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Securing a far higher ratio of customer loyalty & repeat business for your flower sales

Could a florist increase the loyalty of his/her customers and increase flower repeat buys TENFOLD from what it is already?

And if it was possible, how would it affect your business?

Essentially the role of the florist is one of trying to tempt new customers into the flower shop, serve them well... and then hope that they'll come again when they need a nice bouquet.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

It's the age-old model of practice for the florist and it will probably always remain the BASIC form of activity for retailing cut flowers.

But it has its drawbacks, of course.

The main disadvantage is in having NO OTHER method of acquiring new customers of far MORE LOYAL kind, whose repeat purchases would be more frequent.

In other words, as the base of operations and steady income, the flower shop is great.

It is also extremely useful as a "living exhibition" in acquiring advance-order-based customers of a new type.

But if you want to increase the degree of loyalty and repeat purchases of customers... then you need to ADD another form of florists' service to your basic flower shop activity.

If you do then you will be rewarded handsomely because this new type of service and the customers it attracts are characterised by extremely high loyalty and repeat purchase frequency.

They buy flowers only from you.

And they order bouquets far more frequently than the average walk-in customer.

The foundations of income and profits for the florist

Problems related to income — the amount of earnings per month and year, the profit it produces and the degree to which you can control these factors — are born from several factors, but we can identify THREE that form the foundation on which everything else sits.

If you are able to influence these three factors for the better, then you will be able to assert more control over you income and earnings as a florist.

Here are the three factors:

1.	Number of customers that you have
2.	Average value of each purchase and the profit thereof
3.	Degree of loyalty of customers and/or number & frequency of repeat purchases

While other factors can be important in this equation, these three — if improved — will definitely make a difference in your income and profits... and greatly increase the viability factor of your florist's business.

With "viability" we mean the survival potential of the business, which can be formed of many things but essentially evolves from having lots of advance orders from lots of people so you know MONTHS AHEAD that you'll earn enough to get by come what may.

All right, now let's look at each of these factors in more detail

NUMBER OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS:

The number of active customers you have at any point in time will predict the MAIN bulk of your income in terms of the coming months. Obviously it can be difficult to count every walk-in customer and thus the average florist won't have a clear picture of the number of existing customers.

But if you have 100 existing customers then your likelihood of income in the coming months will be DEPENDENT on that figure MAINLY. Not totally, but to a large degree.

Also, the number of NEW customers will be in relation to how many existing customers you're retaining currently.

Of course there are ways to accelerate the acquisition of new customers and luck can play a role in it also... but the general yardstick for number of new customers (if we speak of realistic expectations) is governed by the size of your current clientele.

As your clientele increases then so expands your potential for more income in the coming months as well as how many new customers you can expect.

Here bigger is better, obviously.

VALUE OF AVERAGE PURCHASE:

The average value of each purchase from your flower shop and the profit thereof is the next factor. This makes sense, of course.

Costing is one of the most important factors in retailing as margins are small and sometimes "slippery" due to wastage and unforeseen circumstances.

Out of your pricing, how you buy wholesale, and the degree to which you sell the stock (instead of it being lost due to wastage) we get the profit margin. I know that other things influence this, such as your overheads... but let's stick with sales profit here in order to avoid complicating matters further or taking it into the realm of accounting.

If you know how many customers you have and how much each of them buys per average purchase AND you know the profit... then you have some idea of what you're going to earn and whether or not it will be enough (when compared to overheads).

Again, bigger is better but obviously one cannot price flowers to high heavens as that would have a very damaging effect on sales.

Costing must take competition into account and it must also involve some idea of the "price awareness" of the public to some degree (meaning what the average punter THINKS roses cost, for instance... and if you price much higher they won't buy because it's "too expensive").

Well, sorry to bore you out with this... no doubt you know all of it by heart. But all this is merely leading up to the third factor, which is the subject of this article:

CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND FREQUENCY OF REPEAT BUYS:

This is the kingpin of these factors because the degree of customer loyalty and/or the number of repeat purchases made by each will govern your income directly.

If you have 100 customers but they're not loyal... then you don't really HAVE 100 customers at all but far fewer.

