Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

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

  • Learn More About Alison Here

  • See A List of Courses for Florists

  • Come To My Live Workshop In April

January 30, 2023 — 12:06 am

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Workshop for Florists in Vermont

Announcing A Spring Workshop for Floral Designers and Farmer-Florists!

Join us for 2 Days of Hands-On Training with Françoise Weeks, Phebe Robinson-Higgins & Alison Ellis, April 17 & 18th at The Round Barn, Waitsfield, Vermont.

Including Foam Free Woodland Techniques, Business Coaching On How To Sell A Wedding & Price For Profit, and Everything You Need To Run A Successful Pop-Up Shop in time for Mother’s Day!

Get the resources you need to level-up your passion & career. 

Limited to 20 Seats. Doors Are Open Now! Click Here For Details!

Pack your tools, bring your refillable water bottle, and we’ll make sure you have everything you need once you’re on site!–from flowers to supplies to meals and snacks and bottomless pots of coffee (or tea)!

All Meals Included for Welcome Reception on Sunday and 2 Full Days of Hands-On Training on Monday and Tuesday.


If you’re a floral designer or farmer-florist and you want to expand your offerings to include more sustainable design techniques, or create profitable pop-up shop in your community, or book more profitable weddings & events, this workshop is for you! 

You’ll walk away with inspiration to design with new perspective, know-how to price for profit and close wedding sales, and skills to Pop-Up so you can sell your flowers– even without your own storefront!

Get Your Seat Now!


TWO DAYS WITH FRANÇOISE, PHEBE & ALISON:

  • Sustainable Woodland Designs with Françoise Weeks
  • Successful Pop-Up Shops with Phebe Robinson-Higgins
  • How To Price For Profit & Book Weddings with Alison Ellis

 

Sustainable. Successful. Profitable. Ready to join us?

Elevate your creativity and level-up your business strategy!

Click Here for Pricing, Daily Schedule and FAQs!

We’d love to see you here in Vermont in April! Reach out with questions for me anytime. info{at}realflowerbusiness.com

xo. -Alison Ellis

 

January 12, 2023 — 1:16 am

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Should Florists Use Artificial Intelligence In Marketing?

Everyone’s talking about using AI to automate, but what role should automation play in your floral design business?

It’s tempting to lean into automating your business–and I get it, it’s enticing to take the “thinking” out of your work and let someone else handle it!

But there’s truly no replacing the human-to-human interaction and connection that your brand can create with your customers!

(By the way, that’s why the intern that’s assigned to “handle your social media” may not be getting the results you’d hoped for!…because they don’t have the client-focus that’s required to really connect with your ideal customers.)

Click to watch this short take on using AI in your business.

The Moral Of The Story

People buy from people. And good brands aren’t built on auto-pilot.

It’s wise to streamline your business processes whenever possible–as long as you’re not missing the customer connection! There’s a risk of over-automating and losing the special touch (and trust!) your customers are looking for.

I follow templates to help lead clients through the sales process with my email replies and proposals (which you can find here!), but I still take the time to craft customized communication for each client so they get the best experience with my brand.

Because personalized service is part of what I promise. And a computer can’t deliver that for me!

Keep doing beautiful work and keep showing up for your customers as ONLY you can!

(Click Here For More: Should You Lose Your Auto-Reply?)

With love from me to you,

Alison Ellis

(Learn more about Alison Here)


January 3, 2023 — 5:27 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

11 Tips To Update Your About Page

Do you know that your About Us Page is one of the MOST viewed pages on your website?

An interesting About Page works like a magnet to attract great clients to your business. But if your website is “borderline boring”, you could actually be repelling clients.

I know it’s not always easy to talk about yourself with confidence, but your About Page MUST tell a compelling story that establishes trust and makes it clear that you are the BEST choice! [Read more…]

August 15, 2022 — 12:40 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Do Florists Have To Go To Floristry School?

If you want to be a florist, do you have to go to Floristry School? It’s a question I see a lot and I know there can be some strong opinions on the subject. Click to see my answer to the question and let me know what you think!

The truth is, there isn’t just 1 right way to become a florist!

There are so many things to learn that you can’t learn “everything you need to know in just one place”. Whether you go to floristry school, or take an accredited floral design certification program, or you teach yourself through trial and error, there will always be something more for you to learn.

For example, I’ve heard from floristry students in Australia and England who enrolled in my Flower Math course and say that they got a much more thorough and clear explanation from my online course than they did in school! Even longtime florists have told me that they understand the design aspect of their work, but they’ve been kept mostly in the dark on the business-stuff.

And still, some floral designers manage to build a “busy” floral design business, but they struggle with attracting higher paying clients or creating systems to close sales (without a dozen meetings that drain their time and energy).

Let’s face it, there’s so much more to know as a florist than “just flowers”!

The secret to success in the floral industry is to keep learning and growing. Just going to floristry school isn’t enough.

And just learning from YouTube videos isn’t enough.

And letting 20 years pass between your last in-person learning experience isn’t enough either.

Never stop learning in your business and your life–and keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison


Ready to learn proven strategies to streamline your workflow and create more freedom in your floral business?

See  A Full Course List

April 8, 2022 — 8:38 pm

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Welcome, Floralpreneur®.  I’m Alison Ellis, creator of Flower Math, published author, and founder of Real Flower Business. My online business courses and private coaching help floral designers increase profits, book great clients & build a better brand.  Learn More →

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FOR WEDDING FLORISTS:

Read my book: Falling Into Flowers

Templates for Florists

Flower Math Formulas

3 Keys To Booking Great Clients

FREE RESOURCES:

Free ebook: Everything I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Business

5 Actions To Take When Biz Is Uncertain

10 Things I Did To Grow My Biz

AS SEEN ON:

*The Flower Podcast

*Slow Flowers Podcast

*Mornings With Mayesh

*Botanical Brouhaha

*Florists’ Review

*FlirtyFleurs.com

*From The Ground Up Floral-podcast

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Be Sage Consulting

Botanical Brouhaha

Hitomi Gilliam

Flirty Fleurs

Francoise Weeks

Marie Forleo

Passionflower Sue

The Business Of Being Creative

The Flower Podcast

The Full Bouquet

Think Splendid

Slow Flowers

Seth Godin

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