Canadian Florist - July 2017

July/August 2017

canadianfloristmag.com

How Corporate Clients Can

BOOST YOUR BOTTOM LINE

Why You Should Embrace Christmas in July Whatever Happened to

Flowers Canada Retail?

inside

Visual Merchandising Inspo Website Tweaks with Major Impact Press Pointers

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• Our best-in-class technologies, including our award-winning POS and web-hosting solutions, are built to run your business efficiently – connecting you with consumers and the largest network of florists.

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We’ve made all the arrangements so your business can blossom.

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• With over 80 years of partnership with florists, we are 100% committed to ensuring that every single order in our network goes to a local florist.

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Vol. 112 No. 4 • July/August 2017

12 COVER DESIGN BY JOSEPH DELARGE, ECO|STEMS PHOTO BY BEXOGRAPHY

We have intense deadlines, late nights, and highly emotional events. We become close to our staff as we push through these high stress situations. They become family too. So to set the record straight, traditional familyrun shops are not gone. The family has just gotten bigger as we adopt more loved ones to help us celebrate the lives of our communities.

-Jennifer Harvey, CAFA, CFD

20

features 08 Summertime Strategies for a

departments

12

10

Florist Spotlight

20

By Design

26

Rising to the Occasion

30

The Social Florist

33

Jennifer’s Journeys

35

Life at Work

36

Ask the SEO

38

On the Level with Neville

14 24 28

Fruitful Year Plan Ahead Activities that Minimize Holiday Stress

Good Business Sense How to Increase Your Corporate Portfolio We’ve Gone Dormant Flowers Canada Retail Explains Organization’s Disappearance Let’s Get Visual Merchandising Ideas and Best Practices How High-End Stores Expand Their Base To Increase Sales And Profits Without Altering Their Brand Pricing

online Network with florists online

Have Your Say - Visit us online at CanadianFloristMag.com to share your comments on our articles, and be a part of the conversation.

6

Bloomin’ Biz/ Coast to Coast

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by Katie Hendrick That’s the question Derrick Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI, posed to the room full of spectators at the 2017 Canadian Florist Business Forum May 29 in Vaughan.

FROM THE

EDITOR

In his presentation, “Finding Your Hidden Profits,” Myers, an accountant who’s spent more than 30 years working with retail florists, espoused the value of big picture thinking and goal making. “You can’t improve if you don’t know what you want,” he said. “You need a goal—your destination—clearly visible in your mind. This is true whether you’re trying to lose weight, learn a new skill, or increase your profit margin.”

But, of course, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Reaching the finish line requires a plan and constant dedication to it. “You have to chart your course. And you need to involve your staff in the process,” Myers said. “Think of them as your ‘crew’. If they’re not all working together on the same goal, your business—your ‘ship’—will not go anywhere.”

Though he didn’t know it at the time, Myers’ message dovetails nicely with the theme for this issue: shifting the focus from the day-to-day grind to plan for a brighter future.

We all know how chaotic the months from December through June can be. The seemingly endless string of holidays, proms, and graduations make it tough to get ahead. Immediate challenges often take priority over important, but non-timely matters, like managing your online reputation or updating your portfolio.

Now that you have a little time to catch your breath (between weddings, of course), why not seize the opportunity to work on your business and not just in it? Here are just a few “grand plans” we have for you to tackle this summer: • • • • • • • •

Court corporate clients so you can enjoy more dependable cash flow all year long, as well as opportunities to flaunt your creativity Fine tune your website so it shows quality images of your exclusive designs Review Google Analytics data from the past year and use it plan improvements Solicit feedback and set procedures to respond to customer reviews (if you aren’t doing so already) Hunt for inexpensive yet intriguing props and map out visual merchandising concepts for months to come Plan holiday hours, events, and specials Schedule regular brainstorming meetings with your staff Get acquainted with the local media and score some free publicity

Vol. 112 No. 4 Editor Katie Hendrick khendrick@CanadianFloristMag.com 800-314-8895 ext 106 Advertising Manager advertising@CanadianFloristMag.com Publisher Ryan Freeman ryan@CanadianFloristMag.com Media Designer Ruby Coles Publication Mail Agreement #42919543 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO Strider Media, 6-6150 Highway 7, Suite 400, Woodbridge, ON L4H 0R6 distribution@CanadianFloristMag.com Printed in Canada ISSN 1700-5043

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No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2015 Strider Media. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions.

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Dedicated to the memory of Bill Martin, and all those who gave of their time and resources to build up our industry.

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©2017 Smithers-Oasis Company. All rights reserved. OASIS® and VERTICAL BAR DESIGN® are registered trademarks of Smithers-Oasis Company.

‘Where Are You Going?’

©2017 Smithers-Oasis Company. All rights reserved. OASIS® and VERTICAL BAR DESIGN® are registered trademarks of Smithers-Oasis Company.

a gift that sends well wishes.

Who wouldn’t smile when this arrangement shows up at their door? With bright cheery coral and sage

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colors this design is sure to catch the eye of any customer as well as raise the spirit of any recipient.

MOST INSPIRATIONAL FLORAL DESIGN: Get Well Design

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TRE’ GARNER AIFD

You too can be featured in the Inspire Design Showcase!

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bloomin’

biz

Canadian Florist Business Forum Assembles Design, Financial, and Technology Experts Canadian Florist hosted its annual business forum Monday, May 29 in Vaughan. Dozens of florists gathered for a day jam-packed with educational lessons.

Laura Daluga, AIFD, owner of Department of Floristry in Ann Arbor, Michigan, kicked off the meeting with a mix of design advice and promotional ideas in “Exceeding the Demands of Today’s Gift Givers.”

The fourth generation florist delved into the farm to vase movement and shared simple ways to be more sustainable, including using biodegradable containers, sourcing locally whenever possible, and implementing a vase exchange program.

“Your customers do care about these things. It’s up to you to provide what they want and to let them know about it,” she said, adding that, “little actions can really add up.”

saying she’d decided to go with someone else,” he said. “We realized an instant quote was key not just to saving us time but to landing more clients.”

This revelation led the husband and wife team behind Twisted Willow in St. Louis, Missouri to develop Stemcounter.com, event software that generates accurate proposals, professional contracts, and other event planning tools. In his presentation, O’Neil talked about ways to adjust labour and markup prices to maximize profits, shared six steps to determine how much revenue you need per event, and five solutions if you discover your markup is too high.

She encouraged florists to embrace negative space. “That’s your profit margin,” she said. “Plus, it’s dramatic and customers will be impressed.”

Don’t shy away from DIY enthusiasts.

“The maker movement can be a money maker and bring an entire new group of customers into your shop,” she said. If you sell consumers the supplies, “either they’ll ace it, want to design flowers over and over, and come back to you for materials or they’ll fail miserably and come back to you to do it properly.”

She proposed concepts like a bouquet/ corsage bar, wine and design parties, and wedding centrepiece workshops.

Lastly, she discussed cause selling and catering to customers’ philanthropic inclinations. “Pick something local and non divisive and promote the heck out of it,” she said. “And be sure you’re transparent about how much money you’re going to donate and where it’s going. Otherwise, people will be distrustful.”

During “Markups and Profits and Revenues, Oh My!” Ryan O’Neil reflected on a missed opportunity his wife had a few years ago. She’d met with a bride and told her she’d get her a quote within in seven days.

“On day six, after my wife had spent three hours calculating the costs discussed during the proposal, the bride emailed

inventory once a year at a minimum and using an accrual based accounting method. “For a clear picture, you want to record expenses in the proper month,” he said. “That’s when you accrue them, not when you pay for them.

There can be a significant gap between the two when you pay with a credit card.”

Horace Clark, of Yelp, revealed research about consumers’ buying habits in “Understanding the Mind of the Consumer.”

The vast majority (96 percent) of Yelp searches for florists are unbranded, he said.

“Most are searching by proximity,” he said.

To capitalize on this, florists should consider geofencing, a marketing technique in which customers receive push notifications for a special deal when they’re near a particular store. “The majority of Yelp searches are also on mobile phones, so you know they’ll receive these messages,” he said.

Clark also recommends retargeting, in which you set up ads to follow customers as they travel around the web. “That’s the cyber version of ‘moving’ with the consumer,” he said.

Derrick Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI, an accountant with more than 30 years’ experience working with retail florists, focused on big picture thinking and goal setting in “Finding the Gold in Your Business.”

“Write down your top 10 goals every day for a month,” he said. “This exercise is not hocus pocus.

It is based on a part of the brain called the reticular activating system. You’ll be amazed how many goals you will accomplish when you’re focused on them.”

Myers devoted much of his presentation to payroll costs, as he considers staff the most crucial ingredient to a flower shop’s success. “Your staff is your crew,” he said. “If they’re not working together, your business—your ship—isn’t going to go anywhere. You’ll never reach your goal.”

