Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Tips for booking great clients

How do florists book great clients? I would have LOVED to get some secrets for booking more clients in the first 10 years or so of my business! I spent many years learning how to level-up my booking process.

I sought out knowledge that’s allowed me streamline my sales–from consultations to branding to recognizing which clients are the best clients for me–and this has allowed me to take control over the success of my sales process.

I’ve figured out a thing or two over the last 18 years…

That’s why it’s my goal to help florists book awesome clients and build a businesses they love.

I was live today in my Facebook group and here’s a replay of today’s Q&A with real questions from real florists.

Topics covered include:

  • How to get more people into your flower shop,
  • Clients with $700 floral budgets,
  • Last-minute consultation cancellations,
  • How to set an income goal for 2020.
  • And handling clients with sticker shock!

Click to watch:

Don’t miss out my my new training starting Nov. 18-20th! You can learn more about my monthly training on Patreon here: patreon.com/realflowerbusiness

If you’re ready to take control over your future, feel respected and stop price shoppers in their tracks, don’t wait, sign up to join me today!

Questions for me? Shoot me an e-mail anytime: floralartvt@gmail.com

xo. -Alison

 

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Join Me On Patreon

Want to book weddings more quickly?

I’m hosting a new training on Patreon!

The intention of this 6-month training is to serve as a behind-the-scenes pass to the strategies I use to attract awesome clients year after year and help you improve your booking, marketing and branding efforts.

In this private subscriber-only forum we’re going to dive deeper into EXACTLY how you can pre-qualify clients, perfect your consultation process, book weddings more quickly, and build a long-lasting brand.

Let me tell you a little bit more about this new thing I’m trying….

Become a Patron!

Question:

Would you like to get a closer look at how I fill my calendar every year with AWESOME CLIENTS WHO TRUST ME and book me without a meeting?

Answer:

Now, you can join me in a NON-Facebook space where you get behind-the-scenes training on:

  • How To Identify & Pre-qualify Customers BEFORE investing time in a consultation and proposal.
  • Phone Consultation Tips & Scripts (so you don’t have to meet clients until you’ve been paid).
  • Branding Building & Marketing Prompts for 6 months of weekly blog posts, social media content, IG posts. (This is for anyone who says “I don’t know what to write about” or “I don’t know what to post”.)

Sound good? Join me & become a patron today!

In this new subscriber-only space on Patreon, we’ll hone in on your ideal customers, sales copy, marketing strategy, and increase your confidence when pre-qualifying clients so that you can LOVE your business (and your life!) as you set yourself up for business success in the long run!

From where to find the right customers to spending less time on consultations, members can ask me anything about streamlining your systems to help you gain more freedom and ensure longevity in your business.

Become a Patron!

Goals:

The goal is to create a professional, curated group that’s NOT ON Facebook so that I can provide off the charts value.

We’ll be focused specifically on attracting clients, booking clients and developing a personal connection with your brand (even if you’re not sure you have a brand yet!).

I am ALWAYS engaged in what I call “the art of good business”;

this means ALWAYS striving to streamline, perfect and hone my skills, not only in floral design, but in ALL the elements of business that make up a high quality brand.

The training starts November 18-20th and then, you’ll continue to receive monthly training sessions thru April. (You don’t need to attend live to access the training!) If I reach 100 subscribers, I’ll release 2 videos (or mix of video and live Q & A) per month thru April!

Become a Patron!

 

Your success is my #1 goal. That’s why I’m offering multiple tiers of membership on Patreon–you can choose which subscription meets your business goals & budget. The first tier of membership is just $9 per month.

If you haven’t been over to Patreon yet, it’s a super user-friendly space where creators, artists, writers and teachers share their work with the people who sign up to support them, or learn from them, on their creative journey (aka their Patrons!).

If you’re reading this, but you’re not familiar with me yet, I’m Alison Ellis, a floralpreneur® with over 25 years of design experience. And while floral design is what brought me to the floral industry, my passion for the art of good business is what’s kept me in business for over 17 years!

Ask me anything! Leave a comment on a post anytime and I’ll address your questions in the upcoming training. You’ll get 3 training sessions in November. This may be a mix of recorded trainings and live Q & A…your input will help shape the content I deliver to you!

Become a Patron!

This is a super up-close and personal look at how I “conduct myself in business” and I’m looking forward to helping you incorporate some of my tips and tricks into your systems, too.

I’d be honored to have you join me on this brand building journey!
With love from me to you,
Alison

Note: Payments for the current month will be due on the day you subscribe and then, on the 1st of the month for recurring subscriptions. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Become a Patron!

 

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The Worst Business Advice I Ever Took

realflowerbusiness.com, courses for florists, how to write proposals that sell and book more weddings more quickly, #floralpreneur

I want to tell you about the worst business advice I ever took.

It was early in my career as a solo-business owner and even though I’d spent 8 years working in flower shops, I was eager to get new business tips….I was impressionable.

[Read more…]

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Mornings With Mayesh Guest Appearance

What are you doing April 2nd? I’ll be making my 2nd guest appearance on Mornings With Mayesh and you’re invited to join us for a LIVE chat at 10am Eastern time/7am Pacific on Tuesday, April 2nd! I’ll be answering more of your pricing questions and you can CLICK HERE to submit a question for the live broadcast.

Mayesh design star, Mornings with Mayesh, Special Guest Alison Ellis, Floral Education

Last April I was honored to be invited as a special guest by the wonderful host, Yvonne, and you can listen to a replay of our chat from April 2018 here. (About 43 minutes into the broadcast you’ll hear me join in for Part 2 of livestream.)

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Can florists write proposals without a recipe?

realflowerbusiness.com, floralpreneur, florist recipes, floral design

When should florists write recipes?

Do you figure out stem counts before a client is officially under contract?

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.

Pricing a proposal takes far less time when minimums are established for each line item.

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:

  • I send an initial proposal to a client with a minimum spend requested,
  • the clients commit to working with me (ie. a signed contract & deposit),
  • within the next fews months/year, we modify our plans as needed (adjusting colors, table counts, floral varieties, etc.),
  • and then, once final decisions are made, I’ll invest the time to create custom recipes for their event.

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.

And if you want to learn how to price with confidence & stop over-buying so you can increase your income, I teach you everything I know about pricing in Flower Math! 

Sign up & SAVE $100!

Testimonial:

“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

Customers should get to “yes” easily.

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.

I used to be limited in my belief about how much I could charge…

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.

Are these flowers expensive? Yes, they are.

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.

What if you’re pricing something you’ve never made before?

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.)

Deliver what you promise…

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

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