For most florists, June 1 marked the beginning of six straight months of non-holiday sales levels. Having too many employees during this period can be taxing on your payroll. In the May/June issue of Floral Management, financial expert Paul Goodman, MBA, PFCI, outlines how to forecast sales and staff appropriately.
“Planning may not be one of the most urgent things on your to-do list. It is, however, one of the most important,” says Goodman, the founder of Floral Finance Business Services, editor of Floral Finance, and author of “The Profit-Minded Florist.”
Determine Sales Volume
To begin, determine your non-holiday sales volume. “You will make approximately 1.5 percent of annual sales on any given non-holiday week,” Goodman says. You can get this number by multiplying annual design sales by 0.015.
Identify Weekly Patterns
Examine your weekly sales patterns. For instance, Fridays might be busy, while Tuesdays are slow. Gather design sales data for four consecutive non-holiday weeks broken down by day — but avoid June and January, which tend to be the lowest sales months of the year, Goodman says. Create a spreadsheet, writing the four weeks across the top and days of the week down the left-hand side. Fill in the blanks with daily sales for each week. (Make sure you don’t include weddings or other special planned events in these totals.) Add all Mondays to get the total for Monday design sales, then divide that number by four for your average Monday volume. Repeat the process for the remaining days.
For more guidance, including how to assess your designers’ productivity, divide design hours among several employees and properly schedule delivery drivers, check out “Save on Summertime Staffing” in the May/June issue of Floral Management.
Katie Vincent is the senior contributing editor for the Society of American Florists.
