Pricing – Page 5 – Real Flower Business

May 29, 2017 By floralartvt 1 Comment

If you want clients to value your work, you must do this first

As a floral designer, you want people to value what you do; your time, your art, your expertise, and your unique, quality blooms!….all these elements come together to create your own unique brand, and that’s what brings value to your clients.

If you want clients to value your work, you do have to provide a quality product, however, there’s a bit more to it in my opinion.

If you want others to value your time and your work, you must in turn value the work of OTHER creatives, including their time, art and expertise.

It’s much easier to “increase your value” in a genuine way if you walk the walk in your own life as well.

If you’re someone who feels like everyone else is “too expensive” or “not worth THAT MUCH”, then it can be a challenge to demand that clients value what YOU do.

Finding value in others should come with ease if you aim to be the owner of a brand with integrity.

What are you willing to pay more for?

What feels “worth it” to you?

What are you willing to invest in? For business? For pleasure?

What artisan/creative/specialty product are you eager to pay for?

Who do you tip more than 20%?

Who (or what brand) sets a price that you do not question?

Your ideal clients feel the exact same way about you/your business as you feel about the products & services you value and are willing to pay for.

Real Flower Business

Clients must experience value from your brand.

And a good brand recognizes the value in others’ work as well.

Whether that’s the photographer, the caterer, the venue, the invitations…

It’s just good for business to acknowledge the importance of other businesses.

Value your work AND the work of others. Click To Tweet

Here are some of the things I value (and will often pay more for):

Quality shoes

A “good” gin

Locally grown veggies and fruits

Eggs from my neighbor’s chickens

Fairtrade coffee

Freshly baked pies from the woman up the road

Gerard’s bread!

A great hair stylist

Education or workshops that help better my business!

When you “spend easily”, you’re an ideal client for the business you’re buying from!

What can you do to make your clients feel your value and, as a result, “spend easily” with you?

Find a full list of course offerings HERE. (including my BRAND NEW pdf: 10 E-Mail Templates for Florists. Save $10 Off an Template Bundle HERE.)

Here’s the e-mail lineup:

How to tell someone you can no longer “hold their date”.
How to present a proposal that’s over budget.
How to ask someone why they did NOT book with you.
How to tell someone you’re not a good fit for their event.
How to reply to a complaint.
How to bill for damaged or missing rental items after an event.
How to explain you won’t order flowers until full payment is received.
How to tell someone that their most recent changes/additions will result in a price increase.
How to tell someone you will not update their proposal (again) or meet (again) without a deposit.
How to respond when a wedding is cancelled.

Plus a free bonus: How to Ask For A Testimonial.

Get your templates HERE!

May 22, 2017 By floralartvt Leave a Comment

What if a client’s budget isn’t realistic?

If you’ve been in the floral business for more than a hot-minute you’ve probably experienced a client whose budget simply doesn’t align with their wishes.

Unrealistic expectations around budget does not mean the customer is “uneducated”.

An uneducated customer is an opportunity.

We tend to blame Pinterest for this “unrealistic budget epidemic”, but the truth of the matter is that all businesses experience this issue. Many skilled & experienced business owners manage to convert an “unrealistic budget client” into an “I’ll pay anything” customer….they have a way of selling and serving a client that allows for this level of trust.

Our clients rely on us to prequalify and educate whenever possible.

When a client understands the value of the service, they start to realize how much they actually want it.

Some florists may not be able to “get more money” from a client’s budget, however by expressing their willingness to do what they can to “make it work”, the client feels the value and proceeds with the knowledge that while her dream doesn’t fit their budget, they’re getting the most “bang for their buck”.

There’s no right answer here for the record.

You don’t have to ALWAYS “do whatever it takes” to make it work.

You also don’t HAVE TO say “nope, this budget won’t work” if you want to make it work (as long as you can still turn a profit).

Learning to create your own boundaries is part of building your brand. Click To Tweet

We can’t do everything and anything a client requests. and also let them set the price.

We should choose to create rules that align with our business goals.

To paraphrase The Rolling Stones, “Time is on my side….yes it is!” …so the longer I’ve been in business, the easier it’s become to navigate these budget conversations.

If you’re not making a deliberate effort to streamline and improve communication, so your clients understand exactly “how this is gonna work”, you’re not doing enough to ensure your longterm success.

