Valentine's Day Prep: 🌸 Clique Tips

Episode 161: The countdown to Valentine's Day is on! Vonda, Lori, and Kami share a LOT of information, from projecting sales and what to sell to preparing your sales staff and website must-knows. These are great tips and as well as a checklist for your preparations. 

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Right .

Speaker 2 0:03

I also think it helps with morale. I think it helps with employee morale , shop morale , you know, and they get excited when it comes in. And I just think if anything you can do to help with your shop morale, why not?

Speaker 3 0:17

Welcome

Speaker 4 0:18

To the business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your host, fond La

Speaker 1 0:21

Fever and Lori Wilson . And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us. Wanda <laugh>.

Speaker 4 0:32

Okay, girls. The countdown is on.

Speaker 1 0:34

Wow. You know what I did yesterday and preparing for what I know is gonna be a super busy from now till Valentine's Day. I spent about three hours rearranging my entire office, decluttering my office, moving it around, because I think Ellie actually is the one that taught me this to enhance the creativity that I need moving forward. Um, and gives me a little bit of peace, knowing I don't have so many pieces of paper and post-it notes. And I even threw away pins. Wow . I I really focused because I know. Did

Speaker 4 1:19

You throw away more pins ,

Speaker 1 1:20

<laugh> ? I did. I did. I The right blue pin . I did. And I thought of you. Absolutely. I thought of you, but I rearranged everything to a spot where I felt like ready . Cause I wanted to wake up excited to come in and

Speaker 4 1:35

I can see you . I can look . I'm like , wow . It is rearranged

Speaker 1 1:39

New rug that over there , the whole little thing. I need stuff for my walls. But anyway, I also fonda as you did. Oh ,

Speaker 4 1:47

I know. It's crack

Speaker 1 1:50

Vda . And I refer to this as crack . They are cinnamon gummy hearts about two bags.

Speaker 2 1:59

Valentine's candy is so tempting.

Speaker 1 2:03

Love . Mm-hmm . <affirmative> . I love the gummy. It gets stuck in my teeth and I think I'm not gonna eat another one. And all of a sudden I have another one in my mouth. <laugh>. I don't

Speaker 4 2:12

I know. I get you . I

Speaker 1 2:13

Dunno how

Speaker 2 2:13

It happens . They're so good.

Speaker 1 2:15

So , so, so good. So, okay, moving forward. Cammy Martin, R one click director for flower . Click . Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 4 2:27

Well, we couldn't talk about prepping for Valentine's Day without you, quite honestly. Well , you have so many things that are important that whoever is out there, all clickers trying to get ready for Valentine's Day. We all have some great tips for you. Do , what do we wanna call it? I Playbook is kind of old. What could we call it? Click

Speaker 1 2:48

Tips .

Speaker 4 2:49

Click tips .

Speaker 1 2:51

Click tips . Yeah . I

Speaker 4 2:52

Like that .

Speaker 1 2:52

I like it too . You know, another fun fact about us doing this , and I think this is right, this is the first click tip , Valentine's Day, where our content doesn't have something about covid or a pandemic.

Speaker 4 3:12

That's, you know what? That's true. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 3:15

Isn't that crazy? Mm-hmm . <affirmative> like we, that's been our, the entire, from birth of the company. That's, that's all we've ever known.

Speaker 4 3:22

Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , right? Gosh, that's crazy, isn't it? It

Speaker 2 3:25

Is .

Speaker 1 3:27

It's

Speaker 4 3:27

Okay. So should we get started? Let's kick it off.

Speaker 1 3:31

Go for it.

Speaker 4 3:32

Right. So the first thing, which I would guess most of our listeners have already done is forecast your sales. You know, at this point, we've probably already done that. Look back to 20 18, 20 19 and 2020. Kinda look at all three of those years. And you go, okay, I'm looking at those and it's gonna be in that range of, of sales is what we can expect. Then we move on to what do we plan to sell? Tradition, right? We've heard everybody sell . I want roses, I want red and white. But we really need to think about those alternative colors. Cammy , one of our hottest sellers last year, I think was like a coral color, wasn't it? A coral? And the peach were really hot sellers.

Speaker 2 4:17

A coral, a peach, and even the purple. A lot of members are requesting that purple feedback . And we , we've included that in there. Yep .

Speaker 4 4:26

Yeah . Okay. So, so really think about that. Don't think that, oh my gosh, I have to have the , the red roses. They're the most expensive, which drives all the prices up. So think about those alternative colors. What you can get your hands on, what is gonna be economical as well, so you can have those ready for your customers. And then I'm gonna move on to the design team, because you are gonna have to really ramp up productivity. You know, flower click where you talk a lot about pre-made bundles that we have that go on the website, but we have something that makes your designers really super productive. And the key is really setting them up for success by letting them know how many designs you expect every hour or during the course of a day. Um, and knowing whether they're exclusively designing or you're expecting them to answer the phone as well. Those are really important communication elements that you need to share. You know, and if , do you expect them to work on Saturday and Sunday beforehand? Do they know exactly what's on your website? So when they're answering the phone, they're selling what you have, not forcing you to get something else to fill those orders.

