Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

By Leave a Comment

Floral Education with Alison Ellis

A floral business can’t run on creativity alone! If you want your business to be sustainable and successful, you do need to map out future goals and define your own version of success!

Save the dates for my upcoming online trainings and click on the topics below that would be of most help to you on your path to reach your goals!

 

Business Plan Refresh Session–Aug. 23 

If you’re feeling overworked or uninspired in your floral business, this session is for you!

Florists and Flower Farmers will leave this session feeling refreshed, refocused and ready to take action to ditch the overwhelm by putting their goals in writing.

You can join me live for 1-hour on Zoom and catch a replay for 30 days after the training. I’m offering a “Pay What You Want” option that starts at just $5!

Sign up for a Replay Here until it expires: https://learn.realflowerbusiness.com/refresh

 

Pricing Chat for Florists–Sept.12

How do you calculate the profit margin in your flower business? 

If you’re a floral designer or farmer florist who wants to pay yourself more, tracking your profit margin is THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP you can take to make sure that you’re keeping as much money as possible!

And it’s OK if you aren’t “good with numbers” because it’s actually really easy to learn how to do it! That’s why I’ll be hosting a free Pricing Chat for Florists on Tuesday, Sept. 12th at 12pm Eastern/9am Pacific where I’ll share The 3 Numbers Florists Need To Know to help make sure you’re maximizing your margins.

Sign up here: https://learn.realflowerbusiness.com/price-chat

 

Additional Training Dates…

If you ever tell yourself, “I’m great at the creative stuff, but I’m not good at business”, what do you think someone who IS good at business would do to work smarter and reach their goals?

The first step is to put a business plan in writing! The next step is to make sure you’re pricing for MAXIMUM profitability, of course. And then, you have to be able to book clients with ease and market your business with intention to attract the best customers to your brand!

It sounds like a lot, I know! That’s why I’m teach ALL OF THESE THINGS specifically for floral designers and farmer florists in my online business training that you can join from anywhere in the world!

Remember:

Setting Realistic Goals Is Critical To Your Overall Success & Happiness.

And Feeling Overworked In Your Business is NOT Sustainable.

Make sure to stay tuned for upcoming training dates, times and registration!

If you’re not already on my email list, click HERE to sign up for my free eBook and you’ll be on my list!

xo. -Alison Ellis

—

By Leave a Comment

How Do You Sell More Flowers?

When florists want to sell more flowers for Mother’s Day–or any occasion–the most important step is to reach out to your past customers to make sure they know what you’re offering.

That means if you have NOT directly pitched your offers to the customers who purchased from you last year, it’s time to take action now!

I know it’s tempting to throw out a few posts on social media and feel like you’ve “done your job” to get the word out about your business and what you’re selling, but posting and praying is not enough!

If you REALLY want to sell more flowers, you have to reach out to the real live customers who’ve bought from you before and invite them to place an order today!

If this sounds like a lot of work, guess what–it could be! You may not be organized with your customer list at your finger tips, perhaps.

But it’s actually pretty easy to write an email to your client list and create a short script to make phone calls to your best customers who haven’t ordered yet, so you can tell them exactly what you’re offering and make it easy for them to buy.

A few things to include in your pitch:

  • Introduction–what you’re offering (and why they need it!)
  • Clear price points on 1-2 options
  • Call To Action–with a link to buy or phone number to call
  • Sense of Urgency–why do they want to do this today?

 

Some customers will say no, but some will say yes! And then, you’ll be that much closer to your sales goal.

The moral of the story is this: Ask for the sale. Don’t sit back and wait for customers to come to you.

Keep doing beautiful work!

xo. -Alison Ellis

Find out more about Alison HERE and see a full course list for florists HERE.

—

By Leave a Comment

Françoise Weeks and Alison Ellis on Resilience and Innovation in Floristry

How Do You Push Through Fear To Take Your Business To The Next Level?

