Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Floral Designer Q&A

What questions are florists asking lately?

I received some great questions from florists in my Facebook group this month, and I’m going to address them in a LIVE Q&A Session on Wednesday, May 31st, at 11am Eastern/ 8am Pacific and I would LOVE to see you there!

Click here for a link to join the live conversation!

From how I leveraged local restaurant accounts and built my business on bud vases, to tips for pricing something you’ve never made before, to those the renewed requests for lily of the valley bouquets–I have a few questions on my list already–but I will address your questions live as well so make sure to tune in and ask me anything!

We’ll be talking about what’s on your mind right now! Don’t forget to click that link above to join the conversation and I’ll see you there.

With love from me to you,

Alison Ellis

Find A Full Course List Here

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How Do You Sell More Flowers?

When florists want to sell more flowers for Mother’s Day–or any occasion–the most important step is to reach out to your past customers to make sure they know what you’re offering.

That means if you have NOT directly pitched your offers to the customers who purchased from you last year, it’s time to take action now!

I know it’s tempting to throw out a few posts on social media and feel like you’ve “done your job” to get the word out about your business and what you’re selling, but posting and praying is not enough!

If you REALLY want to sell more flowers, you have to reach out to the real live customers who’ve bought from you before and invite them to place an order today!

If this sounds like a lot of work, guess what–it could be! You may not be organized with your customer list at your finger tips, perhaps.

But it’s actually pretty easy to write an email to your client list and create a short script to make phone calls to your best customers who haven’t ordered yet, so you can tell them exactly what you’re offering and make it easy for them to buy.

A few things to include in your pitch:

  • Introduction–what you’re offering (and why they need it!)
  • Clear price points on 1-2 options
  • Call To Action–with a link to buy or phone number to call
  • Sense of Urgency–why do they want to do this today?

 

Some customers will say no, but some will say yes! And then, you’ll be that much closer to your sales goal.

The moral of the story is this: Ask for the sale. Don’t sit back and wait for customers to come to you.

Keep doing beautiful work!

xo. -Alison Ellis

Find out more about Alison HERE and see a full course list for florists HERE.

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Celebrate Your Success In Business

What are you doing well right now, Floralpreneur®?

As a business owner, it’s easy to look at your to-do list and think, “Gah, I’m so behind!” or “…yet another week’s gone by and I still haven’t had time to [fill in the blank with that important project here]”, and believe me, I get it!

In fact, I had a realization about 2 weeks ago–something that I didn’t actually think was true–but the realization was this: I’m hard on myself.

And there’s a good chance that you are, too. So today, instead of focusing on what you “haven’t accomplished yet”, it’s time to take a moment to recognize yourself for what you’re doing well right now.

Here’s what I want you to do:

Take 3-5 minutes to acknowledge yourself for the things you’re doing right! And I really mean it. Write them down! List 5 Things You’re Great At!

Give yourself credit for the brave, bold actions you’ve taken in your business so far and you know what? You may start seeing the things on your “didn’t do it yet” list a little bit differently.

Maybe you even start to feel GOOD about where you are right now–despite the things that are “undone”.

And you can use that positive energy to fuel your next action steps because you’re not bogged down in the negative self-talk that might be telling you you’re not doing enough!

There will always be more to do and more to learn in order to achieve higher levels of success throughout the life of your business.

(Which means you can easily choose to never run out of reasons to aim higher and reach for more.)

That’s why it’s important to keep perspective.

Look at where you are now so you can appreciate yourself for all you’ve done to get here. Then, you can take your next step with confidence because you know that you’ve got what it takes to keep moving forward.

Business ownership means you’ve got to be your own hype-person! It’s up to you to recognize your greatness. And if you need a hype-woman, I’m here for you!

Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison Ellis

More From Alison

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Most Important Marketing Tip for Florists

The most important thing florists need to keep in mind about marketing and social media is this: posting on social media is NOT marketing!

It may be a “best effort to beat an algorithm”, but it’s not the best way to reach your most interested customers. Because when you’re trying to grow your business and increase your sales, posting frequently isn’t a real strategy.

If you’re in Valentine’s Day prep-mode, take a moment to watch because this one is for you!

The Moral of the Story

Real connections with real people are always stronger than social media. The constant pull to post on social media can be exhausting, but there’s a better way to grow your local business and it can be as easy as just picking up the phone, sending an e-mail or dropping by to say hello to a fellow wedding professional.

What do you think of today’s tip?

Do you think you can make a REAL connection with your customers today instead of just posting and hoping someone sees it?

xo. -Alison Ellis

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Starting A Wedding Business

I am so excited to share that I’m a guest on The Flower Podcast this week! Scott and I have talked a few times before (you can find all of my past episodes HERE!) and this week we’re talking to floral designers and farmer-florists who want to add weddings into their current business model. Click below to listen or head to wherever you get your podcasts to tune into Episode 204 today!

 

 

As a home-based floral designer who specializes in weddings, I have been booking wedding clients for over 20+ years and it’s been a long journey as I’ve worked to perfect my processes, which is why I share what I’ve learned with florists around the world inside my Courses, Coaching and Community for Florists!

Learn More About Alison Here!

 

Find Floralpreneur® Workshop Details Here

 

Find A Full List of Course Offerings Here

 

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