Think of any success that you experience in your business, and you will find that generally a lot of planning goes into it. We often compare Prom to Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day you have a lot of people rushing into your shop all at once… and then it is over. It is hectic and stressful, but where would your business be without it?

So what do you do to make Valentine’s Day a success?
1) Figure out your sales goals
2) Plan inventory to support those sales goals
3) Plan and execute promotions
4) Create displays
5) Train your staff
6) Plan your upsells
7) Drink a lot of coffee, work like a maniac, and grin and bear it!

So how do we apply those principles to prom? In order to figure out where you are going, you need to first figure out where you are at, especially establishing what part of the market share you really have. How? By finding out how many students are in the junior and senior class of the schools in your area – and then compare that to how many corsages and boutonnieres you sold last year. Chances are good you have a lot less of the market share than you think you do.

After figuring out how you are doing on market share, the next thing to do is to set specific goals. Do you want to increase your market share? Increase the value of each sale? Expand to other neighboring areas. To reach your goals, they must be specific, and you must share them with your staff. Many florists find it helpful to post the goals on a wall, somewhere where all the staff can see them.

Now that you have established your goals… its time to plan. Fitz Design has shared with us their Prom Planning Worksheet – a simple Excel spreadsheet that makes planning easy. Download it here: http://www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/prom-marketing-strategies-prom-checklist-for-success then enter the date of the prom, and it fills in your other steps and deadlines for you!

After planning comes the critical “Connecting” stage… stay tuned for next week!

Thank you to Sarah Botchick, Marketing Director, Pioneer Imports & Wholesale for this helpful article on Goals & Planning from Prom Profits.

These sunning arrangements were created by Mark Colle for the Jil Sander Fall 2012 Ready to Wear Show!

For more brilliant work from Mark Colle please check out his website!

Today is the last day to vote for your favorite boutonniere or corsage design for Proms!!

Click here to vote:
http://flirtyfleurs.com/entries-prom-design-contest-vote-favorite/

The top FIVE designs will be posted on the blog tomorrow, Pioneer Imports & Wholesale will then select a winner!!

Here they are – THE TOP FIVE – Corsages for The Prom Design Contest!!
Congratulations to the designers of these top 5 corsages!
Pioneer Imports & Wholesale will be selecting a winner out of these 5 designs, the winner will be announced next Monday on Flirty Fleurs!

# 4

# 5

# 8

# 15

# 33

I’d love to know if you source flowers locally or from US farms. If so, can you share your experiences working directly with growers? If not, why not—so we, as growers, can improve and reach out to designers … we’d love to know what your favorite “locally sourced” flowers/foliages are.
Submitted by LynnVale Studios, LLC

Robyn from Bare Root Flora:
We are fortunate that our local brokers get a fair amount of flowers from Colorado’s own Jordan’s Greenhouse, which grows a hefty portion of the tulips, dahlia, anemones, and ranunculus we buy. Colorado was actually home to many large flower growers back in the day, but those farms went by the wayside long ago. What we wouldn’t do for a Floret Flower Farm down the road! We do try to patronize other fabulous growers like Swan Island Dahlias, out of Oregon, for example. But most of that road ends up being navigated by our wholesalers themselves–we don’t have a tremendous amount of experience working directly with growers. I’d love to get hooked up with more small-scale artisan flower farmers, so if you’re out there, let us know about you!

Ariella Chezar:
As much as possible I grow my own and use local growers. The balance comes to me from the San Francisco and the New York markets. I tell the local growers which flowers I am interested in, and they grown them. I am always after unusual varieties and colors but most especially, I am interested in flowers that have been grown responsibly and without pesticides.

