Make Your Shop Comfortable For Your Customers

No, I am not talking about having a cozy recliner for your customers to sit in. I’m tallking about making the flower buying experience easy for them. Remember that your prom customers are part of a “mall/internet generation.” They are used to going to the mall, picking out an item, looking at the price, and taking it to the checkout. They are used to shopping online, seeing a picture, a price, putting the item in their shopping cart, checking out and having the product arrive on their doorstep a few days later. Their prom flowers are likely their first floral purchase. They are not used to the concept of walking into a floral shop and having the person behind the counter say “Don’t worry honey, I will make it pretty for you.” They are used to seeing an item and selecting that item and then getting exactly what they have selected. Since we need this new generation of floral customers to return, we need to make their flower buying experience comfortable for them. HOW? PRICE EVERYTHING! Make the pricing easy for them to find and understand. Let them drive the purchase and pick out what they want. The more they know about what it will look like the more they are willing to spend. This will actually enhance your creativity when you know exactly what type of flowers and accessories they like to help you make the PERFECT corsage to compliment their dress. Trust me - the end result will be higher profits and return customers. Until next time...

To Glue or Not to Glue

To Glue or not to glue This is a question we are asked on almost a daily basis. Just for the record, do what is best for you, however we do endorse gluing corsages. We find they are faster and allow you do use more types of flowers, add in more types of bling and offer more unique styles of corsages. For years now many florists have embraced cold glue for corsages. But many florists are still wary of it. If you haven’t used it yet, let me share with you how it can help you. 1) Gluing saves labor and increases the speed of corsage making, therefore making prom more PROFITABLE for you. 2) Gluing makes the corsage lighter, therefore allowing you to create the corsage on a more delicate Fitz Design flower bracelet. This allows you to offer the girls the trendier bracelet styles that they are looking for. Which ever style you use for making corsages, glue or wire and tape is of course up to you, the only thing we ask is put them all on beautiful Fitz items!!!! If you are new to gluing though, we recommend that you practice before the prom rush. Ready to try it? Here are some great gluing tips to get you started. http://www.creationsbyfitzdesign.com/contents/en-us/p879_Gluing_Tips.html

Be Cool

Everyday we hear the same success story from florists across the country. The way to a profitable prom season is to have the “cool” stuff which is both trendy and fashionable. Girls spend months on picking out the right dress, now they want the perfect fashion accessory to go with it. In short, they want their corsage to be as cool as their dress. Many florists that are succeeding at prom are succeeding by having the “cool stuff.” Kids talk, and talk a lot to each other. When one girl sees something really cool at a florist shop she tells her friends. Who tell their friends. Who tell their friends, etc. Before long, the florists offering the “cool stuff” are seeing kids come from all over the county just to get the fun prom flowers.They can tell the difference between the “cool stuff” and the traditional. Most of the time we are finding they are willing to spend their money on anything that helps them stand out and be cool at the prom. Be sure to capture all those sales dollars for your store. Stay cool... Until next time...

Maximize Impact - AFTER the School

Since many of you will be getting into the school via fundraisers, you have yet another opportunity to create attention and generate sales. You need to donate the money earned thru the sales to the school or organization that you worked with. Now you could just write a check and stick it in the mail. Or, you could go to your local Kinkos and get a 6’ check printed. Since you can’t mail that, you will need to call the school and set up a time to PRESENT the check. Since it will be such a sizeable donation the school newspaper will want to do a story on this, so you will need to call and let them know that you will be presenting the check and ask to have a reporter and photographer on hand.

Do you see what I mean when I say “Think outside the box?”

Until next time...

Maximize Impact - AT the School

The time has come - the days you are going into the schools to sell. So how do we make the most of this time? By MAXIMIZING IMPACT!

1) You could pull up in your shop’s delivery van. Or you could ride up to the school in a limo driven by your limo partner. Which do you think will get more attention from the kids? And your limo partner won’t mind the attention either!


2) Arrive during class change time - so that more kids will see the awesome limo pull up in front of the school and rush to see who it is!


3) Don’t forget your “wow” corsages to be worn by “those” girls and the roving faculty members.


4) Remember that color and motion create attention. If possible, be creating corsages and boutonnieres at your booth/display area to attract attention.


5) All of this will probably create quite a rush to your booth. If you can’t handle the customers all at once, make appointments for some to come to your shop for private consultations.

Until next time...

Maximize Impact - BEFORE You Go to the School

Success! You have gotten into the schools. You have worked hard to get this far - Make the most of the opportunity!

1) Be sure to purchase an ad in the school newspaper before the days you will be there. Advertise that you are coming. Remember that the first thing every high school student does when they get the school newspaper is look for themselves in it. The second thing they do is look for their friends. With that in mind, be sure to have pictures of high school students wearing your corsages and boutonnieres in your ad.

Get on the morning announcements.

2) If the school has Channel One - get an ad or announcement on there as well.

3) Be sure to bring with you some ready made corsages for “those” girls as well as corsages and boutonnieres for roving faculty members (those that move around the school the most.

