Opportunity > Obstacles: A Candid State-of-the-Industry with SAF’s Kate Penn

Episode 303:  Society of American Florist (SAF) CEO Kate Penn joins Lori and Vonda to unpack what’s really happening in floral retail—rising consumer spend, experience-driven shopping, value-aligned buying, and how smart shops are winning with culture, training, and tighter ops. We hit staffing + succession, smaller holidays, practical website/SEO moves, SAF’s advocacy updates, and a sneak peek at SAF’s new AI “coach.” Actionable, optimistic, and real.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:02

I think five years ago, the term value-driven purchasing, I think it would have made people think just only about cost. Like how much does it cost?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Good morning, Vonda LaFever. We have a very special guest.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

We do. I'm so excited that we finally got Kate Penn to say yes, I'll be there.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

I know. Hi, Kate. Hi there. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 0:42

You're asking me to be here.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

You've been here before, but I believe you've never been here by yourself. You've always had a partner. I have. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_05 0:53

I just all I know is that I enjoy talking to you both, whether we're hanging out at an event that we both see each other at or if it's on this pod. Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Well, I feel like the times we've had you on, it's like Oscar's been with you, Oscar Fernandez. And then I think a time before somebody else. Anyway, Kate Penn, president of the Society of American Florists. Is that your legal title?

SPEAKER_05 1:17

No, actually, Lori Wheat, our president's elected. That's an elected position.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:22

The staff position is CEO.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

Okay. Perfect. Perfect. You are the CEO. So we're excited to have you. And we love talking to you when we see you. The problem is when we see you at convention, we're running one way. You're running one way. And we like wave. Hi, blah, blah, blah. See you later. And that's it.

SPEAKER_05 1:44

I know. It's so true because heaven forbid you ever come to one of the SAF conventions where we actually don't give you a big job to do while you're there.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Like this one, Laura Weaver, who's I love Laura. She makes me giggle. I she just makes me laugh. She emailed me, hey, can you introduce one of the things? You know, because I was on the task force. I was like, sure. So she sent me a thing. And then it started becoming a thing. She'd remember, hey, so-and-so didn't show up. Can you go introduce them? Like every time you'd run into somebody, can you introduce right?

SPEAKER_05 2:22

Yeah. Once you show that you do it, you do it with spunk. That was my problem. Right.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

And I told Fonda, I go, hey, I've actually had people come up to me and go, You do a really good job introducing people.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Let's be honest, Lori. When they give you that little thing to read, no, no, no, no. Lori does not read that. She goes up and asks people a little bit of information, makes it totally personal. And then you draw the people in. That's the kind of information. I like had a quiz about them.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

I was just oh, that's so great. That is so great. And I mentioned it to Laura, and she goes, I knew you'd do that.

SPEAKER_05 3:05

And that's probably why we put a bonus in your pay for those, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I have to say the funniest thing that I have on my phone from convention, and it does involve sweet Laura Weaver.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

So you know Vonda and Tim Farrell did a sympathy presentation, which was fabulous. But one of their requests was a casket. Of course. Right. Be used in their presentation. And Laura at these conventions does everything. I mean, all of you guys do everything, but she was just everywhere at all times running, doing everything every time.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

I am like walking in the lobby doing something, and I look over.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

She is pushing that casket by herself out of the room, trying to push up.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

And instead of me going to help, I go, wait. And she stops. I go, I gotta get my camera. And she just looks at me and I go, okay, go. And she just starts trying to push it up this ramp.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

I'm laughing so hard at the end somebody at SAF that video. Because I'm like, it has to be shown. We have to show this video somewhere because it's Friday.

SPEAKER_05 4:32

So funny.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Like, talk about someone who needs a bonus at 41. Where's she gonna put? She's like, I just know in her mind she's pushing it going, I don't get paid enough for this. I truly, this was not in my job description.

SPEAKER_05 4:48

Oh, she never thinks that. She never thinks anything. Yeah. She will do she will do anything that is needed to make the event successful. And I'm not just saying that. Like she really, that is how she rolls. You have to send me that video though.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

I will, I will, I'll send it to you after this. It just on one it made me, it made me laugh. And I'm like, I need some sort of like na na na some sort of funny music to go with.

