Spring Forward: Mother’s Day Strategies from the Directors

Episode 273: Vonda and Lori are joined by Flower Clique's other two directors, Kami Martin and Ellie LaFever, in this episode packed with tangible takeaways to help your flower shop thrive this spring. From prepping for Mother’s Day and prom season to tackling pricing concerns and marketing strategies, the team shares expert tips to set you up for success.

They dive into everything from how to name products to ensuring high-quality product photography. Plus, they discuss the importance of training employees effectively and avoiding common pitfalls when onboarding new staff.

Tune in for a mix of industry know-how, real-world examples, and a few unexpected detours—including a heartfelt discussion about eagle-watching! ;)

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:01

I'm sure other people notice it too. What I've been seeing on social a lot, and I'm sorry if I offend anybody here, but welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers.

SPEAKER_05 0:15

We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson, and we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Hello, Vonda, Cammy and Ellie. I've got the whole gang here today, which makes my heart very happy. Um sad, y'all. I'm very sad today. Are any of you following the Eagle Cam? Any of you familiar with the Eagle Cam, Big Bear? Leslie watches. Yes, Leslie's in it with me. Because her sister, my best friend, I'm in a big group. Now I've been following Shadow and Eagle for over two years now. So are those two different Eagles? They're married. They're a couple. They're married. They're Eagles. The Eagle's name is Eagle? Shadow and Jackie. Sorry, Jackie. Jackie. Shadow and Jackie. They've been together for at least three years. I've been following them a couple years. Now there's been drama because Shadow, there was a guy before Shadow, but Shadow. Anyway, that's a whole nother story. Last year they had three eggs and the eggs never hatched. And that was traumatic. It was so sad, and lots of tears were shed across the world. This year, all three of their eggs hatched. And so there is a 24-7 live camera on YouTube. So the world is watching, and we are all coming together, and it's a beautiful thing. However, this morning, one of the little babies is missing.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 1:59

It's heartbreaking. It's absolutely gut-renting. And there's a horrible snowstorm. And Jackie, the mama who's phenomenal, is keeping them warm. She is sitting through these blizzards. And Shadow keeps coming back with like part of a duck and like part of the things to give them food. But I'm not quite sure what happened. The third one that was hatched was hatched later and he tipped over a lot. And he was just this little straggler fighting for his life. But he was doing really well. And now I don't know if he's buried in the snow. I read on here somebody said that Shadow's claw got snagged on him as he was getting out of the nest and maybe drew him out of the nest. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

But all I know is he's gone. I don't know if I want to watch this now. You at first I'm like in and I'm ready to masochist. Yeah, masochist. Now I'm like sad with you, and I don't even know. So sad.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

And like I'm in this group text with all of my friends from high school. And one of them, she's in France on business, and she's like sobbing. She's like, I've used so much international data on this.

SPEAKER_05 3:19

Because she's so invested and she's like sobbing. It's horrible. It's awful because you're so invested and yet it's nature, right? Like it's nature, yeah. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_06 3:29

Yeah, if you had a camera on nature all the time, you'd say a lot more than that. I know. Well boy.

SPEAKER_05 3:34

Like, why can't someone climb up this tree and save this little baby? But we can't, and it's just uh it's killing me. Me and uh I'm sure there's a list thirty-seven thousand other subscribers on right now.

SPEAKER_06 3:50

Yep. There's probably a few listeners that feel the same as you, Lori, and and just know you guys can have a support group together. I know, I know it.

SPEAKER_05 3:59

Yeah, I'm here if if anyone else feels this way. I bet you, Renee Tucci, who texted me last week and said, I love when you say my name.

SPEAKER_06 4:08

Like if she's watching this, she'll Mimi. Mimi is an animal lover too.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So she might she might be watching the eagles. I've obviously been watching too much drama because the moment you said there was another guy before Shadow and there was be missing, I immediately thought it was the other guy. The other eagle. I'm watching like crying. I gotcha. I follow, I'm following you.

