It can be daunting to have a blank sheet of paper, a pile of flowers, and no clue where to start. So, you will probably feel relieved to know that you are not alone in your quest for tried and true knowledge about starting a floristry business. Getting the foundations of your business right at the very start is a good way to set yourself up for success – so let’s get into my tried and true tips for planning your floristry business well.

Before you do anything, write out your vision, mission and position statements.

You’ll often hear these terms thrown around in business texts and guides, and for good reason! After all, how can you plan your business without knowing what you’re doing or where you’re going?

Let’s break them down.

A position statement describes your product and how it fits into the wider market to meet the needs of the consumer. Consider:

• Who are you? 
• What do you do?
• What sets you apart from competition?
• Why are you needed?

A mission statement describes how you work to achieve your vision. Consider:

• What do you do?
• Who does this help?
• How do you do it?

A vision statement describes the future intention of the business and its value. Ask yourself:

• What are your hopes for the future of the business?
• How do you add value to people’s lives and the community?

Research the market

Before you can sell anything, you need to know who is interested in your business’ products and services and how you’re going to reach those people to let them know what you’re offering. 

Consider: 

• Is there a need for your business idea/concept/products and services? 
• Who are the people that need what you are offering? 
• When do they need it? 
• Are they willing to pay for it? 

The easiest place to start and our best scenario is when our clients are people like us, which very often is the case. Let’s use the example of being a wedding florist. 

Some of the best wedding florists are people who have been through the process of planning a wedding, and have had a positive experience. They loved working with the florist and felt inspired to do what they do. Sometimes they had a negative experience and thought there had to be a better way to go about it. They may have also identified a gap in the market when they were looking for something in particular e.g. they had a regional wedding, but no florist was willing to make the journey to work at their location. 

There are plenty of examples like this where someone has had an experience, either positive or negative and sparked the inspiration for their own business. This is where market research becomes quite easy, because you are essentially marketing to yourself. Obviously this is not the case for every business, but it is a good place to start if you know that you identify as someone you’d like to sell to.

When we consider the potential customers we’d like to market to, what I like to do is create what’s called a buyer avatar. This is a model of your ideal customer that helps you identify who they are, what they want and the lengths they’ll go to get it. If you have a clear idea of how your customer thinks, you’ll better understand what motivates their buying decisions. Essential knowledge for creating a winning marketing plan!

Consider this list of aspects to create your avatar:

• Age 
• Marital status 
• Homeowners/renters 
• Drive/public transport 
• Hobbies/interests
• Professional and educational background
• Social media use 
• Communication preferences
• Career-specific goals and broad life dreams
• What challenges they face in the roles they play, and how your product can create a solution
• Specific examples of how your product or service might fit into their lives

By giving your avatar a name and filling out this imaginary personality you can really start to connect and identify with who these people might be in the real world.

It’s also essential to understand your buyer’s motives. What do they regularly buy? What motives fuel their purchases? We know for certain that a majority of people will purchase purely on price point, the lowest price being their buying motive. But we also know that many people will purchase from an emotional need, or prefer to buy locally grown flowers (even if they’re more expensive). Once you understand your target market, you can price your products effectively.

Decide on your product mix

There are three categories of products––lead product, core product and premium product.

Your lead products are the products you sell to entice customers in your door. They’re not expensive, so they’re very easy for customers to make a quick decision on. Some businesses even offer a free product (like an ebook) as their lead. If you have a brick and mortar store, the flowers you display out the front are most often classed as a lead. They’re usually in season, lower in cost and really colourful and scented which will draw the customer to your store. 

Essentially your lead products will be low in cost, low in profit margin and have a low markup. You may not make a lot of money on these, but they’re essential to getting customers in.

The core products are where you will make most of your money. They are higher in price than lead products and will have a high profit margin. You will make a good profit off your core products and they are likely what you will sell the most of.

In the case of a wedding package, if the lead product is an elopement bouquet, your core product offering could be flowers for an entire bridal party. The core products are easy up-sells from your lead products. 

The premium products will be the more extravagant, expensive options. They will typically require greater effort and skill, but will yield a greater profit. Using the wedding example again, a premium product would be a full wedding package that offers extras like unlimited time with you, multiple design changes and flowers for the venue and entire bridal party.

Having these three categories of products defined will give you a much better idea of how to set up and market your business.

Whether you are new to the industry or have many years of experience, I hope that this list has given you some insight into how you can make your floristry business more successful. You will be surprised at what a little research and planning can do. Get to know your market and plan well before you spend a cent – you’ll thank yourself later!

If you’re hungry for more on planning your floristry business, this is the place you want to be! Check out our Bloom in Business Course – it’s the ultimate way to set yourself up to succeed in the industry.