Speaker 2 5:47

Couple things. One , um, I had a shop reach out to me and she asked me to close her for this coming Saturday because she's giving everyone off that day off in expectations.

Speaker 1 5:59

Oh , that's such a great idea. Yeah .

Speaker 2 6:01

And expectation for the, for the traffic to come . That was a good idea. Also on our shop talk that we had , um, I think it was Abby Chick who said she is kind of giving her designers like this designer, these are their specialties. And, and sh you know, she knows what her specialties are and they like, they know when this one comes in, I'm on cuz they're gonna be in such mass production, you know, mode and , uh mm-hmm. <affirmative> , do you remember that Lori , when she added that part? Because she, she found, she was like, I'm, I'm doing the dozen roses. She goes, you know that that's the one I'm best at . I can do it the fastest. You know, she's been designing, I don't know, I assume she's been designing the longest cuz she's the owner, but I don't know. But she, yeah. Everyone has their specialty. So that's basically what we're saying. Redon .

Speaker 4 6:48

Yeah . That's really smart. And a lot of times if you have some unexperienced or less experienced designers and they can be designer assistants, they could be the runners for you, they could be the pre greeners. You can get everything done. So, you know, like Abby was saying, if I am really good at one thing, I should be on that. And as a design team leader, you should be observing those things to say, Hey, I know Lori would be able to do this. Camie would be able to do this and uh , do it well. So just setting yourself up for success and looking at those things now, because you know that last three, four days beforehand, you just need to be like cranking 'em out.

Speaker 2 7:26

You also mentioned the pre green . That was a conversation on our members only . Yeah . It was Facebook page this weekend is, how many of you or when do you start pre-screening? And I saw a lot of our shops started this weekend

Speaker 1 7:40

Last

Speaker 2 7:41

Week. Some are starting next weekend. Some don't pre green at all. It just kinda , it's all over. But a lot of 'em are pre-screening now.

Speaker 4 7:48

Well the key is being ready, right. And don't just wait till those orders come in. You just need to anticipate I'm gonna do 24 of this one design and get 'em done. You know, that's Saturday, Sunday beforehand. Because then when those orders are coming in, you're just putting cards on them and getting 'em out the door. So that's the key is don't wait until the orders come in. Anticipate what's gonna be in, and then you sell into what you already have done.

Speaker 1 8:15

The other thing about pre-screening that I, why I think it's be official. That's not necessarily something that your full-time experience designer has to do. I mean, that is a task. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , especially people that are in flower prep school, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> , um, assistant designers , uh, some salespeople, heck maybe some delivery people that have a flare for it. I mean, put them on that task. It doesn't need to be the full-time designer.

Speaker 4 8:43

Your delivery , uh, staff can actually fill the VS . Or put the, fill the foam and put 'em in the containers if you're using floor foam. So drivers can do a lot of those kind of tasks, even if it's not doing the design itself. So Yeah . Right. Use everyone to their best ability.

Speaker 1 8:58

Another thing I was gonna say, and I know a lot of our members have already done this, having that staff meeting and we talked about it in last year's webinar, and I think it's still a great idea. Put out a huge piece of paper, like, you know , uh, like butcher paper, whatever. Give everybody a crayon and have everyone write down what their vision is for Valentine's Day. Right. What does it look like to you? You'd be surprised, especially new people that have not gone through it. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , you know, for your designers, what designs do you love to make? What that are going to be , uh, that we're gonna sell, that we're gonna , and let them come up with some stuff. Because I always say, right, if you help, if you let them plan the fight, you're not gonna fight the plan. Right. And so having that meeting early on to get ahead of the game is key . I mean, every , by the time this is aired, everyone sort of already had that staff meeting. Um, the other thing is your focus as an owner manager, prepare them. Prepare your team, your sales people that are answering the phone. They need to know what your Valentine's Day specials are. If they need to know what's on your website, they need to know what's in the cooler. Right? This is one of the very few times where my advice is try not to stay on the phone very long. <laugh> , because you're, because you're gonna be, you know, so overwhelmed. But that's why you need to know. So maybe fill out , uh, print out some sales scripts. Um, I know our members have access to them. We've been helping 'em make them print 'em out ahead of time. Go over those. Have a little role playing for, especially for your new employees that aren't used to this fast pace of selling because it's going to go so fast they're not gonna know what hit 'em .

Speaker 4 11:00

Yeah. And I think roleplaying for new employees is really important and they say, ah , well you know what? This is just not fun. Or, it's a waste of time. We'll make it fun. You know, make it a little bit of a challenge. And, and that roleplaying is huge. You saw talk about that all the time, Laurie .