Brandon from Epic Flowers:
We’ve been working with local farms for close to 15 years now. What we look for is product that you do not find in traditional designs. Local farms have played a big part of our success because they listen to what we want and they have made is possible for us to design with fun unique florals and greens. Some local farms compete against us florists. This is a turn off, as you might know and when it comes to who we buy tulips from this spring we will remember that. Local farms who want to work with local florists need to know competing against us is not sustainable. Our favorite locally grown flowers: Varieties of Coxcomb/Amaranth, veggies/fruit (ornamental peppers, artichokes, okra, raspberries) snow on the mountain, peony greens, canterbury bells, red shuttle flower, turtle flowers, bergamot, a variety of herbs (mint, Sage, rosemary)

Cori from Moss Fine Floral:
I do source flowers locally as well as from local and national floral wholesalers. I would love to support more independent farms but have only successfully worked with a few. I’ve found that the two farms I work with most are very casual which only works with a very casual client. My calls are sometimes not returned and email is sparse with these growers. This doesn’t stop me from chasing them as their product is always gorgeous and they do service with a smile. If there are farms out there that are reading this post and they can work with me in Chicago I’d love to hear from you!

My local faves are limited but extremely fresh: Zinnia, Cockscomb, Dahlia, Lisianthus, Peony, Limelight Hydrangea, Amaranthus, Tuberose, Sunflowers, Gomphrena, Ornamental Kale, Euphorbia, and Eucalyptus.

Cathy from Sprout Flowers:
My only experience working directly with local growers has been pretty limited. I don’t have time to get out of the shop to go hunting down growers and the few who are willing to deliver are rather scattershot and inconsistent.

Since I am relatively close to the Boston Flower Exchange, it’s my guess that it makes the most sense for local growers who have consistent product to sell directly to wholesalers and not sell a few bunches here and there to random small shops.

Designed by Erin of Floret Flower Farm

Julie and Joe’s “fairy tale” wedding took place at the Cherokee Ranch and Castle in Sedalia, Colorado. The breathtaking castle is located on 3100 private acres overlooking a scenic valley with a view of the Rocky Mountains.

The bride’s vision was romantic elegance with touches of sparkle and whimsy.
The color palette of pale pink, lavender, and sand was perfect for the romantic feel Julie wanted.
The flowers consisted of roses in several varieties including Cool Water, Ocean Song, Quick Sand, and my personal favorite- Sophie. We also included apricot, lavender and pale pink stock, pale pink and green hydrangea, kale, french lavender, calcinia, lavender clematis, and southern smilax for textures.

The bride’s cascading bouquet was made to flow and compliment her stunning Vera Wang gown. We used hydrangea, cafe au lait dahlias, white celmatis, calcinia, ranunculus, and a variety of roses. Boutonnieres were made with small groupings of lavender.

The bridesmaids carried hand tied gatherings of stock.

The ceremony decor incorporated a custom iron piece adorned with southern smilax and clematis vine.

The bride’s mom provided 8 large glass vases which were hung in the tent and filled with sweet smelling stock. They added a nice design element to the tent and created a warm and garden feel.

The tall centerpieces were constructed with a base of iron and manzanita. The low centerpieces were made in beautiful resin bowls with an old world look.

Vendors:
An amazing team of vendors made the entire event possible.
T’Da Design provided a fabulous backdrop with tent decor, lighting, draping, and even turned the tent poles into giant magnolia trees.
The bride’s lovely mother in conjunction with Colorado Wedding Company planned the fabulous evening.
The guests enjoyed scrumptious food by Footer’s Catering.
The divine cake was made by the uber talented Janusz at Elegant Bakery. Guests also enjoyed and late night treat with an ice cream cart by Little Man Ice Cream.
Beautiful linens were done by Chair Covers and Linens.
The beautiful photography was done by Erin Zahradka of Z-pics and Caroline Pippin of Pippin’s Pictures.

a note from Amy: The Flower House was truly honored to provide floral for such an incredibly gorgeous and sweet couple. We are thrilled this fairy tale wedding has been nominated in the best wedding category for the upcoming ICON awards in both People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice categories.

Thank you, Amy from The Flower House, for sharing this beautiful wedding that you designed! So lovely and inspiring!

The key to prom sales, and future sales, is connecting with the girl. This is her “mini wedding” – she has been planning it for weeks, months, maybe years. She has everything planned out perfectly. She spent days shopping for a dress. Everything is about the dress. In the florist’s mind, the corsage is about the flowers. In the girl’s mind -the corsage is fashion accessory for the dress. If you create an appropriate fashion accessory, you win the customer. To do this, you need to know what today’s dress styles are. Have you been prom dress shopping at your local stores? Online? How about prom fashion shows, prom magazines?

