What if you could double your profit on cut flowers... is it really as impossible as most florists believe?

Increasing the profits in the florist industry is a point of much speculation.

While seasonal occasions such as Valentine's or Mother's Day can be extremely profitable, the fact remains that outside these rare occasions competition is fierce and wastage will cut into the profits.

Supermarkets and service stations cut into the sales and profits of the professional florist. It should NOT be so, of course... for what these nonprofessionals sell as "flowers" is a far cry when compared to the quality of products and arrangement of the professional florist.

But in this world there are many injustices and the final word in this matter belongs to the consumer.

Flowers are luxury for most people but their awareness of QUALITY of floral arrangements is... well, you know how little most people understand about this subject better than I.

This lack of understanding of the quality of flowers has then created a "niche" for the supermarkets.

I use quotes because "niche" usually refers to a small corner within a larger market for some product or service... and we all know that supermarkets sell massive quantities of flowers.

The secret of their success is in the relative ignorance of the consumer and the low price.

So they sell a lot by working with the principle of "any flower is a flower... but if the bouquets are cheap enough then people will buy..."

Here in England and at the time of this writing, you can buy a "bouquet" of flowers of some kind for less than three pounds Sterling from the local supermarket, whereas the local florists charge about thirty pounds for a reasonably impressive flower arrangement.

Obviously these two alternatives cannot be compared for price, not if one thinks logically.

The thing from the supermarket looks very paltry, insignificant and downright pathetic. They usually wilt within a day or two IF you can find a bouquet that hasn't already wilted or dried out at least partially.

The cellophane wrapper bears the low price printed in blazing colour and the whole thing usually won't even stand upright.

All in all, it's an altogether unpleasant experience and certainly not something one would be proud to bring home.

Personally I never bring one home to my wife as I couldn't bear the embarrassment of such meagre "gift." It would lable me as a skimping cheapskate and I feel it would be more of an insult to my wife rather than something that gets me "brownie points" or illustrates my affection for her.

But people aren't aware of this.

"Any flowers means flowers..."

Now, the arrangement I buy from the florist at thirty pounds is rich in content, colour, fragrance, hue and texture.

It is HUGE in size, both in circumference and length... and the quality and variety of flowers and the professionalism of the florist's arrangement of these make it a true work of art.

Handing such a bouquet to my wife feels absolutely great.

It is a luxury for me as well as for her.

The joy of giving is heightened and the lovely bouquet is placed at a visible spot in the house where it flourishes for a week or two...

It's just no comparison. In my view, the thirty-pound bouquet from the florist is far better value than the three-pound sprig of wilted waste from the supermarket.

Anyone with an eye for quality and a workable understanding on the result of bringing one's spouse flowers would see the difference.

Or would they?

Well, not necessarily... not without some education.

Teaching customers to understand and demand quality in flower arrangements

If flowers were fruit then this problem would not really exist because the problem with supermarket flowers would be far more obvious.

Nobody buys decayed fruit.

If the apples in your local store are wrinkled then you leave them. If your peaches are withered, your strawberries mouldy... you would just leave them and buy something that's in good condition.

Anyone who's ever made the mistake of biting into a rotten fruit remembers the vile taste and the wrenching / retching experience for the rest of his or her life... and those unpleasant memories will surface immediately upon seeing similar eatables.

If you've ever been violently sick from some foodstuff then I guarantee you'll avoid it for the rest of your life... and you'll also feel a bit ill when you see it or even THINK of it, let alone eat it.

But flowers aren't eaten and wilted flowers have no harsh smell, so we don't have similar warning mechanisms for flora.

And we also know a lot more about eatable things than flowers. For most men, a flower is a flower and that's the long and short of it.

They have little ability for evaluating the QUALITY of flowers or imagine what kind of bouquet would create the desired kind of impression on their spouse.

And because they don't have the ability to differentiate between quality and rubbish, they need to be educated in the subject.

Now, it's not as difficult as it may seem to achieve this. Not difficult at all in fact, provided you know how to go about it. You can't "educate the masses" as that won't work very well and it actually takes DECADES to create a wide understanding to the populace about something.

But you can do it with INDIVIDUALS.

