Valerie--

Glad you're in good spirits about the no-sales. I've had that happen a few times in the past: someone calls at 10 in the morning and wants a bouquet in less than an hour, or, as I'm preparing to leave for a vacation! It's hard to convince our customers that we "aren't" a full service flower shop!

Similar to your "Anybody know Valerie" story: A friend of mine in another town runs a lawn care business. The town is BIG--in the 70,000 range. He advertises heavily, his trucks are painted in neon colors, he has every don't-do-drugs and patriotic slogans imaginable painted on his trucks, and he has an interesting first name, which is also the name of his business. So I guess it's no wonder that he once showed me a mailed and canceled envelope he received that JUST had his first name on the envelope, no street address, and I think, not even the town & state! LOL!

Susi.

Valerie,
I have just started cutting tuplips, and have only put some in the stand by my drive-way, but no go. I'm really rural here too, 1 mile from the "village", and the summer residents with cottages aren't here yet, so it's very slow. I planted tulips last fall to start my season earlier, but I'm wondering if it was worth the effort. Do you think a dozen tulips for $10.00 is too much? I have my pastel pinks for 10/$10.00 because the stems are SO long, and they are really gorgeous. I hate to call a florist because I've heard other people say that tulips are dirt cheap for them to buy, and I really don't want to give them away. I may have to take a couple complimentary bouquets to the 2 restaurants in town just for advertising. I hate marketing.
Cheryl

Totally off topic --- but my "village" story was a letter sent to me by a girlfriend who was an exchange student in Barbados. Sent the letter addressed as follows: "Clinkerbell" "Big Time Town --xxxxxx" Illinois

I got it. Postmaster looked at it --- and said to my dad --"This has to be one of Cathy's friends. No one else in town has friends like that".

Cathy

Valerie,
I am always reading that mistakes are best served in large doses. We would all like to get those out of the way asap. I'm betting you won't be putting your flowers in a coffee shop any time soon. It's too bad they didn't allow you to set up a little European style booth outside the coffee shop with you and your vivacious personality selling your own flowers. Coffee shops are in the business of-----well, selling coffee, and those overprices pastries. During the summer months, we actually do set up a European style booth on a corner in a tourist town right outside a coffee house. It's a pretty lucrative venture.

Hi, Everyone.

Suzi, good to hear from you. I hope all is well with your husband, your flowers and your spirit.

Cheryl, I don't actually think that $10/dozen tulips is too much if they're good quality (keep in mind I'm a newbie seller). Here's what I do think:

$10 in and of itself may be a barrier--there really is something to that single digit dollar amount. For that reason,last weekend we priced our tulips at $9.50 for 8 stems plus some ferns, and the folks in the shop said "That's cheap!" I think it is actually cheap, there may be several reasons OTHER than price that led to no sales--this was Mother's Day weekend, and people may have already done the flower thing---there was a special family-friendly SpringFest in town that had lots of rides for kids, etc., and it may have brought out a different crowd than the usual upscale market in that shop, etc. It was really hot that day, so carrying them around during a festival wouldn't have been much fun....also, these were not my gorgeous pastel pinks, these were white with a soft pink edge, so maybe just not eyecatching enough?

I do think that in rural areas, we have to consider two different clienteles--the folks who want that "glossy magazine" bouquet, for which they'll pay, and folks who just can't justify spending more than $5 on something as frivolous as flowers. For a rural farm stand, maybe the crowd wants that under $10 price, or maybe they like the mixed bouquet look? Dunno.

I can tell you this--$1 per stem on a decent tulip IS what one of our local florists pays, and she says the quality of the imports is the pits. Another florist at the poorer end of the county pays 30 cents per stem--these are 12 inches or so, they are HORRIBLE, and she doesn't have much of a bouquet business. Has drifted into Christian books, etc. 'cause she can't make it as a traditional florist.

When we ordered flowers for our moms in Miss. last week, the coastal florist said she had no tulips "everything the truck brought was junk," and the other in Jackson charged us $50 for 12.