SPEAKER_06 4:34

It's like real housewives.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah. I don't even know what you're talking about. You said there was another eagle before shadow. Maybe in her lap baby. They've been married for like three years, but before maybe there was some foul play. Oh I've been writing in like 48 hours. Yeah, I've been reading some suspenseful theme things like that. So my that is too much.

SPEAKER_05 4:56

I can't handle that type of anxiety. That's that's not nature. You and Vonda need to have like a side conversation without me. I am not sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Well, you alluded to that, Lori. It was you. You planted this.

SPEAKER_05 5:09

Well, it's because that's where your crazy little psychotic minds go there.

SPEAKER_06 5:13

Yeah, I go there as well. More than the eagle.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Probably not it. Not the eagle falling out of the nest. That didn't even occur to me. But it's all nature. I mean, it's sad, but come on. Yeah. Jeez. Come on. The circle of life. It's the city.

SPEAKER_05 5:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

The circle of life.

SPEAKER_06 5:30

Circle of life, Lori. Come on. Have you watched Running Point, Lori? No. Oh. That people are comparing it to Ted Lasso a little bit. I just wondered. Oh, I need to. I'm surprised you haven't watched it yet. That's all. I have not. It's on Netflix.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

Yeah, I did attempt to about basketball.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 5:51

Kate Hudson. Kate Hudson. I do have it on my list. You know what I tried to watch because of you? And then I got in two episodes and I had to White Lotus? No. No, haven't even tried that one yet. Because my kids are like, I don't know if you can get through it, but you should try it. Succession.

SPEAKER_06 6:07

Oh, what? You couldn't get through Succession?

SPEAKER_05 6:09

It just is too much. Dark. Very dark. It is too much. I forgot you. They are just mean people.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

It was depressing me. It was.

SPEAKER_05 6:19

All three of my children were able to watch it. My my husband's watching.

SPEAKER_06 6:24

I have to leave the We have very different tastes in shows. Succession and White Lotus are my top shows. Succession. They are just so mean.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Uh-huh. Cammy, did you watch? I did. I watched several episodes. I maybe maybe six or seven. And I told my husband, this is just making me lose faith in humanity.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Like it that's what it was doing to me.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, there's something about it. Like it believe me, it's suspenseful and it keeps you like, but it makes me I think that's a perfect segue for something today.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Is it Vonda? Yes, it really is. I don't know. I kind of like to just watch when you look at things that are happening there, you have anxiety, right? Oh, I like that. See, that's my segue. I was like, we we got a segue out of all this.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

She's like, where can I find it to hold here? Where can I get it?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Sort of. Sort of.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

Sort of, Lori.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Come on.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Sword. Okay. So the reason we have gathered here today is to join us all together.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Talk about spring. Woohoo!

SPEAKER_05 7:32

All of the upcoming more holidays, gals. We got Mother's Day, we've got admin assistance day, which for some reason keeps coming out of my mouth as Ambassador's Day. Well, kind of interesting. Maybe, yeah. And admin assistance day. And all of there's other ones. What other ones are we? Mom, we have Easter graduation, all of the things. All of the things Memorial Day then? Yes. Finishing it up. So all of the stuff that's making Cammy get splotchy. Vonda and I were talking about when we were planning the next quarter of podcasts. We were thinking it would be a good time for the four of us to come on and just kind of think about the questions. What what are we hearing? Or what are we seeing and what do we say? And Ellie, I giggled when you were like, okay. It's like what does that mean? What? What we're seeing and what we say. What do you mean by that? And so I get it now. What we meant was what are people coming to you? Like when you went to Next Gen, what was the buzz? Like, what were you hearing people talk about mostly? And then based on all of that kind of stuff, what did you internalize that you're like, yeah, that's really good. This is what I'm thinking. Based on that, what would be your suggestions for businesses in people in the business? So that's kind of where we thought that makes for a good pod. It does. I don't know. It does. Helps them plan ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I love it. So Vonda, do you have anything to add to that? No, that's what the plan was. I'm going to X out of Shadow and Jackie so I don't get it. Okay. I think that's probably.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

That's why your Wi-Fi was slow. Yeah, I think you immediately cleared up, Lori.