SPEAKER_05 5:18

So funny. It's so great. On one of our full team calls on Fridays, we called our Rose Thorn Bud meeting. Yeah. We talk about good things, yeah, bad things, hopeful things. And it's also a time that people really use that. And and they talk about things at work or things personally, but people definitely use that time to kind of give thanks to people on the team or to recognize people that are really kind of living our values or whatever. And so I have to use that because there's so many values that that speaks to, but it definitely speaks to like leading in big and small ways, going the extra mile. And like so in the extra mile. I'd like to share that. Sometimes doing things that are party, you don't, you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Yes, yes, that is definitely hurt going the extra mile.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

But anyway, she made me giggle, and I wanted to share that with you because you guys are always very, very hard workers there. I never see like a group just hanging out talking. Not just hanging. So anyway, so speaking of convention, I know we talk about that a lot on our podcast, but we always walk away having learned so much. And we it takes a while to digest everything, every class that we go to, every speaker we listen to, every conversation that we have. And one of the presentations was yours, Kate. The state of the industry, I think, is what your breakfast was called. And if we're being fully transparent, Vonda was in and out of that one because that's when you and Tim were having to set up right before I think that one. I don't know. It's all kind of clouded.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Anyway, ours was right after that presentation. So while they were getting ready, we were preparing the casket. That was it. You were preparing the casket.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

Laura was probably in and out of that too, actually. She was probably pushing it over. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so, so good. And I was taking notes on my phone and I was taking screenshots of your slides, and I giggled with some of your emojis that were moving around. Anyway, it was very positive yet true and authentic. And so I told Vonda, I said, I really wanted to have you come on after you had some time to rest and recover and talk about it because I feel like people, you know, that aren't part of SAF, I would love for them to hear some of what you talk about.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

That's one of the things we always enjoy every single year, Lori, is your industry. Because you do a lot of research before you go into that, and it's really evident. And so when you're sitting there, as someone who's in there listening, you're like, okay, oh. Some of it is not great some years, right? It's like challenges that we're facing. But you always have that positive attitude about, you know, this industry is strong, and this is some things that we need to do and ship the focus or whatever we need to do. Just kudos to you that you're doing that and and doing such a deep dive into all that information before you get up on that stage and share. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 8:34

I really appreciate that. And I think it's really important for SAF. We have to acknowledge the challenges, but I think it's our job to help our industry really lean into the opportunities, you know. I mean, that's what we should do. As a trade association, that's what we should do. It's certainly what the SAF board wants us to do. And SAF is in the enviable position of like really year-round, we're talking to people across all parts of the industry, whether it's our volunteer leaders when we have our meetings, our councils, our board meetings, or just talking to people in the course of developing our products or covering stories or whatever. We're we're constantly hearing what's going on because it's very important for that overview to represent what is actually going on. And so I always want to make sure I appreciate you recognizing the research because there is a lot of research.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

There has to be Kate.

SPEAKER_05 9:36

Because it's so important that the audience in the whole industry that might be tuning into it that it resonates with them. You know, I can't get up there and fake it. I'm not in our industry's shoes directly. We on our staff, we're all on the sidelines, but we try and be as tuned in as possible and listen and then figure out, well, what can we do with that? So thank you for those kind words about it. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

I kind of want to pass it over to Kate to figure out what starting point. You're not gonna recite your whole presentation, which I would love, but it's on the website. And I invite everyone to go and listen. Where would you like to start in this on what you felt the main takeaways or what was the feedback you got when you walked off that stage? Did you have a lot of people come up and highlight the same subject that you touch on over and over that you're like, wow, I'm really glad I talked about that part.