He also addressed “cargo” costs (your Cost Of Goods Sold). “You need to know what your COGS should be and what they really are,” he said. He strongly suggests conducting a physical

Of course, he also addressed the elephant in the room: reviews. “No matter what you’ve heard, you cannot buy good reviews on Yelp,” he said. “There’s no special treatment for advertisers. The reviews come from customers, not our company.” You needn’t worry about an angry review torpedoing your business. “A 1-star review won’t kill your ranking,” he said. “What does hurt you is not responding.” A response shows that you sincerely care about your customer’s concerns and are willing to rectify the situation. Another sure way to lose business: have a blank or unclaimed business page on Yelp. “The more you tell customers, the more human you seem,” he said. “People prefer doing business with people rather than a faceless entity. If you don’t have anything up, they’ll just keep scrolling through other florists.” And good news: Yelp profiles are free.

Attendees enjoyed a 45-minute networking break between sessions. Sponsors of this year’s Canadian Florist Business Forum included FTD, Smithers-Oasis, Alexandra Farms, Strider, Highland Evergreen, and Farm to Canada.

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COMING

EVENTS coast to

COAST

Westbrook Floral Adjusts Operations Westbrook Floral, a wholesale grower and distributor of flowers, recently announced a slew of changes to the company.

“Our industry is changing significantly in response to new consumer patterns, including online buying, international trade issues, and cost increases,” said PJ Vermeer, chair of the board of Westbrook Group.

Operational changes include growth in Vancouver, Montreal, and Mississauga to support the company’s cut flower product segment.

The current Beamsville greenhouse locations will continue to grow and supply quality indoor plants for Canadian and U.S. wholesalers, as well as mass-market retailers.

Current office and warehouse space will be consolidated in Beamsville, resulting in some layoffs.

“Unfortunately business decisions like this are hardest because they impact the personal lives of our people,” Vermeer said.

- PJ Vermeer Westbrook Systems, also located in Beamsville, whose core business is in greenhouse manufacturing, is experiencing strong growth and expansion, and will not be affected by the changes.

The Westbrook Group includes four operating divisions: Westbrook Floral, Sierra Flower Trading/Savoir Fleur, Westbrook Greenhouses, and Westbrook Greenhouse Systems.

The company has been part of the Grimsby/Beamsville community for more than 50 years and is recognized as a leader in the growing and distribution of cut flowers and potted plants.

Our industry is changing significantly in response to new consumer patterns, including online buying, international trade issues, and cost increases

JULY

1-5: AIFD Symposium Seattle, Washington Aifd.org 22: Society of American Florists 1-Day Profit Blast St. Louis, Missouri Safnow.org 25: FloralStrategies Webinar: Advanced Sympathy Sales floralstrategies.com

AUGUST

13-16: Toronto Gift Fair Toronto, Ontario Cangift.org 27-30: Alberta Gift Fair Edmonton, Alberta Cangift.org

SEPTEMBER

6: Floral Strategies Webinar: Advanced Customer Service Skills Floralstrategies.com 6-9: Society of American Florists annual convention Palm Beach, Florida Safnow.org 17-18: Florists Supply Design Show and Workshop with Neville MacKay, CAFA, PFCI Edmonton, Alberta Floristssupply.com 17-18: Florists Supply Design Show and Workshop with Donald Yim, AIFD Winnipeg, Manitoba Floristssupply.com 17-18: Florists Supply Design Show and Workshop with Loann Burke, AAF, AIFD, PFCI Vancouver, British Columbia Floristssupply.com 23: Society of American Florists 1-Day Profit Blast Boston, Massachusetts Safnow.org

OCTOBER

10: Floral Strategies Webinar: Easily Cut Costs and Boost Profits with Derek Myers, CPA, CFP, PFCI Floralstrategies.com 22-23: Canadian Academy of Floral Art Fall Show and Workshop Toronto, Ontario Cafachat.com

Organizing an upcoming event readers should know about?

EMAIL khendrick@canadianfloristmag.com

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Summertime Strategies for a

Fruitful Year

By Tina Miller

YOUR WEBSITE Pull it up now. Be brutally honest. How does it look? Are your photos sharp, vibrant, and current? Or do you have pixelated images of designs from, say, 2006? A recent study by Adobe found that 66 percent of consumers prefer websites that are beautifully designed as opposed to those that are simple and plain. In fact, if the content and layout are unattractive, 38 percent of website visitors will leave the site, the same study found. Are you inadvertently driving away nearly four out of every 10 people who land on your website?

Remember: your website and social media pages are extensions of your business. That’s the attitude Joseph Delarge, CAFA, takes with his Toronto shop, eco|stems. His site reflects the shop’s current offerings with stunning imagery, offers pertinent information customers want to know, and links to all things social media.

What’s his secret? Summertime planning.

Each summer, Delarge takes the time to map out the following year. This guide 8 CANADIAN Florist | July/August 2017

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ensures that he updates the site with fresh imagery, products, pricing, and shop hours in an appropriate window before new seasons or holidays hit.

He also considers the time it takes to generate new images for the website and social media accounts, allotting time for design days, photo shoots, and even brainstorming. He gets inspiration from studying fashion sites and other florists’ work, and observing people in the city for an idea of local trends. He set up a photo studio in the shop where he memorializes favourite designs. But he doesn’t rely entirely on his own photography skills.

Three to four times a year he schedules a shoot with a professional photographer who enhances the images with Photoshop. This ensures the shop has a multitude of photos to entice customers during the various seasons. A yearly agenda will keep you on track to maintain your aesthetically pleasing website.

Of course, a remarkable website requires more than just pretty photos.

Words are powerful. As we’ve discussed in past issues in the “Ask the SEO” and “The Social Florist” columns, a blog can do wonders for generating more traffic and engaging customers.

Delarge also suggests adding an Instagram feed on the website. This helps streamline the process of posting and sharing images. Provide connections between your website and Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, or any other social medium to which you belong. When you update the website, update the social media sites. Upload those fresh images or information to all media at once.

Once you have landed on the digital impression you want to make on the public, it is important that you maintain it. “Visit, read, interact, and judge your website with your customer hat on,” Delarge said. “Have people who will be honest with you review your site and suggest ideas to make it easier to use.”

Keep in mind, he said, that “a good website is never really finished!”

REVIEWS Surveys by BrightLocal, an international firm focussed on Internet search, found that 9 out of 10 consumers read and rely on online reviews before purchasing a product or service. In other words, reviews are paramount to your success. Having too few is almost as bad as having scores of complaints.

How do you get more reviews?

Look no further than the Easy Review Builder (ERB). The aptly named platform lets business owners avoid spending endless hours checking, rechecking, and replying to various social media streams. ERB is a one-stop-shop for you to see and take action on both positive and negative reviews. It includes a widget you publish right onto your website that sends negative reviews to your customer service team. From there, your team can take care of questions, concerns, and complaints. This provides a wealth of benefits. First, it allows you to tackle issues that might otherwise be lost in the Internet kerfuffle. Second, it streamlines the process; you can efficiently meet the needs of unhappy or concerned consumers.

Taking some time this summer to set up this service can save you immense time when Valentine’s Day and other busy periods arrive.

COMMUNITY PRESENCE Although people are increasingly attached to their electronic devices, life, of course, exists beyond the Internet. Some personal, face-to-face time within the community can really boost your reputation, recognition, and sales.

Delarge uses the summer to court the press. “Do everything you can to be the beneficiary of free coverage by local media,” he said. “Get mentioned in the paper, magazines, radio, blogs etc.”

One tactic that gets reporters’ attention: collaborating with another local business to host a fun gathering or promotion. Have a mom and pop hardware store in the area? Think “lumber and lilacs.” How about a “latte and flower day” at a neighbouring café? How about a boutique? You could create floral jewellery for a fashion show or a “Splash into Summer” gala. Think of what you can do with the local eatery or dessert shop. Have you dabbled with edible florals? Not only can events get you into the papers, but also onto locals’ and tourists’ summer agendas.

This summer, as you tend your rhododendrons and roses, don’t forget the importance of your 4 Cs: calendars, cameras, computers, and collaboration.

Tina D. Miller is a writer, teacher, evaluator, puppy mother, fabric manipulator, and football enthusiast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2008, she earned her MFA in creative writing and has since written and published several flash fiction stories, blog posts, and novels.

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Floral Designer Sells Shop to Treat and Teach Other Florists

FLORIST SPOTLIGHT

By Christy O’Farrell

Dawn Block, AIFD, CAFA, is leaving the daily flower shop business to branch out into other parts of the floral industry — freelancing, teaching, and hosting retreats.

Block recently sold her shop, Willow Lane Flowers, in Oakbank, Manitoba.

She has been training the new owner, who takes over July 1. Block admitted she would shed a few tears leaving the shop she has owned since 2005. “I started this from nothing,” she said. “This is a part of me.”

But she’s excited to continue her own education and to teach locally so florists don’t have to travel to learn the trade. In addition, she and her chef husband, Oliver, are launching small retreats for floral designers and others at their cottage about an hour outside Winnipeg.

Block is working toward finishing two more certifications by February 2018 through the Society of American Florists: American Academy of Floriculture, which sets standards for community and industry service, and Professional Floral Communicators – International, a group of authoritative floral educators and speakers.

PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF EXPRESSION “I believe so much in the floral community,” Block said. “The only way that we can grow is to increase our knowledge and share it with the public.”

One recent opportunity she had to do just that was at Manitoba’s first Art in Bloom, a floral design exhibit inspired by works of art, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in midApril. Introducing the public to new and innovative ways to use flowers was “the beauty of Art in Bloom,” Block said.

her friend, Heather de Kok, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, started in Edmonton, Alberta in 2016.