SPEAKER_05 9:22

Yeah. Probably. Yeah. Well, you know what? I owe it to them. Poor guys.

SPEAKER_06 9:28

Poor people. So I think starting with that one, you can't control what the Eagles do, right? You just get anxiety about the Eagles because you feel helpless. I do. So let's kick it off with one of Vonda's tips. You mean the T the T tip with tariffs? You mean that one? Yes. And the anxiety that people are inevitably feeling.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

They are. There's so much anxiety around the tariffs, and what are we going to do? And oh my gosh, how are we going to pivot? What's going to happen? And really, as Ellie was just alluding, it's all about what you can control. You can't control what's happening with that, but you can control how you react to it. You can control what you're doing for your customers. And as long as you continue to offer quality product, quality service above everybody around you, they're going to keep coming to you. Your customers are not going to go, oh, there's a tariff, flowers are expensive, and I'm not going to go there. They're not going to say that. So continue to give your really great customer service, your product that is above everyone else, and they're going to continue to buy flowers from you. Right.

SPEAKER_05 10:36

You know, Vonda, along those lines, and if you don't agree with this, you can cut it out. I was talking to a person who reached out to us last week asking about the flower click, ended up becoming a member. But she grew up kind of in this industry. She learned from some other generations about how to run a flower shop, but she learned some habits that maybe aren't the right way. And one of the things that she doesn't want to do is always keep a completely fully, fully stocked cooler because she realizes how expensive it is. And listening to you and thinking about the tariffs, maybe realign your business plan, you know, during this time. Maybe think through hey, do I need to keep doing business the way I'm doing it? Can I, as Vonda says, work smarter this way? Can I? I'm not saying everybody needs to buy our bundles, but think through how you're purchasing things too. Are you doing it the correct way? Do you need to have three times a day uh deliveries? Do you need to have 25, 30 different categories on your website? Like those kind of things. Maybe, maybe now take those times to restrategize. I look for inefficiencies. Yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

And definitely don't panic and and throw out things that are working. I had a shop email me who is kind of in that panic trying to save money where she can. And she was kind of looking at even our services. And I ran her numbers. Actually, Sherry ran her numbers and gave them to me of month over month, year over year website orders. Yeah. And we went back all the way to 2020 through literally, you know, last month. Okay. And I'm looking at them and dang, that website is performing well. I mean, she has got 12% conversion rate plus like every month. Right. AOV average order value is $125 and up. And she gets a good amount of orders on that website. And I said, We need to talk. But I'm like, do not change this. You so lean into what is working. Don't panic and just start chopping things. You've got to make sure it's smart, right? I know I'm certain she'll make a good decision there and we're going to meet and all of that. But it just kind of made me think, gosh, they're panic. You gotta control what you can control, lean into what's working, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Well, and you have to apply those costs to what they're associated with, not things that they're not. Sopping other costs. I mean, okay, let's lower our telephone bill. Well, that's not gonna do you any good, right? Well, see what it is that you are experiencing those extra costs from. And I mean you need to raise your prices if you need to do that. Right, right. Yeah, right. Yeah. So speaking of that, I'm gonna start because every kind of thing starts with knowing what you're gonna sell for the spring holidays, right? And the conversations I've had this week. So what I've heard is that, oh my gosh, it's been slow this week, or I'm just not sure what's gonna happen for the holidays. So it's that fear-based of what's gonna happen in the next months to come. One thing you should do first is to pull what you did last year. I think that is one of the things that makes everybody feel better. You might find that last year, this week, you were not busy either. And that gives comfort knowing this is really the trend that your shop has year over year. So pull numbers for prom, for Easter, for administrative professionals week, or if Lori would ask you, is it Ambassadors? Ambassadors Week. Ambassadors Week.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

I'm starting the ambassador week. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

