Shifting your mindset on pricing floral designs. How to overcome what’s holding you back from pricing for profit

Last week’s post was about the importance of pricing floral designs and marketing to convey a luxury experience to your customers.

Pricing for profit with an industry-standard formula is something you can easily incorporate into your business. In fact, I hope you’ve already done so. But if not, I suggest reading last week’s post in conjunction with today’s post. Then, begin shifting your mindset about pricing floral designs. Using these concepts, you can start pricing for profit starting today. 

You can be profitable in the floral design industry.

Your pricing is a representation of your level of quality and service to your clients.

It’s important to use your marketing tools to express the value your products and services bring to your customers’ lives. You’ll want to demonstrate how much care and effort goes into each design in the early stages of contact with your customers. These efforts connect you to your customers on a personal level because they help build trust.  They deepen your relationship with your customers. The customers see more than just the flowers themselves. Your floral designs are experiential products; they are experiences that bring your customers joy. By sharing behind the scenes peeks across your website, social media, and email marketing, you are establishing the basis for your pricing. You bring beauty to people at some of the most important times of their lives. That has value.

The Gucci family motto…

The quality in your products and service are what customers will remember.

By marketing the experience of purchasing floral designs as luxurious and personal, you offer a competitive advantage. Offer your clients the experience of quality by showing confidence in your pricing, creativity, and ability to over-deliver by just the right amount. 

Customers are looking to engage with a business that believes in what they deliver.

By pricing your products to include the cost of your experience, exceptional service, and attention to detail you attract customers that value those qualities. Those are the customers who will not second-guess you because they respect your expertise.

It’s key to understand this because the alternative is pricing too low which tends to attract problem clients who do not value your qualities. Those price-centric customers are frankly just too much work. You want the customer who can afford to pay you and trusts you to solve their problems. The DIY customer who is always looking to minimize their cost is not your ideal client.

So, keep the “Some will, some won’t. So, what? Someone’s waiting” mantra in the back of your head when you encounter customers that are not a good fit and push through the discomfort to level up your business!

When it comes to pricing floral designs what’s still holding you back?

You know that your prices are fair because they are now in line with the industry standard. You are also aware that marketing your value is a competitive advantage. Your business offers the best quality flowers and you’ve got the most amazing customer service. You know your pricing model will keep your business profitable. This is important to your customers because they want to continue buying from you.  

So, why do you still have lingering feelings about your prices being too high?

There are lots of ways to complicate the process of pricing floral designs. You, no doubt, are familiar with or have experienced at least a couple of these mental hazards. Each one creates a roadblock. I’ve been there myself doubting my prices. I can tell you from experience. If you don’t believe in yourself your customers won’t buy from you. So, let’s go through some of these scenarios together and put aside the worry and doubt.

Sometimes you just don’t have the time to calculate your retail price formula, otherwise known as… winging it!

Business ownership is demanding and the clock is always ticking so instead of having to price out every single arrangement every time someone places an order you can create some shortcuts. In other words, you can standardize your designs. I had a 4-inch, 5-inch, 6-inch, and 8-inch clear glass vase collection in my shop. The 4 inch was $50; the 5-inch was $75; the 6-inch was $100; and the 8-inch was $150; when filled with designer’s choice seasonal flowers. This was standard for my shop and my employees memorized how much the vases cost and how much they could spend in flowers on each size.

It was because we repeated the same formula and used similar recipes each time. This standardization made most of the daily orders very easy.

Occasionally, we'd have a customer request something over-sized or lavish and we'd break out the calculator to budget for the flowers, but in general, pricing was second nature on all our standard size arrangements.

If you have a few bestsellers or standard size arrangements you are selling, go ahead and pre-plan the flower math.

If you know you can put in 3 large focal flowers, 5 accent flowers, 8 stems of greenery, and so on, it'll simplify the process of flower math. Then you can easily replicate arrangements and exchange out different seasonal flowers that cost about the same amount at wholesale. Pricing floral designs ahead of time can also allow you to give more freedom to your employees. They can use the varieties of flowers they enjoy as long as they fit the cost profile. That’s a win-win because it offers them more creative freedom than telling them the exact varieties to use in each design.

