The month of June opened my eyes to some new things in the world of design. I've never had to focus on it until recently. Our head designer for 23 years retired 2 years ago, so the table was on auto-pilot with a couple of "bouquet makers". Our store is high volume, so when she retired I added another p/t designer to the staff. Both of the girls and the new hire are (self taught designers) and did what I thought was a good job, but it was only at the level they we're capable of. My wife, who is very talented, is also a self taught designer, but she creates with a level of passion for every arrangement she does.
In June, a series of events occurred that left both of us with the decision to lay off our "entire" design staff. At first, I balked, we are to busy to do that, but she insisted, we had lost our "mojo". Even she didn't feel comfortable with the level needed to take on some of the jobs that were ahead of us. We lost a 10K - 15K wedding because of not being able to offer the bride the level of creativity she wanted. I had seen it, watch it done, but no way to do it. I don't mind losing work to price, because profit is not dirty word, but not for this. Creativity won this round. So, I knew change would have to come.
In the next decade flowers shops will need to do three things to maintain profitability:
1) Creativity and the quality of flowers must merge together and stand out ahead of the OG and show people our value versus the on-line people. We must "bring it".............
2) We must bring the "authenticity" back to the level it was and began or continue to develop that personal relationship with each customer, while remembering we are selling emotions, feeling and expressions. We must "bring it"............
3) We must become "mass casual" and show that we can be as mass friendly/casual as the "big boxes" but we ad a twist of service and personality. We must "bring it"...........we must be more than a picture and a price of 29.99
I've never put design where it should be, I've used the bandade approach when it needed "open heart" surgery. Price and profits are important, but in the next decade you will need the whole package. What I need is a balanced approach with design and marketing standing shoulder to shoulder. After 3 months of killing ourselves, we've decide to take it up a notch.
Effective 10/11/11, Ricky King will join the staff of A Floral Boutique Florists and has excepted the challenge of re-defining our table, merging design with creativity, re-tooling the store and hiring of all new staff and their training. Ricky and many other great designers "eat, sleep and breathe" design and this forum has helped me understand a downfall in my DNA. I did not put the value into design that should be, 50 of one bouquet does not say, "your are special in my book", it says profit is more important than uniqueness................We are pre-paring for the next decade of flowers. We weren't looking for another employee, we want a partner who can grow with us and teach each other. We want to kick some "floral" booty.......................
I encourage all of you prior to the holidays, step back and look at your business, can you offer the whole package, if not, what are you lacking. If you lack marketing, website, design, etc. then make that change happen to fill that void. I apologize to all the designers out there for people like me who are consumed with numbers and have lost the real reason we are here,
"We sell flowers that are created unique for each individual"
In June, a series of events occurred that left both of us with the decision to lay off our "entire" design staff. At first, I balked, we are to busy to do that, but she insisted, we had lost our "mojo". Even she didn't feel comfortable with the level needed to take on some of the jobs that were ahead of us. We lost a 10K - 15K wedding because of not being able to offer the bride the level of creativity she wanted. I had seen it, watch it done, but no way to do it. I don't mind losing work to price, because profit is not dirty word, but not for this. Creativity won this round. So, I knew change would have to come.
In the next decade flowers shops will need to do three things to maintain profitability:
1) Creativity and the quality of flowers must merge together and stand out ahead of the OG and show people our value versus the on-line people. We must "bring it".............
2) We must bring the "authenticity" back to the level it was and began or continue to develop that personal relationship with each customer, while remembering we are selling emotions, feeling and expressions. We must "bring it"............
3) We must become "mass casual" and show that we can be as mass friendly/casual as the "big boxes" but we ad a twist of service and personality. We must "bring it"...........we must be more than a picture and a price of 29.99
I've never put design where it should be, I've used the bandade approach when it needed "open heart" surgery. Price and profits are important, but in the next decade you will need the whole package. What I need is a balanced approach with design and marketing standing shoulder to shoulder. After 3 months of killing ourselves, we've decide to take it up a notch.
Effective 10/11/11, Ricky King will join the staff of A Floral Boutique Florists and has excepted the challenge of re-defining our table, merging design with creativity, re-tooling the store and hiring of all new staff and their training. Ricky and many other great designers "eat, sleep and breathe" design and this forum has helped me understand a downfall in my DNA. I did not put the value into design that should be, 50 of one bouquet does not say, "your are special in my book", it says profit is more important than uniqueness................We are pre-paring for the next decade of flowers. We weren't looking for another employee, we want a partner who can grow with us and teach each other. We want to kick some "floral" booty.......................
I encourage all of you prior to the holidays, step back and look at your business, can you offer the whole package, if not, what are you lacking. If you lack marketing, website, design, etc. then make that change happen to fill that void. I apologize to all the designers out there for people like me who are consumed with numbers and have lost the real reason we are here,
"We sell flowers that are created unique for each individual"