And then Mother's Day. But pay close attention to not just the number of sales you have, but what did you sell in fresh flowers? How many plants did you sell? Is there a certain gift line that you're looking at? And sympathy, wedding. So look at the categories, not just your overall sales, and know what to expect going forward. So that's my encouragement is we find comfort in knowing what we've done in the past, even the last couple years, like you mentioned, Cammy, going back to 2020 is what you did with some of these customers. And you're like, oh my gosh, you know, yes, we know the COVID years, but then what happened in 2022, 2023, 2024? So in that area. So yeah. Control what you can control and start with knowing where you started to where you want to be.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Good advice. All right, Cammy, do you want to go? Well, I was looking at my week, and the word I heard a lot this week was prom. So a lot of shops are getting ready for prom. One trend I'm seeing more of, and a lot of successful members who do a lot of prom sales are doing this, and then others are asking me how to do this. So I'm kind of showing them examples, but it's to kind of have an open-ended format for prom girls or moms or whoever's ordering to enter information about what they're looking for, you know, on the website instead of calling. Of course, a lot of them are going to call the shop, which is probably what many of you like. But if you want them to use the website having more of an open-ended format, like a like a pick list or some kind of form, many of the website platforms out there have a form that you can create fields that they can fill in the color of their dress or their style preference or certain flowers, you know, those kinds of preferences they have, and then it'll submit to maybe your email. A lot of shops I've been working with are using a third party, like Jotform is a pretty inexpensive form that you can customize. They'll put their little logo up there and have it sent to their email. So I'm seeing that trend more and more, kind of like the prom bar for a while was a trend. I'm sure it's still a trend where they come in the shop and do the prom bar, but this is kind of that same concept online in a way that shops are making that happen. So I wanted to share that.

SPEAKER_06 16:58

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Top of the mind, the prom because some have them several weeks in a row, and getting organized for that is great. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:08

I just have a quick one that's kind of different from these, well, similar, but what I'm seeing more than what I'm hearing. I'm sure other people notice it too. What I've been seeing on social a lot, and I'm sorry if I offend anybody here, but I can tell as I'm scrolling the captions that are just copy paste directly from Chat GPT. And there's a few telltale signs there. Sometimes they forget to take off the little quotation marks on either end, like the quotes. Yeah. That's one. Two, there's always two emojis after the first line. There's one sentence, two emojis, another sentence, one emoji or two emojis. And then the hashtags that they do, hashtags, it's all capitalized, like say it with flowers. It's in title case, so the first letters of each word are capitalized. Um make yourselves human. I would recommend take the extra couple seconds to delete those two emojis. I don't know if you have to tweak it a little or add a sentence that isn't so perfect because I think more and more as Chat GPT is used by everybody, it's like we're all just talking as robots to each other.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Right.

SPEAKER_06 18:29

And that's not really cutting through the noise of social. So I would just encourage you to humanize yourselves a bit with use it as a tool. Use it as a tool, but not as a crutch and not as an end-all be-all. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

100%.

SPEAKER_06 18:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

And what about the images when I'm scrolling, Ellie?

SPEAKER_06 18:52

So that's the other one. I've got a few notes on this, and we can kind of have a broader conversation because I think we're all feeling and seeing and hearing this. So with the rise of social, everybody from age six to 86 is on social nowadays. And so with that, there's also tools like Canva and there's editing apps, and there's all these things that really put it as this change in technology is like becoming so ubiquitous with everybody, it's making everybody also confident to shoot their own product, which is great. I'm all for that. But what we are seeing a lot is that these products that people are offering, which are $100 plus products, so technically they're kind of a luxury good, right? They're not a necessity and they're a high price point. If that image is dark, if it's pixelated, if it's fuzzy, if it's crazy looking, I'm not paying. And I don't think other people are paying for that. So we want to be very careful when you guys are doing custom products that you are taking the time to shoot them in the correct lighting with the correct resolution, you know, taking it from that first shot, whether that's an iPhone or a camera, to translating it all the way to when that product gets uploaded, that it is as good as it can be and something that you would want to buy, for instance, if you're shopping at Nordstrom online or whatever your favorite online shop is when you're splurging on something that's $100 plus. I guarantee you those images or that product that you're shopping for is very well done. The shot is lit correctly, it's clear, you know exactly what you're getting. So I would just recommend that you're really taking the time to make sure that your custom products are quality.

