Valentine's Day Countdown! Steps to Success

Episode 265:  Lori and Vonda guide you through personalize and  essential steps to a successful Valentine's Day in your flower shop. They emphasize the importance of having a properly educated and trained team to ensure everything runs smoothly. From preparing flowers to optimizing your website layout and effectively communicating shop policies, they provide valuable insights to help you make the most out of this romantic holiday.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

I think it's a good time to remind them that their face is your brand. They are your store.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

And we believe the business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

So Lori, here we are taking a little break to record this with all of the members calling about questions about Valentine's Day, huh? I know.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

And I I everyone's calling about Valentine's Day. We were talking with Cammy Martin, our one-click gal yesterday, and she was talking about how busy our web team is. And I didn't mention it yesterday because no one was in a laughing mood. But what's funny is Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day, and I look over, and on my office floor are still Christmas things. And we're like, this is kind of ironic. It's just weird. You know, because we're so fast forward in this industry when it comes to holidays. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yeah, so true.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

As Cammy mentioned, she's like, we don't even really celebrate, besides Christmas, we don't even celebrate holidays anymore. She's like, my husband and I don't, because we're just working towards the next one before we even celebrate the last one.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

And so I was out on my walk this morning, and people still have their Christmas trees on their front porch and some Christmas lights on it. I'm like, here we are. We're thinking all red in Valentine's Day. And these people are like, just enjoying the last bit, the last bit, Christmas lights. And I'm like, Yeah, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

I get that. It's it's crazy, it's absolutely crazy. I've been seeing ads like in Target and Old Navy for Valentine's Day, heart sweaters and things, and I'm like, aren't we already past that?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

No, wait, it's it's only because we've been doing it since November, I think it was. It's it started with the photo shoot in September, and then it was like, oh my gosh. I know I feel like we've been doing it forever.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

So anyway, but that's what we're gonna kind of talk about today is Valentine's Day getting ready. How many years?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

How many what will this be in your world of oh my gosh, my first Valentine's Day would have been Lori 50 years ago. Oh my goodness. 50 years that that's that just hit me. I'm like, OMG. Wow. And even way back then, they're like, Can you just come out of school for the day? Can you? I'm like, busy. Oh my gosh, yes. I mean, you know, I was just prepping flowers, doing whatever. I was a little girl just working in the back.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Did you like it? Like, did little girl Vonda, I mean, little young teenage Vonda, did you like it then, or were you like, uh, it's just a job?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

No, I thought it was fascinating. I mean, it was just it was fascinating. I work with fun people, you know? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

It was just that was the thing. I mean, and you've talked about this before on the podcast. From day one of this industry, you walked into a positive experience.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Absolutely, and wonderful mentors, you know, and that's what it's all about. I think that's why people stay in this industry because the mentors who bring them in and also the joy that they see on the faces of people who receive flowers, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Right. So thinking back to you know, that decade of Valentine's Day or Valentine's prep being for the month and now, do you see much that has changed in the getting ready for the holiday?

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Well, absolutely, because back then there were no websites. Yeah, right? There was there was no internet, there was nothing that would be bringing people in. It would be, you know, actual ads and newspapers. We would be being interviewed on the radio for radio spots. Yeah, yeah. That and then you would go to other businesses. We were a downtown business, so we would take flowers downtown and remind people that Valentine's Day is only two weeks away. So that was totally different, right? Yeah, way back then. But one thing's still the same, Lori. It's always February 14th.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yes, it is. It's always the same. February 14th. Yep, yep. So what are we gonna talk about today? I was looking through the notes, and you wanted to talk about prepping week by week. And we kind of we've done this before in the past, but we always get positive feedback when we do this on the podcast because we get new listeners every year. And so we always think it's important. And I always think to myself, this is a podcast that you can put on in your back room for all of your employees, you know, and kind of walk through, okay, this is what we should be doing.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

So uh and they can be chiming in then, oh, we also do this, we also do, you know, certain things that are exclusive to that shop that maybe everyone doesn't do, but in your shop you're like, oh, but we also do this, which I think is fun to just add in your thoughts when you're playing this in the back room. I think that's a great idea. Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

So a few weeks ago, we flower click did a live staff meeting, which was very fun. So we're going to assume that you either held your own staff meeting or you went to that one. So you've gotten that out of the way. So you've already held that, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:10