Block served as a Maple Leaf Cup judge both years and her husband helped as an assistant.

She would like to send a Manitoba winner to compete in the Maple Leaf Cup. When people watch such competitions, they gain a greater understanding of how much time, talent, and effort goes into the creations, Block said.

Designers must educate the public on what is special about flowers because many people have become “numb” since they see flowers just being another product available in grocery stores, she said. When you go to a specialty shop, such as a butcher, you get better quality, she said.

“It’s the same with a flower shop. We have different quality.” In Oakbank, she worked hard to give people a reason to shop at Willow Lane because consumers could easily go into the city—and she had many competitors in Winnipeg.

AN ACCIDENTAL VOCATION

For her part, Block interpreted an Inuit sculpture of a sea goddess. “You really have to do some soul searching” to figure out what direction to go in, she said, gushing about the creative assignment. “You get to express yourself. It’s so freeing.” To evoke the coldness of the sea and waves, she used soapstone, white branches, crystalized vials wrapped in wool, clusters of small flowers, and lily grass. “It was a lot of fun,” she said. “The public loved it.”

She also volunteered at the event. After Art in Bloom closed, organizers donated the flowers to various charities and hospitals. “Everything was re-used,” she said.

Block traces her flower roots back 27 years ago, to the days when she was a seamstress sewing wedding gowns.

After she got married, she started working at a bridal salon. The salon owner, Stella Mazza, told her, “If you’re going to do dresses, you’re going to do flowers.” Block said, “That was my start. It got in my blood.”

In another effort to boost the public’s appreciation of floral art, Block would like to start a competition in Manitoba, similar to the Maple Leaf Cup that

Block later designed wedding flowers at home, but once she had children, she wasn’t comfortable with customers coming to her house. That’s when she

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decided it was time for a change, and bought her shop. She moved twice from the original location. The first move was when she and Oliver added a teahouse to the flower and gift shop. After they sold that, she ran her flower shop in a strip mall next to a mailbox that attracted walk-in traffic.

Her husband bought a food truck.

As a new shop owner, she realized that she needed to learn more about the industry, so she began taking classes and finding instructors. “I started my education because I wanted to better serve my community,” she said. “Once I got going, I realized after a while, I’m not doing it for them anymore. I’m doing it for me.”

“The more education I got, the taller I stood,” she said. Obtaining her credentials was important because she wanted to speak and present herself from a position of authority, whether it was discussing design elements or the science behind flowers, such as the hydration process.

“That is so important, in order to give our customers longerlasting flowers.”

FLORAL GOODWILL Block will also continue focusing on her community, even without her shop. For example, she plans to repeat a project she started last Christmas, decorating and delivering flower vases to senior citizens who don’t have family nearby. Wanting to connect kids and seniors, she put the word out on Facebook asking for daycare or elementary school teachers whose students would help her decorate small mason jars.

In one of the local senior homes with 39 residents, 22 of them have no family, she said. “They’re all alone. I couldn’t handle that.” She bought “sparkles, baubles, glue, and paint” to decorate about 80 jars as flower vases, including some for seniors who live in their own homes. “It just exploded. The children had a wonderful time.”

Block wishes more people took pride in their careers.

“Floristry is not a hobby. It’s not a craft,” she said. “It is a trade, and we don’t respect it enough.” In Europe, she explained, people must train for four years as an apprentice before becoming a master designer. “In Canada, basically, you need a knife and a pail, and you can call yourself a florist.”

Block obtained her first credential in 2006 through Flowers Canada, a non-profit association representing floricultural professionals. She passed a three-hour, written, fundamentals of floristry exam. “It was hard!” she recalls.

In 2013, she received her Canadian Academy of Floral Art and American Institute of Floral Designers designations.

Accepting her pin on stage at AIFD was a career highlight, she said. “It was an honour and a privilege. I did it!”

With no floral school nearby, Block had to travel for her education, which was stressful and expensive. She wants to help others avoid those burdens by bringing more opportunities to the province.

“What I’d like to do is help Manitoba raise the bar,” she said.

“You have somebody right here in Manitoba. That’s part of the joy of me not having a shop anymore. I don’t want to be their competition. I want to be their ally.”

AN INSPIRATIONAL OASIS The Blocks are planning a one-day trial run retreat Aug. 1 at their cottage, which is near a lake, a park, and one of North America’s largest bird sanctuaries. Gerry Gregg, AIFD, and others will attend.

The Blocks’ Boreal Forest retreats will help florists and others who need a chance to regroup, she said. They can recharge with good food, yoga, relaxation, and good conversation.

Oliver will prepare the food and drink for the retreat.

“You can go back to your job and just be refreshed,” she said. “We’re giving a piece of our soul every time. A piece of us goes out with every bouquet, with every arrangement.”

If their one-day starter retreat goes well, the Blocks would like to expand them to a full week for four to six people. She envisions offerings that will allow people to stay busy with a variety of classes including floral design and cooking, or to opt out and just relax instead. She also would like to have a gala night, where participants can dress up and enjoy the decorations they made together. “It’s meant to be intimate, attentive and relaxing. It’s also my chance to get to know other florists and their stories.”

She and Oliver did a “tryout” with De Kok and her husband, who flew out for a stay at the Blocks’ cottage. Their excursion included hiking to see flora in the area that would inspire florists, Block said.

She attached a card that read: “From the children of Oakbank and Willow Lane, Merry Christmas.” Block’s family helped her deliver the flowers. “I couldn’t do this without them,” she said of her kids, Tanner, 21, and Käthe, 19.

This year, she would like the children to add a note about themselves so recipients can feel closer to them. “It’s all about sharing flowers,” she said. “I would love to see that go across Canada.”

Christy O’Farrell is a freelance writer in Alexandria, Va.

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Good Business Sense

By Michelle Brisebois

Picture someone who chooses high-end pieces, orders frequently, welcomes creative designs, and doesn’t hassle you.

Sounds pretty dreamy, doesn’t it?

Nic Faitos, owner of Starbright Floral Design in New York City, counts many people like this as his customers. That’s because he’s built his floral empire on corporate business. Corporate sales are a godsend, he says, because they fill the valleys that occur between busy periods. This gives you more dependable cash flow, reduces shrinkage and makes it much simpler to schedule employees’ hours.

These two florists shared their secrets for success with corporate clients, including the different departments that could use flowers, who to pitch, and how to woo them.

HUMAN RESOURCES Many companies use flowers for employee engagement—in other words, to make people feel appreciated. This includes bereavement, illnesses, births, and marriages. Companies like to pay their respects for such life events. HR departments are increasingly interested in the topic of employee health and wellness. Presenting them with research about the psychological benefits of plants in office spaces may be just the ticket to developing a botanical program.

PROBABLE DECISION MAKER: Reach out to the senior human resources manager or director of HR. Anyone with the title of Vice President will be primarily concerned with policy, and a more junior person won’t have the authority to order flowers. If the director doesn’t want to make the decision, he or she will likely pass you on to the individual you should be dealing with, but if you shoot too low on the flow chart, don’t expect him or her to delegate up.

HOW TO PITCH THEM: Create three versions of arrangements: a “good, better, best” series available at different price points. Though we’re loath to admit it, not all employees will warrant the same dollar value (a paralegal retiring after 40 years deserves something more grand than a summer intern going back to school), so a range of options will be appealing. This also helps directors envision how flowers can fit in their budget.

LARGE SCALE EVENTS A company may have several big events a year, including the company Christmas party, the annual general meeting, shareholders

A corporation’s floral needs don’t revolve around seasonal spikes, but rather initiatives, like employee engagement, business development and marketing. They are not like your retail clients, Faitos said; florists must consider the business’s processes when approaching corporate clients.

For instance, he won over a lot of customers by making business easy for them. While his competition made the clients go to their flower shops, where they received very informal quotes, Faitos hauled himself down the prospective clients’ offices. “I walked in with an Excel spreadsheet and scooped the business quickly,” he said.

Monique Britten, of Flower Chix in Calgary, Alberta, pitches businesses in the neighbourhood, positioning her proximity as an asset. “Look at who’s close by and focus on a geographical area to make service efficient,” she said. She finds working corporate clients especially rewarding because they give her freedom to flaunt her skills. “I definitely have more latitude creatively with business clients than I do with weddings,” she said. “Weddings are more prescriptive because the flowers have to match the dress and the bride knows what she wants.”

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meetings, and retirement dinners. Some of these activities may fall under the jurisdiction of Human Resources as well, but more often chairs or committees organize them.

PROBABLE DECISION MAKER: Ask your HR contact who you should connect with in regard to these big events. While the days of the secretarial pool running around after every executive have long gone, the top dog still usually has an “executive assistant” who spearheads these events. There will often be committees created for the big parties and corporate anniversaries.

HOW TO PITCH: These events usually call for table arrangements, décor for a stage or entryway, and perhaps corsages and boutonnieres for special guests. Consider budget restraints— like weddings, large corporate parties include food, entertainment, and venue costs—and suggest something that is a very good value. Also offer designs that are easy to transport home. Organizers don’t want to have to deal with a whole bunch of centrepieces at the end of the event and often like to give them away as door prizes.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT This segment is about the business thanking customers for the ongoing relationship.

