The Floral Hustle

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Hello flower friends. This is Jen and most of the people I've been talking to and everything I'm seeing on social media, everybody is freaking out about tariffs. Everybody's freaking out about what they're gonna do, how they're going to handle it. And I did an episode I think about a month ago when this is starting or things were stirring about how to have, ideas or how to feel like the sky isn't falling when it comes to these tariffs. And I mentioned some just like proactive ways that you could approach this, but today I wanna talk about how to have difficult pricing discussions. And this is something that, as a business owner, we're inevitably going to run into because.

We are dealing with a product that fundamentally is perishable. We're dealing with a product that fundamentally can, a lot of things can change because of, obviously these tariffs availability the farm that we're getting from the type of flower. And so a lot of times when you're meeting with a client.

They have no idea how much flowers cost. So you coming in and go, oh my God, the prices went up. The prices are terrible right now because of all these tariffs like that is going to put them into alarm mode. So we want to disarm them. And a lot of times when like somebody doesn't know their budget, I literally straight up will just say, okay, you know what?

I completely understand. 'cause they'll say they don't know how much flowers cost. There is no guide out there that is a directory. Like when you're shopping for a car, you can log onto a place and look and see how much, or like Amazon where you're looking for a lamp and you can go and just look at 10 different lamps.

There just isn't that pricing out there, and I completely understand. That makes it difficult to understand what an appropriate budget is. How about we do this? I think I got a really good vibe for the style that you want, for the fullness that you want, for the textures and colors that you want. And I think that you want your wedding to be beautiful, but you don't want to also have it be ostentatious.

You don't want it to be overboard. You want it to be beautiful, but not over the top because you are being cognizant of. Just being respectful of your budget. And so why don't I do this? Why don't I price these items out at a level that I think that when I come to deliver them, you'll be like, that's beautiful, and I'm going to be like, this is beautiful for me to put on my social media, for me to share it as something I'm proud that I did, but not go to the point where like, whoa, look at all these flowers.

Does that sound like the direction from an estimate standpoint that you would like me to take? And they're literally like nodding their head yes. And I go, okay, so I'll just quote these out at a way that I think is gonna be really beautiful fullness. Everything that we've talked about is gonna match that vibe, but I'm not gonna go overboard.

Does that sound good to you? Like I want them to say yes, because when somebody says yes, like they're putting two of their senses together, their speech is, coming together. So different connections points are being made in their brain and they're going to acknowledge that they said yes more so when they get your quote, it's not gonna be like, that lady did not listen to me.

Did she not hear that? I didn't wanna go overboard because right now they don't know how much overboard costs. Right now they don't know what average costs. So you are telling them that this estimate is average. That might not be in their budget inevitably, but you're at least presenting something average.

Does that make sense? So it is a surefire way to have a less adversarial conversation about budgets, but still making sure that you are not going to be producing a subpar product. We, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while I've had those unrealistic expectation clients that, you know, will creep in and you're.

For real, like are you re, did you get dropped as a baby? 'cause you're just like, how do you realistically think that you are going to have 10 bridesmaids, 20 cer pieces, 20 different Bnes and corsages and a. Ceremony arch for $2,000. Like we get appalled. We're like, you are the biggest idiot ever. Like, how can you possibly, like your eyes are rolling into the back of your head.

Your heart is sinking, your gut is twisting whenever you have these conversations. So. Here are some things that I do, and I've talked about 'em before, but I wanna revisit them because with the climate of pricing and everybody being reactivity mode, we need to just be rational. We need to be rational human beings that are helping educate our clients.

We're not here to be assholes. We're not here to be like, you're an idiot. I, I mean, sometimes we wanna say it, but we want to just educate them. Okay. If I'm understanding you correctly you're wanting, and I will recap those items to them. You're wanting 10 bridesmaids, you are bouquet. The 10 bhutanese you mentioned the 10 corsages.

You mentioned the asymmetrical arch flowers. Then. You're wanting 20 centerpieces and we talked about a mixture of Bud VAEs, a low floral and a greenery and candle centerpiece. Am I understanding that correctly? Like I, I think that I'm recapping all the items we've discussed. Yeah. Yep, that's right.

Okay. So I don't know if you had a chance to look at my brochure. This is one of the main reasons. I love having a brochure that has pricing guidance. In that brochure, I break broke down, like starting at pricing. So if I do the starting at pricing, and I often would be having this conversation like before via email, before I'm meeting with these people, but in case they got past my steel fortress stores of stupidity.

I will just give you guys the benefit of the doubt. If you, your doors aren't like mine to keep those people out, you are wanting those 10 bouquets. If I'm using my starting at pricing, let's just say we're making a smaller Posey at a hundred dollars each. So right there we have a thousand dollars in bridesmaid bouquets to cover your 10 bridesmaids.