Prom magazines are the best $4.99 you will spend all year. Why? Not only do they show you the hot colors and styles, they also give you insight into your customer. When the girl comes into your store, hand her the prom magazine, and ask her to find her dress, or a similar one. This tells you two things – her style and her budget. If she shows you a $400 dress, you are going to show her different corsage options than if she shows you a $200 dress. (This works for wedding marketing too, by the way.)

“But the girls don’t come in to order the dress, the boy does!” There are two ways to handle this. The first is to get to the girl before the boy comes in by reaching the girl at the schools and at prom fashion shows. This is too detailed to explain in a blog post, but if you would like more information on this, visit: http://www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/prom-marketing-strategies-reaching-the-girls-at-the-school
The second way is to work with what you’ve got. Educate the boy! Explain how special the day is to his date, and how if he wants to enjoy his evening, he needs to make sure that the prom flowers are as special as everything else they are planning.

Flower Friends, I highly recommend visiting the link above, Sarah has sample letters featured which are quite helpful!
Thank you to Sarah Botchick, Marketing Director, Pioneer Imports & Wholesale for this helpful article on Connecting with the GIRL for Prom Profits.

We have a great new feature on Flirty Fleurs – a Job Board!!!
Launching it today, you can see it here:
http://flirtyfleurs.com/jobs/

I think this is a great service to our industry; a place for Flower Shops, Event Studios, Wholesalers, etc to post jobs!!
Please pass the word around, I’d love to see people start utilizing the job board right away! To celebrate the launch, I’m offering 30 Day free listings on the job board, simply enter the word: Launch into the Coupon section.

# 4

Congratulations to Tracey Foster of Twigs – you are the WINNER of the Prom Design Contest!!!!!
You have won a $50 Prom Package from Pioneer Imports & Wholesale!

Thank you to all of the designers that entered The Prom Design Contest hosted by Pioneer Imports & Wholesale!
Here are all of the designs with the designer, shop and location listed below – click on the image to visit the shop’s website:

Designed by Cathy Walsh of Sprout Flowers in Worcester, MA

Designed by Cathy Walsh of Sprout Flowers in Worcester, MA

Designed by Cathy Walsh of Sprout Flowers in Worcester, MA

Designed by Lisa Greene of Gordon Florist in Ipswich, MA

Designed by Samantha Barnes of Greenhouse Gallery Florist in
Colts Neck, NJ

Designed by Duane Martin of Gillespie Florists, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana

Designed by Althea Wiles of Rose of Sharon Floral Designs in
Fayetteville AR

Designed by Della Mendenhall of Gillespie Florists, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana

Designed by Lisa Greene of Gordon Florist in Ipswich, MA

Designed by Hali Figueroa of
Greenhouse Gallery Florist in
Colts Neck, NJ

Designed by Hali Figueroa of
Greenhouse Gallery Florist in
Colts Neck, NJ

Designed by Rayna of The Flower Shoppe in Pratt, Kansas.

Designed by Tracey Foster of Twigs in Yerington, Nevada

Designed by Lynne Moss AIFD of The Flower Shoppe in
Pratt, Kansas

Designed by Althea Wiles of Rose of Sharon Floral Designs in
Fayetteville AR

Designed by Hali Figueroa of
Greenhouse Gallery Florist in
Colts Neck, NJ

Designed by Nancy Monkman of Gillespie Florists, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana

Designed by Gail of
DeVine Designs by Gail
in Fulton, NY

Designed by Lisa Greene of Gordon Florist in Ipswich, MA

Designed by Rayna of The Flower Shoppe in Pratt, Kansas

Designed by Rayna of The Flower Shoppe in Pratt, Kansas

Designed by Allan’s Flowers & More of
Prescott, AZ

Designed by Lynne Moss AIFD of The Flower Shoppe in
Pratt, Kansas

Designed by Duane Martin of Gillespie Florists, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana

Designed by Gail of
DeVine Designs by Gail
in Fulton, NY

Designed by Gail of
DeVine Designs by Gail
in Fulton, NY

Designed by Kris of KRISanthemums in Oregon

Designed by Kris of KRISanthemums in Oregon

Designed by Tracey of Twigs in Yerington, Nevada

Designed by Kris of KRISanthemums in Oregon

Designed by Tracey of Twigs in Yerington, Nevada

Designed by Althea Wiles of Rose of Sharon Floral Designs in
Fayetteville AR

Designed by Duane Martin of Gillespie Florists, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana

Designed by Samantha Barnes of Greenhouse Gallery Florist in
Colts Neck, NJ

Designed by Samantha Barnes of Greenhouse Gallery Florist in
Colts Neck, NJ

Years ago I attended an educational seminar for florists where we were taught “how to price a wedding”. It wasn’t a tutorial on how to multiple by 3 and add labor to determine the cost of an arrangement, rather it was about how to sell the wedding to the customer. I was so eager to find out how to best present my proposal and increase bookings for my new business. This was exactly the sort of help I needed.

The big secret was that we should offer 3 price points for each item creating a high, medium and low price point scenario. Each price point would have a description so that the customer can see that they’ll get more or better flowers in the higher price categories. “No one wants to pick the lowest price point for their wedding day” is what the presenter purported. Clearly he knew more about consumer psychology than I did. He asserted that most people will choose the middle price point and some will choose highest price points for at least some of the items. This would lead to bigger sales. We were advised to not talk about budget up front because people don’t know what they need to spend. His premise was that they’d need to see our proposal to understand what the cost will be.

Maybe he was correct in thinking that no one “wants to” pick the lowest price point, but you know what I found?…plenty of people DID! In fact, most people did. The reason is that your customer is a real person with a real budget and real money to spend so the bottom line is more important than the perception that they chose the “lowest” price. The idea that you could persuade your customer to choose “more” or “better” flowers was dead wrong in my experience. It was also a lot of work to put together those proposals and ended up being a huge waste of my time.

What I’ve discovered over the last 11 years is that most people DO have a good idea of what they can spend on their wedding flowers. Couples are increasingly aware of how much they have to spend on their big day. (We can thank Google and endless wedding sites for educating our customers on approximately what portion of their wedding budget should be dedicated to each category.) The approach I use, and what I’d encourage other florists to do who may be struggling to guess how much a potential customer has to spend, is to simply ask the question, “what is your ideal floral budget?” If it’s way off the mark for what they need (for example they have a $3,000 budget in mind for 25 centerpieces, 8 bridesmaids, ceremony flowers, plus the rest of the kit-n-kaboodle) you can get that part of the conversation dealt with immediately. That’s where I’d explain that they are probably about $1,000 below a realistic starting point.

This is counter to everything I observed while working for other florists and certainly opposite from the way I handled things for the first several years on my own, but it comes down to a basic rule of contracts; it’s essential that there is a meeting of the minds. It doesn’t matter if I love a couple’s color palette or they love the last wedding I featured on my blog if we are not on the same page regarding pricing.

The most important thing about this upfront approach is that it saves everyone time. The customer can decide whether they have the additional funds to spend and you can spare yourself the time and effort of putting together a proposal for someone who was never going to be your customer in the first place because they simply need something that you can’t provide for the price.

I do get inquiries from couples who aren’t sure what their floral budget should be, but when I offer an approximate range that helps to ensure that we are on the same page before diving into the proposal process. Once I get some preliminary info about the size and scope of a wedding I propose a “starting point” (maybe $4,000-4,500 or $3,000-4,000) and then I know how they feel about that. If someone is shocked by my estimate, then we’re just not a good fit. I’m OK with that. I can’t be the right choice for everybody. I’m comfortable with my pricing. Most often what results is the customer feels reassured that I can work within their ideal budget and I feel reassured that it’s worth investing my time to create a proposal and share my ideas.

My secret to selling a wedding is honesty. Being honest with customers about what flowers cost, what you can provide within their budget and what you cannot pull off is the easiest and best way to book weddings. Of course this requires that you honor your pricing structure and you value your own time enough to be upfront about what you charge. I hope you know you’re worth it!