Speaker 1 11:15

Right, right. The other thing is reminding them this, for this holiday, always ask for an add-on. See if they want an add-on. Don't say, would you like an add-on it? Is your job to uh, like look around, see what your favorite add-on might be. Let's say it is. I know last year it was something as small as a package of red lips, wax lips. I can't remember which one of our shops had it, but I thought it was genius. She sold out of them so quickly. Because when you're there in person, it's funny. So you wanna buy it over the phone. You're gonna say, you're not gonna believe what we're selling on top of this for an extra $5. We have the most hilarious wax lips or whatever. Make it be something other than just a plush or a balloon. So many people have the strawberries mm-hmm . <affirmative> , right? The chocolate covered strawberries. Always let them know what else they can buy. Vonda , you have said this, as long as I've known you, if the man, I'm just gonna use a man for example, cuz there are women to buy it, going to spend $200 on his wife or whoever spouse for Valentine's Day . There is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't spend 199.99 of those dollars in your store.

Speaker 4 12:39

That is so true.

Speaker 1 12:40

You know? Yeah. And I think people are like , oh he is gonna buy flowers here. He's gonna buy a gift card here. He's gonna buy the , you know, get with your local businesses and see, hey do , can I sell some gift cards to your spa maybe? And, and barter with them. We have so many shops that do that. And they also do it for Mother's Day. And it's very successful because you're also cross-promoting each other. Right. You're putting it on your social media. They're putting it on their social media.

Speaker 4 13:10

I love that. Yeah. That really does make a difference. Jerome Rasco in Michigan, they have homemade truffles, you know, so they have candy and he said, I bet that 95% of the people buy 'em because the way my sales staff sells them. They're like , uh, you should , you need to get these truffles that

Speaker 1 13:31

Go. Exactly. It's

Speaker 4 13:33

The way you're presenting them .

Speaker 1 13:34

It's the way it's all in the delivery. Right? Yes . Right.

Speaker 4 13:38

So

Speaker 1 13:38

I would take a step further and say that's even why it is important when you have that staff meeting mm-hmm . <affirmative> , make sure you have these to let each person try one so that they can be truthful in their testimony. Right.

Speaker 4 13:54

You know ,

Speaker 1 13:54

A lot of high-end restaurants do, like my son who works at a fancy restaurant before they have Mother's Day brunch, before they have Valentine's Day, they have a meeting like three, two or three weeks before their staff meeting and they are served what it is they're gonna have. Hmm . And I mean, because then you can go and go, oh my gosh, I've had this. It's so good. Right.

Speaker 4 14:17

Right. Well the other thing you have to focus on is your delivery team. Because we know how important delivery is during that holiday. And there's camie . I know you're gonna cover some things on the website end of it, but you really need to get all those delivery drivers lined up and ready to go. And I was just at a conference and they were talking about where they're getting their drivers. You know, whether they're um, off-duty firemen or policemen, you know, anybody who's in public service are great cuz they know those addresses. And then just ask, you know, it's relatives of your employees. You know, there's a lot of people out there who are willing to work for just a couple days and you'll want 'em in there on Monday and Tuesday and are just make sure that you're setting 'em up for success again with delivery boxes or whatever it is. They're gonna carry those arrangements in their vehicle. A clipboard delivery logs, you know, pens if they need to have somebody sign off on all those preprinted door tags, a water bottle to fill the Vs . Or a water jug because if something knocks over, you don't want 'em to deliver it to that recipient with an empty vase. So make sure they fill it if they's a problem, but also know if they knock it over and it looks like anything is damaged, that they're supposed to bring it back. Don't take it to the door and have an unhappy customer. So, and also they need to delivery with a good attitude. So they need to be truthful and smiley and have the proper attire. So those are my checklists.

Speaker 2 15:52

All What I love is all the things you're describing could be done now, all, all done ahead

Speaker 1 15:57

Of time. Oh yeah . Yeah. Especially because you're hiring a seasonal delivery driver. Yes . For this time as well as probably Mother's Day. I was, as you were talking through that vonda , I was visualizing having some bullet points if like, if this happens, do this, if the like scenarios laminated, leave it in the delivery van. So like if this spills do this, you know, and then make sure the shop phone number is on there, the manager sell like whatever, so that it is quick and they can look down and go, okay, boom.

Speaker 4 16:38

It's a great idea, Laurie , if this, then that.

Speaker 1 16:41

Right.

Speaker 4 16:42

And then one of the most important things to set you up for success and do now is what you're gonna tell us about Cammy .