SPEAKER_05 10:37

I think a lot of the comments I got was, and this was so gratifying to hear, but was just this sense, like a variation on the theme of I really needed to hear that. And I think some of the that is what you pointed out, which is that optimism. And so I think that it's that people need it and they appreciate it. They have to hear, but it's not like blind optimism. No, it's not it's really about opportunity, and I would say that's the one thing that seems to resonate. And I think it's very hard for every person in that audience. I'm not pointing out anything that people don't already know. Exactly. But I think when you're in your business, you're running it, you are working in the business. What we always say is you're working in the business, now you come to SAF to work on the business. And I think you have to just get out of it to be open to some of those things. And so, yes, of course, the challenges our industry is facing are very real, right? There's rising costs, staffing headaches, competition from every corner. But as I talk about in that presentation, we're seeing consumers spending more on floral products than ever. That number keeps going up on overall floral product purchases, right? We're also seeing new generations coming into the industry with this incredible amount of energy and technology skills. And customers are craving, literally craving, meaningful and emotional experiences. So that's good, you know, and the businesses that are thriving, they're not just waiting for that change to hit them. They're actually really like being actively leaning into it. And so those were some of the stories that I shared that I think resonated. I also think, you know, at some point when I was doing my research, I was reading about this, this author who he'd written a book about productivity and and how to get more things done. But he also tells this story about this concept of three-quarter assing it. Yes, I loved this. Right. Okay. Meaning, you know, there's that term half-ass, like you don't want to do a half-ass job. And it was actually someone on a team that he was working on who recognized, yeah, you don't want to do a half-ass job, but couldn't every so often we just sort of three-quarter ass and meaning it's it's okay. It's okay to sometimes do rather than like having sort of this paralysis, like where you overthink and overthink, and this marketing campaign has to be a hundred percent perfect, or we have to be a hundred percent certain that it's gonna work. Like sometimes it's okay just to go for it and three-quarter asset instead of like going for perfection on every level. And I think that's something that people appreciate hearing because when I stand up there, I know the whole room is about to go into like two days of great educational programming. It's gonna be really great and interesting, but also overwhelming. And it can leave people feeling like, oh my God, how will I ever get all of this done? Well, the answer to that is you won't. And I just thought, well, we should begin the convention. Let's just throw that out there and say it's okay. Like just do two things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Well, just three-quarter ass some stuff, and you'll be and that's why they say done is better than perfect.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

I mean, that's the same type of thing. You're just putting a different spin on it. But yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Love that.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

So, in a big part, you highlighted some great things that are happening within our industry. And you did highlight some challenges. We talked a lot about tariffs. You know, that was kind of the underlying customer.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

But there's been a change on that since then. Oh, of course. Yeah, and I mean there's happened recently. I I just saw something come through from SAF. Right. So here's the newest.

SPEAKER_05 14:41

Yeah, there's some hope. There's some hope there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah. So that's the thing. If you're an SAF member and you're getting those email updates, that's really helpful because you're like, oh, this is on the horizon. So there's hope here. But so all those things that SAF membership brings to the local business that I think many times is overlooked. So just out there.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

Right. So if you had to pick a theme for Floris moving into 2026 based on the uh opportunities and the challenges, which Bond and I are so sick of the word challenge. We we're we're changing that to opportunities. No challenges, they're all opportunities. What would you suggest that they focus on?

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Well, I would say a couple of things and a couple that kind of touch on a couple categories because there's things going on, opportunities going on on the consumer side first, consumer trends. So let's talk about that first. And I mean, for anyone who's ever on TikTok, you you know that people aren't just really wanting to buy things, they're really wanting to kind of make an event out of it, right? Right. Right. And so this is really important, and this is an opportunity for our industry that I think people should focus on. It's that combination of experience-driven shopping and also value-driven purchasing. I talked about that a little bit too. Shoppers, and especially Gen Z and millennials, they want more than just convenience. You know, we always used to talk about convenience, remember like five years ago. Well, it's more than convenience because I think Gen Xers are all about convenience. Give me the drive-thru, give me the quick glide-through bundle, give me a. And what's really interesting right now is that the millennials and Gen Z, they really want to feel something, you know. And so that's where I was talking about workshops, flower bars, festivals, these kinds of things are really exploding. So that's the experience piece. And then there's the value piece. When customers do buy, they want their dollars to reflect their values. Right. And so values like sustainability is important to many, many consumers, especially in those two categories, local sourcing, transparency too. Transparency and honesty, it's huge. It came up so much in my research. So if you can deliver an experience that's fun, memorable, and aligns with values, you're not gonna just be selling flowers, you're gonna really be building loyalty. You know, let's be honest. Flowers already come with this great built-in magic. I mean, how lucky is our industry? How fortunate are we to have right products? So we just have to frame that magic in a way that consumers recognize. But that is very important. That's something I think our industry can, if you just keep focusing on that, working with your team and figure how do we do that. But I also recognize that there is this, there are these economic and operational pressures, right? That are very, very real. And so the trick in making that magic happen is while being able to afford doing it and having a good balance sheet and everything, is you have to protect that profitability with efficiency, but not shortcuts. Right. And what we see is florists are getting like just really smart, like scrappy smart about efficiency, right? They're tracking every stem, they're tightening their inventory, and they're even teaming up sometimes with other shops on things like to share delivery costs. You know, we've heard about some businesses do that. But at the same time, they're optimizing online, they're freshening up their websites, they're improving their SEO. Some are even getting into this whole AEO thing that I talked about, answer engine optimization, which is basically it means your shop's gonna show up if someone's, let's say, asking, like, where do I buy roses or whatever, asking Alexa, where you know, it's right, right. Um, so I think what's important here is you have to pay attention to your bottom line, but try not to cut corners where customers are gonna feel it, because you really want customers to rave about how you made them feel, right? Because remember, it's that feeling thing. And so that's where if you're investing in your staff training, if you're helping your team know how to talk to people on the phone, talk to people in emails and on the website and on live chat, if you are investing in your website, because a website can also create a great experience. I I mean, I've bought Flowers Online where I didn't talk to or even interact on live chat with an individual, but I was just like, God, that was such a great experience. It was so easy and I loved it, it was just the perfect number of options. So where you see people investing in those things that don't necessarily have to have to cost a lot. It's just kind of smart and scrappy, you know, like let me make sure my team is doing the right thing on the phone, is effective on the phone, and let's make sure the user experience is great. Those are just two things, but it does leave the customer feeling better without having to spend lots and lots of money.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

