Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Booking Clients With Confidence

I’ve been in the midst of my wedding season here in Vermont, but I’ve received some very relatable questions from florists recently, and I want to start with the following from a member of my Patreon community who wrote: 

“I struggle with really making the customer feel super confident in booking our services ASAP. Would really like to streamline the process so that it happens faster and with less or no follow-up on my part.”

I’m going to break this question down because this is exactly why I spent some time talking about improving your Wedding Workflow (aka your customer’s journey) in July with my Patreon members to encourage florists to revisit every single step your customers take so you can make the process as smooth as possible! 

Because an opportunity to start building trust & confidence begins at your first point of contact–and that’s where we started with Step 1 in my Wedding Workflow!

Remember, every interaction with your business needs to be designed specifically with your unique, ideal customer in mind!

 

So let me be MORE clear on what you can do to start to troubleshoot that first point of contact to help your customers feel confident in booking ASAP…

In order to move clients through the booking process more quickly, your customers have to understand the steps and feel confident that you are the BEST choice for them.

If the first point of contact happens via your website or social media:

  • What is the first phrase they will read on your site?
  • How easy is it to find your wedding inquiry or contact form?
  • How many clicks does it take to get to the contact page?

 

Once they get to your contact page or inquiry form:

  • What questions do you ask that are designed to invite a conversation with your ideal customers?
  • Are the questions written in the voice of your brand? (Do they sound like your/your company or are they cookie cutter questions?)
  • Do customers get excited about potentially working with you when they’re here?

 

What can you add or take away from that first interaction to make it better?

  • Should you add another pre-qualifying question or two to elicit more information?
  • What do you promise to the customer? (How do they know what to expect?)
  • Is there anything you’re saying that’s out of date/ out of touch/ no longer applies to your next-level client?

 

And briefly, to the second part of the original question regarding follow-up, while it sounds awesome to book great clients with little-to-no follow-up, the truth is that when it comes to closing a sale, some follow-up is as important to the sales process as that very first step where the client first discovers you!

 

If you have questions on how to fill in any missing steps in your customer choreography, you can get all the steps in my Wedding Workflow when you become a Marketing Maven on Patreon, or you can also just grab the Wedding Workflow as a stand alone course in my shop here.

And if you have any interest in working with me on improving your customer journey by working together one-on-one in a coaching call, get in touch and we can set up a time to talk.

Have a great day and keep doing beautiful work!

Very best,

Alison Ellis

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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:

  1. Brand Reputation–What You’re Known For/What People Say About You
  2. Pre-Qualifying–Gathering Information & Setting Expectations
  3. 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

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