On the heels of hosting eight weeks of webinars about persevering through the COVID-19 pandemic, Society of American Florists CEO Kate Penn appeared in a Facebook Live video Tuesday, May 5, to offer some final words of encouragement ahead of Mother’s Day, as well as some last-minute tips to generate sales.

“From everything we’re hearing anecdotally, demand this year will be higher than ever,” Penn said. “You can count on usual flower buyers, as well as new customers — people missing out on their usual gifts of brunch or dinner.” That said, “this year will be challenging,” she continued, “especially for those working with skeleton crews.”

To make it more manageable, the SAF staff has compiled a slew of best practices on topics including operations, marketing and customer service and packaged it in a Mother’s Day Resource Center. They also identified five last-minute tips to do right now:

1. Let people know you’re open. “This might seem obvious, but it isn’t,” Penn said. “We actually get a fair number of consumers visiting the SAF website and, according to their Live Chat questions, they don’t realize that local florists are open and offering contact-free delivery. Put it out there loud and clear — on your window, marquee, website, social media sites and voicemail.”
2. Prep your website for sales. “What we’ve heard from many of our webinar speakers is that less is more,” Penn said. “You don’t want to promote dozens of options right now. You might not even be able to get that large a variety of flowers and you need to make the workload more realistic for your design staff.” Curated collections are quicker (and more profitable) to replicate. Also push flowering plants, gourmet food items, and “designer’s choice” arrangements — and make sure you’ve updated your site to show current prices and available delivery windows.
3. Have a media strategy in place. Designate a specific team member to answer any questions should a reporter call or show up at your shop. Prepare for that possibility by studying talking points and honing your shop’s “voice” with your team.
4. Pick up the phone. Call last year’s customers who haven’t ordered yet and remind them of the approaching holiday. Ask if they have a relative out-of-town who needs flowers. Don’t rush the call; enjoy the conversation. “We’re all so used to transactional calls,” Penn said. “If you go the extra mile and make it conversational, the customer will remember what a pleasant experience they had with you.”
5. Make use of downtime. Not operating this Mother’s Day? Focus on goals you’ve had on the backburner or consider virtual arrangements to generate some immediate revenue.

To watch the full video message, click here.

For more advice, visit the SAF Mother’s Day Resource Center. “While you’re there, if you have a question, don’t hesitate to reach out through our LiveChat,” Penn said. “Someone on our team will help you. We’re here to make you more successful!”

Katie Hendrick Vincent is the contributing senior writer and editor for the Society of American Florists.

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