SPEAKER_05 20:54

Yeah. I've said this before on our podcast, but I don't think I can overstate this. I think I say it after every photo shoot we have. And I am the gopher at the photo shoot, so I sit back and watch everything, but I don't think people understand how incredibly hard it is to photograph flowers well to look beautiful yet realistic. Like it's almost impossible because everything you're saying is correct. But I think it's even worse when I see flower shop websites who have overcompensated and photoshopped the crap out of something, and I'm like, in a way it's gonna look like this in person. They're going to get a negative review because God didn't make flowers like this. Like it's impossible, right? Yeah. And so that is the battle when we're doing photo shoots, right? How do you make it look as perfect as flowers are going to let us make them look?

SPEAKER_06 22:23

While still being realistic.

SPEAKER_05 22:25

While still being able to replicate it. And I think that's what gets your goat, makes us frustrated when we see websites like that. Honestly, it makes me more frustrated to see that than it does somebody who took an image that's really dark. Because I'm like, well, they tried. At least that's just horrible lighting. But when they make it look so over the top that you were like, there's no way.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Someone sent me a picture this week and she asked me my opinion, and it was super cute. It was actually her dog holding a flower, and it was like it was super cute. And I said, This is perfect for social media. It's not website worthy. And she knew it and she said, That's exactly what I was thinking. Like, you know, there's a difference between what you can put on social and what you can put on your website.

SPEAKER_06 23:23

Your website is such valuable real estate that you want to make sure when you're taking up a little spot that you're getting your return on that investment of that little spot, right? So I think it is great to have a USP, a unique selling point proposition, whatever you want to call it, but you don't want it to do more harm than good. Right. You don't want your unique selling point to shoot you in the foot. Right. Right. So just making sure that there's a balance along with that, which leads into another point that we all had. With the rise of social, if I see one more Trader Joe's bouquet, like DIY bouquet, that's totally fine. But there is no more elephant in the room. That is a major thing that's happening. You pick up flowers at Trader Joe's, you bring it home, maybe it's for a gift. So we have to kind of rise above that. And with that, you become the luxury gifting destination. And so having great options for bundling, and you guys can speak more into that as you see it.

SPEAKER_05 24:26

And I had that on my list too. And Cammy, I think you mentioned it also. We have been hammering the bundles for years with our Flower Click members and on the podcast and in our webinars about pushing people want one-stop shopping with holidays and on, not just that. But so if you do have giftware or any other product, be sure that you can share that. You know, I always tell people, especially when they're calling, they don't know what's in your store. It's your job to tell them. Um, and so to speak to what you're saying, I've been seeing more and more and more, at least within our flower click community, they are knocking it out of the park selling more bundles and vignette type things, and not just plush and a balloon or a box of chocolates. Like they're picking the cool, fun stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Yeah, I have uh shops sending me one of their premium candles that they have with the flower arrangement, with their their specialty chocolates, and crafting a gift for mom kind of thing. And they did that at Valentine's Day as well. And and it was so successful. I have several shops doing this, making some birthday bundles that she keeps year-round, some anniversary bundles, making it clear what I mean by bundles, and I think that's what you mean by bundles, bundling your gift, and it helps you get that gift wear gone, right? All of the things absolutely and it differentiates you to draw back, it differentiates you from the Trader Joe's Trader Joe's. Okay, right. Love it. Good good advice.