So I think it's going through that process that you're talking about, right? So the operational thing is stepping back as an owner of the business and going, Al, if I'm a customer, I'm jumping on the website, what am I seeing? What is my experience? If I'm walking in my front door, how is my staff greeting me? Am I having a good customer experience? So many times we're just in it, we're not paying any attention. And like you're saying, operational-wise, what's that experience from this point to this point to this point? And is it something you want your consumer to continue to receive, or is there something you can step it up, right? You know, not being scrappy, but being more professional and having that experience so that, oh gosh, I'm going back there. Laura talks about that all the time when she talks to somebody on the phone because first she goes to the website, but she never orders online.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

She I always call the phone. Well, and right I tell in every presentation I do or any sales training I do, you can have the best, most high quality products in the world. But if your sales staff is not educated on how to talk to the customer, right, you're not gonna make any money.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

No that's the bottom line. That's the bottom line. And how to educate the customer, right? And how to get across to the customer your brand. Like they are the brand of your company. And so it is your job to make sure everybody is on brand at all times. Exactly. Right. I was good thinking as you were talking about experience. There's a flower shop here in my city that I love. And I don't know that much about them, but what I know about them is they they have pretty flowers. I don't know if they have highly trained designers, but what I know about them is they partner with a battered women's shelter. I don't know what percentage they give to them. They may not give a percentage of everything, but I know they do a lot for them. And so in my mind, every time I purchase flowers from them, I'm doing a good deed. In my selfishness, I'm like, ooh, I'm giving to the battered women's shelter. Selfishly, me, the customer, I think I'm giving to them. Right. So it's so important that you share with, and they're not marketing that they truly believe in this. I believe in it too. But I mean, like, they truly are passionate about this shelter. And it comes across to people like me. I'm like, oh, I always want to buy from this flag shop.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

Right.

SPEAKER_04 23:01

Because I believe in that too.

SPEAKER_05 23:03

And that's so you totally relate to that value-driven. Totally. And totally. Because I think five years ago, the term value-driven purchasing, I think it would have made people think just only about cost, like how much does it cost? But it's value-driven purchasing today, is at the same time talking about does it reflect my values? And that reflects your values. And right.