Speaker 2 16:49

Well this is one of the, the website. This is one reason I have been working a lot <laugh>

Speaker 4 16:56

The

Speaker 2 16:56

Last couple weeks. And um, and it seems our member , that's

Speaker 4 17:00

An

Speaker 2 17:01

Understatement . Yeah. Our members are on top of it as far as , um, you know, we're proactively getting their website ready, but they're also reaching out to me and making a few adjustments, you know, to fit their needs, which is exactly what we are gonna be preaching about today. And um, one of the things we say about the website is it serves as an extra employee to take orders. So it's that other salesperson and everyone knows it, but um, not only is it taking orders for you, but your customers often go to it as a menu. So it's vital. It's so important that you have what you're going to sell. Like the things Wanda was talking about, what you're going to sell and what you want your salespeople to promote and your designers to make that needs to reflect on your website. I , it probably seems like common sense, but often, you know, I think our uh, florist out there are so busy with the in-store things that they neglect the online and they don't , um, make sure that it really matches, you know, their, what they're gonna be offering. So , um,

Speaker 4 18:06

Kimmy that's really interesting cuz we were just talking about that this morning.

Speaker 1 18:09

That's exactly what was going through my mind. Yeah .

Speaker 4 18:13

Lori was talking about a shop she had visited and she said, oh my gosh .

Speaker 1 18:17

So in my hometown there's two flower shops. Um, one is a little more high-end trendy, super cool building. Um, you know, a lot of what I would imagine walk-in traffic cuz it's right by Hideaway Pizza. Yes .

Speaker 2 18:33

Right.

Speaker 1 18:35

<laugh> and all these other places. Anyway , um, I got on their website Yeah . Picturing what was gonna be what I saw on their Instagram. And I , and it wasn't, it wasn't horrible, don't get me wrong, but it didn't reflect at all what I thought. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , it was gonna look like it actually is almost identical to the other shop mm-hmm . <affirmative> in town. And so for me, and I'm assuming a lot of people, if that's all I know, I'm gonna go to the cheaper place. Yep .

Speaker 2 19:07

Because

Speaker 1 19:07

It's the same picture and, and I don't know much about flowers cuz I'm just a basic customer. I'm gonna , well this one's $10 cheap. I'm gonna do that one.

Speaker 2 19:16

Yep . It's so true. I did the same thing once when I was in a trendy downtown, kind of near here mm-hmm . <affirmative> and pulled up their website cuz it was such a cute storefront. Pulled up their website and went, oh , you know, so it's, yeah . So I guess the biggest thing I wanna say is , um, you know, put what you're going to sell for Valentine's Day, what you want to sell. You tell them, you tell customers what you're , what to buy. You are in control of that. So, so put it on your website , um, you know, fine tune it, pick out what you want. Less is more. Um, we do what we call the skinny. We still love to use the word skinny. I like to throw that word around anytime I can. <laugh>.

Speaker 4 19:58

Yeah. I like it.

Speaker 2 19:59

Our members like it too. But what we do, and just to , just to lay it out kind of quickly for you, is we decide, okay, here's what we're gonna sell for Valentine's Day. Um, we pick, you know, I don't know, anywhere from, from 16 to 24 products. I wouldn't do any more than that. Um, we, we kind of say, okay, this is what we, we wanna sell for Valentine's Day. This is the pri these are the price ranges. There's those styles that we talked about, right. Some that are traditional and then some that are less traditional. Right. For those that wanna buy that. Um, and then we skinny down all the other categories to match. So by that I mean there's gonna be a few more red roses in birthday than normal, you know , um, in anniversary and romance. You know, someone that's shopping for Valentine's Day is probably not going to also go to birthday or anniversary. So you can put the same, you can have crossover. Um, so skinny it down, have crossover. Less is more when it comes to what you're offering on the website. A big thing that I would just wanna tell you to do is to pay attention to the homepage. That's the number one selling page. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> on your website. It gets the customer's attention right from the beginning. Um, it's the face, you know, it's the face of the business. So , um, make sure your homepage is up to date with banners that are clickable that go somewhere. Um, make sure that it's easy to click and buy. I mean, it, it has to be easy. It has to have a variety of prices. So when we're looking at our homepage mix, I really pour over like what are we gonna, you know, what are we gonna feature? VDA does it with me and we're like, okay, we need something that's a wow, you know, over a hundred sometimes 200 for right there. And then we need something in the 59 69 range and then everything in between. So , um, make sure that you give 'em things that they can click and buy right from the homepage

Speaker 4 21:51

When you're talking about click and buy from the homepage and all those, each one of those 24 items or however many you're putting on it , make sure you really pour over your prices and make sure they're correct. Oh yeah . It's , it's imperative. All you clickers out there because you will be losing money on each one that you sell. When you sell more instead of making money, you're gonna be losing money. So it's really important you look at each one of those and say, you know what, I can't do it for that and I won't. So I'm changing the price. So good . Right . Super important.

Speaker 2 22:27

What

Speaker 1 22:28

I was gonna say is make sure you still don't have Christmas <laugh> on your

Speaker 4 22:33

Homepage. Yeah . Right.

Speaker 1 22:34

Or last week, I can't remember if it was Katie or or who, but there was fall harvest on the homepage. It's the pumpkin

Speaker 4 22:45

Online .

Speaker 1 22:46

And you know what that does? I mean we joke about it because we, that would be, we would just,

Speaker 2 22:51

I would lose my job. I would lose my job. You

Speaker 4 22:53

Would lose your job.

