A reminder of all those things you need to do now!
1, Create your own range of Mothers Day products or use the images in the members area. We have 20 images you can download for free
2, Don’t think too small and charge the right price. Give a good range of prices especially at the moment when website order values are generally much higher.
3 ,Be mindful not just of the pricing but the ease and cost efficiency to produce. Can you buy in bulk and get better savings still? pre-order, pre-order, pre-order.
4, Email your customers to let them know about your MD range is available to order and make it very clear when your cut off time will be. Start to let your customers know now!
5, Have you planned all your designs, giving them names to each design to aid sales. Download the spreadsheets for MD from website images page and it will help with your costings etc.
6, Get your website working for you! Have banner adverts on your home page linking through to the Mothers Day products.
7, Make sure you have great images on all your social media channels. Gather wording and images now to save time later on. Check the Mothers Day posters and Instagram images from the members area to upload. 2023 Mothers Day Promotional material.
8, Schedule your Facebook and Instagram posts, don’t suddenly go silent on your business page just when you need to be ‘out there’ get your posts done in advance!
9, We know your window display for some businesses is still a must, but research suggests you need to change it regularly.
10, Don’t forget to show the chocolates, wine, champagne teddies, and balloons too on your website .
11, Remember to cater for memorials – even if you have rose plants for graves, it’s an area not to be ignored.
12, Our Bloom Room chats are always useful after the peaks.
13, If you’re short of space why not consider contacting your local council for an empty shop/ pub room/ village/scout hall or source an industrial unit to rent which will give you some extra space away from the shop to make-up orders.
14, Think about where your key staff will be, and who is responsible for which tasks. Keep your fastest workers away from the hustle and bustle of the main workroom.
15, Advice for the newer florists… Block your orders together, create all the spring hand-ties together and your Mothers Day hand-tie in one batch etc.
16, Keep your staff working on one production line and then switch them over, this way they’re focused on their task, but it doesn’t become mundane.
17, Look back at your notes from last year (or your invoices) what did you have to restock on at the last moment?
18, Working or storing out of the usual premises? … be aware of dropping temperatures and check your insurance covers everything! Having extra space and no interruptions could sky rocket productivity and more than pay for itself!
19, Do anything that you can do in advance now – pre-fold wrappings for hand-ties, attach care instructions to cut flower food, make bows, pre-wrap vases for arranging flowers into, gift wrap items such as teddies and chocolates ready to display.
20, Printing copies of recipes for each design you’ll create. Make sure every staff member has one.
21, Check your stock levels: Ink and paper for the printer, pens, helium for the balloons, tea, coffee, loo rolls! As well as balloons, teddy bears, wine and champagne, chocolates, vases, care cards, cut flower food, cellophane, gift cards, envelopes, hand tie bags.
22, If you a member of relay? Why not make a quick reference point for all cut-off times, order and add on codes, and delivery charges. Some may have already contacted you to ask for a cut off date and time
22, For ease make one person responsible for all customer queries.
Involve your staff
23, What else should be on this list – Let your staff look at this and encourage them to add to what can be done to get organised.
24, Have a mini meeting/get together with all your staff to discuss your & their ideas, get the timetables and preparation all set!
25, How much can you all upsell? Could you introduce a sales incentive for your staff to encourage them?
26, Could you draft in someone to handle the phones and serve customers, a quick crash course with a sensible customer friendly helper could take the pressure off – your staff might know just the person, if you don’t!
27, Are all your delivery charges up-to-date and up on the wall by the phone?
Prepare your drivers
28, Have your vans serviced before the week of MD!
29, Negotiate with your local taxi companies in advance if you need their support with deliveries.
30, Make sure every driver has an emergency kit. Give them something spare of everything to avoid them having to return to the shop, from cut flower food to a box of chocolates.
Daily to do’s
31, Don’t allow large sums of cash to build up in your till.
32, You might find the free app ‘Voyager: Route planner’ useful to work out the best delivery route.
33, Take care of you and your staff – to get the best out of them and ensure they are working at their best give them breaks, food, energy drinks… always take care of your athletes.
