Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.
Here are a few frequent Q’s and A’s to help you choose the courses that are right for you:
Even with a streamlined booking process, it takes precious time and TLC to put together a wedding proposal–and I like to turn my proposals around quickly–so I don’t write recipes without a commitment from the client.
I always write recipes for my weddings…
Over the years I’ve established “starting prices” for the floral elements I make most frequently (i.e. bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, arbors, cocktail pieces, delivery & set-up, etc.)….
And my starting prices, or “minimums”, provide enough breathing room in the budget to create work I’m proud to deliver to my clients, without adding up each stem before we’ve actually established a working relationship (ie. a contract & deposit to secure the date), let alone finalized the design, color palette or specific floral choices.
Whether you itemize an initial proposal for a client or simply offer a “lump sum total” when quoting a job, your established minimums will allow you to price as needed to turn a profit without having to write out recipes on every proposal before you get the job.
Here’s my process for booking without a recipe:
Click to watch, Can you price without a recipe?…
P.S. The wedding I talk about in this video, well, I’m happy to report that it worked out GREAT!…she ended up being an ideal client after all.
“In one wedding I felt more confident in my pricing & made my money back on the purchase of the class. This really has been a game changer for me!!
-Susan of Wild Blume
It’s always easier to have a pricing conversation with a client if you’re being honest & transparent.
It can be as simple as clarifying: What are your customers willing to spend? and What can you provide at that price point?
Be confident in your pricing. Because if a client walks away after you’ve already offered your best price, then they’re just not your customer! They simply couldn’t afford you.
Years ago, if someone said they had a $3,000 budget, I’d say, “OK, sure, I can make that work!” I mean, I should be able to make something beautiful for $3,000, right?!…well, that depends on what the client is requesting!
Once I get some preliminary details from a client, I can introduce a starting price based on the information I’ve collected.
The client’s requested vision may be “more than the minimum”–that’s the up-side of Pinterest….we can see immediately how elaborate and lush their dream/vision is, or get a sense of how clean, focused and simple their taste may be.
It’s not your job to try to replicate a $450 elevated centerpiece that your customer fell in love with (on Pinterest!) for the low, low price of $150. (I’d rather make a beautiful centerpiece for $150 that’s easy for your guests to see over, instead of feeling uneasy about the “smaller scale” of an elevated piece that was cobbled together for $300 less than the inspiration photo! That’s not your job.)
I want my customers to experience value when working with me.
Charge what you’re worth and then, BE WORTH IT.
For example, what if you haven’t made an elevated centerpiece?
Well, sometimes you need to do some mathematics and imagining and spacial relations-work with your ruler and a loamy dish to determine a price on something you’ll be making for the first time…
But if you set some starting prices for your work, and you know that elevated centerpieces are at least 3x the price of a low centerpiece, you’ll automatically have a starting point to work from and instead of trying to make it for “less”, you can simply present the “starting price on elevated pieces”…even though you haven’t made it yet! (and then, you can offer alternatives to the elevated designs if their vision isn’t aligning with the desired budget.)
If the inspiration photo is “more than you’ll provide at this price”, that must be clearly stated in all of your documents. “Your inspiration photo is $450, however, we’ll make a smaller, scaled down version for $275.”
Always deliver what you promise.
Your brand is what you deliver. Don’t promise something you can’t deliver.
Never forget the trust your clients put in you/your team.
Keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneur®!
With love from me to you,
Alison
Today, a floralpreneur® in my Facebook group shared that a client slashed her prices in half and re-sent the new pricing back to the florist!…..needless to say, the comments on that one made for some good reading!
As a business owner and floral artist, it’s important to recognize that you don’t want every customer. You want the customers that want YOU…and are willing to pay your for your work!
Business guru and genius marketer, Seth Godin, talks about Competing On Price as a “race to the bottom”. As Mr. Godin puts it, what do you do when you win?…ie. when you’ve succeeded and you’re “at the bottom”!
The idea of “winning” based on undercutting, is a misconception. You cannot “win” if the only reason someone picked you is because you’re cheap-er.
A florist cannot lower prices and exceed expectations at the same time!….not unless you’re giving up your profit margin.
And if you’re going to sustain your business, you must respect your profit margin.