Then your bouquet, you know it with that style and everything. If I just say, uh, starting at two 50, it could be 300, but let's just say two 50. We're at 1250. And then those Bhu innes, if I just say like a really, really simple er for $20 each, we are at $200 there. So right now we're at 1450. Then if I go and you wanted 10 wrist corsages, if I say $45 a piece for a simple wrist lit corsage we are at $450.

So right now. We were at 1450. Then let's add that four 50. So we're at $1,900 currently and we haven't add tax. We haven't added your centerpieces, your ceremony feature. me setting up and delivering anything, like none of those fees have attached. So I'm just trying to think of how I could make this budget work.

And it seems like it's a pretty difficult budget with the volume of items that you're needing. I. So we could approach this in a couple ways. Um, I think $2,000 with, of volume of items definitely is going to probably be on the more impossible ish end of things unless we drastically change a lot of the things that we discussed.

I could of course make things smaller. I could choose more. Value-based blooms. So I hope you guys heard, I didn't say cheap. I said value. Value-based blooms like carnations, hydrangeas roses. And then stay away from those Oculus butterfly, Oculus peonies sweet peas. All those other beautiful things that were in your inspo.

And so we simplified all of those blooms to value-based blooms. We made things smaller. And then maybe you guys figure out maybe like half of your centerpieces with some DIY option. And then we do some simple Bud VAs for 10 of your tables. Uh, we put like maybe. Two arch pieces. Even then we're probably gonna be closer to $3,500, maybe three if we want.

We can do the quick math if, if you want me to get really granular, but we're still really struggling with that $2,000 budget. So I'm really struggling with how I can help you best because I really wanna make beautiful flowers for you and I really want your day to be beautiful. But like the numbers right now are just not showing me a path.

So like, that was simple. I was, I'm on their side. I want to make this work, but it is fucking impossible. What they want is so unrealistic. They are so out of their gored crazy, not knowing how much these things cost. That is really hard to make. I, I am not a magician. I have said I am not a magician before and I'm not a magician, so I just don't know how to make this work.

I'm just throwing it out there. I just don't know how to make this work because what they're asking for is impossible. All right? So that's one like way I handle really unrealistic budgets, and honestly, because of these tariffs are going to affect so many items. Food catering is going to be affected. We, realistically in a wedding, the goods that they buy, the stationary potentially because of the paper, et cetera, that is potentially or probably going to increase.

I. Any miscellaneous goods that they're purchasing, like a card box or bridesmaid's gifts or groomsmen's gift, whatever those are realistically going up, food is definitely going up. Because not only most of their ingredients, if they're sourcing externally, they're coming from, their spices are coming from wherever.

That there's just likely going to be affected, but flowers probably are going to have the most Dr. Drastic or dramatic increase based on so much of that is imported. But with produce and things like that, unless they're buying locally grown for a caterer, that could drastically increase as well. Couples are gonna have to start thinking creatively because of these increase everything likely. I mean, a dj, a photographer, a officiant a venue like I don't see, obviously terrorists a affecting those type of items. And they could just, because everybody's my stuff costs more. I'm gonna raise my prices.

That could of course happen, but. The majority of the more consumption based, like the flowers, the product base, the food, those are gonna be affected. So if somebody went into their wedding with a $30,000 budget, or 50 or $75,000 budget, they potentially are going to have to figure out with these increased expenses overall, how are they gonna make that work?

And that is potentially going to impact their available floral budget. So that's our job to think creative. That is our job to like, think of, okay, how could we do this to be, you know, a little bit more value-based? May maybe on a third of their centerpieces, or could we maybe not do. Something like if they're wanting bathroom flowers, you know, or they're wanting a guest book arrangement, skip that.

Skip those items and invest your budget where it is more impactful. Those kind of conversations are inevitably we are going to face that. So when you're facing that, just say, you know what, I completely understand. You know, you're working with a limited budget based on the current state of everything. I wanna make sure I'm delivering the best value for you, or I wanna make sure that your wedding is as beautiful as you have pictured and, but try to stay in your budget so.

Is it more important? And this is another question that I ask all the time, is your floral vision more important or is your budget? So that is a great way to get off course to really understand the core. When somebody, you're talking with somebody and they're like all of a sudden showing you shit from Pinterest, that is a football player's wedding.

That table center piece alone was probably $2,000 and they got a $7,000 budget and they just want these grand, grand, grand. Thanks. If that is the case, I ask that question like right away. I'm like, you know what? You're showing me some things that really speak to a premium budget. I'm guessing that it's some I even joke, I'm guessing that it's some football players, Minnesota Vikings, whatever, wedding.