If your tulips aren't moving, what do you have to lose by showing them to a higher-end florist, and seeing what she says? Or mixing them up with filler and dropping your price? Or both? (REMEMBER, newbie seller here!).

Flowerfarmer, I'm having real fun taking my flower power to the market, and that's WITH all my mistakes! If this were a snap, you guys would say so. I'm willing to take different types of risks, but you're right--I won't be offering flowers through that shop again unless something changes. After all, we have that new farmer's market in town! But it didn't run this last weekend, so, not too much downside.

Cheers!!

Valerie

We sell our tulips at 6 in a $5 bouquet with a few fillers, and no complaints. These are just standard ones not the big "French" tulips. Around here the French ones sell for over $1.00 each...I think 5/ $7.50 is what they are in the grocery store.

PArt of your problems may have been having only one color. A mixture is much more eye catching. Try mixing them with different colored fillers and see if they move faster.

Tulip season is done over with finished here! German Iris are coming into bloom and the first roses. We are so short of flowers nothing remains uncut but the welsh poppies and even some just opening buds have made it into bouquets! I wish I had 100 more dutch iris and purple sensation alliums! The dutch iris bloomed real good this year but are about used up. One of my Christopherii Alliums is opening but most are a couple of weeks away still.

Valerie--Somewhere I remember that the reason you had the flowers at the coffeeshop was because the market was closed due to the festival. So you didn't sell any flowers--what were you going to do with them instead? Why not consider the coffeeshop as creative advertising? The flowers, even though they might have been showing the effects of the heat, impressed several people enough that they at least inquired. The people may not have wanted those particular flowers, perhaps for some of the reasons mentioned above, but they now have your name and the next time they want flowers, maybe they'll call.

The same for the party lady. Now she knows who you are. When you have flowers again, send her a flyer--or perhaps two or three stems in a bud vase with a note saying, 'Sorry I couldn't help you then, but the xxxxx's are blooming now.' Most people who give lots of parties have back-ups for all the components--caterers, florists, musicians, servers, husbands. You may not immediately jump to the top of her list, but you never know.

Cheryl--I know. I hate the 'selling' part, too. I think the thing to remember is that you aren't trying to convince people to buy a pair of jeans because a particular actress wears them, you're selling a beautiful product and service that these people want. In the restaurants, a lot of time and money goes into developing the ambiance and flowers are a part of that. If you're getting friendly vibes, tell them that you're new to the selling to restaurants gig, but you have all these beautiful flowers and you want to make this happen. If you get turned down, what have you lost? Ask the person--is it price? Do they want different style bouquets? Different flowers? I love peonies, but a bowl of them can be overpowering for smaller, intimate tables. Elegant long-stemmed roses maybe wouldn't fit the family-style country restaurant. Be receptive and see what happens.

(Threatening to stick the manager's head in the toilet and give him a swirlie worked for me, but I'm six-two and his older brother and I used to torment him as an indoor sport.)

Ray

Valerie, Some things in life are just a mystery. My husband works in the city in a big office building- one of these climate controlled jobs where you can't even open a window. I thought "all those desks needing flowers" because if I worked in a place like that I would have to have fresh flowers on my desk to console myself. I haven't been able to sell a bouquet there to save my life, and believe me I have tried. Don't know why, but I have finally given up. They sell well at the farmers' market, so I have an outlet, but sometimes things don't work out and you have to move on to what does work.

Ray, you are hilarious. I agree--the coffee shop exposure was good advertising. It'll be interesting to see what sales it ultimately leads to. Thank you for that extra piece of advice---it had not crossed my mind to keep the woman who called's name and number for future reference. I'm going to do just as you suggest, and start a file on others who express interest, or have a need I cannot fill. Obviously, I need to get some business cards as well!

