The Floral Hustle

Hello. Hello friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast. Today I want to talk about not getting in front of more couples or more brides. I wanna talk about maximizing your opportunity with the couples brides, um, or whoever you're serving. How can we maximize that opportunity so that we are closing more of those weddings at a higher percentage rate?

And I'm gonna talk to you about five ways that I think are, are great strategies to really, um, help accomplish that. So, to start out with first, if you are meeting with people, Right away, and you're not doing any pre-qualification. That's really gonna hurt your, what I call your closing percentage. I know that HoneyBook and some of the other CRMs out there right now, and c r m means customer relationship manager.

So it literally, uh, funnels all of your information in from your, um, inquiries. And then you can move it along in stages, often depending on the software. . And what that does is it actually helps you see the leads that you came in, that came in, what stage you got to with them, and how many out of those leads that you actually closed.

So that number is your closing ratio or closing percentage. And how that matters is it, you can tell a lot of things by. Closing, um, percentage you can tell, okay, potentially, am I not attracting the right client? Am I priced too high? You can also tell if your price too low, uh, is. The amount or volume you can actually then track of that amount or volume of leads, uh, compared to even your last year at this exact time.

It just can give you so much good data, but if you don't have a fancy c r m, which you don't need one in my opinion, but it could be helpful if you are someone that kind of thrives with that type of organization. , you literally could track this yourself in an Excel spreadsheet, uh, or sim, similar, uh, tool.

So the. Pre-qualifying them. There's a couple things that you can do. Obviously you're asking the right questions from your, your form that you, you know, originally have them fill out to submit an inquiry to you, to the reply questions that get you, um, you know, the additional information that you need to really understand their wedding.

And then making that determination from that point. So many floors will just say, okay, I gotta lead. I'm so excited. I'm going to just, you know, uh, there's just all this excitement because they just, they wanna do a wedding. But what I do is I step back, especially after I send my round of questions and I hear back, I think, is this a wedding that I want to.

and that's based on several things, their Pinterest board, the budget, if they did not include it in the initial inquiry form. And when they give me an idea, cuz I actually ask how many guests they're inviting and how many bridesmaids they're having each. As well, because that gives me a really good idea of the volume of things.

But I also ask what is one of the main things that they want to accomplish with their floral budget? And the reason why I ask that is, . Anything that is bigger or more impactful from a flower perspective, I'm usually going to hear about it in that question. You don't always have someone going on and on about some crazy ceremony installation, or potentially a hanging installation or you know, some crazy cake installation.

You don't usually hear about those things until. Your actual consultation, unless you are asking that exact question, what is most important for me? Because that thing, that item has probably been stewing in their mind and is loaded in their Pinterest board, which then when I ask for their Pinterest board link, I'm usually going to see, huh, it looks like you have tons of, you know, whatever type of photo in there.

And are you looking for. Hanging installation. Are you looking for a disco ball installation, which is I've seen so many times recently. So that gives you the opportunity to just kind of get a really. Good foundation of what they're looking for. But then I want to return the favor, and I did an episode on this, and I think it was right in the beginning, episode one about not being ghosted by um, couples.

And that is I've given them my brochure. I have given them my brochure with all of that information, um, that I went through in that episode, but mainly I'm giving them pricing guidance. I then am writing in my email. I have attached my brochure that will give you a feel for my two offerings because I have full service and a la.

and it will help you understand, um, how the flowers that you're needing will fit together from a budget perspective. So I'm just pushing that over to their court and just saying, okay, if you want to, you know, just do a little due diligence and look and see, okay, I have this many items, I have this many bridesmaids, and they can just do a quick calculation.

I, I have seen several floors recently that are having some type of calculator on their website so people can plug that in as well. I see this working really well by giving them my brochure, they're learning about me cuz for one, I have an About me page on there. They're learning about my process because I have two pages, a La Cartt and full service that break down how this whole process works from start to finish.

And so it really gives them all the information that they kind of maybe were wondering right up. , and then from there I am saying if my brochure looks in line with your budget. So if they didn't gimme a budget quite yet, or depending on the items that they want, maybe they haven't disclosed that they need 21 Corsages and 19 Booters, they can have that information at their fingertips and start to figure it out Then.

My, my next thing after I've gone through, I'm did my consultation, I am going to build rapport During that consultation. I'm going to build rapport in the email. So many floors are just focusing on that. This person wants numbers. I'm giving them numbers ahead of time. I'm giving them numbers right away so that I am not having to deal with being super focused on numbers during our consultation.

I want to focus on understanding their vision, listening to them talk about that vision and. Really focusing on the words that they are using in describing their vision, because those words that they are using to describe are hot button words for them. So if you carry those through to your proposal because you listened, you paid attention, I then have ammunition to deliver exactly what they have been dreaming about since they were little.

