Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Tips for Florists on Blogging, Ghosting, and Attracting Higher Budgets

For the last few weeks I’ve been broadcasting my Tuesday Q&As over on Instagram (instead of in my private Facebook group) and it’s been fun to connect with floral folks on the gram! Click below to watch a replay of today’s live chat and make sure to follow me on IG here: @realflowerbusiness!

Questions I received this week include:
  • Why should I blog? I know it’s important for SEO, but why?
  • How do I avoid getting ghosted?
  • What’s your advice for attracting clients with higher budgets? My typical weddings are $2,000-2,500, but would love to see $3-4k inquiries more often.

I also touched on how I’m handling COVID cancellations moving forward and addressed a question on customers who ask for discounted pricing during the pandemic!

Questions for a future livestream? Just get in touch: floralartvt@gmail.com

FYI I’ll be diving into MORE pricing questions later this month in an invitation only chat on Zoom!

Flower Math Sale Waitlist

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Foam Free Wedding Arbor

Foam free floral arbors are fun and easy to do!

I just did my first wedding of 2020 yesterday and shared my #foamfreefloral mechanics on Instagram. Click through the pics below to see the before, during and after on this foam free wedding arbor including 2 time lapse videos showing you the greening and the flowering!

View this post on Instagram

 

#foamfreefloristry before, during and after look at today’s arbor using the #hollychapplepillow

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness) on

 

These are super easy foam free mechanics that are affordable and help you make a bigger impact with less product!

What about a water source? I’ve received some questions about a water source and YES, I used about 20 water tubes on the more tender blooms (like hydrangea) and if you live in a warmer climate you can tube every bloom if you need to.

And if you want to see a full breakdown of the recipe on this arbor PLUS the total cost and profit margin on the design, I just shared this with my Patreon subscribers at the $9 Tier and up!….there are a WHOLE LOTTA lessons when you join me on Patreon, of course, but this arbor breakdown is just one good reason to give it a try! There’s no obligation and you can unsubscribe at any time.

I hope you’ll enjoy this little peek behind the scenes.

xo. -Alison

P.S. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram if you don’t already!….

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3 Keys To Booking Great Clients

What does your business need to move forward?

Wouldn’t it feel good to have clients who dig your work and trust your expertise?

You may be unsure what you can do “right this minute”, but if you want to feel more in control of where your business is going, NOW is the time to build your business skills to attract the best clients moving forward.

  • You want to avoid wasting time on price shoppers.
  • You want clients who appreciate your talent.
  • You want to nail your marketing strategy.

If you want more inquiries from interested clients who want to work with you and get to “yes” more easily…

AND you want to feel more respected, professional and in charge…

Get OFF the hamster wheel of cycling through the same problems year after year–price shoppers wasting time and energy that you could have invested elsewhere will eventually leave you feeling overwhelmed, resentful and disappointed that your business isn’t more sought-after yet!

In this online course, 3 Keys To Booking Clients, you’ll learn to improve your sales systems so you can close more sales with clients who are already eager to book with you!

Full Retail Price is $396 HERE

OR You can join my Patreon Membership Training for a $29 monthly subscription HERE to get ALL the lessons in this course (and more!). There’s no obligation! You can unsubscribe at any time.

Become a Patron!

The value of this training is off the charts because once you learn these behind-the-scenes sales tactics and processes, you’ll be closing sales with more confidence….and you can’t put a price tag on that!

You could invest $10k in a branding package to help you attract clients, but that still won’t necessarily help you close sales consistently.

But for 1 payment of $396 OR a $29/month subscription to Patreon you can get strategies for proposals, sales, branding and marketing your businesses to help you work towards your longterm goals….even if you don’t have it all figured out “right now”.

You’ll get:

Over 3.5 hours of video lessons on pre-qualifying, attracting the right clients, and closing the sale.

Including:

  • 3 Keys To Booking Clients
  • Marketing vs. Branding Tips
  • 3 Blogging Strategies
  • Contact Form Tune Up
  • Growing An E-mail List
  • Pinterest 101

+ a Transcript of A Real Phone Consultation!

+ 10 Weekly Social Media Prompts!

Here’s What Patreon Members Say About This Training….

Thanks for all of this amazing content. I will continue to take the small steps toward clarifying and communicating my brand. Knowing that this is a long term commitment, frees me up from having it perfect right now. I love that I can take small steps towards this goal without having it all figured out in the hear and now.

Good thing I know I have grit to keep going, to getting better each day and taking small steps towards a great goal. Thanks for keeping us in action mode!

Hi Alison. Lesson 1 was very helpful and I appreciate the clear delineation of action steps provided….

Whoa…I’ll be changing my inquiry form this weekend! I LOVED how you educated them about the relative cost of flowers. They really need (and I think would want) that…

Lesson 1 was great! My inquiry form sucks (haha but not!!) I am working on that this afternoon! Thank you and lesson 2 tomorrow…

Things may feel uncertain in your business right now…I think that’s true for most people, but one thing is for sure–there’s no use wasting time just worrying.

Your 2021 events calendar may feel busy or even overbooked, but what’s happening beyond 2021?

Click to watch a replay of my livestream from July 22:

REMEMBER Full Retail Price is $396, but you can get it all for just a $29 subscription to Patreon! It’s month-to-month, meaning you can unsubscribe at any time and there’s no longterm commitment when you join!

Become a Patron!

Note: There are multiple Patreon Tiers, but the $29 Tier is the only one with access to ALL that you get in this course!

 

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May Tuesday Q&A Replays

After a busy May of guest appearances on my Tuesday Q&As as well as a guest appearance by me on Mornings with Mayesh, I’m taking a week off from my livestreams, but if you missed anything this month, don’t worry–you can catch the replays right here!