We hope so, yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

We hope so. So the other thing I put in the top of this note, uh, before the real technical things went down the the way that you wrote, is I think before every big holiday like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day, as a collective team, it's a great idea to come up with a goal together, whether it's monetary or it could be something as okay, if we get through this week with nobody having a meltdown. I mean, that could be the goal, right? Right. I think that's a valid goal. I would be in on that goal because I would be one having a meltdown. Like whatever you guys as a team want to have, that be the team goal. And it can just be, you know, it could be funny, it could be whatever you want it, but you all have to agree on it. And then if you reach that goal, what is the incentive?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

I like that. That's a great idea. And it could be each of the employees could have a goal that they put in here, right? So it could be I plan to sell five $500 arrangements or one, right? Something like that, or like you said, no meltdown, or um, I plan to do X amount of arrangements, or maybe it's we're not gonna have one bad review this year or Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Yes, something like that. Yeah, right. No, well, and they could even write them all down, put them on a put them on a bingo card, yeah, and hang them somewhere in the back and see if you achieved them. Because that like you always talk about that week is insane, it's crazy. And if you can walk by it and look over and go, okay, all right, I'm still doing it. I'm hanging in there, I'm I'm doing this, you know, and it's it's a motivating factor. And then you're motivating your coworkers as well. Exactly all about you, right? Exactly. Everyone, yeah. Somebody else does the $300 roses, you're like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna do that one too, or something like that. So yeah, yeah, that's a great idea, Lori.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

And one thing that I didn't have on here, and I would really suggest everyone think about doing this today, is pull your computer out and suck all that dust out of the back of it. Because one of the worst things to do is if your computer goes down during Valentine's Week, you're really in big trouble. And if you haven't done that, it is really eye-opening. If you don't have a laptop, you have a computer sitting there on your desk, and then just pull that out and you'll just go, ooh, that's just disgusting. Just take a little vacuum cleaner, clean it out. Yeah, I think you'll be happy. It's your computer will one run a little bit faster because it's not bogged down because of the heat. Anyway, so that's one that wasn't on the list, but I just thought of. Fun fact, as will your dryer if you clean out your dryer.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Ooh, there you go. Learned that the hard way. Um, okay. Next one that I will say, and then it really does go down to your specifics. You gotta make sure your whole team staff is I'm gonna use the word educated because I know you don't like the word trained, on customer service, advanced customer service, great, exemplary customer service, right? Because you it's their time to shine. Absolutely, I think it's a good time to remind them that their face is your brand. They are your store. Everything they say, every action they show is a reflection of your shop, all the way down to the delivery driver, even the trash taker out or in the alley. Everybody is a reflection of the store. So it's really, really, really important to be mindful during the crunch times and the stressful times and the oh my gosh, I'm exhausted times, that I am still reflecting Vonda's flower shop.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Because Lori, most customers only will buy a couple times a year. So if you alienate that customer for Valentine's Day, when you're so crazy and you're like, they don't understand, they don't understand how busy we are. Yeah, they don't know that. You have to treat them like they're the only customer you're serving right now because then they will come back, they will remember that, they will remember that customer service.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Yeah, yeah. You know, I was thinking, you know, I scroll a lot on Instagram, that's no secret to the world, and on TikTok, R I P TikTok, if it's gonna go away. Anyway, I was thinking yesterday, because I follow so many flower shops, and I'm always looking at their ideas and their marketing, you know, and what's how my brain works, and I was thinking how it would be because so many of these reels they look like they're so much fun, like the people and that they're having a blast. And I thought, how would I feel because some of these they aren't in my town, but if I walked into their shop after watching all of their reels and they treated me like they were evasive or they were you know aloof or just not very nice or having I would be devastated, yeah, yeah, absolutely devastated if the reflection of their social media did not reflect how they treated me in person.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

That's a false brand, right? So it's yeah, brand is not what they really are, yeah. They're protecting a certain brand, but in truth, in truth, that's not who they are.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Like you gotta make sure everything aligns.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

And so good point. And really, when you're just saying that make sure everyone is educated or trained, yeah. The same thing is now is make sure you're having those fun times or that advertising, whether you're doing something on social, this is a time to do that, right? Get people interacted, and you know, whether you're throwing hearts up in the air or something to let people know this is this is this is a time to be doing it.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Again, I've been so excited to see many flower shops have been doing a lot of their preview Valentine's Day designs already and getting their names out there or showing even like cute vases that they got for Valentine's Day, or even ri somebody did a whole thing on different ribbon the other day. One of our clickers, she's like, open a box with me, you know. And and it was all of this really pretty Valentine's Day pre-wrap wrap for bundles. She's gonna just do a bunch of different bundles as one of her special bundles, yeah, order specials, and it was different colors for Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

And I was like, these are great, these are so good, yeah. Exactly. So you had just mentioned, make sure everybody's educated and trained. We both have said that. How long do I need to concentrate on training a new person who's coming in? Because a lot of shops have to hire other people for at least that week of Valentine's Day. What is it that I can do to get them up to speed on what they need to do for Valentine's Day?

