3 Top Tips for New Florists

Last week, I had the privilege of talking to a couple of florists in some 1:1 coaching calls and one new florist asked: What are your top 3 pieces of advice that you’d offer to a new florist?

There’s more than 1 way to answer this question, but I want to share with you what I shared with her! (And if you’ve been in business for a little while–or a long while!–these tips are for you, too!) Since we’re entering the 4th Quarter of the year, it’s the perfect time to share these 3 Tips with you, too! Listen below.

Real Flower Business · 3 Pieces of Advice for New Florists

Top 3 Tips For Florists

1. Define what you want your business to provide. How much income you’re looking to make in your business and what sort of lifestyle you’re trying to create?

(Note: Your sales goal will be higher than your income goal because all of your expenses come out of the total sales.)

2. Define all of the offers that you’re selling that will bring money into your business.

You can think of these like “buckets” or categories. For example, funerals, daily orders, walk-ins, weekly subscriptions, events.

Then, determine how much you need to sell in each category to meet the sales goal so that you can reach your income goal. (For example, $3,000 in funerals per month, $6,000 in daily orders and walk-ins, $2,000 in business accounts, $5,000 in weddings & events…)

3. Define who your customers are (and this may be a different customer for each of your buckets or categories) and get really obsessed with serving them well.

What do they need/want?
What would they love to buy from you?
What would they be excited to tell their friends about?

If you can answer these questions, you’re doing good work! And if you need to think about them a little bit, that’s good work, too!

FYI on Monday, Oct. 7th at 12pm ET I’m hosting an Opportunity Hour with Patreon members in the Marketing Mavens Tier as well as the new students in my Flower Math course!

This Opportunity Hour is a small group coaching session and any questions, struggles, or random things you want to bounce off of another florist are welcome!

I’ll send a Zoom invitation to Marketing Mavens along with the monthly blog posts for October.

Keep doing beautiful work and let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of help to you from here!

xo. -Alison Ellis

By Alison Ellis

Simple Social Media Tips for Florists

How can you be more consistent with blogging and social media so that you attract the best customers, but also follow a strategy that’s practical and simple?

I got this question from a member of my Patreon Community the other day, which was actually more like 8 or 9 questions, so I answered them live so I could really dig into details and answer in depth!

If you have questions after you watch, let me know!

Click to watch now:

In this livestream I answered questions on:

Content ideas for blogging and social media
Discipline ideas
Goals of how often to post
How do you measure its success
Post structure
How do I keep it simple
How do I post our values, beliefs and key brand points

If you need some help crafting your brand message and sharing your voice, you can get access to Monthly Blog & Social Media Prompts by becoming a Marketing Maven inside my Patreon Community here: www.patreon.com/realflowerbusiness

I know that as a business owner, it can be challenging to be consistent and authentic because there’s often a bit of a trade off between consistent and authentic.

Wash, rinse, repeat = consistent

But it often takes a little bit of contemplation to find what you have to share with the world that’s actually authentic!

I hope the tips I shared today will inspire you to simplify your social media strategy and share your voice with more intention.

And if you’d like to check out this month’s Social Media Prompts on Patreon, I’d be honored to have you join me there!

xo. -Alison

By Alison Ellis

Why I Love Writing Proposals

I love writing proposals and the reason is simple: it’s the first step to actually booking a client and getting paid.

Now, there’s a balance between giving away too much detail and investing too much time before a customer has committed to working with you. This is why florists often procrastinate the proposal process!

And that’s why when it comes to writing a wedding proposal, my goal is to spend no more than 1-2 hours preparing a quote. I want to be an easy “yes”, but I don’t want to labor over this quote for a week!