Preparation is the key here. If you can prepare standardized pricing for your most common daily orders and basic wedding recipes, you can allow for more time to price those elaborate orders that excite you! Flora's Avenue is an example of how this can be helpful to clients as they navigate ordering flowers online. If you don't currently have something like this on your website I recommend adding it plus images for visual impact.

Just remember you’ve got a formula to use for pricing floral designs.

So, put it in place and start tracking sales and profits for a few weeks. If you need to adjust, go ahead and then keep tweaking until you have what works for your business.

Establishing standardized pricing for your best selling vase sizes results in profitable floral designs.

Being afraid to charge full price. You are thinking “How will customers be able to afford my prices?” Or “People are struggling, I don’t want to charge them more than they can afford.”

I know you are in business because you love flowers and you love making people happy. However, it’s critical to find clients that are a good fit, both aesthetically and financially.

I had a client who booked her wedding about a year before the celebration was to take place. She’d call me every other month or so and remove something from her order or ask if we could cut costs somehow. When the time came to finalize the order, she told me she needed to lower her costs yet again.

We had whittled her beautiful plan for wedding flowers down to a sad shell of what it had started as originally.

I just couldn’t take it anymore. She asked me what she could do to lower costs further. There was just no way to cut back any further without her being disappointed in the size or style of the designs. I just blurted it out because I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I told this sweet bride that she needed to un-invite some guests! We laughed. Thank goodness. She understood and if I remember correctly we kept the proposal as it was and she was very happy on her wedding day. I was relieved she was happy because getting there wasn’t easy.

The time you spend cutting and whittling away at someone’s wedding proposal is also time that cuts into your profits.

Now I understand some clients will book and then turn around and ask for some of these huge changes. That’s where a contract with minimums and requirements comes into play. So, make sure your contract has those details. Now is the perfect time to update your contracts for events booking in the future or rescheduling due to the pandemic.

So, how do you weed out those clients upfront? Make sure you have a policy in place and enforce it. If the client can't meet those spelled out minimums and or reduction limitations upfront, then it's not a good fit. As for daily orders, I had a no-fly list at my shop and if someone was a repeat offender with pricing complaints, we put them on that list. If they called the answer was “sorry we’re booked”. It’s that simple. You decide if you want to vet customers and how you go about it. The best thing is that vetting customers early on frees you up to spend more time with customers you click with often resulting in a long-lasting relationship.

An all green wedding was a creative way to keep a lush look inline with this client's ideal budget. It was unique, fun to design and best of all, profitable.

Not everyone will choose you. Remember my mantra “Some will, some won’t. So, what? Someone’s waiting.”

It’s okay if someone goes with another florist or even decides to hit up Trader Joe’s and go the DIY route. You have an ideal client. That’s why selling your value and experience along with your product is key.

Adding just a few more flowers here and there to every design after you’ve already hit your budget.

This is called overfilling your orders and it eats into your profits like a teenage boy after a solid day of yardwork. Just don't do it. It's called knowing when to walk away and it's not easy. Using a recipe can often help with this syndrome as well. Pricing floral designs takes practice. It's an acquired skill to combine the right mix of blooms into an arrangement, achieve your desired style, and hit your target budget.

When you begin to price your arrangements a little higher you will find that this becomes less of an issue. That’s because you’ll have plenty of budget for your flowers.

The need to overfill lessens when you can construct an arrangement that fills the vessel you choose within your budget. So, here’s where choosing the right container comes into play. You can’t use an 8-inch wide compote to make a $75 centerpiece. No matter how you arrange it. Well, maybe if it’s all hydrangeas. There is always an exception to every rule. You know what I’m getting at here though, right? If your client wants to provide a vase you need the dimensions or better yet, the vase in person, to calculate the price.

