Learn the secrets of successful event florists and turn your passion for artistry into a thriving business. There are three common traps that drain your time, money and creativity. And without time, money and creativity, what are we doing in our floral businesses? Let’s get into it. Learn what the mistakes are and how to avoid them.
Problems: Spending too much time on proposals, undercharging for services, and overfilling arrangements can drain time, money, and creativity, hurting your business.
Solutions: Automate repetitive tasks, track all costs meticulously, and stick to pre-planned recipes to streamline workflows, ensure profitability, and avoid waste.
How: Use templates to create fast, polished proposals; factor in all costs, including labor and overheads; and develop a recipe library to control flower usage.
Tools: FlowerBuddy offers proposal templates, cost calculators, and recipe management features to save time, track expenses, and protect your profit.
Ding! That's the sound of an inquiry hitting your inbox! So much potential wrapped up in one little message. This is the one! The venue, the color palette, the budget. All your hard work qualifying and clarifying the client’s vision, has led to the moment of presenting a proposal.
But the pressure starts building, and you want to get every detail perfect. You start researching seasonal blooms, weighing the benefits of coral versus peach, agonizing over taper or pillar candles for the centerpieces… and before you know it a week has passed.
Okay deep breath. Let’s reassess. You won’t close every potential client. Spending too much time crafting each proposal slows you down and hurts your chances of booking them at all. Keep up the momentum from your initial contact with the client. It shows that you are excited, efficient and ready to move forward and close the deal. How on earth do you do this?
Automate the repetitive tasks like calculating costs for turnkey arrangements or formatting your proposal. Newsflash: most weddings have very similar elements (bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, etc.) so use that to your advantage.
When you create templates for your most common event types, you're able to focus your energy on the bespoke design aspects that showcase your creativity and acknowledge the specific design elements that the client highlighted during your consultation.
Prioritize speed without sacrificing customization: The faster a client gets a proposal, the more likely they are to book you.
FlowerBuddy lets you create detailed templates for whole events and individual recipes. Using these templates as a starting point can bring your time-to-proposal way down. Do you have a venue that you consistently work with? Create an event template for that venue. Green and white classic bridal bouquet? Say less. Make a recipe template and then customize a stem here or there. Done and detailed.
The proposal is also a digital client portal, creating a seamless customer experience for them to sign the contract and pay the retainer. They don’t have to go to another page or ask you to send them anything. Booked. Dreams coming true.
Ouch. This one hurts. Undercharging leads to burnout and financial stress. You're not alone though, so many florists fail to account for every cost including; labor, overheads, and logistics. On top of that, you deserve a salary as much as your business deserves a profit.
Break down every arrangement cost into flowers, hard goods and labor. Understanding your expenses is essential. Track and bill for all event-related expenses. This could include van rentals, meals, hotels, etc. Are you working this event? Pay yourself as you would an employee.
FlowerBuddy keeps your cost, price and profit top of mind, by keeping them at the top of every page. If you’re not charging enough, there is nowhere to hide. Build detailed recipes with ease, that factor in flower costs, hard goods and labor to price every arrangement and event profitably.
Here we are, standing in the studio, asking the arrangement if it’s finished. (Talking to flowers is normal, right? Okay good.) Then an itchy feeling overtakes us and before we know it, five more roses get added, a couple more delphinium, and just a bit of dancing butterfly ranunculus. Sigh. This arrangement is something to behold.
Raise your hand if you know what just happened.
Overstuffing bouquets can destroy your profit margins, especially if you’ve pre-set prices. Did you pay for those flowers? Yes? Then you should charge the customer for them. Unless you did not pay for them. (Did you steal them? Why were they free? Can I have some free flowers too? Unless you stole them. I have a reputation to protect.)
Designing without a plan often leads to overspending on materials. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Or before you get to the end of the year and ask yourself, “I worked THAT hard all year for ONLY THIS much money?”
Spend some time developing a library of recipes (e.g., small, medium, large bouquets) and get to know how different designs are priced.
Stick to these recipes when designing and monitor your budget carefully. Itchy feeling- be gone. Thrill your customers with your beautiful (correctly priced) designs and make the money you deserve.
FlowerBuddy’s recipe library allows you to pre-plan your designs. Stay on budget, track flower usage, and repeat for future success.
If you overfill an arrangement’s recipe, FlowerBuddy warns you. It’s easy to resolve the problem and keep your profit margin where you want it to be. Remember, you can’t hide from your profitability because it’s in your face at the top of the page.
Mistakes like spending too much time on proposals, undercharging, and overfilling arrangements are common but avoidable with the right strategies and tools.
By automating your workflows, tracking costs meticulously, and sticking to a plan, you’ll save time, increase profits, and enjoy a more sustainable business. Sounds good right?
Ready to streamline your floral business? FlowerBuddy is here to help. Explore our tools for proposals, cost management, and recipe tracking to take your event floristry to the next level. Book a demo to learn more.