Speaker 1 22:55

Yes. And our members would throttle you if that happened. But it tells me, oh, these people don't maintain their website. Right. And so I don't think anything on it is probably what I'm gonna want. I mean it's psychological. Your customers wanna see the new latest and greatest best sellers . Right. And if I click best sellers and it has Christmas foliage in it, I'm gonna be going That's weird. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , that's, I don't think they update it.

Speaker 4 23:25

Yeah, exactly. Right.

Speaker 2 23:28

A lot of shops that I've been talking to in the last week are really are trying to do some promotions on their website. That's another, just another click tip for you , um, is to, to they're trying to incentivize customers to order early and to spread out the delivery so that it's not all bottlenecked on February 14th. Right. So a lot of our shops are , um, they're coming up with promotions like if you order by January 31st for Valentine's Day, we'll throw in a free box of chocolates, you know, and they'll get like a small, like a four piece Russell stove or something like that. Something that's not costing them a lot. You know, I'm not telling you it's one of those specialty truffle boxes, but a small box of chocolates or some are doing a promo code, you know , um, I just added one over the weekend where she has a canvas tote that if they order mm-hmm . <affirmative> , If they order before January 31st for Valentine's Day, she's gonna throw in a , a tote bag and they have to put in this promo code and we're also gonna market that via email for her as well. So there's all kinds of ways to do that. But you know, think, think to yourself, how can I , uh, promote ordering early so I can prepare? Right. And then , um, and then spreading out that delivery. So some people are also calling it Valentine's Day weekend. Right. They said some things like that on the shop talk , um mm-hmm . <affirmative> already like , um, you know, be ready for the, for Valentine's Day. So trying to get that order out and spread out the, the deliveries.

Speaker 1 25:07

Yep . Right. And I wanna touch on that cuz I had two points and one already left my head so I dunno what come back . It's so important for this holiday that you send emails ahead of time to all of your, especially your customers that purchase with you for review every year. Right. Giving them a heads up that it's coming. We do that for our members. We have because of you Camie we have realized last year we learned it the hard way. Right. Because we even were sending out emails while we were still in our beta testing. So don't come at me. We were sending , we thought we were doing a good thing and we sent like an email Ellie and I did on the 13th. And our members that were in the program were like, no, we've run out. Like we don't have anymore . Don't send, there's still time because there's not time. So what we are doing this year is pre-selling via email marketing as much as possible. And then that week we probably won't even send one.

Speaker 4 26:10

So Laurie , I'm gonna back you up just a little bit. When you were talking about training your sales staff, you need to make sure written huge is get email addresses cause you're gonna get a lot of

Speaker 1 26:22

Exactly .

Speaker 4 26:22

Customers and Oh my gosh, that you're just leaving .

Speaker 1 26:28

Especially during this time. Yes. Because you're gonna , because you know, we go in and pull a list after this, after Valentine's Day, a new customer, you're gonna be getting a whole bunch of new emails. Those people are going to get emails for Mother's Day. Mm-hmm . What I wanna say is, I would really caution shops to use free delivery. I'm quoting as an incentive. I don't think that's going to be really helpful for you from a profit standpoint. I think I think you need to just add two , not give free. Whether that, like Cammy said, a small, and by small they were saying it's like has little four, it's like a little sample box, however much that costs you. Um, I know some shops are adding, you know, a couple of stems for free instead of six roses or say , I don't know, something that's not going to cost you a lot. And as Vanda would say, is perceived value.

Speaker 2 27:35

Perceived value. And I think from talking to some of the shops, it was easy for them to tag it. Like, this goes with the free box of chocolates. Yes . And it was, again, it was the small four piece . Yeah. I'm , and you know, you still wanna have the add-on there for them to upgrade it and that kind of thing. But yeah, the value was there and it made it easy for them to, to get it out the door and logistically they could make it happen on Valentine's Day in the chaos of Valentines

Speaker 1 28:02

Day . Right. Right.

Speaker 2 28:04

So one thing , um, a lot of our members, I started to not mention this, but , um, it sounds like not everybody out there is doing this, but I think most of our clickers are doing it, are that are that are members is they have the tip option on their website. And so if you're not doing that strongly wanna encourage you to do that, you're, you're really leaving money on the table. If you don't , um, there's a couple of ways you can do it. Or most shops or I I do know pretty much all web platforms, at least all the ones we work with. You can add it as an add-on. So almost like on your website, like a customer would add a box of chocolates or a plush, you can have a tip option there. Um mm-hmm . <affirmative> , you know, a tip for the designer, A tip for the driver or a tip for both. That's what some people do. And they, they are just, the minute they add it, they're like, oh my gosh, I had no idea how much, you know. And , and then they, they start to question like, how do I do this? How do I distribute this? You know, in every shop does it different? Some shops have a just a little jar that they keep it in and then they buy a meal at the end. A nicer meal if they get more tips, you know , or some distri you know, keep track of each one that was designed. Whatever you wanna do. Um, that's, that's up to you. But I just wanna strongly encourage that you add the tips. Um, I do know Teleflora in particular, I don't know another , uh, platform, but I do know that they have , um, incorporated the tip into the checkout feature. So like as you're checking out, there's a little button where you can say add a tip and it's just like a clean little button that you can select. And if you do that, you can, it's more open-ended and you can put in a custom tip. You can put a , a percentage, like a 10%, 15%, or 20%. Um, a lot of my members that have switched to that , um, where they're getting doing it at the checkout are seeing bigger tips. So Wow . They're not as like boxed in, you know, they can actually, it's more open-ended. So I just wanna , if you're a teleflora shop or, or any shop, it's good to check and see what your options are for tips. And I strongly encourage that you get it added to the website.