SPEAKER_04 23:25

And I'll even take it a step further, which is great. If they receive the product and I got a picture, maybe I don't absolutely love it. I like it. Okay. I'm like, hmm, well, you know what? It was for a good cause. Right. Right. Exactly. That is important. I mean, that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_05 23:46

Right. Yeah, for sure. For sure. That is so interesting. I completely relate to the value-driven purchasing because I make decisions on what to buy and sometimes and who to buy it from and who not to buy it from.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Right. Right. Exactly. You look with those kind of things. And we live more and more in that type of world. And for dog shelters. I would also buy people that are going to support dog shelters. Right. Those types of things. So think about what you want to stand for out there and don't be afraid to put it out there. Wow. So you gave some good holiday numbers like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day. We didn't talk about like some of the smaller holidays. Do you see any rise in any of the lesser known holidays? I know SAF sent out an email a while back asking about some of the lesser-known days.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

I didn't talk about that a lot in this talk. And I don't often talk about it in the state of the industry because we don't have data on it. Yeah. The data that we collect, it's consumer purchases for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. So I'm able to share that specific data. However, that said, those in-between occasions and non-occasions and small holidays are incredibly important. And we have been hearing about that more, just anecdotally, from people on our councils and in the SAF volunteer leadership and just overall. And SAF wants to keep, you know, creating more resources for those smaller holidays, whether you're talking about Grandparents' Day or the two that like bigger ones that come up are a lot about Women's Day, people wanting to want it to be bigger. Yeah, who want it to be bigger. Want it to be bigger. And it should be bigger. And in some areas it is growing, especially in areas that have Eastern European populations. But I know there's some people in our industry that are really, let's just keep doing this, let's keep making this so more of it sticks. So then there's the smaller but still well-known holidays, let's say like a grandparents' day. Okay. And then there's all those small holidays that are that are connected to a profession, like teachers and bosses day and all of that. And I mean, SAF just believes that with the right kind of marketing, what people need, the top-of-mind awareness is important. That's right. While we haven't conducted this particular research in a while, the last time we I think we did it was maybe in 2015 or 2016 in conjunction with the American Floral Endowment. The research showed that, like, what's the biggest reason that people, why do you buy flowers? Why do you not buy flowers? And it was just the big reason was, well, I I just didn't think to. So top of awareness is what's so important. And so if you're gonna promote a nurse's day or whatever, any profession, you have to give a reason to purchase, right? In the same way that the nonprofit that flower feeling is just create the reason they're creating is just for wellness, right? Something good for so anytime we do that, we're helping not only your own business, but the whole industry because we still have these peaks and valleys. Yeah. The peaks being Valentine's Day and Mother's Day and month of December. Those are those big peaks. I don't have to tell you all. And but these valleys, so what do we do about those valleys? Which is why International Women's Day is so well placed in March. That's one of the valleys.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

I was working with an international designer preparing for AIFD symposium last year, and I called the end of February. I'm like, oh, we're after after Valentine's Day, everything should be good. I should be able to get a hold of this person. And they're like, I'm really sorry, I cannot talk to you. We're we're talking about Women's Day, and I'm like, oh, sorry. And they're like, it is bigger than Valentine's Day here. And I'm like, serious? Bigger than Valentine's Day. And I was up and where? Oh, it was in the Netherlands. I think it was up to the Oh for sure. Yeah, it was in Europe at Austin. That's what I'm saying. It was an international designer that we're getting to come over, but it was bigger than Valentine's Day, they said. Yeah. It's like, wow, we need to really promote that one. We can do more to get traction on that. But again, it's not top of the mind. I mean, you just think, what, maybe the last five years we've even talked about it here in the US? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, there's like you said, that's really well placed because it's after Valentine's Day, before we get into Easter. I think you're right, Kate. Just top of the mind. Get people to think of flowers with the flower feeling and then just local promotions that we can do in our local areas.

SPEAKER_05 28:35

And some shops are really good at tuning into all of those smaller holidays. And many organizations, I think not just SAF, have you go to our website, you'll see a lot of artwork for these different holidays. I know that others do as well. So it's there. You just have to, you have to use it.