It somewhat mimics the aforementioned employee relations dynamic in terms of the occasions celebration. However, there is a distinct difference in relationship between the giver and recipient. The business wants to maintain a strong rapport with the client that will pay off when competitors try to undercut them with cheaper services. Each time the company gets a big piece of business, it may need to send a floral thank you. The holiday season is also a popular time to show appreciation for significant clients.

giftware, you may wish to have some options that skew more masculine for male executives.

MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS Big sales meetings, product launch parties, and retail spaces all benefit from floral adornment.

Here, you can help a brand tell a story. For these projects, you’ll need to be briefed by the creative agency to understand the tone, manner, business objectives, and colour palette. This can be very exciting work because your arrangements are part of the creative story.

PROBABLE DECISION MAKER:

HOW TO PITCH:

For this work, target brand managers, advertising agencies and event planners, as all of these positions deal with the strategic and tactical aspects of a promotional event.

On the retail side—if you’re dealing with an independent business—turn to the store manager. For hospitality clients, property managers would be a good contact. When you’re dealing with large chains, look up the marketing director.

Again, put together a “good, better, best” range of arrangements, as VIP customers will require a more elaborate thank you gift than other regulars. If your shop also offers

For product launches, you’ll need to sell the business on your ability to tell stories with flowers. Assuming you’ve customized some

PROBABLE DECISION MAKER: The executive assistant will take care of the board of directors and other “grand fromage” that the top brass needs to impress. The director of sales and sales managers will also have budgets for customer gifts.

HOW TO PITCH:

wonderful arrangements for your retail clients (weddings and celebrations of life come to mind), you can show that portfolio to be ready when they need to launch. For retail spaces again, you’re drawing attention to specific points in the space, creating mood and stimulating sales.

OTHER POINTERS The B2B category requires special touches. Britten recommends sending your more senior people on deliveries for corporate clients because deliveries can double as sales calls.

For Faitos, it’s about finding a population that’s not overfished. “I once had a booth at a wedding expo and was amongst a number of other florists who had spent lots of money making their booths really stand out. The brides weren’t really shopping,” he said. “Then, I took a booth at a building managers’ trade show and exhibited beside electricians and plumbers. I got two building lobbies as new business that day,” he said.

Michelle Brisebois is a freelance writer in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. She has strategic marketing expertise in retailing, ecommerce, and brand positioning.

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‘We’ve gone dormant’ Flowers Canada Retail Leaders Explain Organization's Disappearance, Plans to Revamp

By Kathryn Deen

Do you remember Flowers Canada Retail?

The national floriculture organization quietly slipped off the radar several years ago.

Industry players have since fed a few guesses into the rumour mill as to what happened.

Concerns bubbled up about leadership and finances, while the “Voice of Canadian Floriculture since 1897” remained silent.

The once-flourishing association for retailers held its last annual meeting five years ago, stopped its floral design school about three years ago, hasn’t charged its members dues or paid its small staff in at least three years, and ceased offering accreditation several years ago, according to Executive Director Arman Patel and President of the Board Jeff Waters.

“We’ve gone dormant just because there hasn’t been anything to talk about and there’s nothing we can help them (members) with — because we haven’t had the resources,” Waters told Canadian Florist via phone. “We didn’t message that to our members. Point the responsibility to me.”

Waters and Patel lamented how it seems that no one else wanted to help keep the non-profit, mostly volunteer-run association afloat.

“I’m stuck with the cheque right now,” said Walters, a fifthgeneration flower person in Toronto who started with Flowers Canada about 20 years ago as a board member for the Ontario region. “It kind of lands on your lap. In the old days, they used to have elections and have two, three, four people run for president of the national boards. Then interest started to dwindle. The reason I’m still doing it is I have a valued interest in making sure the retailers succeed.”

D E S O L C Patel blames a lack of funding for it all.

“The age-old problem with Flowers Canada and the notion of governance is you’re expecting a Fortune 500 experience with the budget of a corner store,” Patel said. “It really is a financial issue.”

Patel agreed.

“It kind of fell upon me,” Patel said. “I’m kind of stuck here a little bit while they’re dealing with the transition. I would have liked to have transitioned off much earlier.”

The Flowers Canada Retail website doesn’t give a clear picture of the unraveled organization. It has rarely been updated in the last several years, including an outdated board members list and documents from 2011.

DOLLARS AND SENSE As Canada’s retail floral industry began to decline, so too did the association, Patel and Waters said.

“The florist business has been shrinking quite rapidly in Canada,” Patel said. “That’s the blunt reality. The marketplace has shrunk intensely in the last five, six, seven years.”

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Patel could recall a time when he knew of 45 or 50 flower distributors in Canada. Now, fewer than 10 of those have survived, he said.

“Most of the good florists that were around 30 years ago are not here,” Waters concurred. “This is an industry that’s been going on the downtick for at least the last 10 years. Unless they’re into the event business, which has really picked up, or unless they do weddings or funeral work, a lot of these flower shops starve. All of the overhead costs have gone through the roof, and the talent stream is dwindling because there’s too much (work) involved for too little money.”

Waters also blames wire services for taking direct business, consolidations on funeral homes, and chain stores selling garden supplies for helping tear down local florists.

“It’s a whole bunch of little things nibbling at the pie,” Waters said.

Thus, pinching pennies meant that many former Flowers Canada Retail members dropped their budgets for traveling to conferences and paying $300-a-year membership fees.

“This association is down the list as far as survival,” Waters said.

Once packed with 200 people in attendance, the last annual meeting only drew 70 or so. Flowers Canada Retail started losing money on its conventions, design school, and other services it offered.

“I said, ‘We have to go virtual. We can’t bleed it dry,’” Walters recalled. “I had to be the bad dog on that. I was always extremely fiscally responsible.”

Perhaps that’s what’s kept them out of debt and with about $50,000 to $70,000 left in the organization’s

The age-old problem […] is you’re expecting a Fortune 500 experience with the budget of a budget store.

-Arman Patel

Perhaps that’s what’s kept them out of debt and with about $50,000 to $70,000 left in the organization’s bank account, Patel said.

But skeptical outside eyes have questioned the organization’s finances, including Patel’s salary.

And to that, Patel responded, “These are silly rumours.”

The association has never received federal funding and relies mainly on volunteers to function, he said. One to three people have been on the payroll at different times, Waters said.

And Patel said his salary as executive director was $48,000 to $50,000 a year, which he doesn’t consider hefty. Before that, he was taking smaller payments for consulting.

But once the organization started falling on hard times, he said he only cashed cheques maybe half the time, and he hasn’t received any money from Flowers Canada in the last year or so.

So he views himself as a modest martyr of sorts, far from taking advantage of the association, he said.

“He’s getting underpaid,” Waters concurred. “Sometimes he doesn’t pay himself.”

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING Although no one is being charged for membership, Waters said there are about 150 former members still allowed access to Flowers Canada Retail’s program perks until the end of this year.

Those perks, all listed on FlowersCanada.org, include group health and life insurance, a fuel savings program, a car discount, and a credit card program.

“The office is still open,” Patel said. “People are still communicating and dealing with members. Activity is still pretty vibrant.”

Patel admits that if he could do it again, he’d probably communicate what was happening more thoroughly to members, particularly about membership dissolving.

“The message went out through the regional meetings that that happened,” Patel said. “I wouldn’t say every Flowers Canada member knows what’s going on, but the key regional members know and still get together.”

On the other hand, one of Patel’s prouder moments has been continuing to offer shops legal help, such as dealing with identity fraud or handling auditing from the Canada Revenue Agency.

“One of the best things we do—but few people use it—is from a tax standpoint, we work through the audit issues when people get audited with the CRA,” Patel said. “We’ve always had success with it.”

Patel also said he has recruited several new board members ready to join the team.

“We ran the association for a period of time and we did a great job,” Patel said. “It needs new blood to take it to the next level.”

Waters, president for the last few years, wants to stay on in a lesser capacity and understands Patel’s exhaustion.

“He’s done a good job under the circumstances,” Waters said. “Better people are too expensive. We both kind of got left there on an island.

It’s spit and glue. I’ve done my part.”

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NEW PLANS REVEALED Patel and Waters stripped down Flowers Canada Retail and have been rebuilding it, but it’s been a slow process.

“I believe there needs to be an association looking out for the interest of the industry, but it has gone through so much upheaval in the last decade,” he said. “The biggest challenge is the industry itself. We have market conditions that are difficult. The businesses that are doing well are very business-oriented and businessfocussed.”

involved in it. It benefits the industry in general. If it goes correctly, it’ll be stupid not to be a part of it. I’m hoping this thing gets multiplied or duplicated all across the world.”

The new florist search engine of sorts could upset those who are taking advantage of wiring orders and skimming a profit as the middleman, instead helping consumers order directly from the filler florist.

“People will be upset who are ‘opportunists,’” Waters explained. “The problem with the flower business is it’s open to be milked. There are people with a 700-square-foot little office with 20 websites and all they do is take orders and send them to people.

Technology has really changed the world. A lot of these guys on Google pretend and are making millions.”

But this new technology could help change that by making it easier to directly connect the consumer to the filler.

