Networking with florists in other states is a side benefit of Profit Blast. From left, Chrissy Grubbs and Sharon Grubbs, of Foister’s Flowers & Gifts in Muncie, Indiana, chat with Russ Breitinger, of Breitinger’s Flowers, Inc., in White Oak, Pennsylvania.
Nearly 70 floral industry members from 17 states and Canada gathered for SAF’s lightning-fast, info-packed 1-Day Profit Blast, held April 16 in Cincinnati — and went home with a slew of new ways to drive business.
The program, sponsored by DWF Wholesale Florist, brought together experts in wedding and event work, financials, customer service and online branding in an accessible location for a single day to cover an amount of information florists would need months, or years, to tackle on their own.
“I was so excited when I left ,” said Helene Taylor-Elam of Forever Flowers and Designs in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. “I can go back to my shop and create my own strategy for the business, updating my website, capturing more wedding and hotel business. The energy in the room was awesome.”
The Profit Blast in Cincinnati is just the latest program in an “on-the-go” education series offered by SAF that helps florists learn new techniques and trends without investing large sums of money on travel and time away from the business.
Elizabeth Allen, right, owner of Expressions by Elizabeth, Cincinnati, brought three members of her team to SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast. From left, Lisa Martin, Suzanne Turner and Laura Philhower.
The Cincinnati event, which included a lunch sponsored by Hortica Insurance and Employee Benefits, was designed to meet the needs of both longtime florists looking for fresh ideas and perspective and new industry members seeking tested advice and insight from more experienced colleagues.
That mix of experience levels and backgrounds made for robust conversations between sessions — and lots of opportunity to share and compare notes.
“We’ve been in business four months and this conference was exactly what my partner and I needed to get started on the right path,” said first-time attendee Brittany Byrd of Homegrown Floral Gifts in Loveland, Ohio.
Second-time attendee Jan Taylor of Malone Flower Shop in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, said she’d “gladly recommend Profit Blast to anyone.”
“I’ve been in the business 40 years and I still learned a lot,” she added.
Jerome Raska’s stage display of table settings and designs attracted plenty of attendees, with phone camera in hand, including Celeste Mackey of Fassler Florist in Ft. Wright, Kentucky.
In shaping the day’s program, SAF prioritized the practical, said SAF Chief Content and Publishing Officer Kate Penn. “We choose topics that we know are hot button issues for florists. And — just as important — we feature speakers with a gift for ‘teaching’ these progressive strategies in a way that makes it very easy for anyone in the audience to take home and put the info to use right away.”
That’s exactly what happened for Jennifer Linehan of Beautiful Blooms by Jen in Sylvania, Ohio.
“I can’t wait to get started by implementing what I learned at SAF’s One-Day Profit Blast,” she said. “It’s the perfect amount of classes that you can take one thing from each class and it paid for itself. You don’t leave overwhelmed because you heard too much.”
Some of the highlights from each session include:
Successful Events — from Concept to Completion
Jerome Raska, AAF, AIFD, PFCI
Sponsored by: Syndicate Sales, Design Master color tool, Inc. and Rio Roses/Equiflor
After speaking at previous SAF events, Raska returned by popular demand to share his time-tested ideas for increasing event work:
Show the right goods, in the right places. Know where your local brides look for vendor information and go to those places, he said. “If you’re not advertising with The Knot and Wedding Wire, you should be.” Once brides arrive at your site and social media pages, make sure your wedding and event work is prominent and current. “Brides don’t want to look at your funeral work,” Raska said. “When they come to your website it has to say wedding.”
Control the consultation. One thing Raska’s team will never ask a bride is, “What do you have in mind?” (“What they had in mind is everything on their Pinterest page,” Raska said, to a sea of nodding heads in the audience.) But he does talk cash, a topic that some florists shy away from. “Don’t be afraid to talk about money,” he said. Some language he likes to use with brides (that might help your timid team members improve their pitch): “I want to be able to give you the best, most generous proposal that will fit your budget needs. Let’s talk about what you can afford so I can give you grand ideas that fit your budget.”
Think of the big picture. Weddings are big business — and brides are coming to many florists, including Raska, for more than flowers. “We’re doing linens, lighting, paper products, and day-of coordination,” Raska said. Many of those new services are low-hanging fruit, relatively easy to work into the schedule and they add real value to the business. “There are ways to get more business but sometimes we forget to look for it,” he explained. (Look for more of Raska’s tips in this week’s Sales Wake-Up newsletter on Saturday.)
Derrick Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI
Treasure Hunt: Finding Your Hidden Profit
Derrick Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI, vice president of Crockett, Myers & Associates Inc.