A mix of the right container, the right price, and the right mix of flowers will land you in your client's good graces.

This also takes practice so look at other designers' work and do some floral design pricing drills. It'll be worth it in the long run. Your customers expect you to use a well thought out mix of flowers that fills the arrangement to its fullest potential. When you know that you can deliver that product because you’ve dialed in your designs, you won’t need to add more to each arrangement. They’ll be on-point and within budget every time.

This client provided me with beautiful copper containers for her late summer event.

Questioning that the design isn’t worth the retail price after you’ve already charged the customer. What if they complain or they write a negative review?

When you make a flower arrangement, it must convey value. So, if you are consistently creating arrangements that you don’t think are worth their retail prices you need to step back and re-evaluate a few things.

We are our own worst critics.

If you are following your standard pricing formula and are still consistently questioning your work, but your customers are consistently happy, you are the problem.

I mean this in the nicest way possible. Your fears and insecurities are getting in the way. It’s time to look at your designs the way customers do. That is with fresh (less critical) eyes. Remember customers are attracted to confidence. So, use positive confident language with them and with yourself.

If you are following your standard pricing formula and a significant number of customers (not just 1 or 2 oddballs) are telling you that your arrangements aren’t worth the money, then that is a different story.

That is where you need to look at how to adjust either your pricing, your costs, or your design style.

This is when a 4x wholesale markup may need to be lowered to 3.5 or 3x markup on flowers. Another possibility may be that you need to consider sourcing flowers at a lower cost or using lesser expensive varieties of flowers. Everyone loves peonies in the spring, but using a peony in a $50 arrangement can take too much of the cost for one flower leaving little else to work with and resulting in a small or sparse design. This comes back to building up your skills in choosing the right flower varieties for each arrangement depending on price.

It all comes down to dedicating time to practicing the craft of floral design.

Many clients request premium blooms like peonies, with no knowlege of price. Sharing your work and the prices they command educates your customer and helps them make more informed decisions.

Finally, there will inevitably be a few people you can’t please. When this happens take the criticism with a grain of salt. Learn as much as possible from the experience and don’t let it drag you down. If your customer is not satisfied with their experience, turn it into an opportunity to shine. This is where you get the chance to improve your quality. You’ve got to apologize, fix the issue and learn from it. If you give a tad more than expected to resolve the issue, your customer will value your quality even more.

If you receive a bad review, do all you can to resolve the problem and ask the customer to consider removing it or updating it to include your customer service efforts. When that doesn’t work, simply reply with a calm and positive post that shows other potential customers you did all you could to make things right. Then move on.

Comparing your prices to other floral designers or worse comparing your prices to “less-than-full-service” options like grocery stores.

You cannot control what other floral designers do with their businesses. Believe me, we've all felt this way.

It's super annoying when a florist moves in on your territory and starts under-cutting you.

I know. I've had it happen to me.

Let me tell you about it.

A floral shop opened for business 1 block behind mine. I was in business for about 8 years at this time. It was in a less desirable section of the neighborhood with no parking and very little traffic. It still bothered me. Why would someone put a flower shop 1 block away from an already existing flower shop? Well, because we had a wholesaler right on the corner, it was a charming neighborhood and the building was for lease. That’s why.

I told myself I’d just keep working on my business and that it would all be ok. There's enough business to go around. Well, then she came out with her logo. It was a huge letter V. Her business didn't start with the letter V, but guess what? Mine did. Oh, it drove me up the wall. I felt like it was an intentional attempt to steal a little of my brand.

My dad told me imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

True, but I still didn’t like it. I kept on pushing forward and doing what I knew was working for my customers. About 2 years later, she went out of business. A few of her clients came to me with their wedding proposals and asked if I could do their flowers for the same price. I saw that her prices were all over the board and there was no standardization whatsoever. It was then that I realized I didn’t need to worry after all. Her customers would not have been a good fit for me anyway, although I did book a couple of small weddings that she couldn’t service after going out of business.