SPEAKER_04 28:53

You know, you have to I was in a meeting this week with Bill Doran managers, and they were talking about SAF and all of the amazing artwork and graphics that you guys have available for your members. And I was like, I don't know that people understand that. You know, just one of the many resources you guys have. This is a grab and go, download and go. One of the benefits of SAF membership.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Nope.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

There's a lot of value there for all of those kind of things. All right. So let's talk about this because I talked to many people at SAF about employees, lack of. I sat in on a fabulous panel that had a couple of bar members on there. Monty was one of them. And not many people in the room had too many employees, but a lot of them were struggling with not enough or where to find. So staffing and success and planning, those were both buzzwords at SAF this year because you had two great sessions on that. What innovation approaches are you seeing and how floorers are attracting and retaining these employees? Right. Right. A lot of shops are having a turnover rate. Sometimes it's the shop owner's issue. I'll give them that. But a lot of times it's not. I mean, it's sometimes it's just a revolving door. How do we prepare for the next people?

unknown 30:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

So true. In fact, someone told me it was maybe about a month before convention, they said that there's this two-thirds thing. They'd seen a pattern at their business for every three people they hire. Two of them will leave within like two months or something like that. Like that's a lot of turnover. It's it's really, really challenging. And what we've learned in the stories we've been telling in our publications and just talking to people is that it's not really just about creating jobs, it's actually about creating a vibe that people want to be a part of. I just get really excited about this because we're seeing shops shift from just filling roles to building culture. And we've been talking about culture for a while. Many people have culture. We've had programs on it, and we're really seeing some of it, people are really leaning into it. Again, owners are hiring for personality. They're doing more cross-training of staff and they're they're just trying to create a vibe that people want to be a part of. And some of it is those values. Who are we buying from? How do we conduct ourselves as a business? Just like that whole piece of value-driven purchasing. It's also value-driven employment, I would say, because people want to work for a company that's doing the right thing. They don't just want to buy from companies that align with their values, I should say, not doing the right thing, doing the right thing in their opinion, right? They don't want to just buy from companies that align with their values. They want to work for companies that align with your values. And we're seeing people re see this. We're also seeing people realize more and more that recognition, in addition to purpose, recognition really matters too. Like recognizing people for a job well done. I think sometimes Gen X is we're like the tough it out. You don't have to tell us how great we are all the time. And there's a lot of Gen X bosses in the industry. I'm at the very tail end of Gen X, so I really relate to it. I understand it. I'm the oldest Gen X that you can be. And I get that. But people are understanding that recognition matters and purpose matters. And the reality is when younger generations feel exhausted in the end, they are bringing crazy amounts of creativity and energy. It pays off. I saw this firsthand at Next Gen Live. We had this room full of people who were tackling industry challenges. Remember that? It was at the end. I do. That is incredible. And with ideas that I wish we'd thought of years ago. You know, I mean, we're sitting there like, God, these people are so smart and they're so into it. And so I know it's it was incredible. It was empowered this generation. I mean, really, they're not just the future of our industry, they're gonna be fueling it right now. It's right now. So I do.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

And I also saw the two years prior, the heartbreak at Next Gen, when I stood on stage and had adorable youngsters say to me, What do I do when my boss won't even listen or make any changes because they're just so set in their way? And and you know, they're almost in tears. And it killed me, right? Because you're like, this is an incredible human being standing here being so vulnerable, and and because they love this industry, but yet if they stay where they are, likely they're gonna not want to be here anymore and leave, seeing that right before our eyes. And I think you were sitting at a table right in front of her, and I looked over and we were like, Oh no, no, no.

SPEAKER_05 34:11

You're like, no, no, you know, and so and that was a really big question she asked you. It's so brave. And and we heard other sentiments along those same lines, and in fact, we came out of that knowing we have to do a session that's very specific on how young people can have these productive conversations with their leaders at the company about their ideas and how to handle a no and what to do with that because you can't do every idea, and that's okay. So it's not like, oh, well, let's figure out how to say yes to every request from a brilliant young person that comes. Right, right. It's not about that. It's about teaching them how to make those conversations productive. And that's what led to the session we did this year that Laura Walsh from Smooth and Oasis did on leadership. She's getting her PhD in leadership, some aspect of leadership. And she developed this program that was very much about that. Here's how you talk, here's what this needs to look like in order for you to have a really good conversation. Here's what you need to understand about the company. Do you understand the company? Do you understand its objectives? Have you really thought through everything that you're trying to present? Because that was a very important moment, Lori.

SPEAKER_04 35:30

You know, like that because heartbreaking because you also knew she wasn't the only one in the room that had that feeling. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

You know, she was just the brave one to speak up. Exactly. But there there is an answer to that. It's just not an easy answer. You know, it's not an easy one. Training and development. Right. And then at the same time, we want to convey to legacy long-term managers and owners an openness. Like be open. Listen. It's okay to say no, but at least be open. At least listen.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Right.