I invited my friend, Françoise Weeks, to join me for a livestream back in 2020 to talk about how she learned to become such a confident, world-renowned floral educator–despite being an introvert–and how she continues to innovate in new create ways as a designer.

She talked about the very first speaking gig she ever got, why she shares her techniques so freely and her approach to teaching floral designers to use natural materials in unique and different ways.

I’ve been looking high and low for this replay and I finally located it today–right on my Facebook page where I left it! I want to truly thank Françoise for making the time for this conversation and for continuing to inspire me!

I hope you’ll take some time to tune in to listen to her inspiring story!

And if you want to see Françoise teach LIVE and in person along with me, we’re teaching a live workshop on April 17-18th, along with the Queen of Pop-Up Shops, Popped with Phebe, so if you’re a floral designer or flower-farmer who wants to level-up your creativity and your career, why don’t you join us today!

Get Workshop Details

Doors are closing soon–we need a headcount ASAP so consider this your last call for enrollment–there are only a few rooms left at the Inn last time I checked.

xo. -Alison Ellis

Want to know more about the Workshop in April?

I’ll be teaching alongside Françoise Weeks & Phebe Robinson-Higgins for 2 Days of Hands-On Training, April 17 & 18th at The Inn at The Round Barn in Waitsfield, Vermont.

We’ll cover topics including: 

  • Foam Free Woodland Techniques & Floral Jewelry with Françoise Weeks 
  • How To Sell A Wedding More Quickly & Price For Profit with Alison Ellis
  • Everything You Need To Run A Successful Pop-Up Shop with Pop-Up Expert, Popped With Phebe

 

These are resources that will level-up your floral design creativity & career!

Would you like to join us? The time to sign up is now!

(There Are Only 3 Rooms Left At The Inn.)

You can sign up today for the workshop and get the details on how to book your stay here: https://learn.realflowerbusiness.com/april-workshop

—

By Leave a Comment

Most Important Marketing Tip for Florists

The most important thing florists need to keep in mind about marketing and social media is this: posting on social media is NOT marketing!

It may be a “best effort to beat an algorithm”, but it’s not the best way to reach your most interested customers. Because when you’re trying to grow your business and increase your sales, posting frequently isn’t a real strategy.

If you’re in Valentine’s Day prep-mode, take a moment to watch because this one is for you!

The Moral of the Story

Real connections with real people are always stronger than social media. The constant pull to post on social media can be exhausting, but there’s a better way to grow your local business and it can be as easy as just picking up the phone, sending an e-mail or dropping by to say hello to a fellow wedding professional.

What do you think of today’s tip?

Do you think you can make a REAL connection with your customers today instead of just posting and hoping someone sees it?

xo. -Alison Ellis

—

By Leave a Comment

Should Florists Use Artificial Intelligence In Marketing?

Everyone’s talking about using AI to automate, but what role should automation play in your floral design business?

It’s tempting to lean into automating your business–and I get it, it’s enticing to take the “thinking” out of your work and let someone else handle it!

But there’s truly no replacing the human-to-human interaction and connection that your brand can create with your customers!

(By the way, that’s why the intern that’s assigned to “handle your social media” may not be getting the results you’d hoped for!…because they don’t have the client-focus that’s required to really connect with your ideal customers.)

Click to watch this short take on using AI in your business.

The Moral Of The Story

People buy from people. And good brands aren’t built on auto-pilot.

It’s wise to streamline your business processes whenever possible–as long as you’re not missing the customer connection! There’s a risk of over-automating and losing the special touch (and trust!) your customers are looking for.

I follow templates to help lead clients through the sales process with my email replies and proposals (which you can find here!), but I still take the time to craft customized communication for each client so they get the best experience with my brand.

Because personalized service is part of what I promise. And a computer can’t deliver that for me!

Keep doing beautiful work and keep showing up for your customers as ONLY you can!

(Click Here For More: Should You Lose Your Auto-Reply?)

With love from me to you,

Alison Ellis

(Learn more about Alison Here)

—