your resources in a floral wire service with no return in profit is ruining your flower business. I know it can be scary to actually look at the bottom line figures – it was for me- however its a must-do! Sit down and see how much money you are making with the floral wire service/s if you have no idea -do this today for Pete’s sake! If you see no profit GET OUT!
Floral Wire Service Yearly Profit
Here is my 2013 yearly profit from one major wire service. This was so hard to stomach mind you this is the final number $6477.13. This is what I got paid after filling 420 orders almost $30k. I did not owe them for hardware. I also did not deduct any payroll, lights, rent, water, gas, supply and labor. If I had deducted these I would have a very high negative figure here.
03. THINK OUTSIDE THE FLOWER BOX.
No pun intentioned! 🙂 Selecting retail merchandise for your flower shop can be very time-consuming and requires a bit of a thought process/plan.
Every square inch of your retail flower space = $$$. If your holding on to that Lladró from 1998 because you love it now is the time to pack it up or display it in your home. Make room for retail items that sell.
Start thinking of ways to bring your current and different demographics into your flower shop, think outside the box. I promise you’re not being a sell-out to floristry here! What you are doing is being super business savvy and wise.
Consumers (younger crowd and me too) love plants. Create a succulent bar. Your patrons will come in grab succulents, containers and create their own like DIY with observation and at your store. I promise this is fun.
Or create a flower bar same concept as a succulent bar.
Sell air plants/ popular plants
How about techy items with flowers- why not? Phone cases, charger. Anything with flowers, in my opinion, is up for grabs.
Sell cute pet items.
Allow local artists to sell their artwork.
Provide coffee and a seating area with free wifi.
Workshops
Subscription plans.
Think of other retail spaces their products are constantly changing with trends and so should yours. If you are a flower shop that does not offer gifts and are looking for ways to make more of profit why not change things up a bit and Go for!
Tip: Be sure to post all your gift items or special perks on your floral website. DO NOT JUST MAKE A BANNER (sorry for cap locks)! Making only a banner won’t read well on the internet, dedicate a special URL page to your offerings so that it indexes for you and visitors on the internet can then find you.
04. WATCH YOUR WASTE.
You can always expect a little bit of waste in a flower shop. However, if I had a $1.00 for the 20 years I saw all the perfectly good wire, ribbon, tape, all the cards I wrote and rewrote, tissue paper and more that was left on the floor and thrown out I would be very rich right now.
A successful run flower business understands their margins, they understand that waste is a determent to business and adds up to an unnecessary loss. We are not just talking about floral supply waste on the floor. I’m also talking about adding too many blooms to vase just because, ordering too many flowers/supply and wasting office/paper supply. There needs to be accountability for every product used at your flower shop.
I know this is not easy but its all matter of changing one’s mindset.
05. FLORIST MARKETING.
Ah, florist marketing… there are so many variations it can be quite confusing on how to really market for today’s consumers/demographics. What you want to do is start small and build up your marketing but never do not do some kind of floral marketing.
Start by gathering your customer’s emails, or the option to text for promotions.
Make sure that you are listed with as many social media ( Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and so on) communities as possible, this gives you a beneficial backlink and raises your overall branding on search engines. Ask customers to like you on your social media pages, it’s OK to ask for likes it’s all about being social here.
Try to get as many quality backlinks as you can this gives you search engine creditability. Be sure they are credible.
Next, start inhouse marketing with your flower shop and website. Have a user-friendly responsive and secure, floral website that is appealing with beautiful product images. ( I see so many websites that read Http:// if this yours it’s not secure change it to https://)
Decorate your flower shop, use your storefront to lure passers-by inside.
Email newsletter to customers.
Standing orders to corporate business, restaurants and so on.
If you are also catering to Weddings and Events it is a good idea to have a dedicated separate website for only your wedding and event florals. This will allow you to index on search engines for specific keywords and also will appeal more to your potential customers searching for wedding and event services. If there are more things on your list and you would like to have a chat please feel free to contact flower delivery richmond bc
With the abundance of marketing options- Flower Trade Shows, Digital Marketing, Ad Words, Social Media Ads, Print, Directories and so on it is always a good idea to do a variation of a few and see which give you the best results. There should also be a set budget set aside for your floral marketing. If right now you can not afford marketing start off slow there are so many options that are super affordable or even free. When you get sales from this marketing set aside 10% for your next marketing campaign.
06. EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE.
It goes without saying that exceptional customer service is the lifeline of any business not only in the floral business. In the day and age when everyone is a critic with reviews, it is even more imperative today to leave a lasting impression with your customers.
In order to deliver the best customer experience, everyone in your flower shop needs to be well trained and knowledgeable about the products and services offered. Besides product knowledge, you always want to be courtesy, and professional. Like discussed in the previous write up exceptional customer service is not about giving freebies or discounts. It’s about treating every customer in the same manner with the utmost care, attention and delivering what was promised.