First up, Phebe of Popped With Phebe joined me live to talk about a new way she’s popping up with fresh flowers and live Zoom design workshops for local clients. She is a wealth of knowledge on client relationships so if you missed this one, make sure to click below to watch! Find Phebe’s online resources here!

Next, Yvonne and I talked about YOUR WEBSITE on Mornings with Mayesh on May 19th. Get some of our best website tips by clicking the video below and click here to grab the Website Bootcamp and Marketing Shortcuts I mention in this episode.

We closed the month of May with another special guest, Michelle Loretta, of Sage Wedding Pros. She brought us some straight talk on cashflow, finances and how to make it through 2020-2021 in your small business through the COVID-19 crisis. You’ll find Michelle and her online tools for wedding pros right here!

I’m looking forward to talking with you more in June….but wow, May was a fabulous month of sharing with floralpreneurs!

Do you have a question for an upcoming Tuesday Q&A? Don’t hesitate to be in touch!

xo. -Alison

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Featured On Flirty Fleurs

I wrote my first floral education article as a guest blog post for FlirtyFleurs.com back in March 2011 with 15 Tips To Book More Weddings.

I continued to submit flower business articles and videos and the rest, as they say, is herstory.

I was inspired to share what I knew so I went out on a limb to ask a knowledgable floral expert, Alicia Schwede–who didn’t know me at all–if she’d be willing to let me talk to her audience and lucky for me, she said yes!

In fact, she continued to say yes to my submissions and floral designers can find dozens of guest blog posts, videos, checklists, and I even had features in a few of the Flirty Fleurs print magazines over the years. (Scroll down to see those original 15 Tips I shared!)

I’ve covered a lot of ground over at Flirty Fleurs!

From topics like mock-ups and minimums to tipping and “extra flowers” to pricing garlands and when to get paid; scroll down for a Flirty Fleurs Playlist!

As you know if you own a business: everybody has to start somewhere. And this is where I started my floral education journey.

15 Tips To Book Weddings More Quickly (via FlirtyFleurs circa 2011!)

  • Be easy to reach via e-mail. E-mail is essential to coordinating with your clients.
  • Schedule consultations with the lead wedding designer—someone who is skilled and versed in weddings, works well with customers and translates ideas into designs.
  • Update your portfolios and website to reflect the best of your work and professional photos are always best. This means that wedding bouquet from 1995 has to go. Heck, maybe that bouquet from 2009 has to go, too! Keep it fresh.
  • Keep up! Follow trends on blogs, websites, magazines, social media, etc. You have to know what’s happening in your industry. (Your clients do!)
  • Decide which services you offer and which you don’t. Are you: a floral designer; an event designer; a florist who does weddings; a wedding designer who owns a flower shop; a lighting specialist? You don’t have to be all things to all weddings!
  • Do what you do. Don’t worry about what the other guys are up to.
  • Be upfront about your pricing. Find out what the clients’ budget is and either do your best to stick to it or suggest what you think is a reasonable budget for what they want. Years ago I was advised to never inquire about budget and to always “up-sell” to clients planning a wedding. After all it’s their wedding day—a day to “go for it”—it’s a chance to steer them towards more expensive options. Wrong. People can’t spent money they don’t have—period.
  • If the pricing or style doesn’t work, then move on. It’s OK to decide that a client is not a good fit. It will make life easier in the long run.
  • Don’t overbook. Taking on more than you can handle is never a good idea.
  • Require a signed contract and a reasonable deposit of at least 20-30% of the total budget to book an event.
  • Be concise in proposals about what is required to book a date, when final payment is due, etc.
  • If you send out a proposal and don’t hear back within a reasonable timeframe you should follow up—once—with the client to see if there are any questions you can answer.
  • Charge fairly, but you have to be compensated for your flower markup, design fee, delivery and set-up, travel, etc. If you are not charging enough, then why are you working so darn hard?
  • Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. (Definitely don’t do that!)
  • Listen to what your clients want. Then, make it happen.

9 years later, I still stand by these tips by the way!!

After sharing my “stuff” with floral designers for years on Alicia’s blog, I finally branched out and created my website, realflowerbusiness.com, where I could create my own corner of the world to create and share. I’ve been doing so since 2015 and I’m so thankful for the thousands of florists who’ve taken the time to watch my videos, join a course, or participate in one of my Live Q&A Tuesdays on Facebook!

But I still make guest appearances on Flirty Fleurs–look for me on the first Monday of the month–including this video: Should Florists Make Mock Ups? If you’ve ever been asked to make a mock up, click to watch!

Funny story: I first knew florists were watching my educational videos when I attended a Chapel Designer’s Workshop and someone said, “I’m your biggest fan!”

I walked into the ladies’ room one of the attendees looked over at me and said, “Oh my gosh, I’m your biggest fan!”
Um, surely she had me confused with someone else, right?…
Turns out, no. She was actually talking to me!
She was reading and watching my posts on Flirty Fleurs and she liked me! She really, really like me. (Who’d have thunk it?)

It hadn’t occurred to me how many florists were actually watching my videos or reading my articles so when someone recognized me and called herself a “fan”, I must admit I was surprised. And flattered. But first and foremost I was inspired to keep creating!

I thanked Alicia in a blog post a few years ago for sharing her stage with me (read that here) and most recently on her website (see my video below) and if you’ve missed any of my Flirty Fleurs Features you can catch them all in my YouTube Playlist here.

To see some of my videos throughout the years, check out the Flirty Fleurs Playlist below!

Thanks for taking the time to tune in, Floralpreneur®! Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

Find a Playlist on YouTube with hours of videos here:

Remember: If you like my videos, please “like” them, comment and share ’em with your best flower friends. xo.

 

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