The moral of the story is most floral businesses that undercharge or do not have standardized pricing do not stay in business for very long.

So, if someone undercharges you regularly, it probably won’t last for very long. Keep in mind there will always be competition and that it can be a good thing. You can use it to help to keep you motivated to be the best you can be. So, stay aware of your competition, but remember you are unique and your customers want you because you offer a competitive advantage. Keep communicating your value and offering the best service possible and let the competition find their niche.

If a potential customer says to you that they can get flowers for less at the grocery store it’s clear they are not your customer.

They are price shopping, looking for a bargain. This is when the mantra - Some will, some won’t. So, what? Someone’s waiting - needs to start running on a loop in your brain. You can articulate your value to the customer, explain your pricing for labor and design skills, and hope they come around. It's possible they will appreciate you for explaining your strategy when pricing floral designs. However, if they don’t that’s okay too because someone else who values your talents will come along soon. Remember you are not for everyone! You can’t compare apples to oranges.

One of the best parts of being a business owner is that you alone choose your path. You have the authority to decide which customers you engage with and on what terms.

This bargain shopper customer is looking for something that doesn't exist. They want the skill, experience, and talents of a floral designer with the price of loose blooms. It's okay to say no. It’s even better to use your website, social media, and other marketing tools to present your pricing, policies, and values to those potential customers even before they reach out to engage you. By taking these steps towards transparent marketing you minimize the number of price shoppers who reach out to you because they know you are not selling on price alone. So, don't be shy. Share your pricing with potential customers early and often. Either they will jump on board and become a customer or they’ll move on without you having to spend time on them. This process allows you to focus more time on your ideal clients. The ones that pay you.

Allowing your customer to have too much influence when pricing floral designs.

A lot of floral designers expect the customer to decide how much they want to spend. This was my old way of working this too. Eventually, I learned that it’s better to ask the customer a few questions about the flowers and then offer them a price suggestion instead of letting them determine a price arbitrarily.

My strategy has been revised. Now I ask what size floral arrangement they have in mind instead of how much they want to spend.

I typically ask “were you picturing something petite that would fit nicely on a desk, a centerpiece size for a dining room table or something large and tall for a grand statement?” to get an idea of what they are picturing first. Then I ask about the occasion the flowers are celebrating if any. Then I ask about the color palette and based on size and flower varieties using the retail formula, tell them the price. If the customer has a lower price in mind then it’s easier to gear them to a smaller size, but typically they go for the option suggested to fit their needs.

Most people know very little about floral design, flower varieties, and the costs associated with running a floral design business. So, why would you let them influence you when pricing floral designs?

This design was placed on an awards table. It needed height and drama to be seen from the back of the room. Size and location are important keys to dictaing your pricing for unique pieces. Take the time to ask these types of questions and listen to your customers.

I think customers are much happier when they feel listened to. This way of giving them a personalized experience when the order is easy and often leads to a higher dollar sale than if you asked them how much they wanted to spend directly. This strategy ties back into having some standard size arrangements that can fit the most common orders your customers' place.

When it comes to weddings this strategy still holds. When you give your clients some price ranges and example images for different sized bouquets and centerpieces as a welcome packet or on your website before having a consultation meeting, they are more prepared to understand the options in front of them and make a decision that is based on both aesthetics and budget. This type of marketing typically results in wedding clients spending more overall on their wedding flowers.

While it may be true that floral design is an art you are still in business to be profitable.

All the mental roadblocks I’ve mentioned above are only in your head. It's logic and business-minded savvy that can solve just about any problem that comes your way. Are there any other hurdles related to pricing or marketing that you need help with right now? If yes, please reach out in the comments below or on my contact page. I'd love to hear from you! Pricing floral designs can be a simple straight forward procedure.

I trust that once you find the formula that works for your business, implement it and use your marketing and social media strategies to support it, you'll be profitable, and best of all your customers will be happy!

Until next time,

LuAnn