So, that’s where Flowers Canada Retail plans to shift its focus for its revamp.

The next evolution of Flowers Canada Retail will be all about the bottom dollar, focussing on how shops can increase sales, reduce costs, and hold onto their market share. Of course, dues will return, but it’s not clear what they’ll be yet.

Patel looks forward to sharing the results from an assessment of the florist retail business that he contracted out. He hopes it will give shops insight to the realities of the business and the keys to success.

“The transition we are making is to go from your typical trade association with programs and so forth into a business association where you’re actually giving business advice,” Patel said. “We’re trying to make the transition to businessoriented services to help them get more money.”

Plus, plans are in place to launch “a number of new programs,” Patel said.

“It’s on the QT and been kind of quiet for some time because they want to come out with a bang.”

Their biggest project and No. 1 priority has been three years in the works, and Waters predicts membership will see a substantial increase quickly when they launch it late this summer.

“It’s a program, technology, that will really help retailers be found,” Waters said. “We think we really got a tiger by the tail. Most wholesalers will want to be

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SOLVE YOUR MOST PUZZLING BUSINESS CHALLENGES.

It’s a program, technology, that will really help retailers be found.

- Jeff Waters

“If I can accomplish fighting for the filler, we will have a very lucrative industry people will want to be a part of,” Waters said. “I’m fighting for the filler. The florist is the one who is supposed to make the money— the guy who actually does the work, not the guy who puts up websites.

We really hope it’s going to be something.”

Additionally, the organization’s website will get a new look, perhaps by the summer, and it may introduce a fresh publication, Patel said.

New services will employ market area experts to teach flower shop owners and managers how to calculate true margins, costs and procurement options —overseas versus onshore and local purchasing, and taxation, Patel said. Also, Flowers Canada Retail could help florists create a succession plan to sell their business instead of closing it, Waters said.

Another idea in the works is an online design school.

As for the manpower behind the new plans?

“They’re calling on favours from partners they’ve worked with in the past, distributors who have been part of Flowers Canada along the way,” Patel said.

Because it all comes back to funding.

Looking Back: The History of the Retailers’ and Growers’ Split The growers, distributors, and retailers split into two separate associations, Flowers Canada Growers and Flowers Canada Retail, several years ago. Flowers Canada Retail’s Executive Director Arman Patel calls the division his proudest accomplishment to date since he first came on as a consultant many years ago.

“If the split didn’t happen, the association would have probably imploded,” Patel told Canadian Florist during a recent phone interview. “The grower sector requires a lot of effort on research and trade issues, for example, that don’t affect the retail sector.”

Patel was in the floral software business at the time and was hired to consult Flowers Canada Retail to help it get more market share.

“As we got into it (the job), we saw an organization flawed in its structure,” Patel recalled. “You had a variety of members and everybody pays dues and we only dealt with the retail side and saw that 90 percent of its efforts went to the growers and grower initiatives. Does a retailer care about pesticide research? I was approached by the board to look at the retail needs, so we came up with a proposal.”

The proposal took more than two years to establish, laying out the new idea that retailer dues should go to retail needs, while growers’ dues should support grower needs.

“It was an enormous challenge to get done,” Patel said. “We had a lot of hiccups along the way, and now it’s smooth sailing for the retailers. The board cleaned up its old junk with the growers, its old baggage, and now they have an open slate to go where they need to go.”

Waters, who was on the board when the decision to split was made, elaborated that the growers have pressing political issues to address and need government assistance for their own agenda.

“The growers have other needs that they don’t need retailers to understand,” Waters said. “The separation between growers and retailers made perfect sense because they have different issues.”

The growers group could not be reached for comment, but it appears to be active and is partnered with a long list of government and other groups, according to its website.

Kathryn Deen is a freelance writer in Central Florida who works part-time at The Villages Florist Inc., teaches yoga, and runs Stories Remembered, a story-recording business for seniors. She has more than five years professional journalism experience for newspapers and magazines. The Inland Press Association recently recognized her special projects on longevity.

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Alluring Arrangements

design PHOTOS BY JANIS FREEMAN

Fourth-generation florist Laura Daluga, AIFD, is a designer at Keller & Stein in Canton, Michigan; design director for Oasis Floral Products; and owner of Department of Floristry, a design studio specializing in special events and corporate designs, floral sculpture, and fleur couture in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Daluga spoke at this year’s Canadian Florist Business Forum, where she taught attendees how to reduce their carbon footprint, play with negative space, improve communication with brides, and more.

Here are a few designs she created for the event.

An array of textures adds visual interest and perceived value in this vibrant design. “Purple clematis hover like butterflies above a regal palette of blues and greens,” Daluga said.

With its inclusion of stock, freesia, and garden roses, this design is an olfactory treat. It also features intriguing greenery, a major trend in weddings. The flowers and vase all came from within 100 miles of Detroit.

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PHOTOS BY JANIS FREEMAN

“Tulips are so cheery,” Daluga said. “I work with them whenever I can.” To coax the bulbs to grow straight up, she places them directly under a light. “The container is part of a new line of plastics from Oasis, which is produced entirely in Canada,” she said.

Daluga created this teardropshaped arrangement to raise money and awareness for the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

She used blue orchids, a blue container, and blue wire to mimic the shape of flowing water.

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“This giant, freeform bouquet has solid base mechanics,” Daluga said. She used an Oasis wire armature and wove stems through it, spiraling them neatly.

“These are second use, ‘upcycled’ vessels,” Daluga said. “If you sell cool containers, people will bring them back in to be refilled.

Moscow Mule mugs are very popular, and troll dolls are nostalgic!”

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“Remember friendship necklaces? This is the same concept,” Daluga said. “Market ‘twin designs,’ where the customer keeps one half and gives the other to a friend.”

“Anything tall immediately registers as expensive,” Daluga said. “This eco-tower, a large tropical design with lots of negative space, is actually built on two of the new Oasis buckets, creating an inexpensive, lightweight, and durable riser.”

PHOTO BY RAW FOOTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Let’s Get Visual

By Jamie Birdwell-Branson

Now that spring holidays are behind you, you finally have a moment to breathe (in between all the weddings you’re booked for, of course). Why not use this “down time” to strategize your visual merchandising for the rest of the year? With so much pressure to make a compelling Instagram or Facebook post, we often forget about one of our most important marketing assets: our front window displays.

FIND YOUR MUSE Artists routinely get inspired by everyday things to create something extraordinary.

When you’re looking for inspiration for a creative window display, look to films, television shows, magazine spreads—and yes, social media.

Instagram is one of the best platforms to look for window ideas because you can search by hashtags, thus categorizing pictures by subject. Look up these hashtags to get a better vision of what trends and aesthetics other shops are going for: #theshopsofparis #visualmerchandising #windowdisplay #florist

Additionally, following visual merchandising Instagram accounts like @vimermvm, @ trendsonyourhands, @retaildetails will give you a creative spark to help you start planning for your next display.

Another great way to get ideas for visual merchandising is to get up and out of your house. Make it a point to get out to the nearest downtown area or mall. Take a stroll to see what pops out at you in the store windows. You could also try walking through a city park or take a hike to soak in some nature, which we all know can get the artistic juices flowing.

PLAN IT OUT Now that you’re creatively inspired, it’s time to start planning. Though there’s no need to get every detail written down (you might want to be a little more spontaneous than that when you’re putting things together), it’s good to have specific themes in mind. Do you want to do a colourful “Dia de Los Muertos” theme during October or do you want something more ghoulish for your front window? For the winter holidays, would you like to do everything in white for a Winter Wonderland theme, or are you envisioning a vintage, techni-colour Christmas? Start thinking ahead about what kind of aesthetic you want to present when people pass by your shop.

When you have things tentatively planned, you can go ahead and purchase that prop or piece of furniture you see when you’re casually shopping around town. As you plan your themes, get your employees involved. Hold a staff meeting to brainstorm ideas. You never know if they’ll think of something you never would have on your own.

After you get some loosely laid out ideas, start sketching or writing things down in a notebook so you don’t forget them.

GET GOOD PROPS Though some shops may get props and displays from their distributors, many of us have to start completely from scratch. So where are the best places to find props? The answer is really just about anywhere. Check out local consignment shops, flea markets, estate sales, and even garage sales.

Another great place to find interesting and unique items for props would be at

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a Habitat for Humanity ReStore where you can find gently used household items and building supplies.

If you’re looking for something really specific, try shopping online at sites like Etsy, eBay, Goodwill, or Everything But The House, which is an online estate sale with thousands of items you can bid on.

You never really know when or where you’ll be when you find something that inspires you for your store. Make some space in your house or in your store so you have dedicated storage for all the treasures that you find.

GRAB CREATIVE HELP Taking on an entire display by yourself can be quite demanding, both physically and creatively, especially when you have several weddings to tackle and the occasional memorial service that pops up. You may have a couple of staff members you could use, but, of course, you have to assure you have adequate coverage for phone orders and walk-in customers. Before you resort to creating the entire display on your own, consider alternative ways you can find help.

