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.
Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.
By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment
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.
By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment
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.
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:
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.
“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
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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
By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment
Today, a floralpreneur® in my Facebook group shared that a client slashed her prices in half and re-sent the new pricing back to the florist!…..needless to say, the comments on that one made for some good reading!
As a business owner and floral artist, it’s important to recognize that you don’t want every customer. You want the customers that want YOU…and are willing to pay your for your work!
Business guru and genius marketer, Seth Godin, talks about Competing On Price as a “race to the bottom”. As Mr. Godin puts it, what do you do when you win?…ie. when you’ve succeeded and you’re “at the bottom”!
The idea of “winning” based on undercutting, is a misconception. You cannot “win” if the only reason someone picked you is because you’re cheap-er.
A florist cannot lower prices and exceed expectations at the same time!….not unless you’re giving up your profit margin.
And if you’re going to sustain your business, you must respect your profit margin.
I don’t want to win at the game of “cheapness”.
I want to win at the game of quality work and amazing customer service.
Click to watch this quick video, “Why you cannot compete on price”:
What is your goal?…
Do you want to be the cheapest?
Or do you want to be better than the cheapest?
I hope you’ll choose option #2 above!
Don’t compete on price!…so you can keep doing beautiful work!
With love from me to you,
Alison
P.S. If you want to find out more about my Flower Math course, which is designed to help florists price with confidence and maximize profit margins, click here for details on the course!
More FREE Tips from the Blog:
You down with O.P.P? (Other People’s Proposals) Click HERE to read.
How much should florists charge for rentals? Click HERE to read.
By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment
As the creator of Flower Math, The Florist’s Guide To Pricing & Profitability, this is one the questions I hear often.
Click below to watch: Price Talk Live! A replay from my Facebook group On Delivery & Set-up Fees!
Now, on weddings and events you might call it “delivery” or “day of labor” or even a “set-up fee”…..
I call it the “Delivery & Set-up fee” and it includes my time from the minute I start to load my van to the minute I’m done unloading it after an event.
Your time is valuable and you should be paid for delivery and set-up in addition to what you charge for flowers, supplies and your design fee!
A delivery fee can be:
For example:
People expect to pay for delivery & installation (or set-up).
The design fee is what you charge per design–it pays for your time and expertise in floristry. If you’re not sure what a design fee is, I walk you through it in Flower Math!
Delivery fee pays for your vehicles, labor on site, time spent waiting.
I used to be really nervous to increase my delivery fee. It took me years to realize what I needed to take into account to make it worth my while to deliver.
Click below to watch: Price Talk Live! A replay from my Facebook group On Delivery & Set-up Fees!
In this video I’m fresh off the heels of a Chapel Designer Workshop where I taught at Hope Flower Farm in May. Going to live workshops is invigorating and can leave me vibing for weeks. Connecting with people who share our passion is an amazing gift.
I share a bit about who was at Hope and what we did there in this live chat, but you can skip ahead to the delivery & set-up tips if you fast forward to 4:25 minutes in!
I charge based on what it costs to “do this job”….
I calculate this on a per hour basis and also consider the mileage, number of helpers, number of vehicles, whether I have to climb a ladder and whether I have to come back or stay on call to move things between the ceremony & reception.
My delivery fee isn’t related to how much my client spends, it’s based on how much I need to make that entire day work seamlessly so that I meet their expectations and also cover the time I invest.
The bigger the event, the bigger the delivery and set up fee.
Consider the following when determining your delivery rate:
Delivery may sound simple, but theres a level of care, expertise and professionalism that comes with this part of the job.
Making money in your business should not be a mystery. Florists must have clarity on pricing in every aspect of their business.
Move forward pricing well, making a profit, and give yourself a pay increase with a small bump in your delivery fee.
Keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneur®!
And, by the way, as I mentioned in the video, you can get the entire Flower Math course today to make sure you’re maximizing your profit margin or see a full list of my courses for florists HERE!
Don’t hesitate to be in touch with any question for me.
With love from me to you,
Alison Ellis
Video notes:
Click here to join me in my Facebook group for future livestreams!
The teacher lineup at Hope included: Holly Chapple, Gregor Lersch, Hitomi Gilliam, Francoise Weeks, Passionflower Sue (Susan McLeary), and I was invited to speak about business (specifically pricing & website stuff!).
It was a honor to be on the roster with these legends and incredible floral pros.
I’ve seen ads that claim to teach florists how to “book more luxury events” and “make a six-figure income”, but the truth is that most florists don’t service luxury events (or pay themselves a 6-figure salary!).
In fact, many florists aren’t fully equipped to do luxury events (staffing, space constraints, rental inventory on deck, etc.) so if you don’t do “luxury weddings”, you’re actually totally normal!
As I learned in my youth, “Mo money, mo problems”; that can certainly apply to luxury floral gigs, too.
Luxury events of the scale and scope that generate “a six figure income” require a few things:
The sheer quantity of work involved in creating lush centerpieces for 200+ guests and hanging installations and an elaborate arbor or chuppah can be more than just a bit overwhelming for any floralpreneur®.
For example, if you don’t have a “go-to team” you can count on, then pulling off a large-scale event may be particularly difficult to execute.
You need a reliable team of professionals on deck who understand your expectations in order to flawlessly deliver a ton of details in a short amount of time. Without extra hands you can trust to help lift and schlep and climb ladders, “luxury weddings” can make you feel like you’re in over your head.
To have a “successful business”, your work should not only make you money, but it should make you happy & fulfilled, too….in other words, you shouldn’t dwell in a constant state of overwhelm or aim for goals that aren’t truly in your heart.
Most of my weddings are in my “sweet spot” which is anywhere from $3,500-$6,500 range. They’re “big enough” to make it worth my while to block off my time and spend days designing for their event, yet I don’t need a floral army to meet my obligations and I can probably fit it all in my minivan for delivery without renting a larger vehicle.
I can appreciate the thrill and challenge of a larger event, but luxury weddings aren’t my bread and butter.
Once I involve multiple vehicles, multiple helpers, multiple hours of on-site installation over multiple days, the commitment from me goes up and the commitment from the client goes up as well (both financially and in regards to overall expectations).
If you’re intimidated by five-figure floral budgets and high-expectation clients or you’re simply not interested in providing extra time and attention and multiple on-site meetings to high-end clients, then “luxury” events may not be your dream gig. And that’s OK. Determine the price points that work best for your business goals so you’re working in your sweet spot.
You won’t find a florist on this planet who’ll deny that what we do is hard work, so while turning a profit in your business is a necessity (and you should know your profit margin on every event!), your love of flowers and floral design is also an important ingredient for sustained success.
I’m not actually looking to grow a large scale floral design company. I like the work I do now.
I love floral design and specifically, I love my small, home-studio that focuses on wedding flowers. I consider myself a successful business owner; I’m happy with what I’ve built and continue to grow.
If you don’t LOVE floral design in your heart, you’re going to have a lot of very long days at work.
As a solo-business owner, who only hires occasional freelancers and weekend delivery & set-up assistance, there are some limitations on the amount of work I can take (and that creates an income cap!). For example, I’ve done 4 weddings in a holiday weekend before….and it was hell…..so I learned to never do that again!
So with limited weekends for events, how do florists create a financially viable business? Click here to check out some real floral industry stats and watch my live chat: How much does a florist make?…
You don’t have to book luxury weddings to be a successful floral designer.
Do what you love! Deliver what you promise. And keep doing beautiful work!
xo. -Alison