If they are saying, I want, um, a Pacific Northwestern theme and seriously have had two of these. I'm gonna put on my, my proposal deck, lush Pacific, Northwestern theme or inspiration wedding. If they are saying enchanted forest, I've had those two. If they are saying modern romance, I'm putting those words, I'm grabbing those words out, but then I'm also getting to know them during that consultation in, in the emails, I'm asking them questions like, oh, where did you come up with that idea?

It's such a fun, I, you know, it's such a fun and it's just a beautiful photo that you found for the inspiration. Like, where did that whole thing come up with? Then I'm learning about their, also their thought process of why they picked certain things. I'm asking them about how they got engaged, how long they've been together, uh, you know, just like that basic rapport building.

And then in the consultation, I am dropping in little seeds of confidence that I'm going to deliver a amazing wedding. So when they're going through, oh yeah, I have done that. A bunch of times before, so I feel really confident with that. I then am going to say if I worked at their venue before, I'm going to use instances of working at their venue and processes or things that happened while I was at that venue to build proof that I am up to the challenge.

I can take care of their wedding, and I have this extensive experience. Dealing with their venue. That could be even as simple as when you're talking about in their ceremony. . We have a venue called Machine Shop here in Minneapolis that's this old historic building, but it's absolutely stunning and it has, um, this beautiful bottom, um, level that people can do their ceremony or they can flip it to do a reception.

It has this, uh, boom, which is basically like this big metal structure that can raise and lower with a button. It is one of the coolest hanging installation features I've ever seen. , but sometimes people will do their ceremony upstairs. So if they're getting married at machine shop, which is a higher end venue here in the, the Twin Cities, I would say.

Um, okay. Are you having your ceremony downstairs and then we're doing a room flip? Or are you planning on utilizing the upstairs ceremony area? Um, you know, during your thing? So I am asking a question, but at that time I'm also. Proving I have experience with your venue. And I know all of these inner workings of this venue, so you can really just, you're just planting little seeds.

I'm familiar. I can take care of you. And then, oh, I, I also, near the end of my consultation, I said, I don't know how much you paid attention to, like the about me on. Your, um, your visit to my website, but I, I just wanna tell you a little bit about me just to make you feel at ease in this process. I literally have been a florist for over 25 years.

I've done over 16 weddings or 1600 weddings, so nothing is going to surprise me. And, um, I've worked with your venue before, so I real, I feel very competent in executing your. So you would have absolutely no worries. And then I also, if for some reason they've mentioned a planner, they've mentioned a photographer that I have worked for work with, you know, one, two, maybe even a dozen times.

I will then say, and I think it's just amazing because I have worked with your planner before and we just have such a great relationship. So you. Planting little seeds that you are the right choice. You are the right decision in their floral journey. Next thing that I wanna talk about is now you need to deliver.

You've listened to all of those words that they're talking about. You've provided them some pricing guidance. You've built that rapport, you've listened to all the little ins and outs of their wedding. Now it's time to deliver an experience with your proposal that other flos aren't going to deliver because you paid attention, you listened to those descriptive words they're using.

You've honed in on even the photos. Like I literally will go on their Pinterest board if they've sent me a link and I will ask them. Every picture on here is absolutely. , which photo is your absolute favorite of your bouquets? Because a lot of times rights will pin like 10 bouquets and you're just like, I don't know which ones their favorite.

So I will ask them, and that is the image I will use in my proposal. I won't go and just pick like. 10 of 'em and just put all 10 in because that's for one, a little overwhelming. And then people are going to be confused what you're actually delivering. But if they have even a couple, like two, I will take those two and I will write a descriptive, uh, little blurb on how the essence of these bouquets will be combined.

And then I will grab some flower. Choices that are, or flower concept choices of potential blooms based on the seasonality. And if it is, like if I was doing a September wedding, And their inspiration picture head dahlias. Um, it's Dahlia season in Minnesota and I will try to buy lush, local dahlias or, you know, some little descriptive because then you're also planting seeds of like, oh, they're buying locally.

Uh, they, uh, are going to go and search out. I will tell people during my consultations to also, cuz there was so much scarcity around getting flowers,  I will mention to them that I work with a myriad of flower farmers that I have close relationships with, that I absolutely just love their product. I will talk about the local growers co-op that we actually have here in Minnesota. . If those are things like if you hear them say that sustainability is important to them, like listening to all those descriptive words, again, like I'm going to talk about that in my proposal.

I'm gonna use the language they use, I'm going to use their favorite photos. I'm going to also, which I wanna talk about next, is I'm going to offer. . I think that they have really big dreams, but potentially their budget isn't matching up. But I don't, like, for some reason, I'm not getting a clear reading on how far to push it.