If you live in an area with a university or a community college, reach out to the art department to see if any art or design students would be able to assist in return for internship credit. Even if internship credit isn’t available, many of the students would be willing to do it for the experience or a reference. Likewise, you could also reach out to any aspiring visual merchandisers in the area who would like to get pictures of their work for their portfolio.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO GET CREATIVE Part of the fun of visual merchandising is to create something that’s unexpected. Though you can expect to see more whites, reds, and golds during the winter season and bright, playful designs with flamingos and beach balls in the summer, the most interesting displays are ones that capture your imagination. For example, use a natural element like flowers or greenery, but display them in a way that’s more intriguing than simply placing them in a pot or vase (like displaying them upside down).

Instead of flooding your window with as many products as you can, you could take a more minimalistic approach, or try a monochromatic display using the most

brilliant white or the punchiest pink that you have. The more creative your display, the more likely someone may snap a picture and put it on Instagram or come inside and purchase some flowers from you.

Finally, when thinking about your window displays, you should try to create a scene.

There’s a reason why millions flood to Manhattan during the Christmas season and go window shopping. They want to feel like they’re transported to a magical world. Whether you’re in a big city or small town, you can provide that wonder. Make it easy for customers to envision your product in their homes with their families during the holidays, or even just on a regular day.

Jamie Birdwell-Branson is a freelancer based in Santa Barbara, California. She enjoys antiquing, biking, and binge watching HGTV.

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THINK CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

By Tim Huckabee, FSC

Summer’s here and, for most florists, things have slowed down a bit. This is the PERFECT time to work out a plan for the last quarter of the year so you can stay focussed on making money and not stressing about what you forgot to do/ order/plan for Christmas.

When I visit shops for training during these later summer months, I ask the owners/ managers an off the cuff question like, “When will you start posting Christmas images on your website?” And they look at me like I am speaking Vulcan, telling me they’ll “worry about that later.” Why can’t we, as an industry, get our acts together sooner rather than later? I hope this column will inspire you to do just that this year.

Here are 10 points I see the most organized florists tackle while the thermometer is still above 28 degrees.

1.

WORK OUT YOUR ADVERTISING SCHEDULE AND BUDGET

Whether you are putting a statement in your house of worship’s flyer or spending money on Google ads, work out what you are going to spend, where, and when. You may even save some money by buying and placing your ads in advance.

2. CHOOSE AN OPEN HOUSE DATE Many shops host a “customer appreciation” event like this in October or November to get warm bodies in the shop and get them shopping. If you don’t do this already, consider it for 2017. Pick a date NOW so you can factor it into your advertising schedule and give employees ample time

to clear that day on their calendars.

3. ORDER YOUR HARD GOODS EARLY Whether you are carrying codified products from a wire service or featuring your own in-house designs for the holidays (or both!), order those containers now.

I may sound like a broken record, but ordering in advance saves money, time, and stress—and gives you peace of mind knowing that you have the containers as soon as the orders start trickling in!

4. MIND YOUR WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA Though somewhat related to your advertising schedule, your online presence needs special attention. Choose your images now, decide when they go up— and when they come down. Nothing tells a customer you’re unorganized like still showing poinsettias on the home page on January 10th!

5. SORT OUT STAFF SCHEDULES You know the coverage you need, so print that schedule and tell your team now. One of my customers has a formal meeting in October to hand out the schedules.

That’s when he tells employees that they are working every Saturday in December, so they shouldn’t schedule a dental appointment then or put off their holiday shopping until the last minute!

6. THINK ABOUT YOUR WINDOWS Start kicking around ideas and themes with your staff this summer, so you’re not

banging your head against the wall on Thanksgiving! Also, choose set up and tear down dates.

7. HIRING HOLIDAY HELP If you have staff members who come back just for peak periods, set up their dates now. Likewise, be prepared by writing and placing your help wanted ads now (to run in the autumn).

8. DON’T FORGET THE LITTLE THINGS If you change your store hours in December, remember to update your front door and website. If you turn your calls over to an answering service, change your holiday greeting.

9. DECORATING OFF-SITE Florists who do big decorating jobs for businesses and private homes often forget to schedule proper coverage for the store when they grab all their “elves” to go work on-site. Don’t make that mistake!

10. PLAN STORE MEETINGS Pick at least one date in later October or early November when you’ll keep the staff after hours (yes, you must pay them!) to talk about your holiday specials, customer promotions, special hours, etc. You need to have your team informed and ready!

Now that you have your store ready for the holidays, get your staff ready too and send them to Summer School for Florists. Learn more at floralstrategies. com/THH

Tim Huckabee, AIFSE, was born, raised and educated in Connecticut and moved to New York City in 1993 to start working at a high-end flower shop called Surroundings, where he learned every aspect of the flower business such as handling telephone sales and customer service issues and dealing with walk-in customers. In his frequent conversations with florists, he realized there was a dire lack of sales and service education in the industry. That motivated him, in 1997, to launch, FloralStrategies, a company that trains florists in sales, customer service, and how to get the most out of their POS system. He visits 250 shops annually, hosts a monthly webinar series, speaks at floral conventions, and writes a monthly column for the Society of American Florists.

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How High-End Stores Expand Their Base To Increase Sales And Profits Without Altering Their Brand

By Mark Anderson

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Shops that have a less affluent clientele often envy those that deal with high rollers – customers who spend more on big pieces and don’t jump at low-price items available through order gatherers, drop shippers, and grocery stores. But if you talk to a shop that deals primarily with high-end customers, you’ll learn they often wonder how they can get some business at the other end of the budget scale.

Why? One reason is size. There are relatively few high-end customers. It’s a small pond. The people in this category also tend to be susceptible to things like stock market downturns. School teachers, fire fighters, service workers, etc.— they keep buying.

Traders and fund managers suddenly spend less, if anything.

Some high-end retailers understand this. Tiffany & Co. sells bracelets for anywhere between $150 and $100,000. That’s like offering Mother’s Day arrangements between $50 and $33,000.

And if you visit a Tiffany store before Christmas, you’ll likely notice they’re selling more of those $150 bracelets than anything else.

But luxury retailers have to be careful. If Tiffany starts having sales and promoting $150 items, the brand’s image suffers. Their jewellery, at both ends of the price spectrum, becomes less desirable.

So how can a florist that caters to affluent customers start selling to clients with more modest budgets without losing cachet, customers, and sales?

One option is to use very targeted marketing, combined with “hurdles.” In our industry, it’s generally accepted that recipients spend less than the customers that send to them. Tim Huckabee, president of FloralStrategies, champions making a follow-up call to recipients as a way of reinforcing your commitment to quality. This is also the perfect time to make recipients, who might not be your current customers, a special offer. Some shops invite them to come back with the container for a discounted “refill”.

This tactic forces customers to do a little work to get the discount.

They have to save the container, they have to come to the store, and they have to wait while the arrangement is prepared. All of this removes much of the value that comes with your full price offerings, so a lower price makes sense.

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It also deters the customers who are willing to pay full price. It’s unlikely that the high roller who happily pays for the convenience of delivery will start bringing in containers and waiting for your designer to save money.

There are other hurdles you can introduce: pickup only, or pickup only during a certain time, lets you selectively discount to customers who are willing to jump over a hurdle in return for saving money. High-end restaurants use a similar concept to reach more customers; they offer discounts to people willing to eat before or after peak periods.

When customers respond to deals like this, you should flag them in your customer database. By jumping the hurdle, they have earned their discount and indicated that they are unlikely to pay

full prices. Having now identified these customers, you can make other targeted offers, including flash sales and coupons.

Another option involves discounting to specific demographics. For example, consider schoolteachers. They may be familiar with your brand—perhaps they’ve even received your flowers as a gift from a parent—but they may also consider your shop to be out of their league, pricewise. A discount, targeted to the staff of the school, can win you new customers. The same idea can be applied to first responders, military personnel, etc. when members of these groups are not as affluent as your typical customer. Your existing high roller customers are unlikely to even realize you have a special deal available, but, even if they do, few people begrudge a discount to the aforementioned groups.

Mark Anderson is a software developer, small business owner, creator of FloristWare, and an enthusiastic supporter of the floral industry.

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by Rachel Levy Sarfin

When you hear the word “storytelling,” you most likely think of people gathered around a campfire, listening raptly as one person spins a tale.

It’s worth considering this ancient method of communication in your digital communication. Storytelling makes shoppers feel as though they know you better and gives your store a recognizable, human face to stand out amongst competitors.

WHY STORYTELLING MATTERS Crystal Vilkaitis, CEO of the social media training firm Crystal Media, is a strong advocate for the practice of brand storytelling on social media.

“Customers don’t just want to know what you sell,

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they want to know who you are! They want a taste of your culture, your personality, your values,” she said. “One of the biggest things that sets independent stores apart from the big box stores is their story and their people.”

Storytelling has powerful emotional and psychological impacts. In 2011, scientist Uri Hasson and colleagues from Princeton University conducted a study about the effect of storytelling on the human brain. They recorded a woman as she told a story while laying inside an MRI scanner. The researchers measured her brain activity as she spoke.

Afterwards, the scientists played the recorded stories for a group of volunteers. The volunteers listened to the recording as their brains were scanned. As the scientists watched the results of the brain scans, they noticed something extraordinary: the brains of the storyteller and the listeners were synchronized. When the storyteller’s insula (an area of the brain associated with emotional experiences) was more active, so too were those of the listeners. When her frontal cortex lit up, so did theirs. Essentially, the storyteller had planted thoughts, ideas, and emotions in the listeners’ brains.