If you have 100 loyal customers but they only buy 1.5 times a year as the average figure (which would be an extremely LOW repeat purchase frequency) then you're going to be in deep trouble financially sooner rather than later.

But if each of these 100 customers would buy 7 times a year on average it would be a far better scenario financially for the future of your flower shop.

However, if we work on all three factors and develop them simultaneously, we have a much more positive outlook on the future.

Joggling the income factors of your flower shop

Let's imagine that you had a way of obtaining new customers continually in an active way.

With this I mean that you could do something that would DIRECTLY bring you new customers (as opposed to INDIRECT means such as advertising).

Let's further imagine that these new customers would be of a type buying your top-grade flowers, arrangements and accessories.

Let's add to that the concept of a special added-value florist's service which would ADD value to these purchases to such degree that you could price these bouquets and deliveries HIGHER than with walk-in customers, increasing your profit margin significantly.

Finally, picture that these customers would WANT to place 8-12 flower delivery orders per year IN ADVANCE and commit to these without the right to cancel.

Furthermore, they would sign a contract which would continue for several years.

I know, you say it's impossible, a flight of fancy... but humour me for a while longer and you might be in for a surprise...

So, let's go over this imaginary scenario involving these revisions to the three factors.

Let's say you could acquire 100 of this special type of customers for your flower shop during the next 10-12 months. Actually that's a very conservative estimate but let's keep it low just for the sake of caution.

100 times 8-12 flower deliveries a year at your top price added with a healthy bonus of additional profit... how does that outlook of future compare with the one we had before?

Next year you again sign on another one hundred new customers or so... and now you have 200 customers on this service, since most of them continue for several years.

And now it's 200 times the same figures but possibly increased somewhat as you become more adapt in selling the deliveries and pricing your services...

It presents quite a bright picture for the future, don't you agree?

Quite something indeed... food for thought for any florist.

Above all, this scenario would virtually guarantee earnings for years to come... all sold, sealed, signed but not yet delivered!

You would KNOW that you have income next month, next year and onwards. You would KNOW that your income will keep growing with a healthy profit margin... and you could be relatively certain that YOUR florist's establishment will REMAIN in existence and expand in a healthy way.

Of course, it would start slowly. And you would need to know exactly how to achieve such an ideal state of flower sales.

But the DEGREE to which you can influence these three factors (and control you income) is not really important as such at this point in time.

What's important is that you are ABLE to influence these three factors of financial success for the florist... even if just a little bit in the beginning.

Any development or increase is always very small in the beginning. It takes time to get things moving and at first we have no experience on these new methods so we can make mistakes... and so on.

But if you CAN influence these factors even minutely at first, then you're on the right path and these small results will ACCUMULATE with time, leading your florist's business upwards onto better earnings and profits.

And you will become better at it the longer you persist with it... and the results will improve, become gradually BIGGER... until you have sufficient control over your finances to do whatever you like.

So... how do you do it? What's the way to get started on this?

Well, the way to start on this path is to add another leg into your system of obtaining new customers.

Add another leg to the customer-acquisition activity of your florist's business

If you want to control the growth of your flower sales upwards at will then you must ADD another leg to your sales.

This so that you can obtain new customers of a specific kind on top of whatever business you receive from the walk-in trade.

Otherwise, your success will always be governed by the limitations of your location AND the existence / pricing / promotional activities OF YOUR COMPETITORS.

Working the walk-in public only, you are at a disadvantage unless you've got the best location and the most funds for advertising AND you can cut your prices to starve (and drive out) the competition.

But even if that's the case, you're faced with a long war of attrition in which every florist in the area starves... you included. You'll pay a heavy price for driving out the competitors.

And what then? You get rid of them and up your prices to a profitable level... and, before you know it, there's NEW competition in town!

And what about the supermarket & service station flower sales? Do you think you can smoke THEM out by low pricing?

Right. The florists in your area aren't the real threat really.

Why not go the other way and realize the potential of your EXPERTISE as a florist? Why not specialize on selling this expertise and professional florist's service instead of battling with pricing cut flowers as products?