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Well, you know, my short answer there is to buy flower clicks sales prep school, but the answer there for how long is until you hear them confident in their practice, right? I would never put someone on my telephone until I heard them in a role-playing situation, and then they're like, Yeah, their tone of voice is great. They're confident. Oh, they're so creative, like those kind of things, and I can hear them knowing, oh, they're gonna be amazing on the phone. My biggest fear, if I was a shop owner, would be someone who answers my phone and says Lori's flower shop and messes up slightly and loses that customer forever.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

That's something that people really don't think about when they own a shop, is that they're putting new people on the phone and they don't realize the lack of knowledge and lack of confidence, how that's coming through to that, how it's coming through.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

It's one thing if it's in person, because the when it's face to face, you can tell, oh, I'm I'm new. And you know, you can sort of help that new employee, but when it's over the phone, yeah, the person on the other end is like, what is wrong with this person? Like, what is this shop? It's a whole different thing. And until that person can answer the phone confidently, with a kind tone of voice, and be somewhat entertaining, you know, with some personality in in their voice, yeah. Don't don't set them up to fail you and themselves.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

So you're gonna role-play them with somebody who is already in the store who really is one of your best salespersons. So I have a new person who's coming in the store and hey, I'm I really I can work for you for Valentine's Day. Let me just sit and answer the phone. Great. I'd love to have you do that. But what I need you to do is spend at least a day with Lori because she is gonna do some role-playing to make sure you know you understand these sales scripts I'm gonna give you, you understand the delivery process and all of the um systems in place for the three days of Valentine's Day, so to speak.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, yeah. And they need to observe and they need to know, they need to ask questions. Like, I think a lot of times new employees are either afraid to ask questions or just kind of sit back. If I was a boss, I would be very leery of a new employee that sat through the whole day and never asked one question.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah, that's a really good point. Really good point. But the interesting thing is from my experience, I can tell you that a lot of those people who are gonna be helping at Valentine's Day are friends of a friend or whatever. So they're not probably really what you would call an employee. Right. So that's the hardest part, is because they feel like, well, why do I have to learn all this? I'm only gonna do it for two days, right? And so trying to instill that in them, like, hey, what you're doing is really important. Yeah, I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Well, that's why you have that right out of the gate, right? Your mindset is you're not an employee. I get that, but to the customer, you are so just for two days, we're gonna pretend you work here full time. Yes, it's your full-time job. We're playing a sitcom. We can or a drama, whatever you want this to be, it can be. You know, you're gonna be acting. So I would just set the stage for them and let them pretend to be whatever they want. But from the customer's point of view, they work their full time, it's their dream job.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

That is such a good point, though, because I've been in that place. It's like, I'm just gonna do it for you. I'm gonna do it for a favor. This is my favorite. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Have someone coming in thinking, oh, I'm just doing this for you a favor with that mindset.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yeah, they could be in the front room more so because, like you said, oh, I'm just helping them out today because I'm requesting, I'm sweeping and dusting and taking the trash. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Yeah, stay away from my customers. Okay, got it. Okay, you know, that's that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

So, anyway, love it.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

All right, understood. Moving on.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Okay, we're gonna move on. So, the next thing I would say after you've got staff all educated and your part-time people ready to work, you need to be sure that your website is ready. You've been talking probably since before Christmas about what your specials are gonna be for the holiday, or maybe you haven't. Maybe it's the last minute. Right. But your website is what brings people into you. Your social media is what's bringing people into you. So make sure that you are visible out there, you know, on the social platforms to bring people in, whether you're even taking flowers to, you know, local restaurants or somewhere to do some advertising. That's a great idea. Do some marketing. But the website is number one. People are coming to your website and they're looking to see what you have. Be sure that you have something fun on there, something that you can reproduce easily so that they're going to be satisfied when they get that order or they see what you're doing. And make sure it's priced appropriately. I guess that's my big things. Website should be ready because when the website is ready, then you know what flowers you should order. The flowers that are ordered should be, if you haven't already ordered them by a pre-book, like an early bird special, you need to be sure that you're pricing them appropriately so that the more you do, the more you don't lose. And I know people have heard me say that before, but if they're not priced correctly, you could be losing money on each thing you're selling at at a holiday. And that happens often. So please, please, please check your prices, check what's on the website. And if you don't have your website ready for the holiday, that's kind of our specialty, Lori. We could just get them on.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