Listening to a story isn’t the only way to feel its emotional impact.

Other scientific studies have shown that reading a story, especially when it’s written with evocative adjectives, can actually make the reader feel as though he or she is experiencing what’s happening on the page.

STORYTELLING AND SOCIAL MEDIA So how do you use this powerful tool in your social media marketing to attract and retain customers?

“Don’t be afraid to be yourself,” Vilkaitis said. If your store’s vibe is laidback and quirky, make sure that comes through in your social media posts. Authenticity is vital—customers can tell if something doesn’t ring true in a story, so you don’t need to make things up.

When it comes to writing social media posts, Vilkaitis recommends treating each post as though it is a conversation with a customer.

“You want to be professional, but don’t be a robot,” she said.

It’s also important to know what your customers value most about your flower shop. If shoppers come to you mainly for wedding arrangements, share love stories. Start with your own. If customers give you permission to tell stories about their weddings, do so.

Vilkaitis encouraged florists to take every opportunity possible to tell a story. “Every post [and email]… is a chance to connect with customers,” she said. However, it’s crucial that the story is relevant to the customers—otherwise, they’ll lose interest. And the social media educator counseled would-be storytellers to include only the details that matter (if you get lost in the weeds, your story loses momentum, and your readers get bored).

STORYTELLING AT WORK: A SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS STORY Crystal Media’s CEO shared a success story from the social media training course, Social Edge, that she runs.

Social Edge member Heather Waits owns Bloomtastic Florist in Columbus, Ohio. Before Mother’s Day 2016, Waits filmed a Facebook Live video in which she showcased a number of bouquets for the holiday. The video gave the florist the opportunity to talk about the individual flowers in each bouquet and where they came from. During the video, Waits shared a promo code for online orders.

The campaign was successful – Waits actually ran out of flowers! Her video garnered more than 3,000 views and more than 30 customers redeemed the coupon code, leading to almost $3,000 in sales.

Storytelling might be an ancient art, but it’s alive and well today. Many entrepreneurs, including florists, use it to successfully attract customers and boost their sales. Humans are hardwired to read and listen to stories – figure out what yours is to make a lasting connection with shoppers.

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眀漀甀氀搀 氀椀欀攀 琀漀 琀栀愀渀欀 漀甀爀 猀瀀漀渀猀漀爀猀Ⰰ 攀砀栀椀戀椀琀漀爀猀 愀渀搀 愀琀琀攀渀搀攀攀猀 昀漀爀 愀 昀愀渀琀愀猀琀椀挀 䌀䘀䈀䘀 ✀㄀㜀℀

䔀砀栀椀戀椀琀漀爀猀㨀

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It’s All in the Family

JENNIFER'S JOURNEYS

In the last decade, there have been reports that family flower businesses are on the decline. The industry is changing and long gone are the multi-generational shops, they say, leaving behind shops that are less connected, both internally and in their communities.

But I want to let you in on a secret. The family flower shop is not gone … it just looks a little different.

Once you take the plunge and tell your loved ones that you are leaving your corporate job with its fabulous pay (but soul sucking work), they will look at you and think you are crazy. But I say, good for you! You are following your passion. What your relatives don't know is, by no choice of their own, they have also become a part of this wonderful world by extension.

As soon as you start your new career, you will quickly discover you need your closest people around you to achieve your dream. This is not to say that you don't hire wonderful staff and support people. It’s just that you will need to call on your inner circle to lend a hand from time to time.

As a freelance designer, I have been privileged to go into shops and studios of all shapes and sizes all over the world. I have met many relatives and friends whose only connection to our industry is the love they have for the owner or designer. As florists and designers, we instinctively ask, recruit and “voluntell” many of those closest to us when we need help. We bring mothers, husbands, sisters, brothersin-law, neighbours and friends—and even sometimes your hairdresser’s son home from university—to help us get through all of the holidays, weddings, and big design jobs we have.

Why does this happen? Why is Cousin Charlie delivering on Christmas and Crazy Aunt Annie processing hundreds of hydrangeas during wedding season?

don't want to pay extra for overtime. It's because we know that, during our most stressed out manic moments, our loved ones will keep going and we can trust they won't leave. It’s never a problem. They are used to us freaking out and will still call us their husband/wife/mother/father/sister/ brother/cousin/friend or simply “Crazy Aunt Jennifer.”

The kids will still take us out to brunch the Tuesday after Mother’s Day, once we’ve slept off the week of nuttiness. Our neighbours will still invite us to their New Year’s Eve party, even after we asked them to make flower deliveries in 39 feet of snow on December 24. And your partner will have that glass of wine ready when you finally lock the door at 10:45 p.m. on February 14. They will tell you they are proud of you, and will point out that you survived with little to no bloodshed!

It’s an amazing industry we work in. We have intense deadlines, late nights, and highly emotional events. We become close to our staff as we push through these high stress situations. They become family too. So to set the record straight, traditional family-run shops are not gone. The family has just gotten bigger as we adopt more loved ones to help us celebrate the lives of our communities. This is what makes our industry evolve and improve. I, for one, am blessed to have a huge, international floral family.

Well here is my theory: We bring in family and friends during busy times not because we can't hire and staff properly, not because we take on more than we are capable of, and not because we

Jennifer Harvey is the owner of Jennifer Harvey Designs and Beleafs Home and Garden Care in Brockville, Ontario.

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ES

LIFE at

WORK

How to Have a Good Brainstorming Session

By Cavelle Martin

When did you last sit down with your team for a good, old fashioned brainstorming session? I am going to bet that, for some of you, it’s been awhile.

For some people, these events inspire dread. What if someone says your idea sounds stupid? Won’t Sally, as always, just hijack the discussion? Brainstorming sessions can certainly seem like a waste of time.

However, if conducted properly, brainstorming sessions can be invaluable exercises for any business.

To have an effective session, we need to take a look at the various players of the brainstorming process.

To start, we have the facilitator. In most cases this would be the owner or manager. The role of the facilitator is to maintain a level playing field so everyone involved feels acknowledged in a fair, respectful manner.

The facilitator has a lot to juggle. If you happen to find yourself in this role for your own brainstorming session, here are some tips to keep the ideas flowing freely.

LAY DOWN THE GROUND RULES:

Before you start, make it known upfront to your team what will not be tolerated throughout the session. For example: no putting down others’ ideas and no interrupting.

STYLE AND COMFORT:

If you want the creative juices to flow, you are not going to have much luck brainstorming in a drab room, so make sure your brainstorming environment is inviting, stimulating, and comfortable.

If you don’t have room in your shop to properly hold a brainstorming session, you could always move the session to a park, a cozy coffee shop, or maybe your place for dinner.

ENCOURAGE ALL IDEAS:

Remember, no idea is stupid in a brainstorming session, yet some members of your team may be hesitant to contribute to the process for fear their idea will be rejected and shut down. Make note of the personality types sitting around you. Some will be headstrong and vocal; others will be shy and quiet, so it is imperative that you allow the more passive members of your group a chance to speak up. Try to bounce ideas back and forth between your passive and aggressive types, so no one personality type gets too much focus during the exchange of ideas.

So what about the other side of the brainstorming process? Are you the one sitting around a table of your peers drawing a blank as the boss calls on you for an idea? If so, here are some tips to stay on your A game during a brainstorming session.

BUILD OFF YOUR PEERS’ IDEAS:

If you’re finding it hard to come up with ideas during the brainstorming process, set that aside for a moment and instead take a moment to encourage the people around you as they give ideas. This creates positive energy for the group, which helps with the flow of ideas.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE SOMETHING NICE TO SAY:

Don’t say anything at all. I know. It can be very painful at times to stay quiet, especially when someone suggests something that makes no sense in your mind. Instead of blurting out something that will only hurt your colleague’s feelings (and your reputation), ask him or her to clarify their point. Maybe the idea they have presented is brilliant, but just not well communicated. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to explain their idea and avoid being condescending about it.

THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG:

Remember, the whole point of brainstorming is to throw out ideas no matter how “out there” they may seem. Ideas generate discussion and discussion generates more ideas. It’s only a matter of time before the “aha” moment sticks to the whiteboard. Give yourself credit. No idea is stupid; therefore, your ideas are not stupid. By withholding your ideas, you miss out on a chance to grow and enlighten others.

When you have your next brainstorming session, remember the most important thing of all. Have fun! If you are bored during your session, you are not doing it right. The exchange of ideas should be high energy, positive, and motivating.

I hope you find these brainstorming tips useful. Remember: no idea is too big or too small. You did not become successful without ideas. Keep brainstorming and who knows where your ideas will take you!

Cavelle Martin is a former CSR in the wholesale floral industry who once helped renowned designer Kristine Kratt, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, during a design show. Cavelle is the creator of “Mental Break – In Progress,” a blog she started in 2014 after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, to help fight the stigma against mental illness.

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Intro to Google Analytics: Part 3 - Making Progress

Ask The SEO

BY: Ryan Freeman

Now that you have a firm understanding of the data Google Analytics offers and what you should be doing with it, let’s look at methods for analyses and developing your business over a longer period.