Floral designers, how do you proceed with potential new clients?
How do you sell weddings to your clients?
How detailed are your proposals?
Do you charge for consultations?
How do you get the client to talk about their budget?

Thank you, Alison, for this helpful article. Over the years I’ve heard other designers suggest we offer three price points as a selling tool and I have to agree with what you’ve said here – I found most clients were happy picking the lowest option. Saves a lot of time and heartache to get the budget upfront. ~Alicia

Contact Information:
Alison Ellis
website: floralartvt.com
blog: floralartvt.com/blog
boutique. floral. design.

You couldn’t sell Valentine’s Day flowers without a Valentine’s display in your store, so its time to WOW your shop!

1) Make use of wall space with display boards and mannequins.

2) Use bracelet display racks.

3) Offer both “creative” and “shopping” displays. Many florists are having success with “Bling Buffets” for the girls to choose from.

4) Have a corsage board with different design options created – from conservative to “wow”. Remember that YOU can visualize designs – your teen customers cannot! Use this as the conversation piece. If the boys do come up, ask which designs best represent their date’s personality.

5) This is not a generation that is comfortable with “Don’t worry, I’ll make it pretty.” The more you show them, the more they will buy!

6) PRICE EVERYTHING. This generation is used to walking into a store and instantly seeing a price – if you make them ask for a price, they probably won’t. They will be more likely to walk out, feeling uncomfortable.

7) Have prom magazines on display.

8) Use digital picture frames to show samples of your past work. Need to show more variety in your collection? We have 300+ prom “beauty shot” images available for you to use for free! Click here to request the link: http://www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/promimages

9) If you can afford it – a flat screen TV or large computer monitor will be even more impressive than a digital picture frame.

How do you WOW your shop for prom? We would love to hear about it!

Thank you, Sarah of Pioneer Imports & Wholesale for this helpful list on how to increase profits from Prom!

Source:
http://www.husohem.se/Tradgard/Vaxter-Blommor/Varblommor-inne/
(sorry, I cannot translate it.. looks like Swedish perhaps?)

Happy Friday to all of you! Hard to believe we are half way through the month of March!! Time flies…

For those of you going to Chapel Designers next week in NYC, safe travels and I look forward to seeing you there!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a three day Woodland Design Workshop with the one and only Francoise Weeks! Tomorrow I will post the designs that I got to create in her class, today I just want to tell you a bit about Francoise and why I wanted to take her class.
I’ve followed Francoise for years, her work is so intricate, natural, different and unique. I’ve considered studying with her for awhile, it was a matter of deciding which workshop would push me out of my normal designing. Her website has a few different workshops profiled, but it was the Woodland Design Workshop that caught my eye. Using branches, sticks, moss, lichens, leaves, pods, mushrooms, berries to create an arrangement is so intriguing:

Jamie Bosworth Photographer

So it was decided, I would take her Woodland Design Workshop, plus it just seemed so right for the Pacific Northwest! I drove up the California Coast into Oregon, feeling inspired by the towering Redwood trees, ferns growing alongside the road, and waves crashing into the coast. I arrived in Portland on a Sunday and stayed at the Bluebird Guesthouse (recommend!), awaiting the arrival of my friend, Janet of Floral Verde. I felt so lucky to be taking Francoise’s class with Janet, Janet is the Queen of designing with succulents!

Designed by Janet of Floral Verde

Janet and I quite enjoyed the neighborhood we stayed in, just a few blocks from Francoise’s studio. We patronized the local small restaurants and found the shopkeepers to be so friendly and enjoyable. We’d walk to Francoise’s studio and stopped at each yard to look at the mosses, flowers and trees growing, such a pretty neighborhood.
Walking up to Francoise’s studio was awesome! I couldn’t wait to see it in person and I have decided that I want to build a studio just like her’s!

Stepping inside her studio was absolutely delightful, on one wall were benches filled with buckets full of an assortment of flowers, branches, and foliages:

Little bits to use in our designs, so much to look at & so inspiring:

I thought this was really cool, Francoise’s husband created this for her – it’s a corsage design bar!

Francoise showing us how she starts her designs, Janet and I were enthralled watching Francoise work. Her mechanics are impressive, these arrangements are not going to shake out of place during transport!