I don’t want to win at the game of “cheapness”.
I want to win at the game of quality work and amazing customer service.
Click to watch this quick video, “Why you cannot compete on price”:
What is your goal?…
Do you want to be the cheapest?
Or do you want to be better than the cheapest?
I hope you’ll choose option #2 above!
Don’t compete on price!…so you can keep doing beautiful work!
With love from me to you,
Alison
P.S. If you want to find out more about my Flower Math course, which is designed to help florists price with confidence and maximize profit margins, click here for details on the course!
More FREE Tips from the Blog:
You down with O.P.P? (Other People’s Proposals) Click HERE to read.
How much should florists charge for rentals? Click HERE to read.
On weddings and events you might call it “delivery” or “day of labor” or “set-up fee”…..
I call it the :Delivery & Set-up fee” and it includes my time from the minute I start to load my van to the minute I’m done unloading it after an event.
Your time is valuable and you should be paid for delivery and set-up.
A delivery fee can be:
Delivery is more of a choose your own adventure aspect of pricing in your business.
For example:
People expect to pay for delivery & installation (or set-up).
A delivery fee is different from a design fee.
The design fee is what you charge per design….it pays for your time and expertise in floristry.
Delivery fee pays for your vehicles, labor, time spent waiting….
I used to be really nervous to increase my delivery fee. It took me years to realize what I needed to take into account to make it worth my while to deliver.
Click below to watch: Price Talk Live! A replay from my Facebook group On Delivery & Set-up Fees!
In this video I’m fresh off the heels of a Chapel Designer Workshop where I taught at Hope Flower Farm in May. Going to live workshops is invigorating and can leave me vibing for weeks. Connecting with people who share our passion is an amazing gift.
I share a bit about who was at Hope and what we did there in this live chat, but you can skip ahead to the delivery & set-up tips if you fast forward to 4:25 minutes in!
I charge based on what it costs to “do this job”….
I calculate this on a per hour basis and also consider the mileage, number of helpers, number of vehicles, whether I have to climb a ladder and whether I have to come back or stay on call to move things between the ceremony & reception.
My delivery fee isn’t related to how much my client spends, it’s based on how much I need to make that entire day work seamlessly so that I meet their expectations and also cover the time I invest.
The bigger the event, the bigger the delivery and set up fee.
Consider the following when determining your delivery rate:
Delivery may sound simple, but theres a level of care, expertise and professionalism that comes with the job.
Making money in your business should not be a mystery. Florists must have clarity on pricing.
Move forward pricing well, making a profit, and give yourself a pay increase with a small bump in your delivery fee.
Keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneur®!
And, by the way, as I mention in the video above, there’s a monthly payment plan on Flower Math for $49 per month for 1 year (click here).
You get the entire course right away and you can take 1-year to pay. If you need Flower Math, I’m happy to extend this payment plan option to make it more accessible.
Don’t hesitate to be in touch with any question for me.
With love from me to you,
Alison
Click here to join me in my Facebook group for future livestreams!
Click here to watch: 3 Numbers Florist Need To Know!
Video notes:
You can read an article I wrote for Florists’ Review Magazine about the Floral & Fauna Fashion Show and flowers with purpose, click here: floristsreview.com/flora-fauna-fashion-show
The teacher lineup at Hope included: Holly Chapple, Gregor Lersch, Hitomi Gilliam, Francoise Weeks, Passionflower Sue (Susan McLeary), and I was invited to speak about business (specifically pricing & website stuff!).
It was a honor to be on the roster with these legends and incredible floral pros.
Questions for me? Feel free to be in touch @ floralartvt@gmail.com
It’s a snowy January and I’ve officially booked up my calendar for my 2019 wedding season. It feels kinda rock ‘n roll to realize I’m entering my 18th season in business! I’ve worked really hard over the years to build up my floral design business and it’s all been completely worth it.
Part of why my hard work has paid off is due to the fact that I’ve been really focused on what I want from my business and how I want my business to fit into my life. (Having a successful business isn’t just about making money or “being busy”; it’s about creating happiness and fulfillment, too.)
I’ve done a lot of things to grow my business, but I thought it would be helpful to narrow down the top 10 things that had the biggest impact on my business success and my overall happiness factor, too. [Read more…]