DESCRIPTIVE, PREDICTIVE, AND PRESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES Google Analytics is primarily a program for descriptive analytics, but it’s important that you understand the different analyses you’ll encounter across GA and other programs.

Descriptive Analytics: Analysis that tells you “what is” and “what was,” taking the mass of data and presenting it in a digestible format This is very useful in determining your current standing as an organization and building insight. Most of what you see in Google Analytics will be of a purely descriptive nature. This is the most accurate form of analytics by far, as there is no guesswork involved.

Predictive Analytics: Analysis that tells you what to expect; the search estimates you see from Google AdWords, for example You won’t see much of these in baseline Google Analytics unless you’re integrating with other systems, but you will see this in other Google and SEO products you are likely using alongside it.

Prescriptive Analytics: A form of analytics that takes the input data and tells you what actions you should take to achieve your goals This need not be extremely complicated; for example, navigation aids such as Google Maps meet this definition, offering you several ideal routes based on hard data. This isn’t something Google Analytics can do without a lot of customization and tweaking at the moment, but it is worth keeping in mind as you dig deeper into the potential of datadriven growth.

Predictive analytics can be useful in theorizing about directions to take your company for growth, but can’t be wholly relied upon. Prescriptive analytics are best applied to extremely well tuned organizations intimately familiar with their own data, and even then are used primarily for fine-tuning details. Thus, we’re left with proper use of descriptive analytics for reliable long-term growth.

IN-DEPTH LOOK AT SPLIT TESTING Once you’ve thoroughly identified your goals and where you stand in reaching them, nothing is more helpful to your progress than split testing. If you make adjustments to your site without split testing, you learn nothing; conversions go up, conversions go down, but do you know why they did? It could have been a simple fluctuation of the market neutralizing a bad decision—or losing you money despite a good one.

Split testing allows you to directly compare two or more approaches and see how they change the results. More important, you’ll be able to see how those approaches differ in more subtle ways, by watching their differences in Google Analytics.

Imagine a few changes to graphics and text that result in more sales from visitors entering via one source and fewer sales from visitors entering via another. Without split testing, you may see an uptick in sales, a drop in sales, or no change at all—without understanding any of the nuance involved. This, of course, means split testing is crucial in the development and application of marketing tailored to different segments.

Fortunately, Google Analytics was built with split testing and datadriven experimentation in mind; you will find the tools necessary to conduct accurate, effective split tests within the basic Google Analytics package—no need for external tools. Look for them under the Behaviours section of Google Analytics, labelled “Content Experiments.”

EXPERIMENTS INTERFACE Experiment Wizard This is the tool you’ll use to set up experiments in GA. First, select the goal you’re testing for, then identify the URLs for the original page and each variation. You’ll receive an experiment code you’ll need to add to the original page. Content Experiments can send the code directly by email to whoever handles your website’s coding if necessary. Once this is done, you review the experiment configuration and begin.

Experiment List The front page of the Experiments interface, once you’ve set up your first experiment, shows all experiments and some brief data on their status, schedule, etc.

Experiment Reports Clicking an experiment from the Experiment List brings you to a report displaying colour-coded stats from each variation on a single chart. You can view specific metrics, or even compare different metrics within a single report.

Tips for effective experiments To improve your site, you’ll need to set up the right experiments; if your site is fundamentally underperforming, split testing to see how many adjectives you should use in copy isn’t a worthwhile endeavor.

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Keep your goals in mind Build experiments that directly work towards your goals. If you need more traffic, focus on splits that will reduce your bounce rate. If you need better traffic, try splits that will filter out low-value prospects.

Pay attention to unexpected results If you get a result you didn’t expect, that can, in many ways, be more useful to improving your understanding of your audience and business than if everything worked as expected. Unexpected results can reveal unexpected insights into your customers.

Try something new from time to time Don’t get caught in a pattern of similar experiments always changing the same few variables. Try different tones, different calls to action, different graphics, different page layouts. Try targeting a different audience than usual.

Remember, different doesn’t always mean better or worse. Savvy marketers will take two variations succeeding with different groups and work to build separate sales funnels for their different market segments.

A Word of Caution • Data Distortion: If you split-test more than your traffic can support, you’ll get faulty data. It can be useful to look at demographics in a given split compared to your normal demographics for a page, just to see if you’ve narrowed splits too far and distorted your results.

• Assumptions: Data is only useful when you trust it. Many organizations falter by making assumptions, testing those assumptions, and skewing their reception of the results with those assumptions. Come up with a hypothesis and test it, then trust the data, unless you have a concrete reason to believe it’s wrong.

• Lack of communication: You want your entire organization on the same page regarding goals and information. At the very least, you’ll want to make certain you don’t have different departments working on cross-purposes; if you are using analytics to improve your web marketing for a particular demographic, make sure to build strategies tailored to that demographic.

Ryan Freeman is president of Strider Inc., founder of Florist 2.0, and publisher of Canadian Florist.

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on THE LEVEL with

NEVILLE

ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR CLOSE UP?

by Neville MacKay

I remember the first time I was on a television show as a florist. I’d been on TV before that, but just as an audience member. I forget what exactly I was on for, because I was SO nervous! I didn’t sleep for days before the show, which was live, and I had to sit down because I was shaking so much. (This is not an attractive stance on a busty, larger man.) Anyway, I muddled my way through this nightmare and managed not to cut off my finger during my demonstration, and afterwards, as I was running for my life out the door, the producer said, “That was great! Wanna come back next month?” I replied, “Sure!!

Great!” What was I thinking?! Anyway, I went back, and did spots on several shows, finally getting a bi-weekly gig on CTV Atlantic’s (now) Morning Live, which I’ve been on for more than 20 years.

I got this first appearance—and, really, all my gigs—because of several factors. So pay attention and maybe you will be powdering your nose and stepping in front of the cameras sooner than you thought!

Be the expert they are looking for. Look, I don’t know everything, as those who know me can easily attest, but what I do know I am willing to share with others. We are floral experts, but if the world doesn’t know it, then we are wasting a valuable opportunity.

I remember a fellow from the newspaper who called about a spread he was working on for Mother’s Day. He said they were doing stories on gift ideas, etc., and asked if I would like to place an ad. Well, I changed the direction from him trying to sell me an ad to ME selling him on the idea of running a spread on fresh flowers! He could have a story, I said, and in fact, I’d write it for free… he should just send a photographer over to get a few shots. It worked, and I was on my way to becoming a known floral expert.

Being an expert doesn’t mean being a know-it-all, so don’t be one of those cocky show-offs that make us want to change the channel.

Look at the cooking shows and think of your favourite hosts; they are down to earth, knowledgeable, talk TO you and not AT you, and share their knowledge and skills freely. I worked on a show once with a Great-I-Am who told me how stupid the audience was, that he would NEVER speak with them, and that they were darned lucky, as was I, to have him in their presence. I was so offended, I wanted to release bees when he was on stage. It was a good lesson for me as a newbie though, because I never wanted to be that bitter old, ugly (I mean, “uptight”) person.

Selling the beauty of flowers is very important, so sell the sizzle!! Don’t worry about getting too technical on TV, but make sure you’re doing things correctly. I could go through the TV when I see someone making a mess of things because they don’t know what they’re doing.

I design with the audience in mind, so when doing a presentation for florists or a consumer show, I adjust the level of design and how it’s explained, to suit. Making yourself accessible is imperative, as no one wants to be looked down on, or made to feel stupid. I make fun of myself and my mistakes, and know that I am no better than anyone else; I just know different things. Remember also that a story sells, while information merely tells. Jazz up a “how to” segment by sharing tales of how viewers can use what they’re making, where the flowers come from, etc. It makes for more interesting viewing.

Things happen, especially when you’re live on TV or on stage, so own it, and roll with it! I’ve had a vase break on TV more than once and have called a flower by the wrong name. In these instances, I calmly said, “Sorry, I’m just learning myself!” Once, I was interviewing a British fellow on stage in front of 700 folks when he dropped a bad (really bad!) word. I dealt with that as I do with most awkward situations.

I laughed, and said that was a “no no,” and then we all laughed. I remember being on TV and another guest made lobster “shooters” and of course I had to try one. It was awful, and I stood there with a stupid smile, waiting for the shot to end so I could vomit. Only once I ran off camera screaming. We were doing a segment on the waterfront and a “friend” dropped by for a visit. It was a big ol’ wasp that landed on the bouquet I was finishing. I had to get away and was so thankful that I didn’t swear, or we would have made the 6pm news!

Remember that folks want to see pretty flowers arranged beautifully, so show what you know. What you’re doing is inspiring people with great design. They can’t wait to try to do it themselves, and even if they can’t, it sure is nice to watch an expert in action. And they’ll know who to call when they need it done right!

Neville MacKay, CAFA, PFCI, WFC, is owner of My Mother’s Bloomers

P y t

G e s a d

F w s

$ R

in Halifax, Novia Scotia and a design director with Smithers-Oasis North America.

He designed flowers for the 1988 Winter Olympics, as well as a long list of celebrities including Glen Close, Sir Elton John, and members of the British Royal Family. MacKay appears regularly on Canadian TV and travels internationally, giving presentations about the impact of flowers.

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