This was just a little tidbit of my time in Oregon and spending time with Francoise .. tomorrow I will share the arrangements that Janet and I designed!

Janet of Floral Verde and I spent three glorious and inspiring days designing with Francoise at her adorable studio. It was a perfect experience in beautiful Oregon.
Francoise shared with us how she creates her designs, the intricate and sturdy mechanics behind the various pieces and the inspiration she finds in her Pacific Northwest surroundings.
You will notice that Janet had a theme with all of her designs, can you tell what it is? Meanwhile, I’m all over the board, each design was different.

Here’s my first design, the long Woodland inspired centerpiece. I used so many little trinkets .. moss, lichens, mushrooms, leaves, twigs:

Janet’s first arrangement, she picked out the wood slab and then designed around it – so very intricate & interesting:

Next we both selected a piece of drift wood and designed around it.
This is the piece of wood I selected and the arrangement that I designed:

The beautiful piece of drift wood that Janet selected, I couldn’t wait to see what she would design with it!:

Designing in Francoise’s style for bridal bouquets was very interesting. I usually design loose hand-tied bouquets so it was a good learning experience to use a holder and cover the mechanics:

My bouquet:

Janet’s bouquet, I love the bottom of her bouquet with the eucalyptus leaves:

The boutonniere I designed with furry leaves & succulents with a twig:

Janet’s boutonnieres:

Two more of Janet’s bouquets, be sure to check out the stem wrap, it’s created out of bark pieces – impressive!

Love this cute little flower basket that Janet designed:

The wreath that I created, there are so many little and intricate bits in it:

How gorgeous, simple and elegant is this orchid arrangement that Janet designed?!:

I felt like designing something big! I was crushing on the maiden hair fern, had to have it in this arrangement:

I had fun with the colors in this one, combined begonia leaves & fuzzy succulents with maiden hair fern:

What do you think? It sure was fun and different .. so glad I took Francoise’s Workshop! I’m such a fan of studying with others, learning new techniques and opening my eyes to different thoughts. I do really look at all foliages now!!

Thank you, Francoise, for a lovely time at your studio!

The key to prom sales, and future sales, is connecting with the girl. This is her “mini wedding” – she has been planning it for weeks, months, maybe years. She has everything planned out perfectly. She spent days shopping for a dress. Everything is about the dress. In the florist’s mind, the corsage is about the flowers. In the girl’s mind -the corsage is fashion accessory for the dress. If you create an appropriate fashion accessory, you win the customer. To do this, you need to know what today’s dress styles are. Have you been prom dress shopping at your local stores? Online? How about prom fashion shows, prom magazines?

Prom magazines are the best $4.99 you will spend all year. Why? Not only do they show you the hot colors and styles, they also give you insight into your customer. When the girl comes into your store, hand her the prom magazine, and ask her to find her dress, or a similar one. This tells you two things – her style and her budget. If she shows you a $400 dress, you are going to show her different corsage options than if she shows you a $200 dress. (This works for wedding marketing too, by the way.)

“But the girls don’t come in to order the dress, the boy does!” There are two ways to handle this. The first is to get to the girl before the boy comes in by reaching the girl at the schools and at prom fashion shows. This is too detailed to explain in a blog post, but if you would like more information on this, visit: http://www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/prom-marketing-strategies-reaching-the-girls-at-the-school
The second way is to work with what you’ve got. Educate the boy! Explain how special the day is to his date, and how if he wants to enjoy his evening, he needs to make sure that the prom flowers are as special as everything else they are planning.

Flower Friends, I highly recommend visiting the link above, Sarah has sample letters featured which are quite helpful!
Thank you to Sarah Botchick, Marketing Director, Pioneer Imports & Wholesale for this helpful article on Connecting with the GIRL for Prom Profits.

We have a great new feature on Flirty Fleurs – a Job Board!!!
Launching it today, you can see it here:
http://flirtyfleurs.com/jobs/

I think this is a great service to our industry; a place for Flower Shops, Event Studios, Wholesalers, etc to post jobs!!
Please pass the word around, I’d love to see people start utilizing the job board right away! To celebrate the launch, I’m offering 30 Day free listings on the job board, simply enter the word: Launch into the Coupon section.

