SAF’s Mother’s Day survival guide is a step-by-step resource that will help ensure your business is top of mind for customers and maximize Mother’s Day sales and profits.
The countdown is on for Mother’s Day, and one question is on everyone’s mind: Will consumers be willing to spend?
During an event in late March for SAF’s Ultimate level members, SAF Chief Economist Charlie Hall, Ph.D., the Ellison Chair of Floriculture at Texas A&M University, discussed how the recent banking crisis, skyrocketing credit card debt and increasing interest rates could affect Mother’s Day spending.
“The fact of the matter is, people still have cash,” Hall said. Consumers are still holding onto about $800 billion in COVID-19 relief savings issued by the government, and many who saw wage increases in the past two years have more money to spend, he said. He added that while consumer confidence remains good, credit card debt is increasing month-over-month, indicating that consumers are likely to be more discretionary with their spending.
“I still think people are going to be , but are we going to be able to capture mind share to capture wallet share?” Hall asked. (Looking for more insight on consumer spending? Watch this on-demand video from last year’s Idea Exchange with Hall, who dissected an IPSOS consumer survey on Mother’s Day spending).
The Society of American Florists has compiled a step-by-step survival guide of resources to help you make sure your business is top of mind for customers and maximize Mother’s Day sales and profits.
Step 1: Decide on Product Offerings
- This SAF NOW article draws from a recent study on consumer’s plant preferences and taps several florists who share their best practices for using plants to create loyal customers.
- This magazine story will spark creativity in how you move and package products. It features a shop who built on the idea of a traditional gift basket to move more inventory and offer customized gifts.
- Vonda LaFever, AIFD, PFCI, and Kami Martin of Flower Clique, a floral consulting firm, discuss the importance of creating a limited menu for Mother’s Day and how to present it online in the webinar, “Prepping Your Website for Holiday Sales.”
- Derek Woodruff, AIFD, CF, PFCI, owner of Floral Underground in Traverse City, Michigan, demonstrates how to make eight arrangements in a mere 40 minutes, offering simple solutions to save time and money on the design bench. For example, start with your biggest designs, as you will inevitably wind up with broken pieces of foliage and flowers. “Those scraps are so valuable,” Woodruff says. “Set them aside in a ‘bits bowl’. Over the course of the day, you’ll collect a lot and that material is perfect for filling out foam designs.” Learn his favorite hacks in the webinar, “Training Tips and Adaptable Designs.”
Step 2: Forecast Sales and Plan Staffing
- In this SAF NOW article, Paul Goodman, PFCI, founder of Floral Finance Business Services and author of The Profit-Minded Florist, explains how to forecast sales and shows how that knowledge can help you determine staffing needs.
- Goodman also talked about staffing in a recent webinar where he provides step-by-step guidance to determine how many extra workers you need to manage the holiday crunch. The webinar, “Staffing Profitably for Valentine’s Day,” has advice that applies to any busy holiday.
Step 3: Fine-Tune Delivery
- This SAF NOW article highlights the advice florists shared during SAF’s recent Idea Exchange on using third-party delivery services (that virtual event is available to watch on demand here.)
- The new course, “Delivery Support” by Jenny Behlings, AAF, PFCI, SDCF, supplements training for new delivery employees, whether they are joining you for a holiday or for the year. It provides new hires with information on how a retail shop operates, proper packaging, loading, and delivery procedures, as well as customer service.
- In the webinar,“Strategies to Accelerate Deliveries,” Goodman shares how to find quality drivers, set delivery zones and charges, and track drivers’ productivity. He urges florists to implement delivery changes well in advance of the holiday to ensure everything works smoothly.
- Read about florists’ delivery dos in the Floral Management article “How to Succeed in Holiday Business (Without Really Crying).” Sandy Nielsen, president of Nielsen’s Florist in Darien, Connecticut, and a two-time winner of SAF’s Marketer of the Year Award, shared that she recruits heavily from the post office every Mother’s Day, as the holiday always falls on mail carriers’ day off. “They know the streets better than anyone, so you know they’ll be efficient,” she said.
Step 4: Communicate with and Train Staff
- Hold staff meetings to review schedules, product offerings, production procedures and delivery details. “Say This, Not That,” a webinar presented by Flower Clique, has tips on best communication practices.
Step 5: Update Your Website and Online Presence
- This SAF NOW article offers simple ways to tweak your Google Business Profile so your business is at the top of search results.
- Web orders have become a major driver of sales for retail florists and yours might need a little spring cleaning to make sure it is ready for Mother’s Day sales. This SAF NOW article has five tips to prep your site for robust sales.
Step 6: Plan Marketing
- SAF has high-quality social media images and verbiage to get you started with social media marketing for Mother’s Day, as well as simple promotions you can personalize for your own business. Find them here.
Step 7: Develop Strategies — and a Plan “B”
- Read about how other florists survived past Mother’s Days in the Floral Management article, “Floral Industry Leaders Share Key Takeaways From Mother’s Day.”
Step 8: Get Ready for the Press
- Publicity in your local media has invaluable payoffs: it gets your name out in the community, boosts credibility, and (usually) costs nothing other than your time. SAF offers pointers for getting journalists’ attention and generating positive media buzz, preparing for an interview, and capitalizing on coverage after the fact. Find all this and more (including two Mother’s Day themed press releases you can customize) here.
Step 9: Keep Calm
- Don’t forget to take care of yourself and your team in the weeks leading up to Mother’s Day. This three-part series of on-demand webinars with author and floral industry veteran Barry Gottlieb focus on wellbeing and offer practical ways to ensure you are at your best.
Step 10: Reflect
- This on-demand webinar, “Post-Holiday Questions,” walks you through how to assess your business’s performance after Mother’s Day to set you up for even more success next year.
- Be sure to check and respond to your online reviews after Mother’s Day. This SAF NOW article offers helpful advice for how to respond to negative reviews.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF NOW.