They just went all in on. And that table is probably $2,000 at least. And from what you shared with me, your $7,000 budget and all the items, like, I really think that that is not going to fit in our budget. So is your budget more important or your floral vision, because I can make, give you ideas and things like that to help come up with something fun that is either.

More in your budget, or if you want, I can quote things accordingly. If you have flexibility, not me just doing work, you wanna make sure you're just not signing up to do a million quotes if you have some flexibility in your budget. I think that this conversation. Is better pricing Conversations are 10 times better to have during your consultation than when you send, like whatever you send, you know your estimate over, you send your proposal, you send your your HoneyBook proposal over, and then they come unglued because they feel like you didn't listen to them.

You, they feel like, did she hear anything I said? During our consultation because I told her that my $5,000 budget was really important. And if that happened, you wanna make sure that you're really being transparent about what is possible. And part of that understanding and parting part of being able to have those conversations is really understanding your base pricing.

And I did an episode last week on base pricing and that is critical. For you to understand base pricing, because if you don't have your base pricing nailed down, you can't have these conversations. You can't say, I can do a bridal bouquet or a bridesmaid for X amount. I can't. I can do a compote or I can do Bud VAs or I can do this.

Starting at this, if you don't know, you're starting at pricing when you're trying to do what I call like floral math. Of their items, how I ran through like 10 bouquets, smaller bridesmaids, a hundred dollars. If you don't know that you can do a bridesmaid bouquet for a hundred dollars, it might not be the one that they want.

It might be, you know, your base recipe bouquet, but if you don't know that, you can't have that conversation. So also understanding that base pricing is is critical. The next like difficult conversation, um, in pricing that I wanna talk about is when they are showing you premium blooms. I often will draw parallels to other flower flowers and I talk about value.

I don't talk about something being cheap, something being inexpensive. I say, you know what? Those are absolutely stunning. But just so you understand from a cost perspective that peony. Could potentially be the cost of three of the roses, so three roses and that space that that fills, or one peony. I'm drawing a parallel between value.

I actually did this when my daughter was really in Rainbow High Dolls. They're horrible by the way. They look like these trampy little dolls, but she loved them for a while and anytime she was asking for something like I would draw, did you know that cost Five Rainbow high dolls? Five rainbow high dolls?

10 rainbow high dolls? Like she'd be asking for something bigger. I was like, that's 10 rainbow high dolls. Do you 'cause like the understanding when somebody's like speaking, okay. I can visualize a rose. Would I rather have three roses for the same cost as one PE Andy? And the might answer might not be, yes, I want the PE Andy, or, yes, I want the roses.

So you don't know, but at least you're educating them that this is. What they cost. You're not even saying the cost, $5 wholesale, $15, whatever. You're just like I can in my head draw a parallel. I can get a rose for a dollar 65. Normally a, PE and E, let's just say right now, peonies are five to $6 a stem, so I could get four roses for essentially one PE and E right now.

In peony season, locally grown peony season I could get, let's just say like three roses or two roses. You know, I, it, it ebbs and flows on when there are flushes of flowers, when, flowers are better value 'cause they are locally sourced and not imported, et cetera. So those are also conversations that I think could be helpful and conversations that.

Really just show that you are trying to be helpful at the end of a consultation. I want that person to be like, they really wanna figure something out for me. They're excited about my wedding. They're like, I'm just excited about their excitement. I don't know if you have had this experience, but like we recently bought a couch and a little like sofa chair and.

We went to like two different furniture stores and even at one furniture store we talked to several different people and one of them I was just like, I really liked the dude, like good energy, good everything. And then there was like a person that was on an upper level and I like wanted to stab her with a dull spoon because she had like the personality and excitement of her turtle.

Don't be the turtle. Be the person who is you are selling. You are a small business owner, and what's hard with so many creatives? Creatives are introverts. We are not I am not an introvert. I am definitely an extrovert, but I have a very introverted daughter. I have a very introverted husband. I have a very extroverted little boy, but I know so many wedding professionals that are so introverted.

We are in extroverted jobs, so if meeting with someone depletes you, you need to make sure that you buck up buttercup right before that consultation and you bring your game face like that energy needs to come out. I want them to be like, I fucking love that person. I, I want at the end of your consultations for somebody to be like, oh my god.

Excitement will help compensate for pricing issues, excitement, enthusiasm, passion flexibility, willingness, all will help. For real, like this will be huge. You need to have that flexibility, that drive of really going the extra mile and having that customer service, being excited about their wedding, excited about their designs, excited about their concepts.

Anytime that I lose a client, like they go in a different direction. The one time a year that I get ghosted by somebody because I really didn't fricking like them and they didn't make it past, you know, they made it past my doors, my fortress of my bullshit radar of people that I probably am not gonna like working with somehow, like I am.