Speaker 1 30:20

So can I tell you guys a quick , um, tip story that happened just on Saturday? Um, so my s my husband was sick all weekend. That's has nothing to do with tipping. But I took my dad and my son and we were gonna go to Torchy's for lunch cuz Torchy's is , it's always a good idea to go to Torchy's. So what I do is I will, I always give my son my credit card and I'm gonna go get my dad seated cuz he gets kind of confused through the line and we gave him our order. We're sitting there talking, my son's still up there. All of a sudden I get my text notification that my credit card was used, which is normal. And I look and I'm like, holy smokes. What ? In my mind I'm thinking he must have ordered a couple of margaritas or something because it was a pretty exorbitant amount. Keep in mind he's a server at a restaurant. So he comes back, gives me the card and I didn't wanna say anything in front of my dad just because, so later I asked him and I said, what ? And I'm counting like the tacos, we only got four. And anyway, he said, I tipped. And I'm like, you tipped. And he goes, yes, how much? And he's like, 25%, I'm fine . I'm like , holy smokes . And he goes, mom, you have no idea how hard this industry is. I always tip Wow. And I, for the rest of my life anyway, those are the people that will click that tip button. Wow. Hits those people that know what it feels like. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> when you don't. And it's also the other people are like , uh, yeah sure take this, deliver it well make it good.

Speaker 2 32:03

And if it wasn't an option, he wouldn't have thought to do it.

Speaker 1 32:07

Exactly. I didn't even know it was an option there . Right . Because you know, you go order ,

Speaker 2 32:11

Order yourself . Yeah . Mm-hmm . <affirmative>

Speaker 1 32:13

Interesting. Mm-hmm So I didn't even know it was an option I thought I had , I couldn't figure out. Right .

Speaker 4 32:20

Well this trend with flower tipping started during pandemic. Right.

Speaker 1 32:26

Cammy .

Speaker 4 32:26

Right. Okay . And it's one of those that just continues to keep going on because of the appreciation people have for flowers and for service. Like in the restaurant business. Yes. Anything that's service oriented, we're seeing more tips. So gosh, if you don't have that on your website, woo . You need to do it. There's some big, big money coming in on that with appreciation for, for the service finally is what I'd like to say.

Speaker 2 32:49

Yeah,

Speaker 1 32:50

Right.

Speaker 2 32:51

I also think it helps with morale. I think it helps with employee morale , you know, and they get excited when it comes in and I just think if anything you can do to help with your shop morale, why not?

Speaker 1 33:04

Right? Right. And we have members that do, they either divvy it all up between delivery drivers or designers. We have a handful of 'em that group it all together and then they plan what they want to , they all go to dinner or all go to brunch and they spend that money, which is always fun.

Speaker 2 33:22

Team building.

Speaker 1 33:23

Um, it's team building again, during those staff meetings say, Hey, we're adding this, what do we wanna do? You know, for, for your mindset. It's easier just to group it all together <laugh> and do something. But you know, I guess you don't have to.

Speaker 4 33:39

Yeah, that's a whole nother podcast cuz we have so many ideas on that chip. Yeah ,

Speaker 1 33:45

For

Speaker 4 33:45

Sure . Mm-hmm . <affirmative> to for sure many workshops on incentives and that was one that really was talked about a lot. So that's cool.

Speaker 2 33:52

One thing that a lot of shop , uh, shops I work with do, it just makes 'em feel better about things being ordered off the website is they will add a little disclaimer. I encourage you to add it more at checkout, not at the, not as a popup right from the beginning. Um, but at checkout to say, or actual flowers and container may vary. Um, you know, but the beauty and the design will be maintained, be assured, you know , that kind of thing. Just a little disclaimer that the picture you see, it's gonna be similar. Um , but a lot of shops love to have that little disclaimer. So I just wanted to add that that's possible. You can totally add

Speaker 4 34:29

That. And Cammy repeat that again. Where do you usually put that?

Speaker 2 34:32

I I encourage you to put it at checkout. Um, you know, there's a several options for when you add added to the cart, it'll show up. We put it in bold red , um Right when they add it to the cart. So it's, they see it, you know, that's where they can add all their add-ons and there's this little disclaimer that's very visible right there.