It's actually relatively easy to make the average husband understand the essentials on how to please his wife with flowers and why supermarket products aren't the way to go.

It's amazingly easy to do this, in fact.

The more affluent the husband, the easier it is.

And then you just need a way of doing it continually, so that you can...

-	find prospective customers easily and continually...
-	educate them as a part of your presentation process...
-	offer them a specialised florist service that helps them by providing suitable flower arrangements on those important days...
-	have the tools to obtain MORE deliveries from him throughout the year...
-	have the tools to get him to commit to these deliveries in advance for the whole year (so that the contract is renewed automatically for another 12 months after each contract period)
-	price your bouquets and deliveries higher so they include something for the service...

...and you're set!

I promise, making the average career person understand the value of the services of a professional florist is SO not a problem, if you know how to do it.

It's easy, very easy... and it's almost equally easy to sign them onto professional florist service if only you know how.

And that brings us to the subject of this article, namely the profit margin of the florist...

Increasing the profit margin of cut flower retail sales

Because it's such an important subject, the factors influencing the florist's profit margin are a confusing issue as just about everyone has an opinion...

...and many of these opinions actually contradict each other.

Despite this and regardless of knowing this is not a good subject to discuss with anyone, I'm still going to give you my two cents' worth on profit anyhow.

Profit is governed by many factors but I'm not an accountant so I'm going to leave all the clever stuff out as I don't know much about it anyhow.

Instead, I want to talk about the "working profit" as a concept that leaves out everything else but two things:

1. The sales of flowers:

Here, I mean several things.

One is the outright gross sales in money that your business generates daily, weekly, monthly, and annually.

Another is the PROFIT you make on those flowers and any accessories.

This involves the subject of ADDED-VALUE.

If you can add value to your service to the customer then you can increase your price too.

Profit is very much attached to the concept of value, of course... and by including valuable forms of service into the whole you can charge more, translating into a higher profit margin.

Third is the degree with which you can INFLUENCE THE SALES DIRECTLY and thus generate more income on any given day or week.

To put it another way, the more you can DO to get rid of unsold stock in time (instead of just hoping someone walks in...) the better your profit is going to be.

And fourth is the VIABILITY factor of your sales, meaning how far ahead you have orders for deliveries which would determine how much your sales can (and will) be adversely affected by random problems such as bad weather, strikes and whatnots.

2. The purchasing of stock

The other factor I see to be totally relevant to profit involves how you buy your cut flowers and accessories.

Essentially the price is one thing. You would want to buy at as low cost as possible, obviously.

But another important factor involves the CERTAINTY AND QUANTITY OF SALES from your outlet.

The bigger batches you buy the more leverage you'll have in negotiating unit prices, of course. And the degree to which you KNOW you'll sell the flowers you've bought will govern the important factor of wastage.

For instance, you KNOW you have 50 deliveries of roses this starting week — all of which have already been paid and cannot be cancelled — then you'll KNOW you won't have wastage on that part of your order.

Become the only florist with high profits in your area

So, putting these two factors together we see that the ideal florist's activity would be able to sell a lot so that you can buy at lower prices, have a service model that adds value to the whole so you can increase your prices...

...and have the ability to increase sales with direct actions when needed so you can sell the stock instead losing it, and have a way of constantly acquiring new customers who will place their whole year's worth of orders to you then and there.

Now, that may sound a bit overwhelming.

But that's only because ALL of the successful actions of increasing profit have been put into a single sentence.

In reality, you would do each action at a time and it is actually very easy if you have the exact instructions and tools for each step of the way.

Best of all, this method is one that your local competitors do not have, so you can become the one florist whose profits skyrocket in your area.

And that's what we have in mind for you. Having had the insight to find this web site and being sufficiently interested in reading this article, you certainly have what it takes to be something very special among the florists in your area.

The exact steps, instructions and tools to make this a reality for you are documented in the Florist's Flower Power Business Expansion Guide and it may well be the thing you've been looking for so long.

CLICK HERE to read the presentation of the Florist's Flower Power Guide and how it can help you increase your profits more than you ever thought possible!

I guarantee it will give you the way to overcome the cheapo supermarket onslaught into cut flower industry and help you increase your profits despite the competition.

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

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