Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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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)

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How To Book A Wedding In 10 Days

A floralpreneur® asked: Do you offer any courses or advice on how you do your consultations and booking process?

She went on to say, “I have seen you post that you have a phone conversation with a client for weddings and then you usually don’t really have much contact until delivery/setup day of wedding. Just wondering how you go about doing this, so that you are not in constant back and forth with the client? Thanks!”

I spent many years perfecting my consultation and booking process, and I offer a ton of resources for florists to help book weddings and write proposals quickly, inside my Wedding Templates which include my Proposal, Contract, Wedding Workflow and Email Templates,

but questions on “the steps to actually book weddings” keep coming up–so I put together 5 Steps to Book A Wedding in 10 Days, and I’ll walk you though them here!

I’m going to lay out the timeline for how I book a wedding in 10 days below… [Read more…]

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Do Florists Have To Go To Floristry School?

If you want to be a florist, do you have to go to Floristry School? It’s a question I see a lot and I know there can be some strong opinions on the subject. Click to see my answer to the question and let me know what you think!

The truth is, there isn’t just 1 right way to become a florist!

There are so many things to learn that you can’t learn “everything you need to know in just one place”. Whether you go to floristry school, or take an accredited floral design certification program, or you teach yourself through trial and error, there will always be something more for you to learn.

For example, I’ve heard from floristry students in Australia and England who enrolled in my Flower Math course and say that they got a much more thorough and clear explanation from my online course than they did in school! Even longtime florists have told me that they understand the design aspect of their work, but they’ve been kept mostly in the dark on the business-stuff.

And still, some floral designers manage to build a “busy” floral design business, but they struggle with attracting higher paying clients or creating systems to close sales (without a dozen meetings that drain their time and energy).

Let’s face it, there’s so much more to know as a florist than “just flowers”!

The secret to success in the floral industry is to keep learning and growing. Just going to floristry school isn’t enough.

And just learning from YouTube videos isn’t enough.

And letting 20 years pass between your last in-person learning experience isn’t enough either.

Never stop learning in your business and your life–and keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

Ready to learn proven strategies to streamline your workflow and create more freedom in your floral business?

See  A Full Course List

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How To Get More Business Reviews in 2022

Happy new year, Floralpreneur®! A florist asked the other day, “How do you ask for reviews from your clients? Do you ask for an opened ended review or send them a questionnaire?”  I’ve done both over my 20 years as a small business owner and I have 2 simple tips to help you gather more rave reviews in 2022:

  • If you’d like to take this a step further by creating a survey that puts your client testimonials to work, I just posted a short video my Patreon Creator Page here to show you how to create a questionnaire that gathers market research for your biz! (All Patrons have access to this video at any membership level starting at just $3.)
There are few things more valuable than your customers’ words when it comes to sharing your brand’s story. (They’re like gold when it comes to your marketing and overall messaging.)

So reach out and ask your happy clients for a review to help build up your social proof. You’ll be glad you did! And if you want to dig deeper, send out a questionnaire that helps you gather more insight on your ideal customers.

Keep doing beautiful work, and thanks for making time to read my blog today!
With love from me to you,
Alison Ellis

FYI when you join me on Patreon you’ll find a vault of tips and behind-the-scenes trainings including:

  • Tips on Sales Copy
  • Vision & Goal Setting Session
  • What If Another Florist Is Cheaper?
  • Quick Tips To Improve Your Instagram Bio
  • How I Wrote A Proposal in 21 Minutes
  • How To Get More Testimonials
  • Foam Free Arbor Mechanics
  • Tips To Build A Portfolio
  • 15 Business Tips I Learned From My First Boss
  • Behind-the-Scenes of a Big Wedding: From Prep Through Profit
  • How I Make A Floral Bracelet
  • Morning-Of Wedding Prep
  • Tips On Contracts (Yes, You Still Need One)
  • Running A Successful Floral Business
  • Why Instagram Is Only 1 Piece Of Your Marketing Puzzle
  • Streamlined Proposal Writing Tips
  • Tips On Setting Minimums (post-pandemic)
  • How I Wrote 3 Quotes In 1 Week & Booked All 3 Clients
  • Pricing Right From The Start
  • How To Handle Price Increases & Substitutions
  • How To Send A Non-Itemized Proposal
  • Tips to Help Build Your Newsletter
PLUS members in the Marketing Mavens Tier get 5 Blog and Social Media Prompts on the first Monday of every month! You’ll find at least 3 months of social media prompts at any give time waiting for you there.

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What Do Florists Bring To a Wedding?

How do florists set up a wedding?

When I was first starting my home-studio floral business almost 20 years ago, I often felt like I was pulling a rabbit out of my hat on the day-of a wedding. I was passionate about weddings and flowers and running my own business, but I was still “new enough” that I was making a lot of it up as I went along. Sometimes, I didn’t know if I’d even finish setting up on time. Luckily I always did, but the pressure is real when you’re a wedding pro because there are no do-overs (and we are expected to make magic)!

As I gained experience, I developed systems to streamline my wedding-day set-up, as well as my entire week-of-the-wedding prep, and I know that whether you’ve been a wedding florist for 1 year or 20 years, you’re always learning something new! For example, over the last several years I’ve been working to cut out floral foam in my weddings and that’s changed my day-of and week-of prep!

FYI I’ll be sharing my recent #foamfree wedding mechanics and week-of tips inside my Patreon Creator Page this month. Patreon members get access to my best tips for booking weddings and you can ask me anything so if you have questions, I’ll answer them here! I’ll be taking members inside my week-of prep for an $11,000 wedding including the foam free mechanics I used (and then reused the next weekend, too!). Click here to access my Patreon page!

Today, I want to share this behind-the-scenes look at my “bag of tricks” so you can see what I bring with me to every wedding day set-up. It’s so important to have the right tools for the job–click to see what’s in my bag!

Remember: I’m continuing to answer the question: “how do you actually do a wedding” for the florists on my Patreon Creator Page, and you’re invited to join me there! Access starts at just $3 and you’ll unlock a ton of tips and lessons on how to book better clients, build a strong brand, and design beautiful weddings! Click to join me.

Patreon is a place where artists and teachers create content for their Patrons. There is no obligation–you can cancel your subscription any time. Hop in to grab the tips you need, hop out any time.

Do you have questions for me? I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. You can learn more about me here.

xo. -Alison

Additional Resources for Florists:

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