It is let me ask you a question. And if you can't answer this, you can just delete it out of the pod. We can just edit it out. Okay. I I've seen this twice in the last couple weeks and on websites, not flower click members, because we merchandise our websites, but a couple of different websites. What are your thoughts on websites that for something like Valentine's Day, all they have are designer choice?

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Well, let me say I can understand why they do that. It's so much more. Why?

SPEAKER_02 21:25

What is the what's the thought process? Talk to me from a custom I'm a customer.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Okay. Well, first let me talk to you from a shop owner.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

So as a shop owner, it's easy to do designer's choice. I just put designer's choice up there, maybe different color palettes and different price ranges. Then the order comes in, and the designers can do whatever they want. They can pull orders that they've already pre done. Now, let's flip that. As a customer, it's been proven that as a customer, when they go on a website, they see designer's choice. They don't know that flower shop, right? I don't know Lori's flowers. And all it says is designer's choice. I don't know what my designer at Lori's flower shop can do. Right. So it's makes me back away. And I'm like, let me find a shop who has some pictures of something. Right. So I can see the style they do. So I can see, you know, what it is that I would let the designers do. So our suggestion is that you at least have some designs up there that have the style of design that you're capable of doing. Or maybe it's not something that you've done yourself, but it's something like, oh, I really like this design. I can do something like this. And that your customers are going to like. Because now then I could trust if I see something at $150 in this a design that I like, but I only want to spend $99. I might go with the designer's choice at $99 because I can see what this shop is.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah. No, I agree. I that's exactly how I feel as a customer. If if it was like the local flower shop here that I love, I know it well. I've ordered it many times. If it was a designer's choice, I wouldn't be as hesitant because I know what I'm getting. Correct. But typically, when I'm ordering flowers, it's not local. It's I'm ordering it from some other state to have it sent to somebody else. I don't know those people. I have no idea who their designers are and what choices they make in their life.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

So I will say, as being a former shop owner, that there will be many times that a customer will call who is your customer, right? And they'll just say that they would even tell my employees, just have Vonda do whatever she wants, spend about a hundred dollars. And then you're like, yeah, yeah. That's but that's totally different.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

They haven't looked like I do that to our Flower Click members, right? When I call a Flower Click shop and I'm if it's in a town where I'm like, here's how much I want to spend, make it okay, make it pink, okay, you know, whatever. But I don't like it. I'm gonna be real honest. I don't like it when I see a website that only has designer's choice.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Because we're visual.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah, we are.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

That's right. We're visual people, and and it frustrates me because I feel like that shop is probably housing fabulous designers in that store, and they're not showing us their stuff.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

I totally agree. I think you you're kind of shooting yourself in the footing that. Right. So anyway, all right, go back, go back to your outline. Well, one other thing I want to say about ordering those flowers. Let's come back to that, is that make sure you're taking a look. I think we talked about this, taking a look to see if your orders were down on a Friday. Like everybody thinks they are. That perception is that, oh, it's gonna be down, it's gonna be down, people are going out of town. But I really want to encourage each and every one of you to go and look at those numbers because I will have to say this last week I've had so many of our Flower Click members that I've helped with, and their Fridays actually have been either even or slightly up from a Wednesday when last time it happened. So, anyway, so let's just move on from that. Do you have add-ons for all of your products that are either on the website or in the store? Take a look, look around the store. There might be things you had left over for gifts for Christmas that you can promote.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Extra candles, like what chocolate is a big, big thing. Cards, I'm telling you, nice cards, personalized, yeah. Well, just like normal sized cards, greeting cards, greeting cards, greeting cards is what I'm trying to think of. We have a couple of members that started carrying really nice greeting cards and some really funny greeting cards, and they both said they cannot keep those in stock.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