I, I didn't have great energy because I right away fed off of their energy being crap, you know, like, or. I have after having a consult quoted something higher because I didn't like their energy so much that I probably don't wanna be their florist, therefore I'm going to charge more. 'cause I just didn't feel good, feels gross.

They're just, I don't wanna work with them. And so if that is a place that you're at with a client, like that's okay, but your normal. Everyday self should be a shining fricking star that like during your consultation, you show up and if you are that creative introvert, you need to figure out how to psych yourself up before that consult because that is going to help you overcome pricing.

Enthusiasm sells, excitement sells passion sells. So those are some of the difficult conversations. Now, let's talk about especially right now when everybody's in freakout mode about pricing and, everybody's just like sideways. People still are going to get married. Everybody, they, they might have less flowers, they might have the same budget and just have less flowers.

We have the autonomy to be creative and come up with solutions. Pin frogs, they require way less flowers, you guys foam free. Great solution for budgets. I invested in some trays from Camilla Supply out of Canada. And I can use, like, they're beautiful. They have about a nine inch, 10 inch footprint, so they're big and I can put a couple pin frogs in there and they're beautiful.

That is a great solution. So if you are looking for like creative solutions, you might come up with one when the other florist they met with, or the other two quoted exactly what their Pinterest said that they can't afford, so that then they are gonna be like, I can't afford this florist, not. Hey, I really love the ideas this florist came up with and I love how flexible they are and how they really wanted to help me and make my budget a reality because the people understand that flower prices are going up and if they don't we don't need to like scream and shell from the rooftops.

Like we just need to think creatively. This is the perfect time. If you've been wanting to go to an area design style to institute an area design style because air sells, air make thing makes things look bigger, and you use less product like those artful beautiful designs that we see all over Pinterest and see all over Instagram.

They use less product usually because they're having, you know, artful, beautiful blooms cascading out all over the place. And when you do that, you're just you're using less. So maybe now is, is a great time to just, how could I have more artful designs? What if instead of compacting roses down at the bottom, you use carnation.

How could you think creatively? What if you had four hydrangeas at the base of a compote and then all your other flowers were just airier? So you covered all your mechanics, but then you just are selling the air of the blooms above and then investing in more premium blooms on the blooms above.

Like what would that look like? What would it look like to be an area designer if that's something that you are really drawn to? All of that is possible. I hope these little strategies or word tracks are helpful. I know that this is a difficult time and I see you and I know that it can be stressful, but I re, I mean you guys, we have gone through so much COVID, like this ain't nothing on covid.

You guys like, just think we didn't even have the ability to have like 25 people in a room. We can have 25 people in a room right now. We just need to figure out how we can get the flowers that fit in their budget that are gonna be beautiful and we're not stressed out about it. It's that easy. This can be easy.

Choose easy, choose peace. Choose to be like a solution provider and have the energy of a solution provider. I see so many people just absolutely losing their shit right now. And when I see those people, I am just like, God, it fucking sucks to be you. Like that must be exhausting. Running around and defending, you know, tariffs.

Like why get people worked up when they don't need to be? When you don't and speaking from someone who sold, I was in sales for 17 years before I went all in on the floral business, and so I was selling to people who sold for a living. So like I, I've taken all the sales training, like I, I have sold, I used to sell, when I sold cars, I sold a hundred cars a year.

On a really, really shitty year, but I normally sold about 200 to two 50. So like when I started I was like still selling a ton, but like, I got up to 200, 2 50, I was in the 300 to three 50 club. That is a lot of people like that. That is, I had my selling shoes on all the time. I mean, and even in the worst year when a million things went wrong.

I mean, I still was at like, you know, selling 20 cars a month and that I know that there's no reference, but that's a lot. So I know inviting panic is not helpful. I mean, you can't avoid that this is happening. And so if you want to use that Hey, our prices are going up. Like of course, like, Ooh, God, maybe I should wait.

To reach out with them because they're probably really worried. And then all of a sudden Trump's gonna make some agreement in a week and then they're gonna charge me higher prices. Or if you wanna even say, I'm, I actually, I sent a quote to a wedding planner today and I said, just to let you know, this is reflecting all the craziness that's going on with tariffs right now.

As long as it stays constant with what they're saying right now. So you don't have to worry about any surprises. Like, I'm just making it funny, Hey, I quoted crazy. I quoted, what's the state of the world so you don't have to worry that you're gonna have to go back to your client and ask for more money.

'cause that would suck. So I just like lovingly just said, Hey, I, I already took care of that and we're still, I figured out how to be in their budget. So 📍 thank you so much for listening, flower Friend. And you have an amazing flower filled day.