5 Steps To Book More Weddings

How Can Florists Book Weddings In Less Time With Less Stress?

I taught a live training last week on the 5 Steps To Book Weddings More Quickly to help wedding florists streamline their current sales process so you can save yourself time (and sanity) when you’re investing energy in writing a proposal for a client!

I got some great feedback on the training and I want to share a few really important takeaways with you today!

Click below to watch a few of the tips I want to highlight for you.

Want To Get Access To All 5 Steps To Booking In The Replay?

Click To Learn More!

The first step to booking a wedding starts here! Click to watch this 1 minute clip now!

Learn 2 of the biggest mistakes florists make BEFORE even booking a client when you click to watch below!

Click below to watch the MOST important step to stop clients from ghosting!

One important thing to know is that none of what I teach is fluff or theory.

Everything I share with you is tested and proven–it’s not a magic trick to book great clients, but after 22 seasons of booking weddings, there is a clear sales process to follow to make sure you’re leading clients from initial inquiry all the way through to deposit! And if you need practical tips that work, I’m here to help!

Want to get the full 90-minute training plus the Q&A? Grab it now!

Yes, I want the 5 Steps!

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Pricing Weddings For Profit

The Mayesh Fall Flower Festival took place on Aug. 22, 2023 and Alison was invited to talk about Pricing Weddings for Profit! Watch below or listen wherever you get your podcasts! And THEN, join me for the Pricing Chat for Florists on Sept. 12! (Click Here to Sign Up!)

Catch a 1-hour Replay of the conversation between Yvonne and Alison on how to price for profit and how to handle substitutions.

Questions included:

How do you ensure a profitable wedding?
How do we make sure we aren’t overbuying?
Do you recommend padding the order to cover possible flower issues?
Should florists set a minimum?

Pricing for profit should not be a mystery in your floral design business!

If you have additional pricing questions for me, make sure to CLICK HERE to sign up for the Free Pricing Chat for Florists on Sept. 12th!

I’ll see you there!

xo. -Alison Ellis

Here’s a quick recap of the all day lineup from the Virtual Festival:

They kicked off the day with an autumnal design demo & discussion with Gilberto Espinoza of Dogwood & Fir to answer your design questions.
Next, David Dahlson has pulled together a great bounty of fall blooms to share with you, followed with a mayesh.com PreBook demo from Jaimie Cosgrove.
To wrap up the day, Alison Ellis of Real Flower Business shared tips for pricing for profit to ensure a successful wedding season! Catch that replay right now above!

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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

See A Course List

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Françoise Weeks and Alison Ellis on Resilience and Innovation in Floristry

How Do You Push Through Fear To Take Your Business To The Next Level?

I invited my friend, Françoise Weeks, to join me for a livestream back in 2020 to talk about how she learned to become such a confident, world-renowned floral educator–despite being an introvert–and how she continues to innovate in new create ways as a designer.

She talked about the very first speaking gig she ever got, why she shares her techniques so freely and her approach to teaching floral designers to use natural materials in unique and different ways.

I’ve been looking high and low for this replay and I finally located it today–right on my Facebook page where I left it! I want to truly thank Françoise for making the time for this conversation and for continuing to inspire me!

I hope you’ll take some time to tune in to listen to her inspiring story!

And if you want to see Françoise teach LIVE and in person along with me, we’re teaching a live workshop on April 17-18th, along with the Queen of Pop-Up Shops, Popped with Phebe, so if you’re a floral designer or flower-farmer who wants to level-up your creativity and your career, why don’t you join us today!

Get Workshop Details

Doors are closing soon–we need a headcount ASAP so consider this your last call for enrollment–there are only a few rooms left at the Inn last time I checked.

xo. -Alison Ellis

Want to know more about the Workshop in April?

I’ll be teaching alongside Françoise Weeks & Phebe Robinson-Higgins for 2 Days of Hands-On Training, April 17 & 18th at The Inn at The Round Barn in Waitsfield, Vermont.

We’ll cover topics including:

Foam Free Woodland Techniques & Floral Jewelry with Françoise Weeks
How To Sell A Wedding More Quickly & Price For Profit with Alison Ellis
Everything You Need To Run A Successful Pop-Up Shop with Pop-Up Expert, Popped With Phebe

These are resources that will level-up your floral design creativity & career!

Would you like to join us? The time to sign up is now!

(There Are Only 3 Rooms Left At The Inn.)

You can sign up today for the workshop and get the details on how to book your stay here: https://learn.realflowerbusiness.com/april-workshop

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Spring Pricing Chat for Florists

Spring is approaching–even here in Vermont where it’s still cold and snowy, I can see and hear the signs of spring–and for the 3rd spring in a row I’m inviting florists to join me for a free Pricing & Profitability Chat for Florists on Monday, March 21st, 2022 at 12pm EDT/9am PDT.

Click Here to Join The Pricing Chat

In this free live chat I’ll share:

3 Numbers Florists Need To Know
3 Easy Steps to calculate your profit margin
Why tracking your profit margins are SO important
The importance of setting a profit goal, NOT a spending goal
AND I’ll address your questions LIVE!

Think of it as a quick 1-hour spring business check-in. I’ll even have a special offer for those who attend live!

I’ll also be kicking off my Spring Flower Math Sale on March 21-23rd and I’ll have all the details for you on that soon! (Sign up for the pricing chat to be the first to know when the sale is live.)

In the meantime, I’m talking “all things pricing” over in my Instagram highlights HERE and you can watch a few short pricing tips below!

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