Barb, it did seem more fluky than just a bad forum for sales. For that reason, I'm not writing it off completely. ESPECIALLY since I'm realizing I do need a mid-week venue for all those flowers that opt not to bloom on Fridays! In fact, the upcoming waste of those flowers is now a major concern for me. Maybe back to the florist? I'll probly have to try lots of different venues before I figure this thing out.

Thanks for all your support!

Valerie

You might try taking left-over flowers to your library, especially if the librarian will let you put a business card with them. Choose flowers that don't drop little petals.
I am amazed at how little some purchasers know about good care for the flowers they have just spent so much money for. All too often they decide that very short shelf-life is all they can expect or, even worse, that it is the fault of the flowers they got from YOU. Does anyone here print an after-care instruction sheet?

WE started the subscription business because of all those mid week flowers! We deliver them on Tues morning so businesses have atleast 4 days of nice fresh flowers and can toss them over the weekend!
TO start, what we did was take bouquets as gifts to the ones aI hoped would be customers..told them we had so many flowers we would like to share some....and would pick up the vase next week when we were in town. Nex week we asked them how they liked them and if they were enthusiastic asked if they would like to subscribe. I would say over 50% of them did, and sometimes we get new subscribers from people who see them in those offices. My newest subscription customer is the sister-in-law of one of our brides.

GOod luck!

Tellme, believe it or not, I'm gonna have LOTS of midweek flowers. So far, we've been taking them to friends' houses, and the hospital....

Liza, first, OOPS! I missed your first post in this thread. The soft white/pink tulips weren't as eye-catching as I'd like. Specifically, they weren't what I ordered! Van Bourgondien --DEMME THEIR EYES! (said with a British accent every single time we say V.B.) were supposed to send me Judith Leysters. When these came up, I sort of thought that they were just really poor quality JL's. Now I think they're Shirleys. Never, ever again, will I order from V.B.---DEMME THEIR EYES!

Your idea of a subscription service is so provocative, I'm gonna start another thread, asking lots of pesky questions from all of you--let me get my thoughts together...

Valerie

There doesn't seem to be any mystery about why flowers wouldn't sell in a coffee shop. It would be like trying to sell apples or tomatoes in a jewelry store. It's obviously not a good forum. If you have lots of mid-week flowers, shouldn't you consider a mid-week farmers market?

Erin

Erin, I disagree. I've taken flowers to the coffee shop my daughter works at for 3 years. They get lots of complements and interest. Unfortunately, there's no room to set up a "selling" station, but people stop there on their way to work or home and I think it would be a great place to sell flowers as a little pick me up- same as caffiene or other beverage of your choice sold there.

Actually , that is where my new location is too. There is a nice porch on an old Island building that used to be the COuntry store before it was Steward Bros Coffee, that became Seattles best coffee before it was sold to Starbucks, who closed the business down. Now it is being run by a new group who do wonderful organic coffees. SHows how long I Have lived here on the island that I actually remember all of its history! Sits right beside the road at a street corner and is a popular meeting place. Sales are a little slower then our first site but I expect that to increase this summer and people are much better about paying the right amount. WHen the coffee shop closes in the early evening I Pull my stand up to the front where people can se e it and reach it easily and usually sell more, but during the day it is right near where they pour their coffee and sheltered from sun and wind.

I think the coffeeshop idea has real potential. You stop for coffee after a morning of shopping and make flowers your last purchase before heading home. Executive stops by for coffee on his way to work and is reminded that it's Secretaries' Day. (Maybe some advertising hints would help with this.) Executive, needing offering because he has forgotten anniversary/birthday, committed major sin, or bought new lawnmower, remembers the place where he stops for coffee each morning has flowers. (Men, in my experience, tend to buy their flowers at the same place so once they start, they will return.)

Ray

Well, Irish Eyes may be right about THIS coffeeshop. On the other hand, the marketing may have been all wrong, the timing may have been all wrong, the flowers may have been all wrong....I'm not excluding the shop from future sales but I'm going to have to rethink how I go about it. All this depends, of course, on the proprietor's interest--she was very supportive after the fact, and did emphasize that SHE did surprisingly poorly that Saturday.