SPEAKER_05 26:05

No, I love it. All right, I have a whole bunch of notes, but I'm gonna just stick to one thing because mine could be an entire 30-minute podcast. I talk to a lot of people. Yes, you do. Yeah, I hear a lot of things. One of the main things that I have been doing in the last three weeks, actually, and since even coming back from Nexgen and the conversations I even had in Nexgen, one of the things I've been doing is pulling what we call progress reports. And what that is, is for people that are in our prep schools, our sales prep or flower prep schools. The owner will email me and say, Hey, can you check on Ellie LaFever? How's she doing? Did she go through the course? And I'm like, sure. So I can go in and I can look at a short version and look at her enrollment, and it will say she's completed 75% or 32%. But then I can do a deep dive and I can log into those courses and look at what's called a heat map. And that heat map will show me every single video. And if it turns, it turns colors that will show me how many times she watched each video. So all I'm looking for is a color, right? To show me that she watched a video. If it's white, it shows they've never watched the videos. There is a workaround this an employee can click, click and continue and go to the next one. Click and continue, go to the next one, click and without ever watching a video. Here's what I tell every person that joins prep school make sure you share this with your staff that I can see this, you know, go okay, okay, okay, great, great, great. What I'm finding, number one, people are hiring a lot right now. Probably because of summer, summer schools. I mean, college is starting to sort of wind down, they're hiring new people. So they're kind of fast tracking on board, whatever. I would say 70% of the people that I am checking progress reports are just clicking, click and continue. Click and continue. However, it says 100% they completed, but the heat map shows zero videos have been watched. So either two things they watched it on somebody else's account, maybe, or they're lying, right? This is what I keep seeing, and this is a conversation I keep having with the people. So here's what I want to share with shots. Do not set your employee up to fail. What I'm finding is they're not having this conversation at the beginning. They're not saying, hey, here's the training, here's the challenges, here's the quizzes. Understand all this is going to be monitored. So it's really important you go do the deep dive. At the end of every day, Ellie and I created challenges. Those challenges, you're to actually do them. So you apply what you've learned so you know how to do the training. It's the owner and or the manager's responsibility to know what those challenges are so that you can easily see if your person knows what they're doing. Does that make sense? So it takes it takes a little work on the owner's part. Even though we created all of the content, all of the training, you still have to monitor your employees to make sure they do the work.

unknown 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

So that's that's been my, I don't want to say frustration, but my concern lately. Because I don't know if it is just employees that don't care or employees that have not been educated as to what the expectations are.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

I'm not surprised that that's what you brought because I've forwarded a lot of shops to you this week that are asking about the prep schools. And so now when you say that, I'm like, that's been a lot of conversations you've had this week. Everyone's got the training of employees on the mind. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. So interesting.

SPEAKER_05 30:46

I think what I would say to people who have sales prep school is don't set them up to fail. Like be open and upfront and say, here's what we're gonna do at the end of every day. And and the cool thing is we have this amazing binder, the workbook you can have printed out. Read the challenge at the end of each day, see what the challenge is, and then maybe discuss hey, you can easily figure out if they comprehend what they learned by just talking about the challenge.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:21

But to me, it's kind of like if I was to join Weight Watchers and expect to lose weight, but not ever follow the program.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Right.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

You know, it it's very similar to that.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Yeah. Love it. Love it my morning. Well, I brought up the I came with two because that was my assignment.

SPEAKER_05 31:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

I brought up the prom one at first. Second thing that I wanted to bring up is knowing that people b often buy based on the name of an equipment that you might consider giving for spring and in particular Mother's Day a special Mother's Day twist that can really make them buy, you know, for taking up that real estate on your website that Ellie talked about. Why are you shaking your head, Vonda?

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Kimmy, I think we talked about this a couple weeks ago when we were naming our new images, and you're like, oh gosh, I don't know. I don't know. No, I don't remember that at all.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

I do. I witnessed it. I remember no, it's true, Vonda. I I knew I was being a little bit two-faced when I brought this up. And I'm it's a lot more work, but we're doing I'm turning red behind the base makeup that you hear, but it's true.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

It's a lot more. Well, when we pull but when we pull numbers, the number one sellers are the ones for the holiday that have those names. They really are.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