They can sell those for like seven bucks as a quick, easy add-on.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah, yeah. So people have jewelry, you know, jewelry, yeah, whatever. Look around the store and pick out something like you often say in sales prep school, just pick out something, pick out something. What is it gonna be today? Yep. No, and then take pictures, schedule your social posts. If you have vases and containers that are you're gonna use like a leaf wrap inside, like an aspidist or a ribbon leaf wrap, get all of those cut to length and ready so that you don't have to stand and do that as each one comes in. So anything you can do for preparing your containers beforehand, that should be done. If you're doing ribbon, tie in bows on things. Maybe you're even doing bows on items that are going out the door or your candy. All of that should be done a week ahead of time. I mean, you can do it now if your candy is in or if your things are in. The big question, when are your flowers arriving? And uh obviously the question on social media all the time for people who are newer is when can we start designing? When can we start always? Or do we have to wait for two till a few days before? You know, a general rule of thumb is if the flowers are in your store and in water anyway, they might as well be designed in water and ready to go. So if they're coming in that weekend before, you can easily start them on that Monday. I mean, they could be, you know, 50% done on Monday. And they're just in the cooler, in water, the same. Foam, sometimes we wait a few more days for that, but Monday, Tuesday, you can start designing those, getting everything ready. And then on sales day, all you have to do is put tags on things and go out the door. When I'm saying production day, you be sure and do a uh production line so everybody's putting flowers in. You can do 10 arrangements at a time. Some people will do 20 at a time if you have a log large enough table. So just keep thinking about that. What can we get done beforehand so that on that day we can just sell marks sold and get out the door, whether they're picking it up or on delivery. And speaking of delivery, let your delivery driver know what a huge responsibility they have. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I I don't think we stress that enough because I know we would have eight drivers come in and they were just like, okay, what are we doing? Well, let me tell you first how important what you're doing is and how delivering those with a smile. This is a very special occasion for everybody receiving these flowers. If it falls over, you do this. If they're not home, you do this. You know, all the policies in line. But gosh, that driver can make or break your day. Oh, 100%. We had a driver one year, a friend who said he was going to come in and drive. This was when I was in Iowa, actually, and we were delivering to Iowa State University. So we were going to the dorms and everywhere else. And this man was just the sweetest guy. And we sent him out with a whole bunch of arrangements that went to the dorms. Well, the dorms have post offices that you leave them at, and somebody signs that they're receiving all of these. This poor gentleman was never told that you didn't have to take him to the rooms. He had 50. Oh no. Instead of leaving at the post office, he was taking to each one of the dorm rooms. I couldn't believe he could get in to start with, but they let him in because he had all these flowers and he kept going back and forth. So that's the perfect OMG. I forgot to tell you something. Communication. So communicate, communicate, communicate. What it is that driver needs to do and what he does with the driver. But yeah, and you know, Lori, big deal is just attitude that day, that week. Yeah. You know, your mindset, your attitude, just uh all of it, all of it. So whether it's your first or your 50th, it's good.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

And you know what? I think you would say I don't want to put words in your mouth, but 50 Valentine's Days, something different every year.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

It is, but there's always something memorable every year. Let's say, but again, I've said it before, Valentine's Day to me was the easiest holiday because you're prep, prep, prep, and then you got it. Three days and you're over. It's quick and easy. You just have to know, you know, guys, we only have one week left. Okay, now we only have six days, we have five days. It's in where Mother's Day, it's like, oh my gosh, we're busy this whole week all day long, and and then we go right into another holiday. Christmas is a month long, but Valentine's Day, you guys, it's over in a in a kind of a snap. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

I think from my perspective, it's so fascinating to see how different flower shops look at Valentine's Day as a holiday. Many of them are do look at it as challenge and opportunity and do get a little excited and a little anxious, but they're like, Oh my gosh, here it comes. And you know, they're gearing up and they're prepping and they're excited. And then other ones are just like, uh, I'm thinking of closing. It's on a Friday. I may just close. What do you guys think? Like, I saw crazy how they're such extremes.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Yes, I saw that. I saw several of them, and I'm like, What?

SPEAKER_02 31:57

I'm like, oh my gosh, this is it's just fascinating to me from a psychological standpoint to think how people look at, you know, you go back to is it a challenge or is it an opportunity?

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

And it's mindset, it's absolutely we immediately think, uh, it's just not worth it. Yep. And then other people go, heck yeah, it is. We're gonna do this and it's gonna be a blast.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yep. It's all like you said, it's all the mindset, it's mindset. So we're just gonna challenge everybody to have that good mindset, right? That positive mindset, and look at this opportunity and go, we're gonna make a lot of people happy and a lot of memories, a lot of memories, and a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Let's say a lot of money. Absolutely, that's the bottom line. 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.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

We look forward to seeing you next week. 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.