Retail floral financial analyst Derrick Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI, brought his famously entertaining and easy-to-digest presentation style to a topic that most retailers love to hate: cutting costs. Myers walked attendees through the six main cost centers of a flower shop for an eye-opening look at cost of goods sold, labor, delivery, occupancy, marketing and wire service business. Some of his main points to attendees:
Make delivery a profit center. Many florists don’t appropriately for delivery. That’s a big (profit-sucking) mistake, Myers said. The solution: Charge for this valuable service and give customers options. “If you give customers three fee options — i.e. the base fee is $10.95, a four-hour window is $15.95, and one-hour delivery is $25.95 — they’ll choose the middle,” Myers said. “Every shop we work with that is doing this is making money.”
Show love to your staff. Myers said that the first job of any business owner, when it comes to employee relations, is to get everyone on the same page. That means investing time and money in training, education and coaching. The payoff isn’t just warm, fuzzy feelings. “Skilled employees will double your income in a year,” he said. “Skilled employees believe in the vision of the company and they’re all headed in the same direction.”
Ditch (unnecessary) discounts. Have you ever found yourself in this scenario? You score some great flowers in quantity at a good deal — and then immediately offer up those beautiful buds to customers as a “special sale”? You may be leaving money on the table. “Just because you’re
paying less doesn’t mean you sell it for less,” Myers cautioned.
Tim Huckabee will teach attendees how to sell with confidence for bigger, better sales.
Build the Perfect Sales Script
Tim Huckabee, AIFSE, president of FloralStrategies, LLC
In an interactive session, Huckabee coached florists on how to rewrite conversations with customers into new, more professional — but conversational — sales script. (You can review all of Huckabee’s scripting tips here.)
Other insights from Huckabee’s Cincinnati program include:
Make shopping easy. Review your store with an objective eye—or ask someone to help you see things as a customer might. “Flickering light in the cooler? Are all of your products priced on the floor?” Huckabee asked. “Ask yourself: As a customer, how does it look, smell? How well are things lit? Is there anything you can do to make the shop experience easier for customers?
Banish these words. “The cancer of the floral industry is the question, ‘How much do you want to spend?’” said Huckabee. “What other business on the planet insults the customer that way?” He added that florists should not shy away from making “appropriate suggestions” on floral gifts based on the information the customer is sharing. “If they don’t want to , they’ll just say, ‘I really don’t want to go that high,’” Huckabee said.
Hold yourself and your staff to account. Old habits die hard, particularly in some retail flower shops, said Huckabee. Remember that adage when you introduce new processes, including scripts or changes to service. “There’s a tendency in a smaller, family-owned business is to let some rules slide by, or to let some people get by with some old habits,” Huckabee said. “If you hear someone not using the script or reverting to old habits, you have to jump on it. Let them know you will be listening, monitoring their progress and asking them to playing by the rules.” (Look for more of Huckabee’s tips in this week’s Sales Wake-Up newsletter on Saturday.)
Renato Sogueco
Tech Strategies to Capture More Online Sales
Renato Sogueco, chief information officer, Society of American Florists
Sogueco shared strategies and (mostly free) tools to optimize florists’ website for the desktop or mobile customer. He also gave advice on how to build an online brand through social media and references and how to protect a brand and drive traffic via online advertising. Some of the key takeaways include:
Maximize “micro moments.” Shoppers today move fast — scrolling on mobile phones and buying with a few clicks, often while in the carpool line or in between meetings. The name of the game is speed, Sogueco said. “Ninety percent of smartphone users are not 100 percent certain of the brand they want when they begin looking for information online,” he reminded attendees. “Leverage those micro moments. Be sure you are found in mobile search.
Be patient with online campaigns. Things may move fast online but you need to give online advertising campaigns some time, at least two weeks, to truly benchmark effectiveness, Sogueco said. And, “consider building additional campaigns that focus on wedding and funeral business” to drive customers directly to those segments.
Respond to (every single) review. Online reviews can make or break a business—so respond to all of them in a timely manner… the good, the bad and the neutral. Be gracious, helpful and express a genuine desire to make things right. “Apologize and say things like, ‘If there’s a way we can make you a happy customer, please call us here, visit us here, email us here,’” Sogueco said. By doing so, “you provided great contact info to future viewers and given an indication to your level of customer service.”
SAF members can check out all of the Profit Blast speakers’ PowerPoint presentations.
SAF is bringing its next 1-Day Profit Blast to Denver, on Sunday, October 23 — once again sponsored by DWF Wholesale Florist. Ready to immerse yourself in four days of networking and business education? Register today for SAF Maui 2016, SAF’s annual convention, Sept. 21-24.