She kind of bonda was like, because it is a lot more work. You have to a lot of work for you. You take a design that you already have a favorite or one that you just shot, and let's say you maybe name it vibrant vibe, right? If I'm using one of ours, but then for for Mother's Day, maybe it's vibrant as mom's love, right? Or one that's normally called Ethereal Dream. Now we've named it Endless Love for Mom. And it is amazing when we pull the numbers across the country, those were the top three. The ones that we did last year were the top sellers for Mother's Day because people buy based on the name. And and yes, you will have to have a different description, but you can use the same picture. And what we do when we create the website is we'll put vibrant vibe in birthday, but we'll put vibrant as your love or vibrant as her mom's love in Mother's Day. And it really does make a difference. So that's just a little thing you can do, a little extra thing. I've had shops tell me, you know, it's a little confusing sometimes for their employees. I'm just gonna say that up front. They'll say that was my biggest pushback is yes, it's but they'll be like, ah, I have the same design on my swipe site twice. Well, yes, you know, and then this goes back to what Lori said said, you know, educate your staff. Hey, there's two designs on the side that are alike, but we know customers buy based on name, so therefore we're leaning into that, and we're going to call it this and we're gonna have them buy that. So it's an emotional decision, right? It is, it's a and and flowers are an emotion.

SPEAKER_06 34:16

We have to tap into every sense as as much as possible.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Yeah, we're not trying to trick the customer or be, you know, we're trying to lean into like that name has power, and a lot of them want that. Uh what I've been told by our shops that actually sell it is the the customer then used it in the card description.

SPEAKER_05 34:37

If somebody had a bouquet for Mother's Day called Mom's a Vibe, my daughter would buy it. See? Yes 100%. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Because if she dresses me, she's like, oh, mom is such a vibe. Mom's a vibe. So have fun with it, right? Have fun with it. And and do some sweet ones, but do some kind of fun things out there that are gonna make younger generations go, oh my gosh, that's so my that's so my mom.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

And AI can help you with that. As Ellie mentioned, it can be a a tool, then you might have to refine it a little bit, it might be a little too out there, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:17

But yeah, or or have your younger employees help you even better. Yeah. You know, have them pick some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

The one thing I don't think we talked about a lot is making sure you market yourself. I think starting now, if you're sitting back and going, oh my gosh, it's so slow, I don't know what it's gonna do. Remember, you're in control, and being in control is about getting the word out there, what flowers do for the person who's receiving them. It's not just Mother's Day, but every single day. What are you doing to promote flowers in our industry, in your town, in your area? That's what we have to continue to do. You can't just sit back and just let people make the a decision to buy something else besides flowers.

SPEAKER_05 36:01

One of our members posted last night in our members-only Facebook group. He was like, last year our numbers were very low for admin day. What should we be doing right now? Blah, blah, blah. We had a handful of our members just chime in, and which again makes our hearts so happy. Um, everything they were saying just spoke to my heart. And of course, I chimed in everything every one of these people said, and then I went on with all of my stuff and educating and da da da da market, market, market. Post the crap out of everything on your social media. But I'm like, there's so much you can be doing.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

It works, and that is free, right? And it's free.

SPEAKER_05 36:47

That's what it's free. But like Chantel, she's like, bundles, call, the email, let reels, like all of this. And even Judy Keebert was like, Yes, it's decline, but you know, bring it back. And my whole thought is everything old is new again. Remember, we've talked about this. Bring it back. If you want a holiday to renew in your area, make it happen. Make it happen. Make it happen. I'm gonna make ambassadors. If I can make ambassadors' day a holiday, bring back admin day.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Love it. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_06 37:24

Awesome. I think that was a lot of good info. Hopefully you guys can walk away with some good inspiration. Yeah. Yeah. And we're always here to help.

SPEAKER_05 37:35

Yep. Yep. And if you guys have things that you're is hearing, let us know. Let us know if you have questions about certain things. And we'll do what we can to help you.

unknown 37:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 37:46

Thanks for being here, Cammy and Ellie.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Thanks for helping asking you. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_05 37:53

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_02 38:14

So please come back and join us with a bit of knowledge. Change your mind to take you to new levels in life and business.