Delivering the flowers mid-week may be more effective than on Saturday mornings. Besides the fact that most Saturdays, the farmer's market is operating 100 feet down the street, I suspect it's a different crowd weekdays--another client base.

Each of you have touched on important factors. Irish Eyes, there is no mid-week market in my vicinity. Like Poochella's daughter's shop, this one's space is carefully managed, no obvious "extra" space for setting up a flower stand. As Liza suggests, any effort in this shop, which is more like her island shop than a Starbucks, will take time to bear fruit. Ray, your sense of marketing goes way beyond my own--I'm going to have to start a calendar of special days beyond the usual.

I do REALLY appreciate all of your input--I don't think we newbies can express just how helpful you all are. You go far beyond encouragement; you give strong, specific advise.

Regards,

Valerie

And another factor is persistence: people see these gorgeous fresh bouquets week after week in the same place and begin to think "Hey, flowers ARE a nice touch..." Someone buys with other customers watching, someone overhears comments on how lovely they were on the table or how much they were enjoyed at work and boom- they just gotta have a bouquet. Pretty soon your flowers get noticed.

Take unsold bouquets to public places to acknowledge the untolled masses' hard work and show some spontaneous appreciation. After a while, those flowers are going to be noticed and perhaps a demand will spring forth.

I'd think about how you could alter your presence there, if at all, and keep on trying. Appeal to certain occasions or holidays as Ray said. I'm as vulnerable to advertising as the next guy. Have business cards available that suit your capabilities.

Mother's Day isn't the best day for a coffee shop especially with a market 100 ft down the street. Remember the cascading effect: you may not know the impact those original unsold flowers had, but with persistence, customers will crack and creep forth, they will buy and you will become famous!

It has been my experience that success does not come looking for you. One has to seek success.

Friendly advice is just what it is. You can't take that to the bank though; and, it doesn't pay my bills. That's just my 2 cents worth. Around here vendors drive for miles to market. It's the difference between a $200 market and a $2000 market. At one of our Saturday markets we have a gentleman who drives 3 hours to market. He is 85 years young.

I have to disagree with Poochella regarding Mother's Day sale of cutflowers. We had a market on Mother's Day outside a coffee shop. Not a Starbucks; but, a coffee shop just as you have been describing. The thing that helps us though is that we are the ones manning the booth. The set up outside the coffee shop attracts alot of business people. The town is also a county seat. So, we do see a fair amount of attorneys, judges and other court house employees along with the downtown business people. Two of the upscale restaurants purchase flowers from us. Oh, and the beauty salon. Many of our customers are men. Perhaps for some of the reasons Ray mentioned in his post.

And, yes, Valerie the mid-week markets are a different crowd than the Saturday market.

The possibilities are endless. We just have to be willing to step outside our comfort zones.

Is anyone else asking, "Is it coffeeshop, or coffee shop!"? Weird...I've been flipping and flopping--I'm going with coffeeshop. There's something about that old--wow, was it Andy Warhol?--image of the man seen through all that glass in a--surely, coffeeshop! (Okay, showing bizarreness, here).

Poochella, I think maybe you're touching on the concept of critical mass. It really will take time to develop a loyal, interested client base. Along that line, the coffeeshop (see, I'm committing, now) proprietor, told me, "Don't give up for 3 years. Everyone, including my husband, said, it'll take 3 years to establish yourself--and they were right!" She's in her 4th year, and now, she employs her husband--so, of course, she knows what she's saying (Hmmm).

Flowerfarmer, I'm gonna get to that huge dilemma, the pros and cons of doing this, or that. I know you've got it down, and I hope it won't put you out to tell us how it started, what the risks/frustrations/rewards were--because, surely, your knowledge didn't come easily. (On the other hand, maybe you told it all before, some years ago, AND HOW DOES ONE ACCESS ARCHIVES)?????

But first, I'm going to that Yellow Rose of Texas, for a most lovely family get-together...

Thank you all,

Valerie