Until next time...

Get Attention - By Being “Old Fashioned”

I am an advocate of using technology to our advantage and especially for marketing. I email, Skype, text and even use an iPad. But I also believe that when we are marketing, we must use the appropriate technology for our audiences and for the situation. Sometimes that means being “old fashioned.” In our last two posts regarding getting into the schools to sell and contacting fundraising committees, I recommend sending letters.

DO NOT CALL THEM.

DO NOT EMAIL THEM.

If you call, you will get screened out by the gatekeepers. If you email, you risk landing in the spam folder or getting deleted.

All important documents that we receive still come in the mail. Things that come in the mail get dealt with because the are tangible.

SEND LETTERS!!

Like was touched on before, don’t just send one letter. Send 20 of them, to everyone you can possibly think of. Don’t just blindly send letters - do your homework, find out who makes the decisions. Research the school’s website. Ask your kids, your neighbor’s kids, your employees’ kids, who are the decision makers in their school.

Whatever you do - do whatever you can to maximize the impact.

Until next time...

Your Secret Hall Pass - Fundraisers!

“But, Mr. Fisher, the schools won’t let us come in to sell.” In some cases this is true. Depending on the relationship that you have with the school, and how much you participate in and donate to their events throughout the year, you may be able to point out to them WHY they should allow you in.

If that doesn’t work, there is always plan B. FUNDRAISERS are your secret hall pass. Every organization in every school is trying to raise money for something. Sometimes they are selling magazines, or candy, or things like that. My oldest daughter was in the band. Every year the band sold mulch as a fundraiser. And to up the sales, they even hired themselves out to spread the mulch! Even though my children are no longer in school, my wife and I recently bought a mattress from a school fundraiser!

If you want to sell in the schools, find an organization to partner with. Donate a portion of each sale to their group. You instantly get an easy way into the school. And you get a free sales team! 10% of every organization is passionate about it. And 10% of the parents are passionate about it too!

Again, we don’t tell you to do something without giving you the tools to do it. Visit the School Kit page of our website again, and see the “High School Fundraisers” letter for a sample letter you can use to reach the fundraisers! http://www.creationsbyfitzdesign.com/contents/en-us/p870_School_Kit.html

Selling in the Schools

The single biggest key to prom success is SELLING IN THE SCHOOLS. Why? Because the boy and the girl come together to place their order. At some point in the interaction the girl will look over at her boyfriend and ask him “How much money can I spend?” How does he respond? The way every one of us guys has been trained from a young age... “Whatever you want honey.” This increases the overall sale as well as helps you, the florist, to connect with the girl for future business.

The first way to try to sell in the schools is by asking them directly if you can come set up. Think of how many vendors they let in the school to sell on a routine basis. It is not an unusual request. But you will need to be persistent. I recommend you send at least 20 letters to the schools asking permission to come set up. Send one to everyone that you can think of - from the principal to the secretary to the chairman of the prom committee, etc.

Here at Fitz we have a motto, “We won’t tell you to do something without giving you the tools to do it.” So here is a link to the School Kit on our website. Scroll down to the “High School Letter of Introduction” and you will find a letter you can customize to send to the schools in your area. And one more word of advice - don’t limit yourself. Send to every school within driving distance!

Increasing Your Business by Prom Marketing

In my last post I spoke of the common question florists are asking “How can I get more business?” We talked about taking a different approach to prom flowers. Offering cool fashion accessories for prom is the first step. But if you really want to increase your prom business, the best way is to also take a different approach to prom marketing.

Sitting in your shop waiting for the teens to come in and order their prom flowers doesn’t work like it used to. Prom marketing requires stepping out of our box, and out of our stores. It involves partnering with your local dress and tux shops, participating in prom fashion shows, and selling in the schools. Yes, I said selling IN the schools. Florists all over the country are finding huge prom success by doing all of these things. Get started now by visiting the “Market Your Store” page on our website: http://www.creationsbyfitzdesign.com/contents/en-us/p865_Market_Your_Store.html.

New Money for Florists - Have You Found It?

In effort to better understand the needs of our customers, we here at Fitz have been spending more time on the florists forums on Facebook. There is one common thread that keeps reappearing. Florists from all over the USA are asking “How can I get more business?” One answer is to change how you approach your prom business.

Prom flowers are not new - but prom flowers as a FASHION ACCESSORY including
floral jewelry is new money for florists. This is an area that has exploded in the past 4
years. But we still have a long way to go. Did you know that we are only at a 9% market
share? We know when it comes to prom jewelry, there is an unlimited amount of NEW business for you.  With only 9 girls out of 100 wearing a Fitz item, you have a new customer base to grow with that is 91 of every 100 corsages sold in the US.  Jewelry can be sold for more than the traditional bracelet and then in turn, this will help you increase your sales. 

You can very quickly increase your overall business revenue for the year just by treating prom flowers as a fashion accessory instead of a simple wrist corsage. Offer corsage bracelets and floral jewelry accessories and watch your prom business skyrocket because YOU are the florist with the “cool stuff.”