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R E A D O N L I N E
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• Train your salespeople in the art
of describing arrangements to
customers by painting verbal pictures
using phrases such as "low and lush,"
"tall and showy," "beautiful garden
mix," "bright summer design," "exotic
mix of premium blooms," and so on.
Giving these colorful yet somewhat
vague descriptions will not only
help give customers an idea of
what they are ordering but also give
your designers much more leeway.
• Train your salespeople about
techniques for upselling and
off ering add-ons, and have them
practice those techniques until
they are comfortable using them.
Again, consider providing incentives
for every up-sell and add-on sale
they make.
• Promote your specials heavily
during holidays, to keep design
labor costs down.
• Develop special-value vase
refi ll and/or weekly or monthly
fl ower "subscription" programs
for your customers.
• Educate your customers about the
vase lives and care of various fl ower
types and varieties so they have
reasonable expectations and
get maximum enjoyment and
satisfaction from their purchases.
When you put into practice the
tips in each of these three categories,
I promise that you will see an increase
in both your profi tability and cash
fl ow. We all want to continue creating
gorgeous arrangements for a long
time, and being profi table will allow
us to do that.