Standards and boundaries clear the path to reaching your ideal clients.

And when it comes to unrealistic budget expectations, I must quote The Stones, yet again, “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try, sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.” (Awwww, yeah.)

Setting boundaries takes practice. And confidence. And more practice.

Thanks for taking some time out of your day to stop by my site.

Click to watch “Are you expensive? A question for florists.”

Are you a home-studio florist?

Do Customers Think Your Prices Are Too Low?

Hey Floralpreneurs,

Have you ever had a client tell you that you’re not charging enough?

I have. And it was a real eye-opener.

I’m a business owner who pursues “the art of good business” and I’m always seeking ways to reach more ideal clients, so I’m familiar with the concept of “turning clients off” by pricing too low, but it wasn’t until I experienced “pricing too low” up close and personal, that I was able to transform my mindset around always trying to give the “best possible price” (i.e. lowest possible price) for each line item in a proposal.

If you want to do beautiful work for years to come, you must set a minimum standard for your work. Click To Tweet

Innovating and making deliberate business moves allows you to set your own standards for the work you choose to do.

AND if you’re really trying your best (i.e. you provide outstanding work so that you may charge more…because you work to deserve it!), then you should be making deliberate moves to enhance the value your clients experience.

In my case, the mother of the groom was in charge of the wedding flowers; totally and completely in charge. When I quoted her a price for centerpieces based on the ideal budget she gave me of about $7,000, she came back to me with concerns that the centerpiece pricing seemed low for what we had discussed. And I agreed!

She was right. I didn’t quote what she wanted. I tried to provide a quote within the budget she gave me, but I didn’t actually quote what she wanted.

She told me to up the budget a few hundred dollars per table and I updated her quote for what it would *really* cost to get the look she wanted and she ended up spending quite a bit more. And happily.

It didn’t bother her one bit. She was more than happy to pay for what she wanted.

I’m lucky to have met this client.

This gig was a big one for me and she was an ideal client. She was kind, yet particular. She had great taste and was more than willing to pay to get what she wanted (gardenias, peonies, sweet peas, lush floral table runners….you get the picture). She was creative, smart and no-nonsense. (In short, she was my kinda gal.)

I learned a lesson:

If this client was willing to spent this much more than her stated budget, then there must be other ideal clients out there who are willing to spend more than their stated budget, too.

It’s up to me to give customers a proposal that reflects what they actually want; I cannot be confined by a preconceived notion of budget (whether that notion comes from the client or my own presumption!…You can’t wear your money shoes when presenting proposals to clients…Clients often wear a different shoe-size than you!).

If you’re a skeptic, I understand. I was, too.

Until I truly experienced this tremendous gap between what the client told me and what she was more than happy to spend, I thought all the business gurus who claimed that “low prices are a turn-off” were talking about “other businesses”….not flowers.

Moral of the story….

If a $7,000 budget turned into an $11,000 sale, then surely I can quote $25 or $50 more than the “average centerpiece price” for the clients who want more choice blooms or fuller-than-average pieces, even if it pushes beyond the confines of the budget they initially described.

If clients want elevated pieces, but don’t have the budget, I don’t feel compelled to figure out how to make something grand for $100 or less. I tell them the truth; it’s $350 per table and if that doesn’t work for the budget…if they don’t l-o-v-e this look so much that they’re willing to pay for it… then, we select a different option to suit their budget. Easy. I can work within their budget, but the choice was theirs.

If you deliver what you promise and your clients get the value they expect, then you’re doing the work of an integrity brand.

Keep doing beautiful work!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!….and please share it with a floralpreneur you know and love.

xo. -A

More Pricing Resources:

You’ll find my biggest collection of pricing resources inside The Vault. (It’s just $13 and includes 7 pricing lessons with 11 videos, including Industry Standard Markups and Why the design fee is calculated as a percentage, plus a new bonus I just added to my course, Flower Math. click here to see what’s included in The Vault.)

Remember:

If you want to do beautiful work for years to come,

you must set a minimum standard for your work…

And if you’re truly doing your best work,

then it should be worthy of a higher price.

If you struggle with pricing your work with confidence, check out my online course, Flower Math, The Florist’s Guide To Pricing & Profitability.

Learn to keep more of the money you’re already making! get all the details here. (SAVE $100 OFF RETAIL.)