Speaker 4 34:51

Yeah. That makes a big difference. That's better than that pop-up. I think that always discourages me when I see that to start with. Yeah. But once I make a selection I'm like, well if it's a little different than that, it's okay . You know, so I like that. I like that a lot.

Speaker 2 35:04

I agree. We also know that designer's choice is a big seller at Valentine's Day. We have a Valentine's Day designer's choice right on the homepage at a certain price point, several price points. We put it in the first two, two to three rows of the Valentine's Day category. Um, definitely have a designer's choice option on the site. And then a lot of shops find the need to skinny way down to designer's choice like by February 13th or 14th if you have to because that's , you just have what you have left, you know? I get it. So , um, you can des skinny down to Designer's Choice near or around the 13th or 14th. I would not encourage you to go that skinny. Um, you know, if you can keep from it just because you said it. Well, I think Vonda earlier .

Speaker 4 35:56

Yeah. I I agree. Cammy . Yeah . Designer's choice is number one. You're right. Cuz when we pulled the skews for the holiday from last year, designer's choice was number one. But people choose designers' choice cuz they're looking at your website and going, oh, I like the kind of work they do. Even if they're only two or three other designers on there and designer's choice, then they're like, I trust this flower shop . Cuz they can see the kind of work they do if they don't already know you. So that's, that's why, you know, skinny it down on the 14th. Sure. Designer's choice. What , because then you don't care if you don't get that order. Quite honestly, <laugh> , you know , at that point you're overwhelmed, but , uh, don't skinny it too soon so that the customers can really see what you're capable of doing. That's my suggestion.

Speaker 2 36:40

Yes. Love it. So, so have designer's choice as an option that Yeah , definitely. But getting to just designer's choice, keep from it as long as you can, as long as you can.

Speaker 4 36:52

Agree. Agree.

Speaker 2 36:54

Um, another point I just have to bring up is we do a lot, and I've been doing a lot this year of packages, so bundling, you know, again, we know that Valentine's Day primarily a lot of men are shopping, right? I mean, I mean Mo a lot of people are shopping, but a lot of men are on your site and it's good to bundle those , um, your have a package. So we've got , um, you know, a dozen roses with chocolates, with a plush, you know, and put it all together. And that way you are capturing all that money that they were thinking and spending. They like it to be easy. I mean, I , I , easy, quick, you know, one-stop shop , right? So, so think outside the box and put a bundle together of, of what you have. I've been encouraging shops to send me, like, I'll say, which, which design do you want a bundle? You know? And then they'll just be like, okay, I wanna do mod magenta , you know, the purple mm-hmm . <affirmative> , but then they'll mm-hmm . <affirmative> as and Roses are six roses and they'll, and then they'll send me a picture of their chocolates or a picture of their plush and I say, take a picture in front of the wall so that I can kind of take the background out and we make it look super sharp, you know, a bundle together . And um , and they're loving that and they're like, oh yeah, love it. Love it. And they , they sell really well. They really do. So

Speaker 4 38:08

Yeah , they do.

Speaker 1 38:09

We have two shops I know last year, I'm sure they're doing it this year. Again, they partnered with , uh, a local restaurant and they did a bundle where they would deliver the roses and whatever , a box of chocolates to the restaurant where they had the reservation so that when they brought their data in, it was already right there. And I love , love that idea .

Speaker 2 38:34

That sounds so nice.

Speaker 4 38:35

Yeah, right .

Speaker 2 38:36

Little princess.

Speaker 4 38:37

That's so romantic.

Speaker 2 38:38

So romantic. Cool . And one last thing. I know I I don't wanna intimidate with the whole take a picture, take the background out. One thing you can do is just take a , I have a lady that has kind of a picture of a lady hugging a man, and there , there's flowers in her hand and it just says Deluxe Rose package and it just describes what she gets. So even if it's just a , a general banner that describes it, that's totally , um, still gonna sell Well on your website, just to wrap up what we've discussed for the website , um, promote early delivery, right? Promote , um, early ordering and early delivery. Um, you can incentivize with the free box of chocolates , uh, tips. Make sure that you put the tips on the website. Um, offer a few bundles with the unique giftware that you have. Um, add a disclaimer, right? That the flowers and container may vary. Promote designers' choices, all these skinny, the website, there's so much I've, I've talked about. So , um, all of those things.

Speaker 1 39:43

So we, I touched on this a little bit earlier and Vonda said no, that's later <laugh> in the middle. So it is now time for me to talk about the importance of pre-call , um, call your return customers, your loyal people. Let them know, Hey, it's coming up in a couple of weeks. Or, you know, let us get you on the books. The earlier the better because we whatever, if you have an incentive leave , let 'em know the incentive I want, because I can hear people right now talking back to me going, no one's going to answer. That's fine. That's the point. You wanna get the voicemail and they're either gonna just delete it and move on, or they're gonna go, oh, that's a really good idea. Return call. Right? I talked to two different shops and it started when we were in Shop Talk Cammy , after that I talked to two different shops that are going to do text reminders mm-hmm . <affirmative> Yeah . This year . And they're using a text platform. They're not using their cell phone , but they're doing a text reminder. You can put your link in there. I think it's genius. It's absolutely genius. You are doing your business a disservice if you do not do pre-call or pre-texting because you, it's, it's amazing the weight of orders that it will take off of you for those that Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Right.

