For years, the run-up to Mother’s Day has proceeded like clockwork at Radebaugh Florist & Greenhouses in Towson, Maryland. Kaitlin Radebaugh, AAF, is a planner — so determining how much product to buy, how many people to staff, what to promote and when, etc., was a straightforward process. This year, that playbook was out the window.

“The biggest challenge was uncertainty,” Radebaugh said. “We had no idea what demand would look like. We weren’t sure what product we’d have to sell.” With their retail areas closed to the public and a reduced team practicing social distancing on site or working remotely, Radebaugh streamlined just about everything — production lines, website offerings, phone call routing — and charged forward into an anything-but-routine holiday. “I really had no idea what to expect, which was terrifying,” she said.

The holiday week that followed was “excruciating” – 16-hour days, stress and anxiety about new COVID-related processes such as high-volume curbside pickup — but it ended with a big dose of (welcome) good news: Sales were “significantly higher” than 2019 returns. “If we had more staff and more product, we could have done even more,” Radebaugh said.

Around the country, retail florists have been sharing similar stories. According to a post-holiday survey of SAF members, 70 percent of floral industry members reported an increase in Mother’s Day sales this year — with many, like Radebaugh, saying they could have sold more. The holiday was a bright spot in an extremely challenging spring — and an extraordinary event. With summer weddings on hold, corporate events canceled, and sympathy work dramatically different, florists face a summer and fall like no other.

But the holiday also offered some valuable lessons. This month in Floral Management, writers and editors talked with industry members and dug into results from both SAF’s member survey and a separate consumer poll to highlight some of the major takeaways from Mother’s Day that could inform your future strategy as you move ahead and reimagine your operations.

Update your playbook.

Floral industry professionals faced myriad challenges ahead of Mother’s Day week — including a patchwork of local, state and national regulations and labor and supply-side shortages.

In Chicago, Lenny Walker of Kennicott Brothers said that Mother’s Day “sales exceeded expectations,” in part because the longtime wholesaler saw a surge of late-in-the-week orders. And no wonder: Many florists in the Midwest weren’t sure if they’d be able to operate even just 10 days before the holiday. Adapting to this new reality requires a significant shift in thinking — not to mention time and energy. “Our industry is based on patterns, and understanding those patterns helps guide us in making good decisions,” Walker said. “Navigating the unknown is consuming.”

But finding a new normal also means unearthing new opportunities.

Working with a third of her usual staff over Mother’s Day, for example, Radebaugh saw how much her reduced team could accomplish. “We did more with less,” she said. The pandemic has underscored the importance of cross training her team — a practice she was already prioritizing before the crisis began.  “Everyone on my team can take a sales call, because everyone is trained to be a sales associate,” she explained. Several members of her team now work remotely — the setup allowed the business to keep operating in compliance with COVID-related rules pertaining to crowd size — but now that the system and technology are in place, Radebaugh can see the utility of having remote workers manning the phones this winter, when snowstorms make commuting more hazardous.

Radebaugh’s biggest holiday takeaway? The power of no. For years, the shop trained its staff to please customers with lots of options and a can-do attitude. (Sound familiar?) This year, they shifted their approach out of necessity on Mother’s Day, turning down time-intensive custom work and limiting designs to the most profitable and efficient arrangements. They also made every single sale count with add-ons galore — chocolates, wine and gourmet goods customers were happy to include. The tactics worked and Radebaugh said she’ll be carrying the approach forward, beyond the holiday.

“Mother’s Day showed me that we have a much stronger ability to control the sale than I ever realized,” she explained.

SAF President Chris Drummond, AAF, PFCI, of Penny’s by Plaza Flowers outside of Philadelphia, said the heady combination of a blockbuster sales event like Mother’s Day 2020 in the middle of a pandemic also clarified for him how much his team can do when they come together. “Many members of our staff have learned that they can be super-productive when they are pushed,” he said. “They have learned how to work smarter, be more efficient, and ramp up productivity.”

Like Radebaugh, Drummond said the strategic use of tech is helping. As soon as stay-at-home orders began, five of Drummond’s salespeople began working remotely via VoIP (voice over internet protocol), taking calls from the comfort and safety of their living rooms, kitchens and offices. “We’ve really leaned into technology to make this work,” said Drummond. From home, sales staff can respond to web chats, transfer calls between stores, handle the phones and answer delivery inquires. Because the shop’s point of sales system is integrated with the delivery, the sales associate can check whereabouts of the driver and tell the customer where he or she is on their route.

Rethink your space.

Based in part on their experiences on Mother’s Day this year, some retailers also are reconsidering how much space they need — and even where they locate their businesses.

Rakini Chinery, AAF, AzMF, of Allan’s Flowers in Prescott, Arizona, said she had planned for Mother’s Day sales to be down by about 75 percent this year. Instead, they were up 46 percent. Like Radebaugh and Drummond, Chinery was struck by how efficiently her business ran. “I was surprised by the incredible number of orders we were able to take and fill and the fact that we did it with about 35 percent less staff,” she said. “We will continue to work lean.”

Chinery is also considering moving her business to a more industrial area. “The sales floor doesn’t seem to make a big difference in our sales, and we loved not dealing with a constant stream of walk-in clients ,” she said. Not having customers in the store “freed us up to fill more delivery orders,” Chinery added.

In addition, retailers have made changes to their spaces to accommodate COVID-related restrictions and ensure staff and customer safety. With the future still uncertain, and a second or third wave of infections possible, many of these changes are likely to stay in place for months to come, so taking time to think through the updates is important.

In April, Drummond converted unused retail space into more square footage for his designers. He dismantled retail displays and wheeled design stations into the showroom. The change means more physical distance between employees, with designers working at every other station. He’s also implemented other policies to limit team members’ physical interactions. For example, at the start of their shift, designers grab pre-made bunches and product, then wheel the supplies to their station. The change means less foot traffic throughout the space: Drummond estimates designers make about three trips while producing 60 to 80 arrangements daily.

At Lake Forest Flowers outside of Chicago, Eileen Weber, AAF, turned her family business’ showroom into a design room this spring. With a smaller staff of just three, they’ve been able to stick to one person at each 8-foot table (which used to accommodate four designers). To avoid cross-contamination of phones, one person is assigned to the shop phone and spillover calls come to Weber’s cell phone. Although she appreciates larger retailers, including her local grocery stores, establishing one-way hallways to manage the flow, Weber said her three employees have been able to safely navigate her 1,200-square-foot shop without implementing such measures.

Read the full story in the June issue of Floral Management.

Mary Westbrook is the editor in chief of Floral Management. Amanda Long is a freelance writer and editor and former managing editor of Floral Management