Just FYI, here are a few things I don’t do when writing a proposal:

List every single flower that will be in every single arrangement
Include dozens of flower images from stock files
Wait a week to start the proposal
Promise specifics
Make my clients commit to the exact number of centerpieces or final color palette–they just have to meet my minimum purchase

If you want to see how I simplify my process…

There are TWO ways you can get a closer look at the exact steps I follow in my Wedding Workflow to keep myself accountable after a customer inquires:

#1. You can download a pdf of my Wedding Workflow, which is available in my online shop here! It includes the 16 Steps To Client Management that I follow in my business, plus a deeper breakdown of 5 Steps to Book Clients More Quickly! This is newly updated, and if you already have my workflow or my Wedding Templates Bundle, you should find this updated version on your course dashboard!

#2. You can walk through the step by step process with me AND get the pdf of my Wedding Workflow by becoming a member of my Patreon Community at the $29 level! You’ll find some proposal shortcut tips in there right now PLUS a ton of lessons and short trainings on how to book great clients consistently.

Based on my experience as a business owner for 22 years so far, I’ve learned to focus on 3 Keys to Booking Great Clients Consistently and they include:

Brand Reputation–What You’re Known For/What People Say About You
Pre-Qualifying–Gathering Information & Setting Expectations
Customer Experience–The Steps You Follow To Establish Trust

All 3 Keys play a role in your brand position and if you want to attract better customers, the easiest thing to do is create a better customer experience!

The steps my customers follow are inside my Wedding Workflow now if you want to grab it here!

Keep doing beautiful work! And keep booking great clients.

-Alison Ellis

By Alison Ellis

Social Media Mindset

If your last Instagram post didn’t get as much engagement as you were hoping for, this is for you:

It doesn’t matter and you are still a valuable, worthy human and business owner.

As business owners, I know that we all “have to” keep up on social media so we don’t “miss out”, but here’s why it doesn’t matter if you get enough “likes”:

#1. Being “good at social media” isn’t the same thing as having a successful business

#2. Likes don’t equal dollars or profits

#3. It’s hard to be visible when your posts aren’t getting served to your followers

I talk to floral designers all the time who say that social media is pushing them over the edge in terms of their time commitment and self-esteem issues, too.

As I mentioned in my livestream last month on Staying Accountable In Your Business (which you can see here!), even successful business owners can let the pressures of “being good on social media” get them down, so you have to actively work to manage your own input (your precious time) and how you identify with the results or audience engagement.

In short, “likes” can’t define you or your business (and if they do….it’s time to rethink that!).

FYI: If you could use some help writing better social media posts…

You can get 5 social media prompts for your floral business every month as a member of my Patreon community in the Marketing Mavens Tier.

In fact, you can get this month’s social media prompts AND last month’s social media prompts right now when you sign up for just $29!

PLUS: All Patreon members have access to the replay of the Productivity Power Hour.

The goal of the Productivity Power Hour is to write and schedule at least 4 Social Media Posts for the upcoming month in about 1 hour.

If you want to hop into the Power Hour or become a Marketing Maven, you can find Real Flower Business on Patreon here. I’d be honored to have you join me there!

I’m rooting for you and your business as you continue to grow and adapt to an ever-changing climate.

Keep doing beautiful work!

xo. -Alison

By Alison Ellis

Owning A Flower Business

How do you stay accountable as a business owner?

If you own your business, you know there’s a lot to manage if you want to be successful and profitable, but what steps do you take to actually keep yourself on track and avoid time-wasting activities?

In this month’s livestream, I talked about strategies to stay motivated and accountable (or help to get back on track!).

When you watch, you’ll get a few rules I try to follow in my business (based on 22 years of experience), and I’ll address a question I received recently regarding “how much money a florist makes”. (You can also see a few highlights timestamped below!)

Topic Highlights:

How Do You Stay Accountable As A Business Owner? 00:00

Introduction/Welcome 03:25

What Does Accountability Look Like? 04:15

Steps To Create Accountability 04:56

Social Media Moderation 14:43

Social Media Prompts vs Complaints 19:48

Final Two Tips & Recap 20:46

How Much Money Does A Florist Make? 29:24

What Do You Do With Vases After An Event? 35:24

Staying Accountable From Here 37:44