I cannot adequately express how much I love Oregon and all that it has to offer. If I weren’t so happy to be home in California, I’d head up to my northern neighbors and move in! This state is beautiful and full of kind people – who love flowers and nature.

In addition to spending three great days with Francoise Weeks, I also got to visit a few other people, shops, and greenhouses!

One morning Francoise took Janet and I to the Portland Flower Market. I only snapped a few pictures, was too busy looking at everything…

A whole display of Begonias! I’m such a fan of begonia leaves in design work, they add so much dimension and color:

Peterkort doesn’t only sell roses! (you’ll see more about them further down in this post)

Sooo… I will admit that I’m absolutely tickled pink when I see Bella Bouquets Book on display!!!!!!!
Here it is at Frank Adams:

And over at Floral Supply Syndicate:

While I was at the Portland Flower Market I was talking to Sandra from Peterkort and she suggested I go visit Emerald Petals Flower Shop.
I did go visit, and what a cute flower shop!! Hilary is awesome and talented. I enjoyed perusing all the nooks and crannies of her shop and I did pick up a nice white milk glass goblet. Definitely visit her shop if you are ever on Mississippi Avenue in Portland! Look at how cute her shop is:

Also, while down on Mississippi Avenue (there are a lot of cute shops on that street!) I did wander over to Ink & Peat, a shop I’ve followed for quite sometime online:

Now get ready .. next I toured Peterkort Roses!!!!! I love touring greenhouses, as you probably all know by now. That feeling of excitement when I pull up to a row of greenhouses and wondering what is growing inside them….

Rows and rows of lilies were growing, some were taller than me!

My visit to the greenhouse was a bit too early for rose production, they were just getting the greenhouses ready for the upcoming wedding season:

My favorite greenhouse was this one … Cattleya Orchids and Maidenhair Ferns, felt like I had walked in a jungle, so cool:

They grow absolutely stunning Cymbidium Orchids:

Just a few terracotta pots:

Great graphics on their trucks!!

Last but definitely not least, I visited Enchanted Florist in Ashland, Oregon!! I only snapped one photo, as I walked in the doors…
I’ve ‘talked’ to Brandon for years over social media, and he’s my go-to guy when I have a question about technology for florists. I really enjoyed my visit with Brandon and his wife, Leslie. They have built an impressive business in Ashland, Oregon and have a beautiful shop.

Also, a huge thank you to Carol of Celebrations Floral in Corvallis, Oregon. Carol invited me to stay at her home while I was traveling in Oregon – thank you for a lovely visit!

To one of my flower girls, Liz of Fleur:ology – sorry I missed this time around! Hopefully next time I’m up north we can visit

There is no question that to successfully sell prom flowers, you need to think a little different. Like it or not, today’s teens are attached to some type of mobile device every minute of the day! The first place they are going to look for anything they will purchase is online. While the big “push” is for social media marketing, its been proven that search drives more sales. People socialize on social media, the buy on websites.

So you need to WOW your website – its your second store now. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
1) Make sure you have a PROM section of the site – your teen customers don’t know to look under “Weddings” for corsages or boutonnieres.
2) Use lots of pictures of cool and trendy designs. Your own are preferable, but if you would like more, we have 300+ beauty shots available for you to download. Click here to request them: http://www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/promimages
3) Make sure that your website has prominent links to all of your social media sites. Even if they don’t purchase right then, this allows you to have repeated contact with them.
4) Price everything! The same as in your store – if they can’t see a price instantly, you lose them.
5) Make use of the Fitz Design 4U Facebook page – they post great pictures of prom products in use everyday that you can share on your Facebook page.

Your website and Internet Marketing are one more great tool in your prom profits tool belt!

Thank you, Sarah Botchick, Marketing Director, Pioneer Imports & Wholesale for this insightful post on Prom Marketing!

Designed by Kris of KRISanthemums in Oregon

Floret Flower Farm

Hope you had a wonderful week!

See you on Monday!

For more stunning flowers and design please visit Floret Flower Farm’s Website