I will put TE price tiers of items and it is amazing how successful this is on, for one, just closing overall business, but on increasing your average wedding. , I literally have gone and put three photos of, let's just say a circle arch with smiley X greenery around it, filled with roses, but the first picture is a lot of green and just little pops of roses.

The second one has like some big clusters going, you know, around the arch, maybe, um, a, a third on the bottom right of the arch, but then it has maybe like four feet on the top. and then one that goes almost all the way around. And I know it's more work to find those photos, but a lot of those photos I have saved in Canva, which is what I use for my proposals.

But I literally could just re-poll those out and put them in there and say, okay, this one's going to be X price. This one is going to be X price, and this one is going to be X price. So you can choose based on your budget and the look you are driving trying to achieve. one of these. And then on my last page I'm going to put t b D in the, the arch, um, line item and just put in my email reply.

You know, I wanted to give you some options for your, uh, and so included is three different options for your arch or your ceremony feature, and if you wanna let me know which one you'd like to choose, because then I'm making an assumptive statement. Let me know which one you choose. That's saying that like, I'm already your florist and you're just picking something.

Then I can redo the total so you know what your total investment is. Then I could do that on centerpiece. I could do that on bouquets if I wanted to. Wherever they say is important, but you are maybe have just a little worry or fear that that's going to bring you out of budget. That's where you can plant that information into having choices.

I wouldn't do it on every single item on your proposal because that is going to let them get overwhelmed pretty fast, but this is a way for you to upsell. into different categories because if they go and price out all the bottom line things, like if they're doing the start, the the level one of what you have proposed, maybe they're in their budget then, but they really want their ceremony to be like at that look of the third tier option.

So then a lot of brides will just go, or a lot of couples will go and figure out that math themselves, and then they see literally that it is above their budget, but they really want it. So they're gonna stretch it. They're gonna stretch at that point. So you've given them something that probably another florist hasn't, because for one, you are also giving them options.

And every proposal that I do, I do at least one item that has tears because I am. Being the flexible, I am the one offering lots of ideas. Uh, I sometimes will do this just with centerpiece options and in, in general, if they're saying that they just don't know what they want for centerpieces, I will do my, my, I call it my menu, my menu of my typical centerpieces, which are already done.

One of the proposals I did. So I usually will just copy that proposal that is similar to that, and then they can go and choose. And again, on my last page where I have my totals, I will just put centerpieces, T B D ceremony, arch, T B, D, whatever it is. But then the last thing that I do to help really push that couple forward to making a decision is I'm putting an expiration date.

I'm making sure that I'm telling them. I would absolutely love to be your florist, but since the volume of inquiries is so high right now and your date seems to be a popular one, I will put you on a hold on the date for one week, and then I'm putting this in the proposal, and then on the last page where the totals are.

And then I'm putting this in the email because then it is the, it's in their court to take action. and I then will, if for some reason I'm not hearing from them, which you know, doesn't usually happen. But if I'm not hearing from them on, you know, if it's five days on day four, I'm going to reach out to 'em.

and this is after, you know, you've already reached out to them maybe on day three and made sure they got the proposal or day two. And just, I wanna make sure that you got the proposal and see if you had any questions. Uh, you know, or just some, I'm really, or thinking about your wedding a little bit more.

And I am wondering what you think of this photo. So that's an easy way to interject asking them if they've reviewed your proposal by. Saying, Hey, I just wanna make sure you don't have any question, or if you have any questions, I'd love to answer them. But I also was dreaming about your wedding, and I saw this picture and I thought this might be interesting as well, um, for your arch or for a centerpiece or, I, I loved how this.

Whatever in the picture would really accent your wedding or I found these bud vases, whatever it is. You're, you're also saying, I'm still dreaming about your wedding. Who, out of all their wedding vendors, is still dreaming about their wedding? Nobody. Nobody's dreaming about their big day like they do. So you can show them that you care that you are dreaming and that you are excited about being their florist.

So much so that you were dreaming about it. So putting an end date to your pricing and saying, I have your name on the date, because then that's an assumptive close. I am saying, I've already put your name on the date and I will hold it there for one week. Or five days, whatever you wanna pick. And then please let me know before then, um, c so I can, if you've went a different direction, so I can open that date up.

So that little assumptive close for one, gets them to take action faster. They're not twiddling their thumbs and reaching out to other people. And if they are, then maybe they're not your couple because you have delivered such an experience during this that it's just un unmatched. Thank you so much for listening.

I so appreciate you. I absolutely love, uh, doing episodes that are on pricing and. And really just perfecting your sales process because I think that is such a critical component of making your floral business successful. And I hope you feel, um, that this episode was helpful. If you do, please screenshot this and tag me on Instagram at the Floral Hustle with your biggest takeaway.

I would love to hear that. And I appreciate you so much, friend, and hope you have a great day.