SPEAKER_05 36:07

Right.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

The difference between the fixed mindset and the open mindset. You know, Kate, let's talk about SAF's role and support. So looking ahead, what are SAF's top priorities in helping florists not just survive, but thrive for 2026? What's coming down the pipe? What's on your agenda?

SPEAKER_05 36:28

We are intensely focused on advocacy in a broad sense, advocacy, innovation, and connection, right? We're fighting tariffs on the hill. We're watching for research funding. We're making sure regulators understand what they're doing and its impact on our industry. And on the business side, we want to keep bringing like the latest tools and insights. And on the connection side, that next gen piece, connecting people through our events, connecting the next generation of the industry is so, so important. The next generation and the current generation, because this industry can feel really lonely when you're buried in all of your work, right? Being an entrepreneur can be very isolating. So we want to bring people together and we continue to provide those tools. But I do want to mention there's something we're very excited about that we're beta testing right now. And we mentioned it at our business session, not during my overview, but a little bit later in the event. And I just want to talk about it really quickly. It's a new AI tool. And honestly, this tool, if it really does what we want it to do, it's going to feel like having a floral industry coach sort of on call 24-7. And right now it's in beta and it's designed specifically for, well, all segments of the industry, but it's answering real-world, like super nitty-gritty questions that members submit, but it's pulling only from the information in our website. Because of course you can go to Chat GBT and ask a lot of questions. Right. Right. But we realized recently we have all this content within our website that is really kind of coming right from our industry from all the interviews we've done with Florists over the years, the stories we've written. And so we don't want to just be one and done with that, right? Like, how can we really leverage that? And so we're testing something where you can just go on and ask a question. And so it's interesting in our beta. We're seeing really interesting questions. Some are super practical. Like, how do I communicate a price increase to my standing order customer? How do I track Thanksgiving inventory? I was just looking at ones that had come in recently. And so the responses are great. They're not cookie cutter. The agent breaks things down, even asks questions about the size of your business. Sometimes they'll ask follow-up questions, like, well, how big are you? What are your goals? And so it's highly customized and tailored. And so it's not replacing human expertise whatsoever, right? Right. That one-to-one connection. That's always gonna be the best thing. It's just kind of like this extra set of hands.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

So it's pulling all the information from the articles that you have from Floral Management magazine and then everything that's been written, that is amazing.

SPEAKER_05 39:21

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Right. And as I beta test, I think for another 50 days or so. And if anyone listening is interested in being part of that beta test, because as part of the test, you can test it out and then let us know what you think. Like, well, the answer was really good, or or the answer could have been a little better, or whatever. We're training it to see if we can get it better. But if anyone is interested, they could just email info at safnow.org and say you want to be part of the AI agent, business consultant, or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 40:01

So that's for something specific, you know, that's very specific that we're working on that I wanted to mention, but really cool. Really, we are always looking at how we need to adapt to the industry and make sure that we're meeting its needs. And maybe I've just watched too much of that F1 series on Netflix. Not to mention the F1 movie. Is the movie already come out? Yeah, with Brad Pitt. So good. I was watching that. I was thinking we're kind of like want to be like the floral industry's pit crew, you know? Yeah. Yeah. We're not driving your car. No, no. We're gonna help you finish this.

SPEAKER_04 40:43

We're gonna help you. We're here when you need it. When you need a pit stop. Right. Exactly. We just look just like Brad Pitt.

SPEAKER_05 40:50

I know. So you did see it, Lori?

SPEAKER_04 40:52

No, I've just seen all the previews, and I'm like, oh gosh.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

Oh I love it. Yeah, it's it's just yeah, it's just um yummy. It's yes, it is. It is. It's really great. Really great.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

I'm gonna watch it.

SPEAKER_04 41:08

So well, you have been a plethora of information, as usual, and just a delight, a real delight. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 41:16

Well, it's been a pleasure being here, and I appreciate your focus on opportunities because that's really where all of our energies are best event. Be aware of the challenges, but focus on the opportunities and lean into them.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Yes, I love that. I love that. That's a good way to leave. Focus on the opportunities. Thank you, Kate. We appreciate you.

SPEAKER_05 41:36

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04 41:37

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_01 41:55

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.