Increase Frequency of Purchase
Left to their own habits, a husband might only buy his wife flowers on Valentines Day. What if they consistently suggested they buy flowers for a
birthday or anniversary or just because? Or offer to send flowers on these special days automatically (so they do not forget)? Would this trigger
additional purchases? Another application involves a customer who occasionally buys flowers to cheer up their house. In this case, they can
offer to deliver flowers every week to keep their house bright. The florist can suggest their customers buy house plants in addition to the flowers
they purchase. The key is to help them benefit from your service more often and in more ways.
Caution! As I go through these examples there are two ways you can listen to them. One is by looking for where they don’t apply, and the other
is looking for where and how they do apply. You will reap far greater rewards by practicing the latter. Will every person buy flowers more often?
NO. Will the majority, maybe yes, maybe no. Will some buy more often, absolutely! And if it takes little effort, time, money or risk to apply this
strategy, the profits are well worth it. In fact, I will show you later how this strategy can easily return you $1,000-$10,000 per each hour you
invest.
Expanding Customer Purchases
This includes birthdays, holidays, and their customer anniversary. These times represent a great opportunity to make special offers. You can
send them a special savings certificate good for a 25% discount on their birthday or customer anniversary. You can send them a letter to tell
them about your special Christmas offer and let them know that you are giving your preferred customers a one-week advance opportunity to
purchase, before making the Christmas arrangements available to the public.
You can get the men to sign up on auto-payment/auto-delivery so that they will never forget their wife’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, anniversary or
other important dates. Tell the men that they'll never forget their wives/girlfriend's special day because they can take care of it at one time and
simply forget about it. Let them know that you'll take care of their order and you'll call them the day before the order goes out just to let them
know that it is coming. Tell them that the prices of flowers are always going up and they can lock in a discount rate right away if they simply
commit to paying for the future flowers.
Compelling Incentives & Database
When you go to a trade show, hold a drawing for "Free Flowers For a Year -- A $250 Value". Give the winner a special arrangement on their
birthday, spouse's (or significant other's) birthday, anniversary, valentine's day or another special occasion. On the drawing card, have each
prospect write in the dates of their special occasions, as well as their name, email address and telephone number. They can also write special
instructions or preferences. One prospect will win first prize. The key is that everyone wins second prize (though you don't tell everyone that). It
might be 20% off their order for the whole year. Now you have a customer database, you have specific special dates for your customers and
you can send them targeted emails (or make targeted calls) throughout the entire year. Since you normally make about a 50% gross margin,
you know that you can afford to give away 20% and still make a handsome profit. Furthermore, you can give the customer such a positive
experience that you can leverage her for referrals forever.
Script: Send this sample email script to your 2nd place winners and see what happens. "Dear Susie, Congratulations. You have won second
prize at ABC Florists. I'm sorry you didn't win first prize -- that went to Mrs. Jane D. of Colorado Springs. However, your valuable second prize
earns you 20% all flowers and arrangements over the next twelve months. Please bring in this letter when you come and we'll instantly apply
your discount to any purchase you make. See you soon."
When your database tells you that their birthday (or anniversary, or spouse's birthday, or other special event) is coming up, you can send them
an email about 10 days in advance and remind them of their 20% discount. Follow up the email with a call to increase conversions about 30%.
Any staff person can do this because the email is cut and paste, and the phone call is a basic script.
Other Ideas
1. Use barter to grow your business. It has several strategic consequences. Since your floral products have a high margin but a limited shelf life,
a formalized barter strategy will prove useful.
- Increase sales from your existing customers,
- lock in customers for the long term,
- conserve cash,
- open the way for a formal referral system
When a client (e.g. hotel) requests flowers for a party, you can allow them to pay a portion of the bill in trade credit. You will make it hard for the
client to want to look for another florist. You can take that trade credit and either sell it, give it away as a prize in a promotion, use it yourself, or
give it to your staff as a bonus.
2. Once you are sure that the client is happy doing business with you, ask for referrals and testimonials. Here's the key: you write the type of
testimonial you're looking for and then show it to the client "as an example". They will appreciate that you have saved them some time to think
about what to write and many will endorse it just as you write it.
3. Approach beauty salons, jewelry stores, dental offices, cosmetic surgery offices, and similar businesses that are focusing on helping people
look more beautiful or enjoy beauty. Make them a barter offer they can't refuse. Test small before you try big.
4. Offer to place bouquets of flowers on consignment in retail outlets. Owners may be up for this because they only have to pay you if the
flowers sell. Be careful to make sure you do not place too many flowers in one location or you will lose your profits when the flowers don't sell.
Also, check your local state requirements because you may need to purchase a license for each location where the flowers are sold. It is
different in each state. You should be able to service all your locations in just a couple of hours each day. (This is a great way to get started in
the floral business because you don't need a retail store to get started. You can build your customer base first!)
Florist