We have a detailed business plan for the florist who wants to excel professionally as well as increase their income, profits and viability.

The answer lies in setting up a second leg for your sales and beginning to promote your SERVICES to businessmen...

...who can afford the best flower arrangements and who are in DESPERATE NEED of your professional services.

Offer them the right service the correct way and you'll start an avalanche of income, profit, advance flower delivery orders and praise for your artistry in creating flower arrangements.

Do that and you'll find that they buy flowers ONLY from you.

Go for it and you'll see that they order bouquets far more frequently than the average walk-in customer, up to 15 deliveries a year... and continue doing so year after year with just that ONE SINGLE SALE MADE IN THE BEGINNING.

Give it a try and you'll soon learn that they buy the top-grade flower arrangements and pay willingly for your arrangements and service.

It is a new and STELLAR level of customer loyalty and frequency of repeat flower purchases, one your competitors cannot even dream of.

The method of securing loyal and high-purchase frequency customers has been documented in form of ready-to-use tools and detailed instructions in the Florist's Flower Power Business Expansion Guide.

CLICK HERE to read the presentation of the Florist's Flower Power Guide and see how you could secure hundreds of loyal repeat customers for your cut flower retailing business and increase flower buyers' loyalty & repeat purchases tenfold!

It could very well be just the thing you've been looking for...

Best wishes,

HDK Consultants Ltd 32 Manning Close Richmond Square East Grinstead RH19 2DR West Sussex United Kingdom (England) Tel. 01342-328 116 Int: +44-1342-328-116 CONTACT FORM

How to overcome the limitations of the location of your flower shop?

Should you settle for whatever customers you can get from the passing traffic... or should you NOT agree with such limitations? This article discusses how you could EXPAND your reach far beyond the "normal perimeters" of you location in your area.

CLICK to read about expanding your florist market beyond the limits of location of your flower shop!

Active flower sales versus the passive florist

Compare active flower sales and traditional florist shop to see your potential...

CLICK to see the Active Flower Sales model.

How to get more appreciation and acknowledgment for your artistry and skill as a florist?

Would you prefer if customers would order bouquets that allow you to display your true artistry as a florist? What if you could arrange bigger and more expensive flower arrangements as a rule... and be guaranteed to have customers truly appreciate your magic and art?

Click here to read how you can get more appreciation as a florist!

Increasing your florist's profit margin

What if you could double your profit margin... is it really as impossible as it seems?

Click to read a revealing article on florists' profit...

What if you could obtain customers who order ALL their flower deliveries at once for years to come?

Is there a way round the "one-sell-per-time" florist cycle of sales... or could it be possible to obtain orders of 10 or more annual deliveries in advance... and then just deliver for YEARS to that customer without EVER having to sell to him or her again?

CLICK HERE to read how you can presell hundreds of preordered flower deliveries for years ahead!

Predicting your flower sales far more accurately than currently...

Would you find it useful if you could predict how many and what kind of flowers you'll sell next week, next month... or even next YEAR? Would that help to avoid wastage and lower your risk?

CLICK HERE to read how you can increase the accuracy of your flower sales prediction!

Rich pickings — Businessmen as a target group for the florist

What if you could tap into the wealth of businesses & top business executives and get to be their consultant on all matters floral? What if you could obtain continuous orders for top-quality flower arrangements for years to come?

CLICK to explore the amazing potential of the business market for a florist!

10x the flower buyers' loyalty & repeat business

Could a florist increase loyalty and repeat buys TENFOLD?

CLICK to increase flower buyers' loyalty & repeat purchases!

Exchange links with successflorist.com for mutual benefit!

Increasing the value of your florist business

What will be the value of your cut flower retail business when it's time to cash in your life's work? Will it be enough?

Click here to read how you can increase the sale value of your florist business!

How to gain an edge over the local competition in the cut flower retail business?

Let's face it: The demand for cut flowers and bouquets is limited in any given local area. The market share that your local florist competitors secure for themselves is bound to cut into your sales. Read how you can gain the edge in the local competition by increasing the sale of flowers in your area...

CLICK HERE to gain a competitive edge over competing florists in your local area and increase your cut flower sales continually!