Speaker 4 41:09

No, I think it's great, Lori . And it's, and you've said this so many times because people are like, oh, I can't do that. Think of how many texts or calls you get to remind you about a doctor's appointment coming up. I have one coming

Speaker 1 41:24

Or your pharmacy. Oh ,

Speaker 4 41:25

My dog . I have and I've had three text reminders for Bella's appointment, you know? Yep . So, you know, don't feel like, oh my gosh, I don't wanna do this. It will make a difference and people will thank you. They really will. They're they're gonna appreciate it .

Speaker 2 41:39

They really will . And there are ,

Speaker 4 41:40

Cause although Valentine's Day is February 14th every year people forget

Speaker 1 41:45

<laugh>. Oh, they

Speaker 2 41:46

<laugh> It's true. Or their , their last minute. But don't think that you have to do it from your personal cell phone . I think that's gonna be what a lot of people are gonna trip up on, is I don't want everyone to have my personal cell phone . Right . But there are platforms out there that are very inexpensive where you can send those bulk texts.

Speaker 1 42:05

Yeah . Right. And you can google texting platforms for business , for small business and some will come up. Um, I, they , one of 'em mentioned one, I can't remember what it was called that some of the people use , but they're out there and they are , they're, there's a lot of 'em , you just pay per credit. So it's not something you have to like get a monthly membership contract.

Speaker 4 42:28

Right,

Speaker 1 42:29

Right . Um , but it , it's really, really a good thing.

Speaker 4 42:31

Well these, these are just great ideas for getting ready for Valentine's Day and you know, we have three weeks, so get on it, start making calls, make sure your website's up too far . Make sure that you have a staff meeting. Get everybody signed up to what they know what to sell. You know, all of the great things that we just gave you tips about that are click tips . Right.

Speaker 1 42:53

Right. So speaking of tips, uhoh , before we leave, because we've said a lot here, there's a lot of information. Actually this whole podcast would be great for a whole a design , a staff to listen to. Um, just while you're doing your your thing. Um, I want Vonda and Cammy , I wanna ask you, if there's only one takeaway per subject, camie , what would your one takeaway be? That you wouldn't want someone to the minute this is over go. I gotta remember that.

Speaker 2 43:28

Okay . That's easy actually. Um, my one takeaway , but then I gotta add one other because <laugh>, I, I forgot to mention it . I have one takeaway and then one that I forgot to mention.

Speaker 1 43:40

This could be number one and then

Speaker 2 43:41

A little , little sub bullet point . Um , yeah . One is , uh, the biggest takeaway is make sure your website matches what you're gonna sell. Huge. Make sure it matches what you're gonna sell. And, and the homepage, the Valentine's Day, clean it up. That's it. Biggest takeaway . Um, the second thing, the little sub bullett point, don't forget to ask for reviews. Um , you have a lot you have to ask. It's kind of like that tip, whole tip scenario. They don't know that it does your business so good. If, if you, they give you a review, you're getting a lot of extra business this holiday, ask for the review and train your salespeople to ask for the review. Because even if 20% of them go out and leave you a review, that's 20% more reviews that you have on your Google or Yelp this holiday after the holiday.

Speaker 1 44:35

That's a good one. And we didn't even touch on that , so that's very good. Good. All right . Vonda , what's your tip?

Speaker 4 44:41

My one tip is make sure your prices are correct. You knew I was gonna say that .

Speaker 2 44:45

I'm so glad you did cuz I was Yeah , that's the thing . You have to ,

Speaker 4 44:50

You have to, I know you have to look at what you're paying for those flowers that week , the week up to Valentine's Day and really afterwards for a couple weeks and make sure you're making money. Make sure that it is priced profitably. And Laurie ,

Speaker 1 45:07

So my tip , um, has come from the book I've been reading, I think I've talked about it before. And a bunch of our members are reading it right now, and it's called Unreasonable Hospitality. And it's really good. It's all about customer service and what I want people to know, if you are answering the phone or if you are waiting on customers, think about this, think about your business as not just in service. Your, your giftedness here needs to be in hospitality. And in the book he says, think of it this way, service basic customer or service is black and white. But hospitality is color. And I love that because I think we are a very colorful industry. Like we live for color. Color is what gets us into this business in the first place. So designers are already thinking in color, right? Your front staff needs to also think in color and not just take your order. So that's my advice.

Speaker 4 46:13

I love that.

Speaker 1 46:15

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google Morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

Speaker 5 46:36

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business .